Watchmen

I just read the Watchmen for the first time, since I didn't read it the first came out, I guess I just wasn't interested back then. I just finished reading it to see what all the hubbub was about and since my professor-friend from church was kind enough to loan it to me.

First thoughts: Dated. Paranoid. Leftist. Fantasy. (not necessarily in that order)

Second thoughts: *Excellent* characterizations. Excellent depth of back-story and a well-thought out plot, although dated--as I said, the plot of the story comes across as a paranoid fantasy, which is kind of fun. Interesting symbolism, the foreshadowing worked will. The whole idea of Mr. Manhattan and squid creatures I thought to be Moore’s nod to the marrow of comic books: supermen and weird aliens. It was executed well without being overdone. I also enjoyed the interweaving of the "historical" pulp comic within the storyline and the various epistolatory interludes--a great device to download large amounts of backstory with a minimum of storyline interruption or silly flashbacks. It really was a book that I had to think through as opposed to the story lines of other comics.

In all, I can understand why many consider this so great. On the other hand, I’m glad I read it now rather than twenty years ago—my tastes have changed and I enjoyed it much more today than I would have then.

18 Years

I've been working since late December to take a picture a day for at least a year, and I will say it's been pretty hard some days to find something different, something interesting to photograph. I will also say it's been a very rewarding undertaking; I've gotten used to taking my camera (and assorted gear) everywhere I go, I've been working to overcome my inhibitions in photography, and I've more than once enjoyed looking back at the previous five months.

Today, I just read of a man who took a photo a day for 18 years, long before digital cameras were invented. 18 years! Wow. My limited experiences over five months multiplies my appreciation for what he did. It even inspires.

18 years of Polaroids. Think about that. Under the link, see some of his photographs, including the one taken on the day he died in 1997.

The collection is being put on the web by friends here.

Something to do this weekend

Stolen shamelessly from Castle Argghhh!

Good morning, everyone! Just wanted to drop you a note to update you on the status of our Operation Love From Home 2008 4th of July card drive for the troops. Sadly, we are still far, far short of our 5,000-card goal... we have in our possession slightly less than 1,500 cards. We've extended the deadline until JUNE 14, 2008. Please do all you can to help get the word out, and send in a card or two! :) Every single card/letter helps tremendously, and truly makes a very real difference! An empty P.O. Box means less 4th of July Thank You cards & letters going to our troops. :-(

So what is "Operation Love From Home?" - 4TH OF JULY CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

The Mission: To collect at least 5,000 "thank you" cards for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The majority of the cards collected will go to a unit currently stationed in an extremely harsh and remote area of Afghanistan.

The Reason: Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

The Address: Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:
Mrs. Kathy Orr OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME P.O. Box 1660 Loganville, Georgia, 30052
ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2008.

The Guidelines:
The cards can be handmade or store-bought (letters are just fine, too). This is a great pportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops. Please do not write the date on your cards Please, no glitter on the cards. Because of the intended destination of the cards, nothing "shiny" should be sent for safety & security reasons.

For those of you that have been deployed you can attest to the power that receiving mail from home can do for one's moral, it really does mean a lot to them to receive mail.

David M

I Hear Voices (in Wikipedia)

Like most netizens, I turn to Wikipedia for general information and pointers about a topic. Of course, I read Wiki with a healthy dose of skepticism, knowing full well that any doof with a grudge can poison the well, as it were. The very strength of Wiki, the democratization of the encyclopedia, also means it's pretty common to encounter bias, inaccuracies and outright value judgments. Another drawback of the Wiki is the loss of a single voice for articles, it's difficult to find a well-written article that is cohesive in its presentation of information, in fact, reading some articles is much like an archaeological dig--you can detect layers and layers of edits and re-writes. Still, it's oft the only game in town for some subjects. Who can beat the price? Leading to the number one rule:

caveat emptor

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Afternoon update

Well for the second day in a row, I'm posting a second entry in the afternoon because of something I saw at lunch.

The "perfect" gift for those who either like or hate guns. Or as a good white elephant gift to those with a sense of humor. Hat tip John at Castle Argghhh!

Opt Out

Just in case you get too much snail mail or phone calls, here's some handy pointers I've picked up over time. Save some postage, save a tree, save yourself from fraud and opt out of junk mail and telemarketers. Too bad there spam is so lawless. The 411:

• Opt out of those annoying credit card offers you get in the mail: OptOut Prescreen.com
• Opt out of junk mail, use the Direct Marketing Association's optout form . NOTE: They will soon remove the $1 charge to be on the list. I was just there today and the webpage still seemed to require the $1. Just wait.
• Stop telemarketers by registering your phone number at the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry. NOTE: To be put on this list is free, but you have to renew every five years.
  

Hat tip: Lifehacker

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What's for Dinner?

If there is any doubt that my race is all about food, retire those doubts: Chinese villagers eat dinosaur bones believing them to be from "flying dragons" and possessing healing powers for things such as "dizziness and leg cramps".

Happy V-E Day

Today 52 years ago, Germany surrendered and thus ending World War 2 in Europe. General Eisenhower proclaimed May 8 as VE day, Victory in Europe, but wanted to say something today.

The war continued for another four bloody months in the Pacific.

This isn't a day to celebrate, rather a day to reflect on the price paid to rid the world of a great evil. We didn't rid the world of evil, only of its servants. Today, Germany is at peace with the Europe and North America and is a democracy. While I may not certain actions or policies of the German government, I have no fear that the US will be called upon to fight Germany ever again. May 7th ended war between countries in Europe for the first time. Civil wars still rage, but even the disintegration of Yugoslavia didn't threaten to spark World War 3 unlike a century ago when instability in the Balkans did start World War 1.

Email "High Priority"

Too funny and regretably all too true.

Its Friday

Another work week has come and gone and the boss still hasn't posted to the site. True, he has school, work and family but what can I say . . .

School is slowing down now that only have 5 more articles, 2 cases and two presentations for both classes which is a relief. But to compensate for that, tax season is here. Two of the corporate returns are done, one more to go and then 6 or so personal returns and that's done. Then have my normal work on top of that. Currently going through the year end audit and closing down one subsidiary.

Despite all that, and if you have read all of this so far, thank you for reading about my life, truly, but have two articles that I think are more interesting then the goings on of my life.

NASA: China could be the next to moon:
Question, how do you get more money from Congress when there is a war going on and the party in power would rather give your budget to other departments (read programs that will help the people who are more likely to vote for them)? Tell Congress a horror story.

The story is if Congress doesn't increase the funding for NASA, the PRC will be the first to get back to the moon, which we all know is the property of NASA, since they landed on the place a while ago. Congress doesn't want to have anyone claim they "lost" the moon because they didn't give enough money to NASA so NASA is likely to get its budget increased. Oh for a line item veto and a president who would actually veto some spending bills.

hat tip: Lucianne

The second story is political:
Diagnosis: Cheney:
Charles Krauthammer writes about Michelle Cottle article in the New Republic. Think about that for a moment. You have a blogger writing about a columnist who is writing about an article another columnist wrote about. Krauthammer is a talented writer and the story is worth a read.

hat tip: Lucianne

Its Friday!!!

Today is Friday and the weekend will soon be upon us.

Ok, for those of us who are in school, it means more studying time. For those of us who are working, it means time to relax and get caught up on personal things. For those of us who are working full time and going to school full time (me, the boss is almost full time in school but makes up for it by having 3 young kids) it means "just another day in paradise" (if you don't get the song reference, your too young to remember Phil Collins). The weekend will be a time to catch up on homework and get bills paid etc so can survive another week.

Two news stories of interest.

Before I go into them, I need to apologize for not hat tipping the other blogs that provided leads to some of the stories I posted on this week. I will be going back to fix some of them but will promise to give proper credit from here on to other blogs I've read and got links from. I've been out of blogging for a while.

Ok, now with the confession done, back to the stories.

Thomas Lifson over at American Thinker has a very disturbing story about the Minn Airport. If a passenger has a seeing eye dog, they may have a difficult time getting a taxi ride. 3/4 of the taxi drivers are Somalians. In Islam, the dog is not a clean animal. So, they do not want to give rides to anyone who has a dog because they don't want to defile their cars with an unclean animal.

If the drivers had a no animal policy, they could and should be able to say no to animals. However, seeing eye dogs are not considered animals but rather an extension of the person. This is why they are allowed in stores, restaurants and other places where animals are not normally allowed. For the taxi drivers to say they will not carry a passenger who has a seeing eye dog because of their religion, should have their airport license or permit taken away. They can still drive a taxi, just not work the airport run. If this is allowed, what about other violations of Islam? Will the taxi drivers be able to refuse those who have alcohol (the taxi drivers have already tried that), what about a female who is traveling alone? what about a homosexual?

If we allow a government monopoly to grant permits to those who discriminate, the government monopoly should be abolished. The Minn Airport Authority should allow any taxi driver, and not just those who pay for the permits to be allowed to pick up passengers at the airport and those who refuse to take a passenger for religious reasons should be forced to go to the back of the line of taxi's.

(hat tip Lucianne)

Story Two (yes a long post, will anyone read it, not likely but oh well)

From Space.com
Super Soldiers: Tomorrow's 'Army of One' Technology by Charles Choi

Its about the new weapons and equipment being tested by the Army and how it will effect the battlefield in the future. Wow.

I hope it makes the US (our) soldiers so good that it will not ever be close to a fair fight. In combat, a fair fight means you didn't plan your battle correctly. To the soldier (so I've read, never have been one myself), a "fair fight" means all the bad guys or enemy are dead, wounded and no longer a threat or captured and all your guys are unhurt and able to go home.

(hat tip Lucianne)

Various minor items

This is the 12th post since the boss emailed and said he wanted to revive Carpetbloggers from a dormant to an active or at least a semi-active blog.

I think its time he writes something.

Part of the problem is knowing what type of blog this will be. Will it be one which reviews all the news and posts links here? Will it be a glorified Xanga site where we only write about the small goings on in our daily lives? Will it be something in between? Newsey but more commentary on the news then links and how the news relates to our (the writers) lives?

Other thing I got to ask the boss on, how to check the site meter to see if ANYONE is visiting? If you are visiting, do me a favor please, leave a comment, even if its just "I came here by mistake and won't be back", would be appreciated. Of course if you were a regular or semi-regular visitor that would be better but given the number of blogs out there, that is asking a lot.

I was going to ask if anyone could shed light on why the B-36 was accepted while the YB-35 wasn't. Both were piston airplanes in the age of jet fighters (post WW2) and both were basically obsolete before the B-36 entered service in 1949. Actually the YB-49 was more advanced then either, but being a new design, there were lots of problems and the program was killed before they could be fixed. Any ideas?

Welcome 2007

2006 saw somethings end, never to be seen again and the start of new things that will be with us for many years. 2007 we can expect more new things to start and hopefully get rid of some old things that need to go. Some of these, ok many of these, will be of little importance to the 2 readers of this blog, but I find them interesting or important.

1. We are finally making use of our 37 inch LCD TV. We moved it from the living room to the family room and wall mounted it. In the first 7 months we owned the TV (May to December) we used it about a total of 10 hours, from Dec 30 through Jan 1, we probably used it about 12 hours, think it will get more use now. Next step will be getting the high def package but that will wait for now.

2. We reconfigured the stereo system in the living room and finally got the tape player and the PHONOGRAPH up and running. For the first time since the early 1990's I played a record. Or as my 5 year old nephew called the phonograph "an early IPod".

3. Sadam won't be around to cheer on the bad guys in Iraq as he is worm food now. Good bye and not sorry to see him go.

4. Tower Records is no more (at least in the US). They got caught in the changing market (from Records to CD's to downloads) and were not able to keep up with the market demand. Apple figured it out, but Tower Record went the way of Music Land and others.

5. The Airbus 380 was supposed to be flying but we are still waiting for the first delivery.

6. The KC-135 tankers were supposed to be replaced by the Boeing 767 tanker version, Japan and Italy are getting theirs, but the USAF is just restarting the contracting bid.

7. The first F-35 airframes were delivered, but the program is over budget. Hopefully they solved the weight problem and will keep it solved.

8. The first F-22 squadron was deployed in Langley Virginia.

9. AT&T purchased Bell South so the AT&T phone system is almost put back together. Remember, SBC purchased Ameritech (Midwest Baby bell), Pacific Bell, AT&T and now Bell South. Verizon purchased the New York baby bell and setup a large cell system so we now basically have two land line phone providers in the US, as well as various cell phone providers, some who are owned by the various phone companies.

10. Phone companies are spending lots of money to re-do their networks with fiber optic cables so they can provide TV as well as phone and Internet access. Lomita is the first city in the South Bay (Los Angeles area) to provide this service, Q1 2007.

11. Foxtrot comics went from a daily to only a Sunday strip. It was one of my favorite and sorry to see it happen.

That's all I can think about for now.

Last working day of 2006

Farewell to 2006

Hello and welcome 2007

Hope the 2 people that read this blog have a safe and fun New Years celebration.

See you in the new year.

Who knows, maybe the boss will start posting more and we can revive the blog to its former glory with 10 readers.

Changes to Carpetbloggers

Boy, first the boss (aka owner of this blog) changes the address because he wanted to ditch his original personal blog on another popular free blog site for some reason and now Google is requiring us to switch to our Google accounts before we can add or edit any posts.

Ok, so I haven't posted anything for a few months or more. Boss wants this blog revived so have to write something and will post the story I meant to post next.