A boatload of useless stuff

Went down to the beach yesterday with Pam and Ryan. Owing to our late departure (my fault for not checking my messages and putting a load of laundry on), we ended up driving through a rather brutal rainstorm. It was still raining when we got to Hampton Beach, and the Sunday crowd had definitely had enough, because the beach was deserted and more importantly the roads were packed full of people trying to leave. This disorganized mess made me question whether, should there ever be an accident at Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, the evacuation of the beach area would be a complete disaster. Not only are the roads inadequate for a massive evacuation, the absolute panic that would ensue would probably kill as many people as the accident itself.

Headline from Fark: A sure sign of summer is the first dumbass dumping gasoline on a lit grill. Ahh, life in New Hampshire.

There is apparently a curling video game out there. I wonder if it has Deathmatch mode.

What do you give the reader who has everything? How about everything? "For 2005, the Penguin Classics Library Complete Collection consists of 1,082 titles, all great works of literature totaling nearly half a million pages. From Renaissance philosophy to the poetry of revolutionary Russia, from the spiritual writings of India to the travel narratives of the early American colonists, from The Complete Pelican Shakespeare to The Portable Sixties Reader, there are classics here to educate, provoke, entertain, and enlighten readers of all interests and inclinations." It is estimated it would take 20 years to read the collection at the rate of a book a week. Isn't this what second-hand university bookstores are for?

The quality of programming on NPR's This American Life actually made me download the mark of the beast (Real Player) and install it on my machine. It is worth selling your soul. This American Life takes one particular theme and presents stories surrounding that theme. The depth of coverage tells an actual story - you get the human reality of that theme. Take one hour to listen and you will understand what I mean.

Join The One Campaign to make Third World debt history.

Google maps of UNESCO world heritage sites

Cool link.

The Right's Machiavelli speaks

Repeating the same old lies about how liberals wanted to coddle terrorists, Karl Rove spoke to the party faithful Wednesday:

Bush's chief political adviser, Rove said in a speech Wednesday that "liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." Conservatives, he told the New York state Conservative Party just a few miles north of Ground Zero, "saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war."

I have no doubt that Rove saw the savagery of 9/11 and prepared for 2004. That battle at least he won.

Adopt a Chinese Blog

Our Most Favored Trading Nation continues its dual pursuits of unbridled capatalism and restricted speech - perhaps the ultimate capatalist's paradise. Regardless, for any country to be truly successful, it should allow unfettered speech. To that end, supporters of free speech are offering to host Chinese blogs to circumvent Chinese censorship.

More can be read about this here:

So I am volunteering my site - hopefully someone will take me up on the offer.

adoptablog

New Hampshire's War Dead

Thanks to the Fallen Heroes Memorial Site.

Marine Lance Cpl. Adam R. Brooks, 20, of Manchester, New Hampshire.

Brooks died as a result of enemy action in Babil Province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Died on November 28, 2004.

Army Spc. Alan J. Burgess, 24, of Landaff, New Hampshire.

Burgess died in Mosul, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol vehicle. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 197th Field Artillery Brigade, Army National Guard, Woodsville, New Hampshire. Died on October 15, 2004.

Army Master Sgt. Richard L. Ferguson, 45, of Conway, New Hampshire.

Ferguson died in Somara, Iraq, when the military vehicle he was riding in rolled over. He was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, Fort Carson, Colorado. Died on March 30, 2004.

Marine Cpl. Timothy M. Gibson, 23, of Hillsborough, New Hampshire.

Gibson died when the CH-53E helicopter he was in crashed near Ar Rutbah, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Died on January 26, 2005.

Army Spc. Jeremy F. Regnier, 22, of Littleton, New Hampshire.

Regnier died in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his patrol. He was assigned to 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Died on October 13, 2004.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Rooney, 43, of Nashua, New Hampshire.

Rooney died of his injuries when he was struck by a forklift at Shuabai Port in Kuwait. He was assigned to the 379th Engineer Company, U.S. Army National Guard, Bourne, Massachusetts. Died on September 25, 2003.

Army Staff Sgt. Randy S. Rosenberg, 23, of Berlin, New Hampshire.

Rosenberg was killed when a vehicle-based improvised explosive device detonated in Khalidiyah, Iraq. He was assigned to Company B, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, Fort Hood, Texas. Died on January 24, 2004.

I can't describe the utter depression I feel at the thought of these men who have given their lives in what they believed to be service to their country. I imagine they were like most who join the military, believing that the greatest thing they could do for their country was to put their lives on the line in defense of our freedom and our people. How horrifying that instead of being given the opportunity to do so, they were instead sent to Iraq to fight a political war on behalf of a president who did his best to avoid combat at a time when young men were required to serve. Now there are almost 1500 dead in Iraq. How much longer until the number of soldiers killed in Iraq surpasses the number of Americans who died on 9/11?

Two blogs to watch

http://tomwatson.typepad.com/
http://www.jameswolcott.com/

Magazine Catchup

After reading some analysis of the Michael Jackson trial by Maureen Orth in Vanity Fair magazine, I'm beginning to understand a little more about why Jackson was able to walk on all charges. The host of witnesses the prosecution offered in what initally had seemed like a clear cut case provided substantially different testimony on the witness stand than what they had told sheriff's deputies in pretrial interviews. I wonder how much preparation the witnesses went through with the prosecution prior to the trial, or whether in the interim between speaking to the police and the trial, certain members of Jackson's staff approached the witnesses with offers or threats.

I also wonder about how Michael Jackson the paedophile earns laughter and ridicule while John Geoghan earns horror and a well-deserved ending at the hands of a murderer in prison. Are we so used to thinking of Michael Jackson as the punchline to a million jokes that we ignore the very real fact that he is a child abuser and paedophile?

This weekend I am being reminded of the importance of maintaining a subscription to one if not several print magazines devoted to analysis of news, current events, economics, politics, or science. One needs to not only absorb the immediacy of news through 24-hour "news" channels and their associated websites, or the self-important "blogosphere," but reasoned analysis after the fact, after the dust has settled, after some actual thought has been put into the impact of events.

Random thoughts for a Saturday night

Can you help who or how you love? You can walk away if it goes bad, but can you really change how you fall in love or how you feel when you're in love. I've often been criticized for how quickly and deeply I fall in love. If things go bad, I feel a hell of a lot of pain before I'm ready to move on. But that's the way I've always felt, and the way I always will be. My hope is that my Love will feel that and return it.

Music recommendation - Thiftshop XL, "Windows XL"

Information from www.healthaffairs.org about bankruptcy caused by medical care (thanks to Scientific American for the summary):

• Number of Americans who filed for bankruptcy in 2001: 1,458,000
• Percent of bankruptcies involving any medical cause: 54.5
• Percent caused specifically by:
• Illness or injury: 28.3
• Medical bills over $1,000: 2.7
• Loss of work income for medical reasons: 21.3
• New family member: 7.7
• Death in family:7.6
• Alcohol or drug addiction: 2.5
• Mortgage to pay medical bills: 2
• Uncontrollable gamblng: 1.2
• Percent of debtors who had insurance at outset of illness: 75.7
• Percent of medical debtors who, before going bankrupt:
• Skipped doctor/dentist visit: 59.5
• Failed to fill a prescription: 46.7

Good thing those pesky federal bankruptcy laws were tightened to prevent all those deadbeats from living it up and avoiding their ill-gotten debts.

Dragged my butt to see "Revenge of the Sith" today. A little darker than Episodes 1 and 2, mildly more interesting. The rise of Darth Vader was much less dramatic than I anticipated. Probably could have waited for video.

Pithy title goes here

Spent a wonderful day today. Got up early and cooked breakfast for Pam and Ryan. Went to the New Hampshire seacoast with Pam's father and spent some time on the beach at Rye Beach. We then went to Portsmouth and ate lunch at the Muddy River Smokehouse. We then spent some time on the shore of Pawtuckaway pond before heading back to Derry so that Ryan could visit with his father. Watched "Sideways" tonight, another on the long list of films everyone else but me has seen. I am crazy in love with Pam.