Rebel Dawn

Testing the System

2010-08-17T16:36:00.001-07:00

Testing…testing one two three

me in halo 3

2010-04-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

2008-04-14T08:03:00.001-07:00

So i'm going to start blogging again. Haha don't believe me huh. Well tomorrow is my birthday and I'm going to drink this wine. Which is supposed t0 be pretty good

And its 2002 which will mean that the tannins will be nice and mellow.

Bitches love Sanskrit

2008-02-27T12:37:00.001-08:00

Thanks Penny Arcade...we all worship at your altar

Hulu.com

2008-02-06T13:30:00.001-08:00

Here is an exciting developement from the very studios that are trying to make you pay $40+ on a season of their subpar shows. Hulu.com is a website in beta that is trying to be the answer to network tv on the internet. At this point however, most illegal downloaders are not going to delete their torrent software or stop paying for their rapidshare account. But this is a move forward for the industry and hopefully they will open up Hulu.com to all consumers in the near future. For those who can't wait there is a site call Openhulu.com which puts up these videos that are luckily embedable. I hope you enjoy the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I have embedded here.

2007-12-10T16:26:00.000-08:00

I know that I haven't blogged lately but that's just life, isn't it? Here is most recent desktop...all themes and backgrounds are from customize.org..Enjoy!

Your brain on video games

2007-10-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

I thought this was interesting...and scary. Psychologists knocking video games especially halo 3 because there is more activity in your brain and that means that you are going to kill people. I especially liked one of the user comments which i will include. I am still looking for my plasma rifle.

TheBird Says: October 16th, 2007 at 7:25 am
ah, yes, i remember that “brain difference”.
the same EXACT change in activity occurs when playing a nonviolent game
seriously, when the original HALO came out like five years ago, then shouldn’t all those kids that grew up with it be out and about killing people?
maybe they’re just having trouble finding a plasma rifle

HEHE

Premiere Week

2007-09-30T09:06:00.000-07:00

Last week was premiere week on many networks and there were a lot of quality shows that premiered last week. Here are links to download high quality files that are rips from hd broadcasts. Each of these files is around 350 mb and megashares only gives you 250 mb at a time so you will have to use a download manager. Enjoy!

Kid Nation

Heroes

Chuck

Journeyman

Stargate Atlantis

The Office

My Name is Earl

Ugly Betty

ER

Bionic Woman

The Unit

House

Bones

Chuck

I will be posting my review of Halo 3 in the near future. Not owning a 360 it has been difficult to finish the game so i haven't posted until i finished it. Not that i am finished i will review all parts of the game. I am also going to start posting reviews of movies and television shows that i have been watching. Many tv shows i will review after i have watched the second episode of the season, especially new shows. I like to give them a chance to show themselves off. Thanks and may the force be with you.

Ode to a Conservative

2007-09-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

There you go Kurticus Maximus, I still got the magic!!!

2007-09-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the longer version of the Believe ad...much better than the short version...my girlfriend Charlotte said that she saw it on television today while baking cookies (entirely serious) so enjoy...more is to come on halo 3 and other topics. May the force be with you.

Halo 3, Star Wars, and my generation

2007-09-12T08:41:00.001-07:00

I am beginning to think that the imminent release of the greatest FPS of all time is a good reason why i should restart this blog. If anyone reads this thank you for actually caring. The news flooding from Bungie Studios has lately flown so thick and fast that hardly a day has gone by without some goodies coming from Bungie. Halo has, in the minds of many including myself, become the Star Wars of this generation. I know this phrase has been thrown around a lot lately, but I would like to quantify this statement. The original Star Wars Trilogy was a fanciful story of a small group of freedom loving rebels taking down a large evil empire. Much ink has been spilled on these movies' relation to real life, but even I, untrained as I am in the matters of film, can draw out the basic correlations. The time when the Star Wars movies came out was a time of great uncertainty in America. People wondered whether the US's supremacy in the world was at an end. It seemed that our struggle against the Soviet Union was going badly. Star Wars does not translate perfectly into the events of that time, but the struggle of the Rebels (America and the West) against the evil Galactic Empire (Soviet Union) was very indicative of the losing attitude many Americans had, especially after the loss in Vietnam.

Now is a different time with different problems. WE are unpopular in a world that seems to continually use "America" and what she is seen to stand for as a scapegoat. Terrorism has affected America in a very strong way and we are in a war at the heart of the beast that is growing more unpopular daily. The simple desperation of earth's plight is a welcomed tale in the complicated and morally muddled world in which we live. Our country was attacked without provocation in both Halo (while it is instead our entire world instead of just America) and on September 11th and in both tales we face an enemy that will stop only with our total destruction. There are heroes in both battles and while we honor our valiant woman and med at arms, especially those fallen in the field of battle, the United Nations Space Command has in Halo a man who embodies all this courage, honor and inhuman resolve and adds a liberal amount of kickass--Master Chief--Spartan-117--John. A recently released commercial for Halo 3 has an old man telling his story of being a marine during the Human-Covenant War and almost losing faith until the appearance of Master Chief. His myth is almost that of a god giving hope to those who have none. He is an icon of an age that needs hope and will gain it from one of the most unlikely places--a video game. I don't think that it is a coincidence that the Star Wars extended universe has added a similar story to the universe with the invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong in the New Jedi Order Series. Here, however, one finds what I would consider a much more complicated storyline with much greater moral ambiguities.

So when you are playing Halo 3 don't see it only as a game, but a deep allegory of the days in which we live--great days for courage and honor but also dangerous in their moral ambiguities.

May the force be with you as you finish the Fight.

Iraq

2007-04-21T09:22:00.000-07:00

Haven't been writing at all, but i think that this letter pretty much sums up the War in Iraq. It is written by a soldier serving there.

Senator Reid,

I am a US Army Reservist. I was activated in March 2005 and served on
FOB Abu Ghraib, Iraq from June 2005 until May 2006. I was First Sergeant
for a Medical Task Force responsible for all detainee health care in
Iraq. My unit was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for our
accomplishments and I received the Bronze Star for my achievements. I
certainly hope you can sense the pride I have in my unit and my service.
That pride will soon be stripped from me in defeat.

My father is a Vietnam veteran; a Captain in Saigon. Like me, he was a
volunteer and was awarded the Bronze Star. He began his tour when I was
two weeks old. While I was growing up, I heard over and over again in
classes from grade school well into college how the United States lost
the war in Vietnam. I wondered how he could be so proud in defeat. I see
now that it is happening to me how his pride and accomplishments were
stripped from him on a rooftop in soon-to-be Ho Chi Minh City.

The Democrats have wanted Iraq to become a Vietnam for George Bush from
the start. You, sir, finally have your Vietnam parallel. This war has
been pure politics for you and the Democrats. You have now conceded
defeat when the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Airmen
have not. And my children will have their parallel as well. They will
wonder how I can be so proud in defeat. The only question that remains
is whether my defeat will be a dramatic airlift off a rooftop or whether
it will be an impotent crawl across the Kuwait border.

From the beginning you and your ilk have sat on the sidelines, our
sidelines, declaring the immorality, illegality, and the futility of
your country's efforts. In emergency medicine there is an old saying; if
your patient believes he is dying, he probably will. Your stance on Iraq
will prove to be just that sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. To my
children, I will have to explain how the war was declared "illegal" by a
bunch of politicians who readily admit they didn't read the
authorization to use force that they signed. And how Hans Blix didn't
really declare that the inspections were working, only that they would
keep Hussein from doing too much. And how Hussein violated every
resolution the UN threw at him. And how the Democrats connived the US
into thinking the war was all about Big Oil and Haliburton without
batting an eye at the corruption surrounding Total Fina Elf, Yukos, and
the Oil for Food program. And that the only shred of illegality
surrounding the war is the lack of sanction by the very institution, the
UN, that sat by idly and allowed a brutal thug to buy their morality.

This loss will be compared to Vietnam, as you wish, but the loss will
not be mine. It will be yours. It will be Speaker Pelosi's. It will be
the Democrats' loss, forever and ever. In fact, since the Democrats'
conceded defeat in both Iraq and Vietnam when we were winning
militarily, the only Vietnam parallel you will likely achieve is how the
Democrats so readily accept defeat.

We are winning this war. Just look at the signs. The enemy cannot safely
wear uniforms, they cannot confront us directly, and instead they hide
amongst and target unarmed civilians. When they succeed in blowing up an
unsuspecting marketplace, they can count on you to dutifully deliver the
big sound bite about how the civilian body count is direct evidence that
the war is lost. Then you tell the same enemy that all they need to do
is kill more civilians and wait, kill more civilians and wait, kill more
civilians and wait. They were waiting for 2009 but, fortunately for
them, "elections have consequences."

This is not the 1960's or '70's. This is the information age and, sir,
there is simply too much information about this war that contradicts
your statements and actions. History will not be kind to you.

--
1SG Steven G. Cotton

Sub production

2006-11-13T12:10:00.000-08:00

Isn't this pathetic? Well it is.

Remeber when we followed the Russians?

2006-11-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a story that I had glanced at this morning, but Kurticus Maximus brought to my full attention. Supposedly, last month a Chinese submarine tracked an American aircraft carrier group. The article insists that the submarine got close enough to fire its missiles before it was detected. This story hasn't been in many other newspapers, but the premise is entirely valid. The lack of funding for further research into submarine warfare is a byproduct of winning hte cold war. While China continues to upgrade, modernize, and expand their naval capabilities we mothball some of the greatest ships that have ever been made. There have been plans by the Navy to maybe cut the U.S. submarine force down by almost 1/3.

The threat to the United States that is posed by the Chinese Navy is not just the imagination of warmongering conservatives. China's incursions into international waters have taken them closer and closer to the United States and our assets around the world. In Febuary 2005, Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld commented that the size of the Chinese fleet could surpass that of the United States in as little as a decade. "It is an issue that the department thinks about and is concerned about and is attentive to." Umm...sorry Rummy old boy, but it is past the time for concern. Even Germany has been developing new subs. This video shows their new sub which they have billed as the quietest sub in the world. Actually the Gotland class sub made by the Swedish is the quitest sub in the world; and it was made ten years ago.

The German captain in the video makes cruise missiles look like something that the Germans came up with yesterday. They been used on subs for almost fourty years.

And we should make subs just because they are cool. Yeah i am a neo-con. I don't mind our military scraping the boomers. They were a necessary evil, but i find myself feeling a lot safer now that we don't have huge subs stuffed full with nuclear weapons all over the world. They were never as fast or sexy as the fast attack boats anyways. So America, we need more subs. The next goal is to engineer a nuclear sub that is almost as quiet as a diesel working on batteries. Sometimes i miss the russians. At least back then we made awesome subs. The Chinese are not as dangerous as the Soviets are, but it would be a shame to lose a war based on bad politics. Screw the hungry. Build subs.

May the force be with you.

P.S.-Here are some cool links
http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/type_212/
http://mil.jschina.com.cn/huitong/han_xia_kilo_song.htm
http://www.military.com/NewContent/0,13190,NI_China_0303,00.html
This is a submarineers blog that is really cool. I plan to add it to my blogroll.
http://makeyourdepth.blogspot.com/

PSS-okay so we still do make attack subs. On September 9th, 2006, the USS Texas was commissioned. But we need more. Sorry if i sound greedy. Oh..and more aircraft carriers. What the hell guys?

Here is my second show

2006-10-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to my second show if you live in regan dorm...otherwise i don't have enough bandwidth.

All Nighter

2006-09-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

2:57 a.m.-Having weighed my options...the only one i find credible is that of an all nighter. I did not delay on writing my philosophy paper. O.k., that was a lie. But i did try. Philosophy papers have always hurt me in ways that not even words can express. So this three page paper packs a bit more punch than a similar length paper in a different class would. Come on! Let me write about terrorists. I could quote psychological profiles of different terrorists from memory. But I have, now at 2:55pm 2 full pages of my paper. The paper is actually 2-4 pages long, but mine will probably be a little over 3 pages. I also have a test in Chemistry for our Lives, granted an easy class but the amount of work has given me no time to study at all. So at this time i feel like i have lots of energy, i'm focused but a little lost in my paper. I will check back throughout this night so i can give a record of my activities. God grant me strength.

3:29 - Well i read all of my Chemistry stuff and there are a few things i have to look at again. Now time to get back to the paper. God help me.

4:02 - Well i wrote some profound things and i found a nice passage in C. S. Lewis to use, but the organization of the paper still is elusive to me. There is a cohesiveness to the piece but not enough. I talk more about what i can than what i need to. Started friending people and adding screennames to aim. Now reflecting and hoping that blogging will get my brain going. Oh yeah, already feeling a little more sleepy. Want to lay in bed. But i have the feeling that that could be bad. Like paper not done bad.

9:15: Well i got a lot done but not everything, and then i decided to take a short nap. Haha...goo morning children. But I am still so fucking tired. And i have work study after class.

Book Review

2006-09-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

You know I don't have much to say (writing a philosophy paper), so on the words of one Patrick Cavanaugh i looked at a revew of a book by James Carroll called An American Requiem. This is what a book revew should be.

One of the worst qualities of the Baby-Boom generation is their propensity to view their own personal concerns and desires as if they were universal moral imperatives. The most notorious
example of this was their opposition to the Vietnam War, during which they turned a perfectly typical lack of enthusiasm for warfare on the part of those who will actually have to do the fighting, into a sweeping judgment that the war was itself immoral.

This annoying trait has never been put on more ostentatious display than here in James Carroll's memoir about his tortured relationship with his father during the war years. Joe Carroll, who had quit the seminary just before his ordination as a priest, went on to become a lawyer, an FBI agent, an Air Force General, and the first director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Having judged himself unworthy to be a priest, he and his devout wife Mary placed their hopes in their sons, with James, after his older brother Joe contracted polio, becoming the natural choice to become a priest. James did go through the motions of joining the priesthood, though it's never clear from his narrative that he held any genuine religious beliefs, but as he became increasingly involved in the Catholic Left anti-War movement of the 60's & 70's, he eventually quit the Church. He has since become a bestselling novelist, a Boston Globe columnist, written this prize-winning memoir and has just written Constantine's Sword, a "historical" account of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church (see Orrin's review).

These are the bare bones of the story and they suggest a young man whose opposition to the immorality of the Vietnam War causes a crisis of faith. In point of fact, the War seems to have had little to do with Carroll's personal crisis, certainly its morality had nothing to do with it, instead the story he has to tell is that age old tale of youth rebelling against authority. I'm loathe to engage in psychoanalysis, being both unqualified and not much of a believer in its efficacy, but Carroll uses the term Oedipal so often and the book is cast so clearly in the form of an Oedipal drama that it's hard to avoid doing so. Start with the fact that he outdoes his father by actually becoming a priest, where Joe fell short; continue with the way that this profession figuratively wed him to his pious mother, whose entry to Heaven would be virtually guaranteed by virtue of having borne a priest; move along to his utter rejection of his father's profession and an eventual adoption of complete pacifism; then conclude with his decision to leave the priesthood after his father had been forced out of government and crippled by disease. It's hard to see how Vietnam actually matters to any of this psychodrama : had his Dad been a butcher, Carroll would have become a vegetarian, had he been a fireman, Carroll would have been an arsonist. This is a mere story of generational tension dressed up in the ennobling guise of a great moral struggle.

The most revealing aspect of Carroll's self-portrait and the account of the moral dilemma he supposedly faced as a result of the War is his complete failure to consider the consequences of peace on the Vietnamese people. His opposition to the War, as he himself depicts it, is almost exclusively a function of the fact that he's made uncomfortable by the means that were being used to conduct it. There is not a single word of consideration here of what would, and did, happen to the people of Vietnam once America withdrew. The moral calculus at work seems to be that it is better that Vietnam be destroyed by Communism than that a single American have to commit an act which will trouble his conscience. That is a perfectly honorable argument to make, and a necessary corollary of pacifism.

Even this shortcoming would not be so bad were it not for the impact it has on the rest of the book. But one result of his failure to treat this issue is that he ignores what was certainly a central motivation of Cold Warriors like his father. They certainly prosecuted the War because they had considered the consequences of not doing so and found these consequences unacceptable. While it is possible, perhaps even accurate, to argue that they were wrong in their determination, simple fairness requires that Carroll give them their due and look at their legitimate motivations. Deprived, by the author, of the beliefs that drove them, they are presented as one-dimensional characters whose sole purpose is to stand as convenient villains in Carroll's little morality play.

At one point in the book Carroll places the "blame" for American involvement in Vietnam on the Catholic Church and the advocacy for intervention of folks like Cardinal Spellman. Though delusional, this assertion is of a piece with his blaming the Holocaust on the Catholic Church, as he does in the aforementioned Constantine's Sword. One has, first of all, to be troubled by a man who attributes such power to an institution which after all represents a minority of the citizens of Germany and the United States and which has proven incapable of influencing those nations on such issues as birth control, and the like. Secondly, one can't help noticing that there's an element here of reenacting the Oedipal drama with his biological father, his rebellion now directed towards the figurative father, the Church, perhaps even God. The cumulative effect of these two books is to suggest that the greater problem lies not in the sins, real or imagined, of Joe Carroll and the Catholic Church but in the psychological conflicts of James Carroll.

Finally, Carroll claims to have arrived at the viewpoint that war is always unjust. How then would he square his concern over the Holocaust with this position ? He makes much over his obsession with the threat of nuclear war : but if we'd had the bomb in the late 30's or early 40's, or better yet, if Churchill had it, would Carroll really oppose dropping it on Hitler and the high command of the Nazi Party, no matter how many innocent civilian lives it would have claimed ? Would he really be unwilling to sacrifice 30,000 or 40,000 or however many in order to save the tens of millions who ended up dying during the War ? For an author who writes with such smug self-certainty about the purity of his own moral vision, and who is so eager to judge the moral failings of others, he somehow manages to avoid the really hard questions that his newfound philosophy raises. For all that these books are about the author himself, they ultimately reflect fairly little deliberation over the ramifications of the moral choices that he's made.

Which brings us to the final legacy of the Baby-Boom generation. They have succeeded brilliantly in rebellion, in rejecting the institutions, the morals, and the beliefs of their parents and the other generations that came before them. The problem they have left behind is what should replace the Judeo-Christian culture which they've done their best to destroy. Perhaps in this sense James Carroll's book is a signal text for his generation : just as he speaks eloquently about rejecting the faith of his fathers but falls silent about what has replaced it, his generation stands amidst the rubble they have created and have no idea what to erect in its place.

GRADE : D-

Addendum

2006-09-15T10:43:00.000-07:00

Addendum to last post:
Oh and i am sick of hearing about how Christians used to use religion for war. That was the past. At the time so did Muslims. Actually they used the sword to convert a lot more than the Christians. This PC bull has to stop. The only thing that matters is now. At this moment those charges don't hold. Get over the past.

The Religion of Peace

2006-09-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is just rich. Pope Benedict quoted a Byzantine emperor in a speech as saying, "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."' Obviously this is a reason for the Muslim's to riot. I would like to have that statement disproved. If we relied only on what happens everyday in the Muslim world, this statement would be proved. Maybe the statement was said in bad taste, but the idea of the Pope was not for the statement. I am listening to the BBC as I write this and a Muslim is saying that we should not have freedom of speech--that those who are form Nazi ideals should be silenced. That we don't understand Islam. Well teach me. Make me understand. Make me understand why the Muslim countries in the Middle East and elsewhere are so violent. Make me understand why so much is done in the name of God by Muslims that is evil and base. The argument that there are Christians who use religion for violence isn't a real argument. Have they killed thousands for the cause of God? Why can the west not even have intellectual arguments while the middle east can decend into violence and we are at fault. Riots over comments by the Pope and over cartoons show that the Middle East is heading to a fork in the road. Will they choose total destruction or will they pull from the edge. Eventually the world's patience with these "Muslims" who pervert religion in favor of violence will run out and the real action will start. Not the small attacks that the United States has made, but the fight for their own survival. This rant is from a man who is sick of having his country's hands tied while the Muslim world tears itself apart. This from a man who wonders when western moral restrain ends and the real fighting begins. May the force be with us all.

September 11th, 2006

2006-09-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

Today we remeber all we lost.
And we will never forget.
We will finish the fight.

Weekend

2006-09-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Ok..so i haven't posted in a while. Memboku it isn't really that i am busy (even though i am crazy busy), it is more that I am feeling lazy. Side effect of too much Plato.

Anyways I have had a very interesting weekend. On Saturday, I went to spend time on the National Mall for one of my friend's birthday. As we were walking up to the Lincoln Memorial, we stumbled on to a taping session for a movie. We found out that the movie is called The Kingdom and that the stars are Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner. And there they were. The movie itself is about Garner and Foxx who are FBI agents trying to unravel the mystery of who bombed an American building in the Middle East. My friends and I were actually in the movie because we were asked to walk in front of the camera as if we were tourists (I go to college here...i am no tourist!). So we may be in the movie if they take that shot.

I also happened upon (thanks sean) a post on the Cornell Society for Having a Good Time about woman ordinations. It seems some German bishop has started ordaining women in the US and even has a woman bishop. They still claim to be "Roman Catholic". Here is the video.

So anyways, it has been an interesting weekend. I promise i will be more regular in posting from now on. But damn do i get lazy. May the force be with you.

?????

2006-08-26T19:12:00.000-07:00

back at school...awesome

hmm

2006-08-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

thats all i can say

psp

2006-07-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

this is kind of cool
i am writing this post from a psp. right now i am sitting in a hotel room typing this post. i am in morgantown, wv waiting to do an unloading job tommorow. typing on this thing takes forever. i will give my take on this psp sometime later.
may the force be with you.

Using Flock

2006-07-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well i am now using Flock to try out some of its features. What I have found is both encouraging and depressing. First the positive.

Flock is the coolest thing I have used since I first used Firebird (early version of firefox). It has features that I wish had been part of Firefox from the beginning. To start off it has almost all of the positive attributes of Firefox. The only problems are small amounts of extensions and no themes. This is a problem that won't affect the browser for very long. Flock says on its website that it is bringing many of the Firefox extensions over to Flock. Forcast Fox and others are already available. They are also setting up a feature that will convert the extensions on the fly. No mention of the themes could be found, but since there is a theme tab on the website I assume they will have some in the near future. The browser only came out this month.

The best feature of the browser is the attempt that it makes to work better with the web 2.0 initiative. For a definition look to my last post. They do this in a myriad of ways. One tool i especially like is the bloggin tool. It allows you to write posts for most major blogs, including blogger and livejournal. This is useful because you don't have to log onto the blogger interface and can write the blog before you even connect to the internet (great for dialup users).

There is also a feature that allows the user to organize and upload photos. You can upload to Flickr and Photobucket. This is a good feature though not one that i would use that much.

Another imporant feature is the news feature. It is a built in way of better organizing rss feeds. I have not use this that much so I will have to examine it furthur.

More information about Flock will be posted on the next post.

Blogged with Flock

Web Browser War

2006-07-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

I more than anyone can appreciate a well designed web browser. Growing up in the dark days when one could only choose between Internet Exploreer and Netscape, the current diversity of choices in the browser market is a welcome change.

Nowadays there are loads of browsers. A search on Wikipedia turned up dozens of different browsers. For example there is ManyOne, based on the Gecko engine on which Firefox is written. Avant Browser which is based on the Trident engine that was developed by Microsoft for Internet Explorer. Despite this huge amount of different web browsers there are three major browsers in use. They are Internet Explorer which comes with the Windows operating system, Firefox, and Opera. Despite the yells of the anti-microsoft crowd's, the new version of Internet Explorer, IE7, has solved most of the security and functionality problems that plagued the earlier versions. Microsoft had grown settled in their position at the head of the market and Firefox's assention caused them to rethink their strategy.

Though i am a fan of the Firefox browser, if Microsoft or anyother company makes a better product i will jump ship. In the fastpaced environment of the internet there is no room for undeserving favorites. I used Firefox from the beginning, first in 2003 when it was called Firebird and then when it was called phoenix. It seems like a long time ago.

I will write further when i have further researched this topic and it is an earlier hour. Extreme Tech has a comprehensive and fair article looking at these different browsers. Read it.

Another test that i find kind of revealing is one that shows how well the browser uses the internet standards that have been agreed upon. Many of these standards are not in use, but as the internet grows up they will eventually be put into use. Webstandards.com has a test to see if a browser can use all of these standards. This is the picture that the page is supposed to make.

This is how Firefox fared.

Not bad but not perfect. Now we look at the abysmal IE 6.0.

Yeah...no wonder half the world stopped using internet explorer. Extreme Tech's test found that Opera 8 performed better than even Firefox, rendering the page perfectly.

Another problem is that the only thing that still sets Firefox apart from the others is the extentions that have been made. Even in the upcoming change to Firefox 2, there are relatively few changes. A new browser call Flock, built on top of Firefox, is trying to give a more multimedia based approach to the internet. Flock is an attempt to bring about the standard of Web 2.0. I would love to explain this concept but I will let Wikipedia do it instead.

The term Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass participation (web-based social software). The concept may include blogs and wikis.

So I will test Flock and tell you what I think. Until Tomorrow. It is quite the time for bed. May the force be with you.

Halo Movie

2006-07-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

I have been a fan of the bungie's Halo video game series since the day it came out. No other first person shooter has the level of play or has captured my imagination in quite the same way. So i have been eagerly awaiting word about the new Halo movie. Well there is some new news on the movie; both good and bad.

First the bad news.

It seems that production has been delayed and now the movie is going to come out some time in 2008. That sucks. Rumor also has it that alex garland's script, bought from him by Microsoft for $1 million may not be used. Alex Garland doesn't have that impressive a record on script writing so i really don't care. D. B. Weiss might take up the script instead. This could be bad for two reasons. One is that it will further delay the movie which already won't come out at the earliest until my junior year. Secondly, Weiss doesn't have any past writing according to IMDB, but he is writing the script for Ender's Game movie, which i didn't know was coming out, but will be awesome.

The good news is that the rumor is that Denzel Washington will play Master Chief. Oh yeah.

I thought about that for about half a second and I know that his voice is perfect for the part. Hopefully this is more than a rumor.

I can just see Master Chief sticking C4 up someone's butt.

Priceless.

And Michael Jackson is still executive producter.

Awesome.

My Computer Woes

2006-07-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't posted anything of substance in months and nothing of real value in weeks, I think an explanation is in order. First off, I am running a dial up connection (AOL actually) that ties up the only phone line into my house. Thus it is important for me to get on and off of the Internet as fast as possible. For those who haven't had to deal with a dial up on a day to day basis, lets just say the internet becomes less than enjoyable.

I have also had computer problems. For those who have seen my ancient machine which until recently has run windows me understand what I am talking about. I recently had the brilliant idea to switch my computer over to Windows XP, an upgrade years in the making. I have developed an irrational attachment to ME operating system. I am seeing a doctor and am undergoing therapy for my condidtion.

Tangents aside I was trying to dual boot both XP and ME. I put XP on my old 4.3 Gb hard drive from my old Gateway 233 Mhz Pentium II (oh memories) and it worked for about a day. I had all my programs loaded, my background set up, my favorites transferred, everything. Then the next morning I turned my computer on. When it got to the part of the boot sequence where it usually asks which operating system would turn my fancy it instead said, “S.M.A.R.T. error on hard drive 0. Failure is imminent.” Well, so much for all the work i had just put into the computer the previous day. My consolation was that the failure of the hard disk wasn't my fault. The disk was nine years old and drives are supposed to last 3-5 years at the most.

After that particular snafu, I was still planning on putting Windows XP on my computer. So I passed the point of no return, transferred all my data onto CD's and formatted my 50 Gb hard drive that had Windows ME on it. I loaded Windows XP Professional on this hard drive and I once again had it set up just right (unfortunately all my Extensions, Themes, and Bookmarks on Firefox were gone. Guess what happened. I, in all of my wisdom, had taken my computer apart waiting for a new case from NewEgg.com (more on that fiasco later) and so my power supply, dvd-rom, and hard drives were sitting outside of my case. I jumped into my chair to use my running computer and .....blackout. The computer turned off and i had to wait a little while till the Power Supply would come back on. Then I found out that my hard drive was deader than the Via 133 chipset. The thing wouldn't even spin up. So that is how I killed two hard drives in four days.

I have ordered a brand new sata hard drive and a PCI add-on card so i can run it on my computer. This hard drive is 250 Gb and is the fastest 7,500 Rpm hard drive in this category. I wanted bigger, but this hard drive was $90 and anything larger would cost exponentially higher amounts of money. The new Seagate 750 Gb hard drive caught my eye, but the $400 price was a bit high. So there is a diamond in the rough in this little computer drama. The hard drive comes tomorrow.

I have another interesting computer story I wish to tell (if you are still reading Kurticus Maximus, I promise I am almost done). I bought a case from New Egg about a month ago. It was only $55 dollars and it was recommended by Maximum PC (excellent computer magazine...by the way) and it had comparable features of a case that was 2 or even 3x the price. Well i received it and, by the hand of Zeus, it was broken. The connectors of the front cover were cracked. So thinking that the price to ship the case back would be comparable to the $16 I originally payed to get it shipped, I went to UPS only slightly upset. The $16 dollars I payed originally was for three-day shipping. At UPS the cheapest and slowest option cost me $33. Well i bit my tongue and payed for the shipping that would allow my package to reach New Egg in a week and a half. When they finally got the package they told me that they were out of the cases so they would refund my money instead of sending a new one for free. Fine, I thought. But they only refunded the price of the case and not the price of shipping. So I lost on that little adventure a grand total of $49 dollars and I have nothing to show for it. Indirectly this also led to the death of my hard drive for if i would have received the case, the hard drive would have been safe and snug and in no danger of accidental destruction. And it seems that i am the only person who has had these problems with new egg, so i bought my hard drive from them to give them a second chance (and because they are the cheapest).

Fwoooooo......

It seems that i have written my longest post on the premise of why i haven't been writing on my blog. Isn't that funny.....

More on my life and where i was this fourth on my next post. I know everyone is dying to find out.....

And if you read please comment. I don't care if you tell me truthfully how much proof this post gives of my idiocy.....

And I am still planning on getting that case when New Egg gets a shipment. Yes....its that cool. External SATA anyone?

May the force be with you......

Oh...and by the way Intel's Conroe CPU's are going to be sick...that is all.

Computers in Japan

2006-06-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

ummm....well there really isn't much to say.

yeah i know you don't have to use it to look at the hair on your head. But doesn't that seem to be the selling point of the thing? Look at the Japanese man who is so happy with his new computer microscope. And I thought we Americans made all of the stupid peripherals for computers. Just make sure Jack there doesn't take that thing too far south. And may the force be with you.

yeah

2006-06-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

Okay.

I have very little to talk about because my mind is mush at 11:00 at night. I guess i can talk about what I have been doing during the summer. Well i wake up every morning at six o'clock to go to my job. I work for a moving company. I move furniture, boxes, and the occasional piano and pool table. They are heavy.

This job has brought the fact to light that i actually enjoy physical labor. I enjoy it much more than i actually enjoy desk jobs. There is nothing as satisfying as going home after a long day on the job (last week i worked 13 hours on monday and tuesday) sweaty, smelly, but happy that you accomplished something while keeping healthy.

I am also working on my computer. I would not like to speak ill of New Egg, but i think i should. I ordered a cased from new egg a week and a half ago. It was a less expensive case but it had some impressive features and it came with a 9 rating from Maximum PC. I am in the middle of making some gradual (i mean really gradual) updates to my old pc. A new case is an visually pleasing change, and it doesn't cost that much. When i recieved the case i found out that it was broken. Three of the plastic connectors on the front panels were broken. Otherwise it was a beautiful case. The way it was broken, it had to have been broken before they even packaged it so it was not the shipping's fault. I had payed all together with shipping a little more than $70 for the case. I could have purchased a more expensive case, but i decided to be frugal as my Dutch ancestors would have wanted it. New Egg will replace the computer, but the cheapest shipping back possible was 33 dollars. Hell, the shipping to my house was 16 bucks. I will hold judgement however, because the case is cool and i trust in new egg. They owe me. Here is the link for the case i got. Kurticus Maximus, you know it rules. Well i am tired so i will write tomorrow. I promise (haha!) that is will be tomorrow. May the force be with you.

I'm back

2006-06-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

Man. It has been forever. Does anyone still read this?

No matter.

It has been nearly a month since I last wrote and there are many things that have grabbed my attention since then. I would like to split these up into separate entries on the my blog though they are all going to be written in a short period of time.

They will be divided into the following categories: Literature, Politics, Wisdom/Reflections, Technology, Current Events (In my life). Will be a post shortly. If you do read a post would you please give a message. This will tell me that at least someone is reading. Thanks. God bless. May the force be with you.

E3--Day One and Two

2006-05-11T18:26:00.001-07:00

Well I missed the first day of E3. Thats what you get when you don't have broadband connection. I see Kurticus Maximus hasn't posted about it on his blog. Shame on you! Anyways, E3 has been as exciting as expected. The big news is about the consoles--Wii (the name is sort of growing on me) and the Playstation 3--have been strutting their stuff in front of the populace. The prices for the Playstation 3 are quite scary. $499 for the 20gb model and $599 for the $60 gb model. Even the promised Blu-ray capability will not save them now. Kurticus, it doesn't look good for the Playstation. When you can get the top model of the xbox 360 for $399, boasting (for all practical purposes)the same graphics, playstation 3 is going to be a hard sell.

Wii has also drawn huge amounts of attention and is the talk of the convention. There has been much talk (well at least at CUA) that this time around it isn't going to be a competition between the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and the Wii. Instead it will be between the Playstation and the Xbox and many will buy a Wii on the side. Wii is great because of the ability to play old Nintendo games, the games we all grew up with and played to death ( I will take on anyone at Duck Hunt--come on Bring It!) and the other systems are great because of the ability to push the boundaries of graphics and bringing the PC and the console closer together.

If the Final Fantasy dynasty decides to branch out to other consoles (namely Xbox 360) there will not be even any competition. I was on the bandwagon with Xbox when it was only an ugly black box that had one kickass game (Halo of course). Back then Playstation 2 had many more good games than the Xbox but today the tables are turned. Xbox had the early release. Xbox has loads of great games on the market with many more on the way. Xbox has a superb OS that shows that the folks at Microsoft do know how to program. Xbox also looks better (what the hell was Playstation thinking?) and it has a perfect controller (They should come out with a wide model too--for those of us with the big hands). Sony retreated from the boomerang controller at E3 and went back to the original controller. Stealing some features from Wii isn't going to save Sony (you thought of it first right?). Xbox 360 will triumph. Now only if they can make Vista not just a buggy copy of OS X. We can only hope.

May the force be with you.

Evil Woman

2006-05-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Man do they make a couple

Meet the ASUS P5WDG2-WS. It will fulfill all of your Crossfire and SATA needs. Be a pal and unite the ASUS and the Raptor. They were meant to be together.

Pure Lovin'

2006-05-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

I really don't have to say anything. Meet the Raptor X--the most beautiful hard drive in the world.

Tattoos

2006-04-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a follow-up post to Kurticus Maximus's post on Asian character tattoos. Here is Red vs. Blue's take on the situation of tattoos. Have fun and watch Red vs. Blue.

Israel--Part I--Israeli Settlements

2006-04-23T23:35:00.000-07:00

One of the most contentious issues today in international politics is that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this ongoing conflict, one of the most controversial issues has been that of Israeli settlements in the West bank and Gaza Strip. To understand this issue, one must understand the long history between these two people that has led up to the current conflict. There is a myriad of reasons for this long conflict including reasons historic, religious, cultural and economic.

To truly understand the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis, it is important to understand thousands of years of history between these two groups, both in their religious and ethnic capacities. Both religions regard this area as their Holy Land and consider the land to be given to them by God. A more digestible understanding can be found in an understanding of the modern history of this area. The history of modern Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and the Sinai Peninsula began with the Six-Day War of 1967. Before this war, the separate areas were administrated by three Arab countries; Jordan, Egypt, and Syria.

There were many reasons that led up to the Six-Days war. Among them was a heightening of military activity by Syria, Egypt and Jordan on their border with Israel. This pattern of military aggression, the blockading of Israeli Ports, and the rhetoric of the annihilation of the Israeli state brought the old conflict to a head with Israel’s preemptive attack on Egypt’s air force. This war lasted six days before Israel won, sustaining minimum causalities. Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, however, took heavy causalities and their military forces were in tatters. At the time of the ceasefire, Israel had taken over the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and the Sinai Peninsula. These areas were put under military administration while waiting for a peace settlement. Not long after the war, however, the Arab countries at the Khartoum Arab Summit agreed that there would be "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel." Without a peace agreement, Israel held on to the administration of these territories.

Since this time, there have been major changes in the status of the different territories. The Golan Heights was under military rule until 1981, when civilian law was extended to this territory. In 1982, Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt, and in the mid-1990’s after the Camp David Accords Israel returned captured East Bank territory to Jordan. Recently Israel also disengaged completely from the Gaza Strip, turning the administration of this territory over to the Palestinian Authority.

This historical basis gives a solid foundation for understanding the settlements and the conditions that allowed these settlements to continue to survive. Once these territories were under Israeli control, many Israeli settlers moved to live in these territories. Many of these settlers moved to old Israeli settlements that were abandoned after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. There are a variety of different types of settlements in these areas. These range from Jewish neighborhoods coexisting with Arab neighborhoods in the same city to “wildcat” outposts, consisting of trailers and even tents on Palestinian lands with little or no legal recognition. Today the settlements only exist in the territory know as the West Bank. In terms of populated land, there are settlements on less than 2 percent of the West Bank. The majority of these settlers live in settlements that are close to the pre-1967 state of Israel.

One of the most contentious issues regarding the settlements is their legality. The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids an “Occupying Power” to “transfer parts of its civilian population into the territory it occupies." This is the main argument used against the legality of the Israeli settlements. The UN Security Council passed a resolution in 1979 declaring the settlements in the “occupied” territories illegal. Since that point they have repeatedly stated that the settlements are a barrier to the peace process.

There have also been continuing assertions that the settlements are not only illegal, that there is an unjust system of laws in the territories.. The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B'Tselem, is an Israeli human rights organization that holds such an opinion. They claim that in the “occupied territories” there is a “separation cum discrimination regime, in which [Israel's government] maintains two systems of laws, and a person's rights are based on his or her national origin." According to B'Tselem, this “discrimination” consists of the seizure of Palestinian lands and their not having the same rights that the settlers are given by the government. They are denying “the right to housing, to gain a living, and freedom of movement."

Israel's defense for the legality of the settlements has been that the principle set forth in the Geneva Conventions was meant to prevent forcible displacement of a local population. Most of the settlers made settlements in areas in which no one was living. They also maintain that because the West Bank and the Gaza strip have not been part of a sovereign country since the Ottoman Empire fell after World War I these territories are not covered under the convention. They are not considered “occupied” territories, they are “disputed” territories. It is more of a matter of which mandate is the one that one recognizes. If one follows the Palestine as drawn up through the British Mandate than Israel is merely taking back its land.

It can also be argued that the settlements are not the catalysts for the reoccurring violence. It can be argued that the goal of the Arab majority executed through the PLO is the end of the Israeli state entirely. When the first Jewish immigrants came to Palestine beginning in the 1920's, they were quickly met with violence and persecution by the Arab majority in the area. Since that time there has been an large active campaign against the continuing existence of the Israeli state throughout the Middle East. Israel has been forced repeatedly to fight wars against its Arab neighbors to maintain its sovereignty.

A more pragmatic defense to the allegations of being a barrier to the peace process is presented by the website Palestine Facts. They point to the fact that Israel has repeatedly agreed to temporary halts in the growth of the settlements when it was obvious that this would help the peace process. The repeated regression back to terrorism among the Palestinians has stopped such actions. This more than the protection of the settlers is given as a major reason for the heavy Israeli military presence in the “occupied” territories. Israel has repeatedly maintained that they will not negotiate with the PLO if they continue to support terrorist actions. When the PLO finally recognized the Israeli government in 1993, the Israeli government immediately recognized the PLO as the official representative of the Palestinian people.

Despite continual indications that the Palestinian leadership did and does not want a peace with Israel, the recognition of the governments was followed up with the Oslo accords. The Oslo Accords were meant to diffuse the situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Israelis agreed to gradually transfer territory and political power to the Palestinian Authority. The PLO agreed to establish an democratic government that would administer the territory. They also agreed to the temporary presence of Israeli settlements pending future negotiations. The ensuing violence and distrust on both sides, even during the accords themselves, led to the derailment of the peace process. Violence ensued on both sides, most notably on the Israeli side with the murder of 29 Muslims praying at the Cave of the Patriarchs. On the Palestinian side, suicide bombings against civilians and settlers further destabilized the region. Israel also allowed the settlements to continue to expand.

Numerous treaties and accords have been signed since 1967, including the Oslo Accords and the Camp David Accords, that have also had limited effects on ending the continuing violence in the region. The cycle of violence with the Palestinians attacking civilian targets and then the Israeli military destroying homes and lives in their search for the terrorists has continued to plague this region. Despite these numerous setbacks, the Israeli government gave all administration of the Gaza Strip over to the Palestinian Authority in September of 2005, with the displacement of over 10,000 Israelis from the Gaza and parts of the West Bank. This demonstrates a very strong disposition toward peace from the Israeli government, even when such a move is not popular.

There are many reasons why Israel is interested in continuing to control the remaining territories. One reason is a deep cultural and religious love for the land. The West Bank, known historically as Judea or Samaria, had been the ancestral home of the Jewish people for centuries. Their love for the country goes beyond their own personal experience in the land. For both sides, this goes beyond just a love of a land to a historical struggle to take back what God has promised them.

There are other important questions one must ask about the settlements. What kind of support does the Israeli government give to the settlers? How much influence do the settlers have over the Israeli government? An official Israeli government report published in March of 2005 found that members of the Israeli government have been redirecting millions in currency to settlers to build settlements in the West Bank. According to state prosecutor Talia Sasson, this was a “blatant violation of the law” and that “drastic steps” needed to be taken to stop this state of affairs. The report found numerous specific illegal actions. The housing ministry gave 400 trailers for outposts on Palestinian land. The defense ministry approved the placement of trailers to start new outposts. The education ministry paid for the teachers at these outposts. The energy ministry connected these outposts to the electrical grid. Roads were also constructed that were paid for with taxpayer money.

Support for the settlements has been strong even at the highest levels of government. When Ariel Sharon was Foreign Minister under Binyamin Netanyahu, he publicly urged settlers to take the hilltops in the West Bank in order to prevent the continuity of the Palestinian land and prevent an eventual Palestinian state. He said, “Let everyone get a move on and take some hilltops! Whatever we take, will be ours, and whatever we don't take, will not be ours!" This strong support for the settlements in both legal and illegal capacities is in some part based on the strong influence the settlers have within the government. The local government of the settlements, the Yesha Council, has a very strong lobby within the Knesset, the Israeli legislative body. There is also a large amount of support for the settlements among Israelis living in Israel proper. Even though a majority of Israelis support the dismantling of the settlements, the supporters of the settlements are vocal and actively engaged in working to accomplish their goals. Israelis are more sympathetic to the cause of the settlers because of the actions of the Muslim extremists and the suicide bombers.

Beyond losing land that they believe is theirs, there are many other problems that the Palestinians have with settlements in the “occupied” territories. One of the most recent developments in the Arab-Israeli conflict has been the construction of barriers to surround the different settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli government maintains that these barriers were raised in order to protect the settlers from harm. The settlements, however, are inconvenient for the Palestinians who live in the West Bank. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 10.1% of the West Bank is on the Israeli side of the barrier. Many of the Palestinians in the area will have lessened access to schools, family, and their jobs.

To secure the settlements, Israel also has in place a system of security checkpoints to help secure the settlements. Unfortunately, these checkpoints along with the security barrier restrict Palestinian freedom of movement and are seen by a majority of Palestinians to be humiliating and degrading. This is an opinion that is not only held by Palestinians. Israel Defense Forces' Judge Advocate General, Major General Dr. Menachem Finkelstein states that “there were many – too many – complaints that soldiers manning the checkpoints abuse and humiliate Palestinians." This also hampers economic activity in the West Bank and freedom of movement for the Palestinians. The repeated use of curfews in major metropolitan areas is also a point of contention. Israel maintains that these curfews are sometimes necessary for security, while they restrict freedom of movement for thousands of Palestinians.

Today the settlements question stands at a crossroads. The recent Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip has shown Israel's willingness to compromise on the issue of settlements. The fate of the settlements in the West Bank is still up in the air, though it does not seem likely that Israel will surrender those settlements in the near future. The incapacitation of Ariel Sharon, the leader of the Israeli government, by a stroke ended the career of a man who was popular with the Israeli people and one who seemed to believe in the peace process. It is unknown in what direction the future prime minister will take Israel. Another recent development that could have far reaching affects on the peace process is the Palestinian Authority's recent elections. In the recent election, Hamas gained control of the Palestinian government. Hamas, an organization that wing that carries out terrorist attacks, has taken a hard line tone in its line towards Israel. The United States and the European Union have stopped their aid to the Palestinian National Authority in response to this development. It remains to be seen how the PNA will respond to this development.

Rebel Dawn

Kurt you are going to love this

2006-04-22T06:52:00.000-07:00

Survey--Isn't it fun?

2006-04-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

Last Cigarette: No smokes for me

Last Alcoholic Drink: March 24th

Last Car Ride: Last night

Last Kiss: Don't kiss and tell

Last Good Cry: Long time ago

Last Library Book: two weeks ago

Last book bought: Rebel Dawn-Star Wars

Last Book Read: 1776 by David McCullough

Last Movie Seen in Theatres: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Last Movie Rented: Heat

Last Cuss Word Uttered: (I don't write that in my blog)

Last Beverage Drank: water

Last Food Consumed: Crispy Chicken sandwich

Last Crush: umm...right

Last Phone Call: 10:00 yesterday

Last TV Show Watched: 24 (the president is sooooo guilty)

Last Time Showered: This morning

Last Shoes Worn: brown ones i am wearing now

Last CD Played: Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory

Last Item Bought: McDonalds food

Last Download: Linking Park music

Last Annoyance: oh so many things

Last Disappointment: Myself

Last Soda Drank: Pepsi

Last Thing Written: Paper for English 105

Last Key Used: Gave up the things for lent

Last Words Spoken: “Good night"

Last Sleep: Last night

Last Ice Cream Eaten: Strawberry--long time ago

Last Chair Sat In: Office chair – the type with wheels

Last Webpage Visited: http://www.netvibes.com

Now Youtube in flash embed

2006-04-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Title says it all

Hahaha

2006-04-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

A addendum to the last post. You have to hear this.

The torpedo is supposed to be able to evade radar. Oh yeah!!!!

And they have a ship/plane that is suppose to evade radar and launch missiles. This is beyond belief. The Defense department memo on the subject was just short of laughing at the Iranians. How stupid do they think we are?

Iranian Jihad

2006-04-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

Oh Iran. You make me laugh sometimes.

On Friday Iran announced that they had developed a long range ballistic missile that is capable of reaching Israel and the US military bases in the area. The worry is that these missiles could carry nuclear materials. Iran's state-owned news station reported that these missiles cannot be shot down by any missile defense system.

Right.

It gets better. On Monday Iran announced that it had developed a torpedo that no ship can evade from.

Nice. Good job Iran. You have accomplished what the US and Russia couldn't do at the height of the Cold War.

The United States has the most advanced military technology in the world. The Patriot missile system is the most advanced SAM system ever in production. But Iran has a missile that it can't shoot down.

The point of a torpedo is that no ship can escape it. That is why ships have countermeasures to destroy the torpedo. Even if the Iranians have made a torpedo no ship can escape from. I didn't realize that Iran had submarines.

I think today Iran will announce a Jihad that no one can escape from. Proudly built using Iran's advanced military technology. We'll be waiting though.

Remember Iran; you only can tease a tiger so much before you get mauled. Don't tease this tiger.

Terrorist going Down!!!!

2006-04-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Moussaoui's ass is grass. We can execute him. Bring out the comfy chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Russia with Love

2006-03-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

This is beautiful. Oh Cold War, where have you gone?

This article is big news. It seems that the Russian foreign minister gave Iraq exact counts of our military in the days before the war. Exact tank counts and parts of the attack plans were given to the Iraqi government. More on this as it becomes available.

Afghani Christian

2006-03-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

Update on last post: The Afghani man is expected to be released. Will explain how this happened later when more information comes to light. MSNBC gave news.

A medley

2006-03-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

I do love Fox and Friends. It is one of the few shows that I can watch at my internship without having to take notes. Unless, that is, there is LIBERAL BIAS. In other words, no notes.

Also, the wife of the murdered minister has been found and the children are safe. She has confessed to shooting her husband and will be charged with the murder of her husband.

Another interesting story that could have long reaching effects on our influence in the Middle East. In Afghanistan, a man who converted to Christianity 15 years ago is being put on trial and will likely be sentenced to death. On Friday, clerics through Afghanistan have called for the death of the man, Abdul Rahman, 41. Western nations have come almost unanimously to the aid of the man, though the judge in the case says that he will follow the law in this case. Austria, the current head of the EU, has said that they will "leave no stone unturned to protect the fundamental rights of Abdul Rahman and to save his life." Condoleezza Rice has been trying to appeal directly to the Afghan President Hamid Karzai to have a "favorable resolution" to this conflict. The Islamic law does say that if someone does convert from Islam, they will die. After all the work, blood, sweat and money we have put into Afghanistan, we deserve to see something better than this out of the country that was seen as a sucess story. If this execution goes forward, as it seems it will, then we should cut all aid off from Afghanistan. The rest of the western world should do the same.

More later....

Dubai Ports

2006-03-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

I have put this off long enough. For years liberals have preached, sometimes blatantly and sometimes quietly, that conservatives are really racists because of the lack of support of such programs as affirmative action. I have never believed that such a thing is true of my conservative brothers. I am not so sure anymore.

The blockage of the Dubai Ports taking over six American ports by Congressional Republicans was one of the most disgusting and xenophobic action that I have had the misfortune of living through. Using the shield of national security, Congressional Republicans and Democrats blocked the deal without knowing any of the security considerations about the case.

Dubai Ports is owned by the United Arab Emirates, one of our most important allies in the War on Terror. Before 911, the United Arab Emirates was an ally of Afghanistan. This, along with terrorist money being funneled through the United Arab Emirates, is the reason why the Congressmen balked at this deal. After 911, however, the United Arab Emirates has been an irreplaceable ally in operations against Iraq and Afghanistan. They have allowed us use of their ports and airfields. Being an ally of the United States has made them highly disliked in the Middle East. And how do we repay such a debt? We deny them a contract on our ports that we allowed our ally Britain to have which has nothing to do with security.

This has also made me question the people of this nation. In a recent survey, only 17% of Americans believed that Dubai Ports World should have been given the contract. 63% believe that they should not be given the contract. The only consolation is that the College Republicans at my school, The Catholic University of America, made a group on facebook called "Conservatives Sane on Dubai." This is a group of Republicans that are against the ridiculous xenophobia that has gripped our country. I have been for profiling in some cases because Arabs make up the largest majority of the terrorists. But what we have done to our ally is unforgivable and criminally reprehensible. Moral of this story: Not all Arabs are terrorists. Case closed.

For another take on this deal, look to Kurticus Maximus.

May the force be with you.

Star Wars Revelations

2006-02-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

For those who care.

This is a fifty minute independent star wars movie that is set to take place between the third and fourth movie. It is decent, especially in the battle scenes. Enjoy!

Only in Los Angeles

2006-02-21T08:18:00.000-08:00

It seems that part of Los Angeles has been attacked by a gooey, tarry like substance that is buckling roads and shifting foundations.

The slime from Ghostbusters 2 anyone?

The article from LA Daily News found here, even says that it is a "Slimer-like ooze". It has made one road buckle one and a half feet and the foundation of building from the 1930's has shifted 1 foot. Talk about crazy.

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters

Where is a proton pack when you need one?

Flash Love

2006-02-19T11:24:00.000-08:00

I do love flash. This is a motherboard flash file from http://www.go-l.com. These guys make the craziest computers that money can buy. That is unless you are in the market for a deep think or big blue.

Oh and a real post is in the works. Sorry readers.

2006-02-18T16:02:00.000-08:00

Here is something really cool. Embedded flash video from google video. Here is our president giving the state of the union.

Why think?!

2006-02-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

This could take a while.

I was originally going to talk about Cheney giving a guy a mouth full of lead, Saddam is going to starve himself to death (as if we really are going to lose sleep over that), and the cartoon attacks (for an singularly kick-ass article on that issue click here), among other things. However a story that has greater impact on my own life has come to light and I need to rant.

I have come to a point in life where I can respect those who differ in opinion with me (right). It was a long and arduous journey, but here I am (I did not know there were so many ways to get AIDS). Though I am very sure of my own opinions the beauty of this nation is that other people, no matter how misguided, can spew their own incendiary B.S. But when someone (who has, by the way, a Ph.D.) constructs an argument about an important era in World/Church history bases his argument on one fictional account and then attempts to discredit every historical figure of authority during this period I do, on occasion, become mildly upset. To be fair to this man, Dr. Steven Wright, it was not as bad as all that, but it came pretty close.

The class by Dr. Wright that I am taking is the course called Charlemagne to Chaucer. It is the second course of an humanities honors track about the history of the Christian world. The teacher who taught the first course, Jesus to Muhammad, was excellent though maybe a little dry. I had high hopes for a course on the Middle Ages, since it is one of my favorite eras of history. The hopes were shot, stabbed, blown up, disemboweled, and drawn and quartered. To begin with, the material is not studied in any chronological order. OH NO!! That would be too intelligent. Instead, we are doing it by categories. Part of our grade is to make a timeline so that we can keep all the information in order.

You can't study history out of order

Half the time I (and some others that I have talked to) cannot keep the dates straight. This could come from the fact that we will move from 1284 to 1129 within one class and there will be no warning. This could be from the fact that Dr. Wright is not a professor of History or Medieval Studies. He is instead an English professor (what the f*&^?).

OKAY....... I believe his tendency toward looking at history through books (it was the dark ages--that means the arts were in recess) makes him miss some parts of history. One of the books that we read was The Song of Roland. Dr. Wright took every chance he could to poke fun at those silly Franks who admired Roland, despite the obvious fact that this story couldn't be true. Hilarious though it may seem, I am of the opinion that the Franks enjoyed the story of Roland and even sang the poem as a rallying cry during the Crusades because a heroic figure like Roland gave hope and confidence to those fighting the Muslims because they were fighting for God.

Don't be silly

Dr. Wright also couldn't understand why we would like Roland because of his great pride. Not giving in or taking quarter does appeal to my sense of honor and courage. That might play a role.

Today took the cake. We are studying the French romantic poem Yvain and Dr. Wright was convinced that this poem showed a marked change in the character of the Medieval Knight. In Roland the knight was fighting the enemy on a battlefield, in Yvain the knight is winning the hearts of damsels and going off into quests against dragons and so forth. Though these poems are only separated by around 75 years the entire nature of knighthood has changed. I asked Dr. Wright point blank "Did the role of knights change that completely in 75 years." He answered yes immediately and then went back to his tirade. Never mind the fact that there was a Crusade going on at the time. Someone has seen Camelot too many times.

What's more, he related the nobles care-free lifestyles against the lives of the serfs. The Marxist inside came out as he recounted their pain and suffering. He used the pictures of the Les Tres Riches Heures as a way that the nobles were covering up their atrocious deeds. He remarked that the serfs look awful happy and there could be no way that the poor serfs could be happy. Notice the amount of serf revolts during this time of history. The understanding within the church that one is to work in one's place to the best of their ability is an idea that was quite important in feudal Europe. And do you really think for a second that even if the noble was "serf-conscious" he would not draw dirty serfs on his expensive illumination. Duh...

I could go on forever....but I think that about says it all

This has been a an official rant....hopefully I will talk about real news next time.

The Beginning

2006-02-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

This blog will cover mostly current news, both national and international, science and technology, religion, and maybe the occasional issue closer to my own person. Rebel Dawn is here!