Even our Nation's Capital not immune from Strange Weather

I found this story to be interesting.
Heavy rains on the east coast are causing some problems in Washington D.C.

So much so that some federal buildings have been closed because of flooding and other problems. Some people in suburbs and areas close to the capital have been evacuated from their homes also according to the story below.

What a mess. Even "The National Archives" which stores some of our most valued historic documents was flooded. They say that the "Constitution and the Bill of Rights" are safe though.
(Editors note: Has anyone noticed that Bush pretty much has made those two documents dissapear already....)


Click on link below for an article that talks about the weather that is causing so many problems on our east coast:
JS Online: News

World Trade Center Memorial Museum Taking Shape

With summer being here, I have not been blogging as much and will probably continue that trend through the next few months. So much to do outside when it is nice.

Everyone remembers Sept. 11, 2001.

The folks who are trying to create a memorial to the many souls that were lost that awful day are getting closer to realizing their dream for an everlasting memorial to those people and that day.
The director of this effort talks about her experience in this initial "inaugural" podcast (an audio broadcast over the internet).

Click on the link below to listen to Alice Greenwald's musings on some things relating to her efforts in getting this memorial up and running almost five years later.
Build the Memorial: podcast

I can only say that a project of this magnitude is important for our collective conscience the entire world over. So that what happened is never forgotten.

I for one am looking so forward to visiting this memorial when it is complete. I got to see the site when I was out in New York this last fall and it completely took my breath away.
(The photos above were taken by me when I was out there last November visiting the site. There is signage on some of the buildings next to the site talking about the memorial and plans for it's contstruction. I also took some video but still have to reformat the video to allow it to be shown on a computer. I will hopefully be doing that soon.)

The sheer magnitude of what happened on that day has still not fully sunk in for millions of people and even after personally visiting the site myself, I still do not think that I can comprehend all that happened on that day in September of 2001 that forever changed our world.

A good Tuesday to all.

Restore your Virginity with surgery...

Well not quite restoration. More like a rennovation of sorts.
What the hell am I talking about???


Read on by clicking the link below:
JS Online: News

A Good Sunday to all.

World's 2nd Richest Person to give away all of his fortune...

...before he dies.

Warren Buffett (Sounds like a music artist) used to be, some say, the world's richest person until Bill Gates took over that position sometime in the 80s.

Now Mr. Buffett is set to give almost all of his money to the charitable foundation that the world's richest man owns...the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation".

Interesting choice of who to give one's money to.

Read on for the rest of the story:
Independent Online Edition > Americas

The Babyboomers are turning 60....

So I still have about 20 years or so before I hit that magic number.

I was born into what is commonly called "Generation X" and escaped being a "Boomer" by a few years. I have things in common with both generations which I am happy for as I can relate to a lot of people both older and younger than me.

An interesting story below on the "Boomers" and what it means for some of them to be reaching that milestone of life that I once thought was "old" but now feel is sort of like the "prime of mid life".

Read on below:
JS Online:Turning 60

100 Million People in close to 40 years in U.S. alone!

The world population has increased by leaps and bounds in the last thousand years alone, going from about 23 Million people in the year 1000 and then decreasing drasticly in the 1400's as a result of the "Black Death" of the middle ages and then rebounding to it's current level of about 1.5 Bilion people.

That is alot of humans inhabiting our planet. Let's go to my "neck of the woods" for a spell and see how we are contributing to this never ending growth.

The U.S. Population has increased by 100 Million people in a little under 40 years according to this article.

Imagine that that there will be 300 Million people in the United States alone by the fall of this year.
The year I was born (1966) there were about 200 Million people inhabiting our country.
So in essence, I have learned to share my country with close to 100 Million other new souls in the time I have been alive.

An interesting footnote here is that, according to the story below, Census officials feel that that baby that brings us to the 300 Million number will be.....you guessed it....Hispanic.

Interesting story on the U.S. population growth below. Read on for more:

JS Online: News

My question here is how much longer can our planet sustain this type of growth. According to some articles I have been reading the last few months, not long at this rate. Eventually our infastructure will start to decay and need to be rebuilt and there is only so much viable space for this growth. Though Mega Cities are sprouting up all over the globe and it is not uncommon to have cities with populations int he many millions, there is only so much land on which to grow food, which is the mainstay of our growth.

The world sure is getting a bit cramped isn't it??

Government: A Fake Debate in Congress??

I decided to watch a little bit of C-Span on tv the other night and I caught the debate on the "Iraq War" going on between the various politicians.

I have to agree with the following article below where the "jist" of the story says that this debate was a gigantic sham.
From what I heard on C-Span and from what I have read below I feel we are heading in the wrong direction and that if only the democrats would force the administration's hand a little more, we would maybe have a chance at ending this "huge drain on our recources here at home".

Read on for this article from the St. Petersburg Times:
Perspective: Democracy or demagoguery?

PS: I probably wont be posting as many articles this week as I am on vacation.
Stay tuned for more of "John's Crazy World" in the next week or so.

Warm Regards for a good week to all.

Another Step to the Police State

I read about this in the local newspaper today before reading CNN's account of the latest decsicion by our Supreme Court to further disregard our personal rights.

Our loss of privacy is happening so fast it is hard to realize where one right is lost and the next one is being taken away....

I was listening to "Coast to Coast", an AM radio talk show that talks about many things, late last night and one of the guest's on the program was talking about how the U.S. has become so much of a "police state" that it pales in comparison to what Hitler was doing in Nazi Germany before and during WW Two.
He talked about the fact that the U.S. constitution is quickly being completely eroded and the Bill of Rights will soon no longer exist in any way, shape, or form that the founders of our "once great nation" envisioned.

After reading the article below, I have to agree.
Is there a way to take the Supreme Court back to a more balanced and centered court? I hope so, but I doubt it. I think the "puritins" have a major foothold now and I would guess that we as citizens just need to get used to the fact that we are indeed living in the "Biggest Gulag" in the world....Amerika.

Right now I have to admit that with all that is going on I am truly ashamed to be an american, mainly because of our inept leaders and their decsicions that are going to end up bringing consequences far dire than they can imagine.
In the eyes of others in the world, we are starting to be considered the next "Socialist Society" with no individual rights, or very few that matter.

Read on for the latest step in turning the U.S. into a "police state":
CNN.com - Police don't have to knock, justices say - Jun 15, 2006

The I-Pod Killer

Microsoft is at it again.
They have been in the news a lot this last week.
First with Bill making his announcement that he is planning on giving up his day to day responsibilities at his company and now
the latest rumor out of Redmond Washington suggests that Bill is gettng ready to unleash a music-video player on the world. A player that according to some insiders who have seen prototypes, is much better then Apple's Ipod and offers much more usuability to the "average joe".

I will finally break down and buy one of these if Microsoft comes out with it. I hope it is soon.

Read on for the article where I learned of this development....
DigitalJournal.com - Digital Culture For Creative Minds

On another front, my DVD of the Windows Beta version of Vista (the next operating system from MS) arrived on my doorstep today.
I am on vacation this next week and will hopefully get some time to play with it a bit.

Happy Vacation....

This Scares Me!! North Korea and Missiles

North Korea is in the news again and this time it seems the little communist nation in SE Asia is trying to rattle King George's monarchy more then ever.

An ICBM from a not so friendly nation capable of reaching U.S. territory and some even say most of the continental United States.
That doesnt sound too good....
:: Aero-News Network: The Aviation and Aerospace World's Daily/Real-Time News and Information Service

Health News - First official death from chronic fatigue syndrome

CFS....

Many people complain of having this condition known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
It affects their life in such ways that they can not go about their day to day activities with any sense of normalcy.
They are always tired, it hurts to lift things and do all sorts of other things that most of us take for granted in our day to day lives.

And now a woman in England has died and for the first time ever, her cause of death is being listed as mainly from this condition.
Many doctors do not even believe that this condition really even exists and that it is "mostly in the mind"....likening it to depression of sorts.

The article below trys to shed some light on this condition and what it did to one poor soul...
New Scientist Breaking News - First official death from chronic fatigue syndrome

The "Smith's" go to Racine

I just posted in another local blog about the disclosure of Racine's former mayor's wife that she admitted to being involved with the call that came in to the Racine Chief of Police's home the night that Gary Becker (our current mayor) was being looked for by the local Racine police dept.


I wrote earlier last week in that blog that I felt the Smith's had something to with this whole incident and sure enough...I was right.

Click below to read the post and the one after that which is the original posting I made last week:
The Kringlesphere

I am so proud of the local political scene here in Racine (Not!!) and if anyone even dares to say that the entire thing wasnt political in nature...then they are one sandwich short of a picnic basket.

News: NYC Subway Multiple Stabbings!

A 21 year old homeless man was arrested on Wed. and has been charged with multiple (4) Subway Stabbings in NYC.

The stabbings occured in and around Midtown Manhatten in a 12 hours span, and according to the Associated Press story, a tourist from Texas and two tourists from Canada were attacked as well as a local person. The Texas tourist is in critical condition.

The authorities stressed that the Subway system is as safe as ever though.
Good thing....I remember riding the subways at all hours of the day and night when I was out there this last fall and I felt safe....but after hearing about this I got a gignatic case of the "willies" thinking how "unsafe" the world really is. The story tells of the one guy who was stabbed, saying the assailant was after his cell phone.

When I was out in NYC this last fall, there were times when I was standing on the subway platform with not only my cell phone in my hand, but my video camera around my neck and my laptop bag around my shoulder....my what a target I might have been!! I will have to be more careful the next time I am in a big city. When you come from a smaller city, I guess we tend not to think of ourselves as targets for local homeless people or criminals...but as this story shows, it does happen.
Just goes to show you that anything could happen at any time to any of us.

I pray that those people that were attacked, come through ok without too many physical or emotional scars.

For the full story, click on the link below:
Homeless man arrested for NYC stabbings

Remember Screech? The bell may not save him this time

His name is Dustin Diamond.

He was a childhood star back in the 90s along with two other guys I can't even remember.

But the sitcom was on for many years and though it was kind of corny at times, I do remember getting a few laughs out of it every now and again.

"Saved by the Bell" is now in syndication but the royalties that Dustin recieves from the rebrodcast of the show can't help him keep his house in Port Washington, Wisconsin (about 45 miles north of where I live).

So he has decided to try his "celebrity status" as a former child star and use his "name recognition" and is hawking t-shirts on Howard Stern's radio show as well as a website he has created, which you can reach at:
www.getdshirts.com

Read on for the full story from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online Edition:
JS Online:The bell may not save him this time

I will probably buy one of his t-shirts. For $15.00 it will be a nice conversation piece...plus maybe I can help a former child star keep his home.
I hope he has good luck in his endevor...
(It is amazing what the hollywood stuff does to kids!!)

Country Radio Stations Refusing to Play a Song....

...because it is politically incorrect.

The song is by a famous Country music group that is on the "charts" all the time, yet they now only sing this "tune" at concerts when requested by audiences. Too bad. It is a very sad and pretty melody that has to do with God and the state of our nation.

Click on the link below to listen to this song which is accompanied by a slide of photos....
TK-1913 - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Tick off your neighbours...if you dont like them that is!

Have you ever had a next door neighbour you just cant stand?

Try this next time your bushes need to be trimmed, or better yet grow one specificly for them.

Or it could just be fun for a laugh or a conversation piece!!

Colloquialisms from the 16th Century

I am sure that most have heard of some of these old "phrases" and some may even know their meanings and or where they came from.

I thought it would be fun to reprint them though as I just saw them on another site. Enjoy.....

____________________________________________________________________
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight."

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month or what we know today as the honeymoon.

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's."

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o. Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets. . . dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold."

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: " peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes . . . for 400 years.

Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers -- a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and re-use the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."
____________________________________________________________________

A good Thursday to all....

More on Semantic Web: Be careful of what you post on social pages

Lockergnome has picked up on the NSA story I talked about a few posts ago. I think the poster who wrote this article below says it all when they posted the following missive at the end:

"So the government is possibly tapping your phone calls, checking who you have called, is data mining your Internet communications, and monitoring your web pages for who you have communicated with, and who you may potentially communicate with. If that is not Big Brother, then it's getting mighty damn close."

Most of their post on this is quotes taken from another web site, but I felt it important to repeat here....and I agree with the all that the above quote says. I hope people start thinking of what is happening. Maybe all of us together can do something...but I doubt it. Big Brother is just way too big already. He is out of control.
Be careful of what you post on social pages

Future Tech: Antimatter-Rocket Plan Fuels Hope for "Star Trek" Tech

A few weeks ago I blogged about "cloaking"...the ability to make things invisible to the human eye and to radar. The things that "Star Trek" is all about.

And though we havnen't yet got to the point of "Warp Drive" where we can go faster then the speed of light and hop from galaxy to galaxy, it seems we are getting close to a lot of other cool stuff that was in the realms of science fiction only a few years ago and one of those things is what may make the "warp drive" possible someday. And that is the creation of "antimatter".

Science fiction is quickly becoming science fact and that is so cool to say the least....

Read on for the full story:
Antimatter-Rocket Plan Fuels Hope for "Star Trek" Tech

As Captain Picard would say.... "Engage"!!!!!!

Finally a christain Video Game

It is called "Left Behind-Eternal Forces" and this PC game is based on the "Left Behind" series of books (and movies) that have been pretty popular over the course of the last few years.

I think a christain based video game is just what we need in this world today. What with all the violence and everything going on everywhere. More violence with christains trying to kill the antichrist......what is the world coming to??

A "shoot em up" game in the name of religion?
Well religion has had it's fair share of killing and violence and some say religion is repsonsible for many if not almost all of the wars that have been fought in the history of the planet....

And it made it's debut at The Electronic Entertainmnet Expo in Los Angeles this weekend.

Want to know what it's all about?
Read on:
Converting Video Games Into Instruments of God - Los Angeles Times

I will have to check my local Best Buy to see if they have it...or better yet, maybe "PC Gamer" magazine has a demo coming out in it's next issue to play with....now that would be cool.

I really do not think this is something for the youth of today to be playing around with.
Especially after reading the following article:
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2006/5/29/195855/959

Judge for yourself.
I think we are entering dangerous territorry here folks.

Weird News-Man attempting to hang himself falls, dies

My oh my...what a way to shuffle off the mortal coil.
First he tries to hang himself from a bridge...
He falls and survives...
He slits his wrists while lying on the dry riverbed...
A byciclist runs him over.....

A famous artist once said that a perfect suicide is the ultimate work of art. I think suiciders should do it with style.

Here some ideas for those that would contemplate ending their life with a bit of style:

1. Ride a black stallion through the gates of the White House.

2. Get on the most packed plane you can and yell "I have a bomb"!

2. Lay on the altar of the grandest Catholic church you can find and inflict many cuts on yourself, so that your blood flows down the marble steps.

3. Sell everything you own and empty your bank account to buy the hottest car you can find, then burn the last of your clothes and drive it naked... into hell.

4. Allow a bear or a big cat to rape you to death.

5. Cut off pieces of yourself until there's nothing left.

This guy should have read my post before deciding to go the way he did.

Read on for the whole stupid and sad end to one person's life:
Article: News - Man attempting to hang himself falls, dies

Government- Homeland Security�accepts fake ID - Jun 12, 2006

I was going to title this post "1984 Duped" but I decided to just leave the title the same as the one CNN used.

A man walks into the Dept. of Homeland Security Headquarters with a fake I.D.
How damm funny is that??

Read on for the rest of the story:
CNN.com - Homeland Security�accepts fake ID - Jun 12, 2006

Doesn't give one much faith in our level of protection against all the other things they are trying to protect us against...does it???

And that person who entered used the i.d. as a test to see if it would work.....
P.S: He was supossed to already be meeting with someone there so I really do not know if you can consider what happened to be a "real world" scenerio, but just the same....imagine if!

Warning-From Microsoft: Bots a Big Problem for Windows

Microsoft is telling us that "bots" and "rootkits" are the two of the most significant threats to Windows users right now.

What are these two menaces?
Read on for the rest of the story by clicking on the link below:
BetaNews Microsoft: Bots a Big Problem for Windows

It seems as if the web is becoming like the "wild west" of the old days in America.

Warning-Worm hits Yahoo! Mail users

The world's largest email provider(200 milliom mail accounts) has gotten a new worm that infects user's computers by merely reading the email message.

But common good practice for everyone should be to never open an email from someone you do not know....without trying to first find out who the email address belongs to. And second thing-even if the email is from someone you know.....and the heading is a little strange...wait to open the email and call that person and ask them if they sent you a specific email.

I have a yahoo mail address but I do not use it for anything but registering for web sites and things. I check it maybe once a month. Better to stick with your ISP or with Gmail.

They are calling this worm "Yamanner" and this article gives a little more background on it. I tried linking to other sites that talk about this latest web menace but none of the sites would come up for some odd reason.
Aljazeera.Net - Worm hits Yahoo! Mail users

The site above also has a link to what is being called a new "mystery virus" that is invading the web.
Time to do some more reading......

Attack of the "Pooper-Scooper" Bitch from Hell

Today's little ditty is true believe it or not and happened about 3o miles away from me in the quiet "bedroom" community of Milwaukee called Waukesha.

It is 4:30 in the morning and your little dog starts barking, waking you out of a sound sleep.

You walk into your kitchen and there is a strange and deranged woman who you do not even know standing in your kitchen with a metal pooper-scooper and she is jumping up and down and yelling that people are out to kill her and that she is going to kill you and she goes completely nuts...

The picture included here is the "Pooper-Scooper" woman herself.

Read on for the rest of the story....
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=434814

And to end...I feel sorry for this family but I just about died laughing while reading what happened and how it took 5 police officers and tasers ect. to subdue this madwoman.

Hurricane Season in Florida off to a busy start

I was contemplating taking a 4 or 5 day vacation to see some friends and relations in SW Florida this weekend coming up but have decided I can not afford it right now. Maybe the "Gods" heard me or something because of all times to visit Florida, I would have been very dissapointed if I had no sun and had to put up with wind and rain which is supossedly what is starting to happen down there.

Tropical storm "Alberto"...the first storm of the season down there is coming close to turning into a hurricane. Though the thought of living through a hurricane like the one that battled New Orleans sounds kind of exciting to me....I can think of better ways to spend a vacation.

I hope this first storm of the season passes my friends and family by quickly and without any damage to their personal property.

I still plan on taking a trip down there.
Maybe this summer later or on or perhaps when it starts getting a bit cooler in the fall.

JS Online: News

The Semantic Web - Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites....

...by tapping the recourses of the next big internet technology.

Another Step in our Government's "erosion" of our privacy......and maybe more dire consequences for our future as a species.....if we are not careful.
Interested?
Then read on.....

The "Semantic Web".
Learn this phrase my friends because I have a feeling we will be hearing a lot more about it in the future. Some say the reasoning behind the "semantic web" is so machines can understand each other better...sort of like the "web" for computers to be able to talk to each other. This technology which I am currently trying to read up on and learn about is the next step in the evolution of the internet from what I am reading and by most accounts the idea was put fourth by the very same person that pretty much created the world wide web...Tim Berners Lee. And the whole concept is amazing....structured machine to machine communications without the intervention of humans....

The following web sites give a good overview of this phrase and what it means in a larger context.

http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/summer_04/manola.html

http://www.asemantics.com/backgrounders/rdf/

I do feel that there can be many good things to come out of this effort at communication and information gathering.... but for the purpose of this post though, I am talking about the government's use of this technology and the gathering of all of this information and using that information that is gathered to help them with the intrusion into individual's private lives.

With blogging sites approaching the million mark or more and social networking sites such as "My Space" there is a wealth of information on the internet about many millions of people. Personal information that could potentially be used by our government agencies such as the NSA and the CIA and other not so well known branches of these organizations.

In fact the NSA, through one of it's research arms, has begun research into how it can make sense of all the information it has gathered in it's massive database through phone intercepts, online viewing of web sites and other sources. The story below gives a little background information on what I am talking about.
And you thought that the phone tapping thing going on was the worst thing that our government has it's mind on....

New Scientist Tech - Technology - Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites

I have and will continue to try and find out as much as I can about the "Big Brother" tactics that I believe the government has no right screwing around with in regard to it's citizens and in doing so I will hopefully be educating others on these matters.

Why do this?
So we all know where we stand and how when, if someday our freedoms are finally all eroded and taken away from us, some of us will know why and how it came to be.

I am sure we will never know all the answers but if we do not question what our governments are doing, we are no better than the zealots who are in control of it. The time in our lives that we in the early part of the 21st century are living through right now can be exciting to say the least, but they are also very disturbing at times too. Disturbing because if one really thinks about it....the more the government controls it's population at large, the more freedoms that are lost. Before one knows it we are all slaves to the masters. This has happened before in civilizations of the past and it is readily happening in this 21st century one as we speak.

A society being ruled under these conditions will eventually self destruct. And if we as humans do not do anything to question what is happening and to help stop our enslavement....then I guess we all deserve what is starting to happen to us.
And that is total population enslavement, loss of all personal freedoms and rights and last but not least a miserable life.

As my other blog says....this world really is an illusion. It is all smoke and mirrors. Read between the lines and you will see.

And I dare not go off the deep end here by even suggesting that the idea of letting all these machines connect together and to be able to have such information at their disposal and all of a sudden "artificial intelligence" of some sort comes into play. I am sure almost everyone has seen both "The Terminator" and the "Matrix" movies.....

For those that have the courage to question all that is going on with all of this and try to gain some more knowledge about these things, I applaud you. If you do not, then I feel sorry when all of your freedoms and rights have disapeared right in front of your faces and at that point you are asking yourself.....what happened???

Tech: Drop that "CRACKberry" now....

I see these people all the time. Whatever they are doing, their little handheld computers are in their hands at all times.
Maybe some of these people may want to read this:

CNN.com - Hotel: Put that 'CrackBerry' down, you addict! - Jun 8, 2006

$75.00 a month if your Cat isn't "fixed"

This from the state of Rhode Island....

It seems that this northeastern hamlit will be the first state in the U.S. to enact a new law aimed at keeping the "kitty population" in check.

I know that the ferel cat population in the states is out of hand but it seems that this law is just going a bit overboard.

Read on below by clicking the link:

CNN.com - Rhode Island says spay it or pay it - Jun 9, 2006

Come Home-Get Killed: Sailor home on leave killed by carjacker - Jun 11, 2006

How sad this story was to read.
And this happened in his parent's driveway!
The world sure is strange.....
CNN.com - Sailor home on leave killed by carjacker - Jun 11, 2006

Racine Politics or just a hateful and spiteful individual??

Why is Mayor Becker being singled out for police harrasment??

It is so comforting that the citizens of my fair little city on the lake care so much for their mayor that someone would call the police to make sure he was not driving under the influence of liquor.... Actually I find this article a bit disturbing. Come on now. An elected official attends an event and someone who supposedly does not care for him decides to call the police to have his home staked out??? People need to grow up. If this indeed was an altercation that was (as the jsonline article below suggests) politically motivated, then I think we have some pretty silly and childish people involved in local politics here in Racine. In ending, I think Mayor Becker is doing a fine job in running this little city. JS Online:Racine mayor questions stakeout

Edited: Sun. June 10th at 1223AM

After having just returned from work and reading the Racine newspaper while there this evening, it seems this story had hit the front page of our Racine News.

The further I read about this in our newspaper-
http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=6148
-the more it sounds like someone "has it out" for the mayor in some way. Why would someone (clearly with some political connections) call the chief of Police at home...how many of us have the chief's home number on our cell phones or regular phones.....at 9pm in the evening??
Something just doesn't sound right here.
(I will give people a hint as to who I think may be behind it all. Look at the right side of the article from the link above in the "Racine Journal Times story" and see which realtor is being advertised...that I have to say is pretty funny. And in case the ad changes, it was an online ad for former mayor Jim Smith!!...ha ha that is just too much!)

I am not really into local politics but even I can see that someone clearly knew what kind of car our mayor was driving, knew he was at an event where he had been drinking and knew he had gotten in his car to drive home. Someone like that, as far as I am concerned, is a pretty rotten individual. Politics is one thing...but trying to intimidate the mayor of our city with this "calling the police crap" is a little excessive if you ask me.

I hope the chief has some pretty good answers as to who this "call to his home" came from because if I were Mayor Becker, I would not let this drop. The Racine newspaper article does say that he intends to talk to the county sheriff and others on monday to try to get to the bottom of all this.
In my mind, I have no doubt whatsoever that what happened was motivated by either local politics or hate for the mayor...or both.

I have to include these posts from a blog on the Racine Paper as they seem to pretty much sum up what I kind of said above and that this all seems to be a case of rancid politics at it's worst. The following blog posts are taken from the Racine Journal Times Online web site and the first post is from a guy who seems to have some good comments. The next one is from the subject of this post, our mayor himself. The last one is from one of our local aldermen and I think the things he says just bring it all together and help offer everyone a bit more understanding to this whole thing:

jackall wrote:
In reading through these comments, I find some very amusing. People can like or dislike a politician, but what the chief did here is just plain wrong. Some comments have said the mayor is paranoid. Paranoia would be when someone has a delusion of being followed, but is not. The facts are, and admitted by the chief, that they were looking for "an elected official in a red Lincoln", and had a squad car 1/2 block from his home. This is miles away from the Marriot. If he was not being singled out, how did a squad coincidentally end up at the corner of Chatham and Melvin? To suggest that the mayor was not singled out is ridiculous. One of the first comments was from Taxhell with several questions. If Taxhell actually read the article, he would know the answer to most of his questions. The mayor was at the Marriot, had a couple drinks over the course of about three hours, and he drove home. So what! The mayor was at a public funtion with many representatives from the business community. The event got over about 9:00, and he was home by 9:15. No one at the event has said anybody present had too much to drink, and I am sure the mayor is not the only one who had a drink that evening. If he had two glasses of wine, which sounds more sophisticated, it would be okay, but having two drinks is not? I have not been drunk in over 30, but I often go out and have a drink or two. There is nothing wrong with that. When the chief sends out three squads to look for one "drunk" driver, he abused his authority and should be investigated. Spenner himself said that if politics were involved it would be wrong and unethical. I am sure Spenner was not working at 9:00 at night. Clearly that call was made by someone close to the chief that they knew his home phone number, so there is no doubt that politics was involved. He then ordered the department to look for the mayor. The chief has embarrassed himself, has failed to offer any explaination, and has admitted that if politics were involved, what he did would be unethical. The facts are clear that politics were invloved. The chief should resign.
06/10 10:16:36

I say "Amen" to that poster. He or she said it all in a nutshell.
And next.....our mayor himself finally decided to "weigh in" on the blog postings which I think is one of the BEST things he could have done. It is nice to see he pays attention to the blogrolls!


Mayor Gary Becker wrote:
Time to set the record straight on some things. Am I a sociable person; most politicians are. Do I think that stopping at a bar sometimes is somehow un-mayoral, not at all.Have I ever driven after too many; NO.Have I ever been stopped for an alcohol related driving offense at any time in my life,; NO. Have I ever had any contact with the police for anything more than a speeding ticket; NO.Have I ever run roughshod over a department head or staff when I do not get my way? Come down and ask any of them; my style of management is very open and I encourage staff and citizens to challenge our ideas. I take great pride in nurturing, training and working with my staff at all levels.Did I have two cops drive me to bars???I was out with them for a ride along, somthing I do somewhat regularly. Maybe you saw me walk in and use the restroom and buy a can of Diet Coke while I was waiting for them. There are not a lot of places open at midnight, so yes the bar I was standing out front of seemed a logical choice.And the officers did run through Taco Bell so they could buy their dinnerI have absolutely no problem with the cops doing their job, and have never asked for any special favors from the police. As a matter of fact when I became mayor one of the first things I did was to eliminate the officer that was posted at our council meetings and put the manpower back on the street. Nor do I take any security for the parades, which previous mayors did.I prefer these officers to be on the street serving the citizens.I would suggest that as more information comes out it will become clear that what went on was not standard operating procedure, and that the motivation was not law enforcement.
06/10 17:47:37

Gotta love this little city! (and if one does not think that the last post I copied came from the mayor, click on the link that is highlighted as his name at the top of the post....and see where that link takes you. Right to Mayor Becker's email address. I would call that proof that the mayor did indeed author that post.

And to add another post from one of our local aldermen that says alot of things that make sense in this unfolding story:


Alderman Greg Helding wrote:
I think it would be best for everyone to settle down and wait for the facts to come out. It is best to do that in any case.It is easy to see or hear something and think bad about it without knowing all the facts. The previous misinformation posted about the Mayor's ride along is a good example of this.From my reading of the posts here, there seem to be some serious misconceptions about how the Mayor handles things. I can't speak to all the concerns people post here, but I can talk about my experience with the Mayor so far.Since Mayor Becker took over, Aldermen are given a larger hand in making policy - which is only proper since that is our job. Aldermen can propose legislation, attend meetings, or talk to department heads without fear of being called in the Mayor's office for reprimand or being "put out to pasture" in terms of committee appointments. People who openly challenge the Mayor are not punished. Take Alderman Fair, for instance. He took issue, as is his right, with the Mayor several times in his first year. Mayor Becker's response: Alderman Fair was appointed to the Council's Executive Committee - a plum position by any standard.I myself am politically opposite of the Mayor on many issues - state revenue caps and the recent kyoto agreement he signed just to name two of them. As a potential political adversary, he could backbench me and keep me off of committees. Rather, he has supported my efforts to represent my constituents and has given me opportunities to serve the entire city on the City Plan Commission and the Community Development Committee.I have a sincere desire to make things better for Racine. I believe Mayor Becker also has that desire. I welcome comments, suggestions, or debate from anyone who shares that desire. Since I post here using my real name and e-mail, it is easy for you to find me. It is hard to take public policy tips seriously from people whose arguments rise to the level of calling someone a "loser" (especially when they misspell the word) or refuse to identify themselves.
06/10 20:38:50

Like I said before...gotta love this little city....

Tech: Vista Beta Available Now!

Ready-Set-Go!!!!!

I decided to go the easy way and ordered the DVD of the newest upcoming Windows Operating System (which is still in Beta) but is available as of yesterday for people to "play" with.

Microsoft released the beta through what is called "Windows Vista Customer Preview Program" yesterday. You can either download the entire OS on to your hard drive or you can order the CD (which is actually a DVD) through Microsoft.

I decided on the latter. The software on the DVD costes $6.00 plus $4.00 for shipping and it will arrive in the mail approx. one to two weeks from now. (I may even download it but I would probably need a DVD Burner to "burn the image" to a disc in order to use it.

I may even try to download it but then I will need to invest in a DVD burner (which I have been thinking of doing for a while now anyway). If one wants to go that way, the following page has links to start the download process as well as links to order the DVD which I did already.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/preview.mspx


The nice thing about this beta release of Vista is that you can use it until August of 2007 so in a way it is an OS that is good for over a year. (And who knows how long it will really be before Vista is really going to be ready to be finalized and ready for purchase. MS is saying Jan. 2007 for the public but other sources are saying that this date could slip).

A little more background from PC Magazine on this new "trial-beta" software of Microsoft's next big toy:
Forward Thinking by Michael J. Miller : Vista, Ready for Everyone?

Hope everyone has the ability to have a wonderful "Vista" on their desktops very soon.......

Science: How Long before Actual Humans are Created?

Cloning. The process of artificially creating life from life.

A "God" type process for sure. Should we even be screwing with this stuff?

I do not think we are ready to be doing these things at this point in our evolution. I think we are just asking for trouble. The story(click on link below) says the intentions of these scientists at Harvard are for creating "stem cells" that will someday help conquer a host of diseases but what happens if one "mad scientist" decides to take things a step further and bring one of these embryos to full term and thus a human being is given life.

Well, we are screwing with this process and the cloning process is going a step further right now according to this article from CNN:
CNN.com - Harvard to clone human embryos - Jun 7, 2006

There is a theory out there that this process has happened before in the annals of history here on earth.
Bear with me here for a short explanation:
A race of beings far superior to where we are today (or maybe a little bit ahead of us) decided to take their genetic code and the genetic code of pre humans and join the two together and dabbled in cloning techniques to come up with what today are modern humans.
When the Beings that created us or helped make us into what we are today supposedly did this (Read the series of books called "The Earth Chronicles" by Zacheria Stichen for more on this), they were technologically advanced enough and had a much longer life span and thus more knowledge about all of this....and they still made mistakes as put fourth in the series of books that Mr. Stichen has wrote.

All of the above may seem pretty far fetched but the more we learn about science and the more we learn about our ancient history, the more plausible all this becomes.
While researching this post, I decided to revisit some of the sights and articles I have read about these ancient "scientists" and I came upon a site that relates to a movie finally being undetaken about this alternate view of our ancient beginnings:
http://www.1anunnaki.com/about.htm

I have often thought that it would be so cool for someone to make a movie about all of this, after having read all of the "Earth Chronicle" books.... and it looks (from the above site) that something is coming together. I will have to do some more digging bur to even see this makes me super excited.

Now none of what I have just talked about in the paragraph above has been proved beyond doubt but there is some pretty good evidence out there to think something of the sort may have happened in ancient history.

How these beings would look upon how far we have come since they started the process that eventually evolved into who and what we are today.... I can only surmise that they would be shocked by how quickly we learned all of what we now know how to do.

Creating life is a pretty darn big responsibility.
I hope we are ready for what comes next. but I fear we are not even close to that.
It has taken thousands and some say millions of years to get this far and now the sky is the limit for us.

With all the killing and wars and famine and unpredictable world weather that we are dealing with as a civilization, I feel we have a long way to go before we are ready to deal with the consequences of what we are now trying to do. If one really looks at it, they may come to the conclusion that we are not, as of yet, truly civilized.
We surly are not "benevolent" and that my friends is what we need to be to be responsible for the results of what this stuff may very well do.

You may all now call me an insane crackpot....

Warm Regards for a good Thursday to all.

U.S. Government: NSA Fallout Continues...

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter sent a "scathing" letter to Vice President Dick Cheney, warning him of a "constitutional confrontation" of sorts in repsonse to the ongoing NSA Wiretapping scandal that is currently under review by the Congress.

The full PDF version of the letter can be read by clicking the link below:
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/06/07/cheney.pdf
(You must have the "Adobe Acrobat Reader" application to view the letter. It can be downloaded from the Adobe web site at: www.Adobe.com).

I think it is about time that our congress starts getting tough with this administration that feels it can do whatever it wants without repercussion or fear.

A government is only accountable when it is held accountable. And this government has NOT been held accountable. And for those that say this wiretapping and all the other crap that this administration have done in the fight for protecting us from terrorism, I say BULLCRAP!!
These guys are crooked pure and simple. There is no sane person that could come to any other conclusion. Anyone that thinks this stuff is ok is either totally brainwashed or their thinking has been altered by all the "propaganda" that this government is trying to shove at all of us.

CNN also has a video segment of Specter lashing out at "Prince Dicky". Watch it by clicking on the link below:
Specter lashes out at Cheney (7:22)

I say enough already. Specter says it is a political issue and not a crime. He says that while being a constitutional issue, the whole thing should have been discussed within a framework of checks and balances which is why the government has the different divisions set up in the first place.
I say we need to charge this dufus vice president with "High Crimes and misdemeanors" and convict him and send him and the rest of the administration that was responsible for this crime to prison for a very long time. No one is above the law and I hope Specter and my congressman Fiengold and others like him keep pressing this issue so that it is not "swept under the rug"....

One of the World's Worst Terrorists Dead??

ABC World News "Late Night" has just reported that the Iraqi terrorist, who many feel is resposnible for much of the ongoing violence that has plagued Iraq and who the U.S. government claim is partly responsible for 911, has been killed by the U.S. military in a bombing raid.

I guess we (the U.S. government) thus get the $25 Million dollar reward that was on his head. Oh wait....we were the ones who offered up the reward. Guess the point on that is now mute.

Abu Zarqawi was one of the supposed leaders of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and one of Osama Bin Laden's senior operatives within his terrorist organization, which our government says is one of the biggest and worst terrorist organizations on the planet.
They are said to be responsible for most of the terrorist attacks on U.S. interests throughout the world over the course of the last 10 years or so as well.

A side note to all: Some people think that this man is and was a totally "ficticious" character set up by our "propaganda machine" to create an enemy of such evil ways and morals that the U.S. would have continued reason to keep up it's assault on terrorists worldwide and to continue pumping money and arms and military might into Iraq. Others think that though he may be a real person, that all the propaganda that the U.S. government "created" in regard to this man created a much bigger version of the terrorist that would not have existed but for our "fueling the fire" so to speak.
You might call this a "PSYOPS" program.

A little background from the Wikipedia article that I have linked to below, but this paragraph I felt important to include in this post:
On 10 April 2006, the Washington Post reported that the U.S. military has indeed been conducting a major propaganda offensive designed to exaggerate Zarqawi's role in the Iraqi insurgency. Gen. Mark Kimmitt says of the propaganda campaign that there "was no attempt to manipulate the press."

In an internal briefing, Kimmitt is quoted as stating, "The Zarqawi PSYOP program is the most successful information campaign to date." The main goal of the propaganda campaign seems to have been to exacerbate a rift between insurgent forces in Iraq, but intelligence experts worry that it has actually enhanced Zarqawi's influence. Col. Derek Harvey, "who served as a military intelligence officer in Iraq and then was one of the top officers handling Iraq intelligence issues on the staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," warned an Army meeting in 2004 that "Our own focus on Zarqawi has enlarged his caricature, if you will -- made him more important than he really is, in some ways."

While Pentagon spokespersons state unequivocally that PSYOPs may not be used to influence American citizens, there is little question that the information disseminated through the program has found its way into American media sources.

I do think our government was instrumental in creating and equipping this guy and all of these desperadoes. I could link to tons of evidence on all of this but I won't bother as anyone can google this conspiracy and the thoughts behind it and learn alot. So I won't waste my time posting that stuff here. But I did want to mention it in the context of the story.

A little background information that I gleamed from "Wikipedia" on this mad man and it is even updated and talks about his death today:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Musab_al-Zarqawi

Beware though....reports of this guy's death have been reported in the past, as you will see by reading the above article from the Wikipedia site. It is very good reading and I implore anyone interested to know more about this man and his involvement with what is going on in the world today to take a closer look.

Weird News: Forgetting "Doggy Bag" is one thing but a Kid...

I can just see the scene unfolding......

A six year old boy is coming back from his favorite game or playing in the balloons at the "Chuckie Cheese" game room and is looking for his parents and his other family and no one is around and suddenly the realization sets in that they all left him behind....."Mommy! Daddy!...Where is everyone"???......and he starts to cry uncontrollably.

A quote from the article:

"An attorney for the boy's mother told the judge there were 12 youngsters at the party and as they all piled into cars to leave, the boy was simply overlooked."

Yeah, but he was the birthday boy! Maybe you could understand if he was like some distant cousin or something...

And I am sure that the silver lining in this story is that these parents will never be asked by this youngster to go to a "Chuckie Cheese Restaurant" ever again....

Well, read on for what surly must have been a traumatic experience for one little fellow:
local6.com - News - Parents Realize Next Day They Left Son At Chuck E. Cheese

Strange Tech:Hello Batman

How would you like to jump out of an airlplane and soar over 100 miles with just a set of wings attached to your back?? Beats skydiving and parachuting if you ask me (neither one of which I have ever tried but would like to) and to be able to glide through the air at 225 miles and hour for up to 100 miles or more....wow!!

Humans have tried this very thing since that "character" in ancient history tried it with the feathers and the tar and all that.

Well now it seems that this amazing ability has been breached with the development of a special flight suit that will be used for military like "Special Forces" units of the military. The wings are made of a lightweight carbon fibre material and even have pockets for one's "carry on luggage.

How cool!
I want one of these. Click link below for the full story:
Special forces to use strap-on 'stealth wings' the Daily Mail

Tech: Mini-Microsoft: An insider at MS

There are a few blogs that I love to follow and one of those is authored by an employee of Microsoft.

I am pretty sure that the author is a woman.
Her posts deal mainly with what is wrong at one of the biggest IT companies on this planet.

Always interesting (at least for me where tech. related articles reign supreme) and sometimes funny, often times sad.
And the following post that "Mini" has written suggests that the time has come for her to move on and relax a bit.

I may just take her cue as summer is almost here and I like to spend most of my free time outside.

Read "Mini's" going away post and the comments that are below the original post:
Mini-Microsoft: All Good Things...

Good luck Mini Microsoft!

Tech: Google "Popping Out" another free toy

Ever work in Microsoft "Excel"?

I do when doing my weekly work schedules.
I find it a pain in the butt most times....and though I am very "technology oriented", Ecxel just plain confuses me at time with all of it's options.

But now there may be an answer to that.
Google Spreadsheet!
As the article below tells, it is not very fancy but it does what spreasheets are supposed to do simply. And it reads most excel formats. I will just have to take it for a spin.

Read on for all the info on Google's latest creation:
PC World's Techlog - Google Spreadsheets: Very Basic, Pretty Interesting

News:Even Active Military Personel Records are at Risk!

So the theft of personal records from the Veterans Affairs Employee is Washington last month takes another new spin.

The following article is saying that nearly all active duty military members records have been compromised. Makes one feel real safe knowing that all of their personal information is floating around somewhere. Things that can destroy their financial well being such as S.S. Numbers, addresses, phone numbers....ikkes!!!

I wonder how far this will go. Next thing you know the government will be telling us that each and every american's identies have been stolen and we are all required to change our S.S. numbers and other personal info and it is all to be digitally encoded on a new personal "national I.D. card" that will ensure it's safety.

Click the link below to read the latest on the theft of all this personal info from our really carefull government:
JS Online: News

Makes one wonder doesn't it??

My most recent post to the Racine Area Blog

The Milwaukee Journal Online Edition has just put fourth an editorial about the upcoming referendum here in Racine where the School District is asking for more money to run the shcools for another year.

Click on over to the "Kringleshpere for my take on that editorial:
The Kringlesphere

And the editorial that inspired my blog post below:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=431108

A good monday to all.

More Big Brother Requests to ISPs

The justice department is now asking the big internet service providors to keep their user's (you and I) online activities and browsing habits and email records for two years.

Usually user records are kept from 30 to 90 days and then the logs are dumped to make room for new logs. Two years worth of user logs? That is going to get very expensive very quickly. And so much for our privacy. With two years of logs at it's disposal, I am sure there is a way that the good old justice dept. will find something "interesting" to do with all that info.

Perhaps building a "national database" on each and every individual in the U.S.??
Time to retire my social security number...it probably wont matter much anyway in the near future.

Read on for the latest form of intrusion by the government into our daily lives:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2006-05-31-internet-records_x.htm

Scientists think they have figured out what caused the Largest Mass Extinction...

...In Earth's history.

A gigantic crater found beneath Antartica not only helped create what today is the continent of Australia but also wiped out almost the entire animal species living upon the planet at that time, the following article hypothesizes....

How Australia was born - Science - Specials - smh.com.au

White House: Gays, flag-burning and indecency!

My oh my I have this funny feeling that before too long we will not be living in the age of "enlightenment", but in another period akin to "The Dark Ages" of Europe in the middle ages.

Why not just make being a "puritan" our national a required part of being an american???

Because folks, that is what the following story is all about...

Read on:
NewsWatch: White House: Gays, flag-burning and indecency!

Bird flu fears for quake survivors - Jun 3, 2006

How funny when I blog about something in particular and then just a day later the "almost very same subject matter" is reported on an international news site.

If one looks a few posts down on my blog they will notice that I talked about this very scenario happening.
The thing I did not mention or think of was that some of these quake survivors who lost their homes have been living in "chicken sheds".
Is a "chicken shed" similar to a "chicken shack"??

If so, then many of the folks who live in those types of buildings (say in the Virginia mountains) may also be in danger of the bird flu....(This last sentence was a joke!!!).

I feel sorry for these people and I sincerely hope the world help authorities can do something to alleviate some of their suffering.



CNN.com - Bird flu fears for quake survivors - Jun 3, 2006

Chris Pirillo gives Vista Beta a "Test Drive"

There is a guy out there named Chris Pirillo.

I have been following his career for a long time via his lockergnome web site, his daily informational emails,(which I have noted in my blogs before and can be reached at the following link: http://www.lockergnome.com/) and his personal blogs..... and back a few years ago when cable tv had a cool technology channel called "Tech TV", {which some idiot decided to turn into something very stupid by the way} he had a very interesting show called "Call for Help".
He has to be one of the smartest guys in computerdom that is out there.

So back to the reasoning for this post. It seems he was recently sent a copy of the Windows Vista "Beta" which I talked about a few posts ago (and which I am eagerly waiting to get my hands on myself) by one of the "bigwigs" at Microsoft. He wanted Chris to take it for a test drive and note any suggestions.

Ikkes....suggestions are one thing but from reading the following email that Chris sent this guy, you would think that the release date of Jan. 2007 will not be enough time to get even half these "bugs" and inconsistencies worked out.

Read Chris' suggestions to this Microsoft VP and then click on the "65 more Vista Mistakes" after that.
Some interesting feedback from a very cool and smart guy.
Windows Vista Feedback ~ Chris Pirillo

Want Some Coffee( or a beer) with that Net Connection??

Ah....the feeling of being able to browse the internet wirelessly. The reality of being able to sit down almost anywhere and being able to connect to the web is still not here but if this latest article by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Online is any guide, there sure are a lot more places right now then there were just a year ago. And maybe I can get off my front porch at night just a bit more and head into Milwaukee and check out some of their wi-fi sites.


(picture of my stoop in front of my apt while using my wireless connection at night at home on a breezy warm evening a few nights ago).

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=430392

The article titled "You want some coffee with that hookup" talks about a few of the cooler places to "hook up" while out and about. I have tried a few of those places but there are actually a lot more of them in the Milwaukee area than I knew about....and I thought I was pretty good at sniffing those places out.

One of my favorite places to hang out when I am in Milwaukee on a day off is at one of the parks downtown that have the "city wide free wi-fi" connection available. I do not even worry about my battery running low as I bring an extention cord and hook up my laptop (if need be) to my car's power source to keep it running in the event that my battery (which lasts about two hours) starts to run low on the juice it takes to keep it going.

And now, thanks to the above article, I now have more places to hang out on a lazy summer day (or night) and there are a few that even are open and available 24 hours.
The 24 hour thing is cool for the nightowls of the world such as myself.

My apt. here in Racine is wired for "wi-fi" as well and there are lots of nights where I sit out on my front steps and browse the web. I even tested my connection one night by walking down the street in front of my place and I got close to 500 feet away from my place and I was still able to connect.

Unfort. there are not very many places yet here in Racine where one can connect wirelessly either for free or for fee.

My favorite hangout (Barns and Noble) has a wi-fi but in addition to the cost for some (you either pay an hourly fee or sign up for the "freedom-link" service through AT&T-I have AT&T DSL so my connection is included as part of my monthly phone service), the outlets are few and far in between and there is only one outlet in the area where my favorite comfy chairs are.

There is also Wilson's Coffee just a few blocks from my place but it seems to close early in the evening before I have even had a chance to get out and about. There connection is free and their coffee is pretty darn good also.

I hear Racine is trying to roll out "countywide wi-fi" and though it sounds like a cool idea, it will probably take a bit of time and in the mean time there really aren't too many real cool places like the ones in Milwaukee to go to.

I have often thought of trying to find some people who would like to "go in" on a concept such as the one that the "High Hat Cafe" or the "Node Cafe" in Milwaukee are doing. I think it would be a smashign success. Unfort. I do not have the financial ability to make that dream come true.
Unless that is if there is a secret benefactor out there that would like to help me realize this little dream.
My email is always accepting inquires....

A good weekend to all.

The Little Guy and the Big Guys

The major world powers are currently giving to Iran what seems to be a final ultimatum to stop their Nuclear Program and Bush is warning of consequences if they do not. God help us all.

I am sorry but I feel that this country (Iran) is being picked on and being stripped of it's soverign rights by countries that have no right to do what they are doing and my country is leading the pack. It should be so painfully obvious that these world powers want to turn Iran into another Iraq or Afganistan...

I hope Iran stands up to this big group of bullies (and one of the other stories that I came across it seems it may do so) and does not back down on it's rights in what is still (for a few years at least I hope) a free world.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-06-01-voa43.cfm

And more related stories:

Bush Warns Iran of Consequences if Sensitive Nuclear Work Continues


Iran Rejects Conditions for Talks With US


US Shifts Policy, Offers to Join Iran Nuclear Talks

WHO dismisses human-to-human bird flu spread in Indonesia

Could this island chain, where so many disasters have been happening in recent years, be the start of the latest inevitable pandemic to affect the human population??

WHO (The World Health organization) doesn't think so.
Neither does the CDC (Center for Disease Control) in Atlanta.

But then in a different article, I read that WHO is "stumped" to explain how the virus passed from one family member to another....
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1149165901201B253

I sure hope they can break some ground over there. With all the people that are surly trying to help the people over there due to the latest earthquake that killed in excess of 4000 people (and many more homeless because of all of this)and the volcano that still has to erupt.....man the whole thing would scare me to death if I was even near such a hotspot.
What happens if a bunch of people are gathered together in a shelter for instance that they have been evacuated to and one person comes into said shelter with this flu....well it doesn't take a big streach of the imagination to come to the conclusion that I have come to with such a scenario that could very well be happening right now...

Out of 40 some cases in Indonesia alone, 30 some people have died and that my friends is close to a 90% mortality rate.
And out of a family of 7 individuals, 6 of them have succumbed to this strange flu by transmitting it to each other.

People's Daily Online -- WHO dismisses human-to-human bird flu spread in Indonesia

Too much thinking for one day....

Another Step in the One World Order

I just came upon this in browsing the web when I should be sleeping.

It seems that two of the biggest stock exchanges (the orginizations that are responsible for keeping the $$ flowing throughout the world) have just merged. Holy WOW batman!!

What next??
The American Dollar and the Euro being joined together??
Probably some day very soon.
Dont tell me I told you so when that eventually happens....

Telegraph Money NYSE agrees terms with Euronext

Like I said before, just another step in the consolidation of power into a few hands. The New World Order is upon us and getting closer and closer to completion each and every day.

Trying out the new version of Microsoft Office 2007 (Beta)

I just downloaded the "Beta" of the new MS Office Suite, labeled "Office 2007" and am going to start playing around with it over the course of the next few days.

I was browsing the Microsoft websites after having read an email I received from them talking about the upcoming beta release to consumers of it's newest OS (Vista) which I blogged about a few posts ago and I came across the download page to try out this upcoming office suite.

I just hope that I do not hose my system by intstalling this beta. I have not had any meltdowns or problems with my current set up in a while now...thankgod!

FYI: Beta software is preliminary code that is not yet ready for production and it is widely available for curious individuals to play with and find bugs and report back to the software maker on said bugs so they can improve the application before it is sold to the end user....so you could label me as a "tester" of sorts.

I am including the link to the Microsoft site if anyone is curious about taking this new software for a test spin:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/beta/getthebeta.mspx

And a link to an overview of what this new office app. promises:
http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/ui/overview.mspx

(Beware the software is a big download and one should have a broadband connection in order to download it to their system).

Humans making Rain

I have read quite a bit about "weather modification" and there are even some that say that all the massive hurricanes that struck our southeast coast this past summer were the results of such "playing with the weather".

Now it seems that China is trying to do the "Indian Rain Dance" the new technological way.

I think they have good intentions, but what will all that iodine they are injecting into the clouds to make this rain, do to the humans and the lands that it eventually falls upon???

I think it is best to let Nature handle the weather. I think we are playing with things that may have unforeseen consequences if we are not careful.

Parched Beijing makes its own rain The World The Australian

But what do I know??
A Happy Friday to all.

Climate right for Gore run in 2008

I blogged about the "Come Back Kid" a few days ago and my thoughts on how I felt he would make a good next choice to lead our country out of the "shitter" that the Bush administration has put us in the last few years.

That consensus seems to be gaining momentum across the world as this article from the Austrailan (a non U.S. media outlet) suggests, after Gore attended a literary festival in Britian this last week.

Climate right for Gore run in 2008 The World The Australian

We could do much worse.....

Dear NSA

Got questions for our National Spy Agency??

Go to this cute (for fun) parody site and read some of the questions and some of the very funny answers.

I for one wouldn't have the guts to put up a site poking fun at an agency which is so clearly trying to dig into the personal day to day ongoings of it's citizens but then again I do not think it hurts to have fun poking fun at it....

Click the link below for some fun in your otherwise boring day!
Dear NSA