tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53461722009-02-21T04:03:48.607-08:00A blog about politics, news, science and whatever else strikes my fancy. -- A member of the Reality-based Commmunity.Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comBlogger1748125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1133991217989968312005-12-07T13:29:00.000-08:002005-12-07T13:33:38.006-08:00

Just an FYI: This blog is on something of a haitus in favor of grad school. My company has kindly agreed to pay for the bulk of it. And I mean bulk -- tuition, all books -- recommended ones too -- and class related fees. Even if it's not work related. I have to pay for parking, student services, and a few other fees but I'm paying roughly 400 a semester for two classes a semester. In return, I

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1129663744038446482005-10-18T12:28:00.000-07:002005-10-18T14:16:18.883-07:00

Without going into detail, it appears -- rather, it is certain -- that someone listened in on a phone conversation between two people I know. Let us call them "Girl A" and "Girl B", "Stalker" and talk about the chain of events. Some noteable facts:1) Girl A met Stalker. He went from "nice, if codependent" to "cut off for being creepy". Subsequently, "Stalker" has managed to access phone numbers

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1128362381856928242005-10-03T10:57:00.000-07:002005-10-03T10:59:45.590-07:00

Go see it. Even if you haven't watched the series. Just go see it. It's really good, from any perspective.

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1128115650399519622005-09-30T14:26:00.000-07:002005-09-30T14:27:30.406-07:00

I'll be seeing Serenity tonight. I'll let you know what I think come Monday. ** Besides the fact that it should never have been cancelled. But hell, Fox cancelled Family Guy, so I wasn't surprised when they did....

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1127926713604953312005-09-28T09:58:00.000-07:002005-09-28T10:00:30.123-07:00

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus: A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader. For those unfamiliar with the investigation, let me give you the short version: It's pretty frickin' undeniable that Delay's PAC illegally funneled

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1127569715927864372005-09-24T06:41:00.000-07:002005-09-24T06:48:36.526-07:00

I made it through fine. Neither I nor my Dad lost power, and other than cleaning up some broken branches, no damage at my father's. My house has a single large branch down over my back fence, but the fence is fine so I only need to drag it out to the curb. No damage there either. I'll be moving my things back to my home (computer towers, mostly) later today, once the rain dies down. I hope

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1127496999265354612005-09-23T10:28:00.000-07:002005-09-23T10:37:08.586-07:00

Just an update here -- I live in Houston, so Rita has been very heavily on my mind. My wife and family evacuated early, so they weren't caught in the current nightmare of traffic. I had planned to leave yesterday morning, but one look at the traffic convinced me I was much better off staying home or in the local shelter. With Rita continuing to move eastward, I'm breathing a little easier. I'm

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1126889564214323422005-09-16T09:48:00.000-07:002005-09-16T09:52:44.223-07:00

Was it any good? I didn't watch it. Rummaging around various blogs, it appears a LOT of people -- even the politically addicted -- either didn't watch it or didn't find it worth spending much time on. I think that's rather a bad sign for Bush. It's hard to sell that contrition to the American public if the American public has not only got fairly hard opinions on your performance and then

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1126033646793862022005-09-06T11:42:00.000-07:002005-09-06T12:07:26.866-07:00

I don't doubt there is plenty of blame to go around on Katrina, and that failures occurred on all levels. However, I think the primary blame rests with the federal government, for several reasons:First and foremost, the federal government took the lead when they designated the area a national emergency before landfall. That's an absolute admission that state and local resources were insufficient

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1126026362023074742005-09-06T10:06:00.000-07:002005-09-06T10:38:47.036-07:00

I believe this is known as "Pulling an OJ": Buffeted by criticism over the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, President Bush said Tuesday he will oversee an investigation into what went wrong and why -- in part to be sure the country could withstand more storms or attack. You know, this could start a real trend. Why not let corrupt officials investigate themselves? It'd save so much money,

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125693411303269232005-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:002005-09-02T13:36:51.310-07:00

Just a friendly reminder: Sure, we couldn't afford the hundreds of millions for levees and flood control structures in New Orleans, but we COULD afford 250 million to build a bridge in Alaska! Remember, 50 Alaskans needed that quarter-of-a-billion dollar bridge far more than New Orleans needed those pesky levees!

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125678490859865402005-09-02T09:28:00.000-07:002005-09-02T09:59:04.880-07:00

Take a look at this: And Lt. Gen. Steven Blum of the National Guard said 7,000 National Guardsmen arriving in Louisiana on Friday would be dedicated to restoring order in New Orleans. He said half of them had just returned from assignments overseas and are "highly proficient in the use of lethal force." He pledged to "put down" the violence "in a quick and efficient manner." "But they are coming

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125608607019870472005-09-01T13:59:00.000-07:002005-09-01T14:03:27.030-07:00

Having watched this clusterfuck unfold in real time, I don't see those thousands getting out of New Orleans in the next day or so. Which means, in addition to dealing with lack of food and water, we're going to start seeing disease. The sewers don't work, and sooner or later they're going to be reduced to trying to drink the flood waters -- probably without any means of purifying them (can't even

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125602208489168952005-09-01T12:06:00.000-07:002005-09-01T12:16:48.546-07:00

There's a particularly nasty sort of human who finds delight in catastrophe and death. With Katrina, you'll find them among those who smugly state that those stuck in New Orleans "chose to stay" and thus their suffering and death really isn't anyone's problems but their own. Whatever reasoning they choose to mask their contempt for the rest of humankind (those not family, friends, or potential

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125336439671039712005-08-29T10:23:00.000-07:002005-08-29T10:27:19.680-07:00

I just got a really nice, close-up look at it. Damn, those OCC guys are artists. I don't know bikes well enough to explain it, but I'm certainly going to catch that episode of American Chopper (I believe it airs in October). It's gorgeous -- from the wheels, to the exhaust (modeled after the main engines) to the placement of the NASA symbol and the Columbia flight patch....

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125332904224442022005-08-29T09:24:00.000-07:002005-08-29T09:28:24.233-07:00

My wife has a cold. So I went to the store for the express purpose of buying one box of Advil cold and sinus. After showing six forms of ID, signing multiple pages in triplicate, and solemnly swearing I was not going to make me some sweet, sweet meth, I was allowed my single box of Advil. I can buy a gun with less hassle. It wasn't quiet that bad, but it took two or three minutes to show my ID

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1125004125473974322005-08-25T14:01:00.000-07:002005-08-25T14:08:45.500-07:00

I've started school again. In fact, I'm committing educational incest -- I am rudely and against all the rules of propriety getting a higher degree from the same school I got my bachelor's from. I expect it doesn't actually count for a Master's, though. What prompted my triumphant return to college, and my sudden and burning desire to upgrade my worn BS in Computer Science into the shiny

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124911947504086262005-08-24T12:32:00.000-07:002005-08-24T12:44:31.686-07:00

Eugene Volokh wants everyone to know that he can't be homophobic, some of his best friends are gay. See? Look at all those examples of him being pro-gay. That means nothing he ever writes on homosexuality could EVER be badly written, though out, or expressing bias because he's on record -- for instance -- already as being all for same-sex marriage, provided it's the will of the people no matter

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124905186163696222005-08-24T10:39:00.000-07:002005-08-24T10:45:00.346-07:00

Athenae identifies Volokh's real problem with his recent writings on gay: And it all sounds very reasonable and normal and really, in comparison to some of the freaks on Volokh's side of the political fence, almost tolerant for a minute. Until you realize it's built around the central conceit that ALL GAY PEOPLE THINK ABOUT GAY SEX AS MUCH AS RIGHT WING STRAIGHT PEOPLE DO. Volokh's post presumes

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124904217004684912005-08-24T10:23:00.000-07:002005-08-24T10:28:02.526-07:00

Wait, Larry King actually asked: KING: All right, hold on. Dr. Forrest, your concept of how can you out-and-out turn down creationism, since if evolution is true, why are there still monkeys? I thought that was a joke. Jesus Christ, no wonder are country is full of morons. I mean, I thought Larry King was a twit to begin with, but good lord. Have some standards, man. That's like asking a

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124902229321688152005-08-24T09:50:00.000-07:002005-08-24T09:59:20.250-07:00

Well, Eugene Volokh hasn't actually surpassed "I Love Torturing Criminals" post, but he's decided that this week is anti-homo week. His logic is a wonder to behold -- first he defines "homosexual" as "male-to-male sexual contact". Apparently lesbians are in a league of their own, and I'm not sure whether Volokh is actually aware of the existence of bisexuals or the drunken fooling around we

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1124737726769961862005-08-22T11:55:00.000-07:002005-08-22T12:08:46.856-07:00

So I've been looking around -- in my copious spare time -- at the Iraqi Constitution process. As you no doubt know (and I am far to lazy to link to at the moment), the Iraqis are writing themselves a Constitution. This, of course, is the pinnacle of the "Bringing Democracy to Iraq" process -- which replaced the defunct "Saddam had WMDs" theory, which itself was merely a repackaging of the "Saddam

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1123535859067248642005-08-08T14:05:00.000-07:002005-08-08T14:17:39.076-07:00

Work has me really busy, and away from my computer. Add in the fact that I'm working much longer hours, don't have weekends free, and am on a weird schedule (about 2:00 PM to midnight or so), I haven't had time to blog at all. However, once Discovery lands, I'll share some thoughts about the whole thing. I've spent my entire professional life working for NASA (as a contractor), and I've seen

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1122490160225280732005-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:002005-07-27T11:49:20.250-07:00

I've seen a lot of people complaining about the heat (Steve Gilliard bitching about it in New York, for instance). That is one nice thing about living in Houston -- I'm not only used to insane heat with high humidity, but my home and lifestyle are arranged around it. I remember, not too long ago, when I was looking for another car and happened to mention it to a relative. He was appalled that I

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5346172.post-1121882439046780172005-07-20T10:47:00.000-07:002005-07-20T11:00:39.080-07:00

Well, since we all know it's Roberts, I felt I'd weigh in not on "Roberts the Judge" (I'm not really qualified, and the bulk of his record is advocacy work -- you shill for what your clients pay you to shill. His judicial philosophy is better revealed on the bench, and it's not like he's got decades of decisions under his belt) but on "Roberts choice and the politics of". First, it's pretty

Morathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08229170001959387776noreply@blogger.com