Posted at 18:09 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
]To contribute to $1 Million Psychic Challenge, I hereby personally declare a prize of $500, out of my own funds, to anyone that can demostrate to me any sort of psycic, hypnotic, levitational, or any* other paranormal ability in a valid, repeatable scientfic experiment.
Hello, Miss Cleo? John Edwards? Uri Geller? Santa? Pope John Paul ? -- I'm waiting
Feel free to spread the word...but I'm not expecting too many inquries...
Posted at 18:09 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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Grrr...
I'm mad. I have been following the status of the legal legitimacy of arbitration for several years and I don't like this ruling one bit. The implications are clear, as both Thomas and Dieteman mention, and I have a feeling this is only the beginning. I have been dreading just this ruling for a long time, and I think the consequences are going to be much more serious than even Justice Thomas realizes. This case is about whether America is ruled by laws or by bureacratic whims, and I think the trend is pretty clear.
Posted at 14:04 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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Like many bureacracies, Amtrak just refuses to die. New evidence of incompetency causing the latest accident as wel as an incident where man suffering a heart attack on a rush-hour commuter train was forced to wait while the train made scheduled stops to pick up passengers before reaching paramedics in Boston don't seem to deter Amtrak bureacrats from asking for more $, leading to a "a $64.7 billion transportation bill that would provide $1.2 billion for Amtrak." Bush has proposed a more typically "conservative" $521 million, as an "emergency measure". Meanwhile, if you look up Amtrak's "
Legislative Grant Request" (a document begging for more federal money) they claim to attain profitability by Dec 2002 "just around the corner", just as they have been claiming for the last dozen years. It's unclear how this is possible considering that they have a huge and growing deficit and a large % of their cars is down for repairs without the funds to do any. Meanwhile their high speed train initiative has stalled, while Japan has had low cost commuter trains going over 170mph for years.
Socialism anyone?
Posted at 08:50 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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[DRUDGE]Bureaucratic Infighting Said To Have Stalled Airport Security Effort
Almost a year after the Bush administration promised a nationwide drive to tighten airport security, such efforts are being stymied by poor coordination among federal agencies and a lack of clear-cut technical requirements, said executives of aerospace and defense companies seeking to land government contracts. The WALL STREET JOURNAL reported on Friday: Bureaucratic delays and disagreements among agencies, these officials contend, have made it hard to get decisions to deploy new technologies or speed the flow of funds for new security initiatives. Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co. and Honeywell International Inc. are among the companies that have privately or publicly voiced such complaints, urging a more focused effort.
'There has to be some direction' from the Bush administration before the situation will improve,' said David Cote, Honeywell's chairman and chief executive. 'Until the regulation is there and the funding is put there' to establish clear priorities, he said during this week's Farnborough International Air Show near London, 'I don't think it's going to happen.'
Heather Rosenker, a spokeswoman for the TSA, said, 'We're not aware of any complaints,' adding that 'our systems are going fine, and we don't have any problems.'
She said the agency is still waiting for funding from Congress and quoted Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta at a congressional hearing Wednesday stressing that the TSA needs money to move ahead with projects.
Ah, bureaucracy, don't you just love it. As usual, when a government agency fails to do it's job, it's becuase it "needs more money," or "more regulation/power is required for to be effective" -- it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the inherent unefficiency/incompetency of government bureacuracies, could it now?
Just one question,
Posted at 19:12 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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Check this out:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/
07/22/borderless.internet.ap/index.html
"Police in Italy didn't care that five Web sites they deemed blasphemous and thus illegal were located in the United States, where First Amendment protections apply. The police shut them down anyway in early July, simply by sitting down at the alleged offender's Rome computer. "
Yes, blasphemy is illegal in Italy, just as "hate speech" is illegal in France. Gotta love the Europeans, huh? No wonder the're in love with Palestinians...
In a tottaly unrelated story, a Russian jet full of kids on vacation slammed into a cargo jet:
"Ordered to climb higher by the electronic voice of the cockpit's automatic collision detector, the pilot of the children's plane obeyed the befuddled ground controller instead. The airliner dove head-on into a DHL cargo jet - a tragedy that might have been averted if people put more faith in machines"
Are people EVER going to learn to trust computers? Do it for the children!!!
Posted at 19:54 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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In between recovering from my rollerblading accident and studying for the GRE, I scanned in some more photos today. This bring the total number to some ungodly amount. (1170)
Check out the ones I took in Vegas
Also, I made the TAMULUG website this weekend. What do you think? I am also working on our satire site, www.movementarian.com, but that is staying under wraps until it goes live...
Posted at 22:15 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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The Center for the Moral Defense of Capitalism posted a "Supreme Court
Year in Review" for 2002 outlining decisions relevant to issues of individual rights. Interestingly, the court sided for individual rights in 55% of the cases, with Clarence Thomas (not suprisingly, my favorite justice) voting 75% for freedom.
So is 55% a positive trend? Yes, but the court should rule for liberty 100% of the time, and I doubt that it is enought to counteract the many anti-liberty actions of Congress, et all since Sept 11th. Still, I'm glad that there are people (kinda) on my side in high places.
Posted at 17:31 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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I got A's in my INFO and Logic classes! (Big suprize, huh?)
In other news, I compiled a Linux kernel and the associated OS from scratch at work over the last two days...fun stuff, only I need to be studying for the GRE instead of playing with computers....
oh, and I got up before class to swim two days this past week! Usually I barely make it to my morning classes as it is, so I was amazed myself.
Posted at 21:17 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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I found a quote I like on the web, which sumarizes my philosophy pretty well:
"What is is. Perceive it. Integrate it honestly. Act on it. Idealize it."
Posted at 01:37 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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I redesigned Laurel's Site for a totally new look and posted a totally new site, based on my INFO 209 Project, "A guide to compression for the Web"
Check out Laurel's Site
before
and
after!
Also, I am working on a new essay (several essays actually) called "Politics for the Unitiated"
A draft of its beginning's is currently up here.
Posted at 01:28 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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I finished my swimming class today, and I've really improved over the last few months, from dog paddling back and forth in the water to finally getting my freestyle technique down, learning how to do flip turns, and generally not looking totally incompetent in the water anymore. I was afraid of failing it when I started the class, as coditioning swimming is probably the hardest KINE class at A&M, but by the end I *almost* had an A, and would have if I had not taken it pass/fail.
Oh, and there are two other side effects -I finally started replacing some of those emergency supplies ..err fat I had been generating with muscle, and the endorphin induced high I get after workouts has been keeping me in relatively high spirits despite a very dull summer. Oh, and today, when I entered the outdoor pool, I could have sworn all the girls checked me out (or is it my speedos?) hehe
Posted at 01:41 by Dave :: Archived :: TrackBack :: comment[
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