Opaque Lucidity

The Numbers Don't Lie---But Liars Do.

When I was in high school, my geometry teacher taught a 3-week course in statistics, something that was not a normal part of the curriculum. She was willing to divert from her favorite subject only because she thought our world was too skewed by polls and surveys. Her goal was to prove that any set of human beings, with the right questions, can be prompted to produce any result you desire.

Mrs. Cummins would probably relish this story. You probably saw the headlines yesterday: "BUSH APPROVAL AT 34%, DISAPPROVAL AT 59%". What you probably weren't shown were the numbers behind the numbers:

On the bottom of the PDF version of the poll (page 18) it says how many Democrats versus Republicans were contacted.

UPDATE : The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has a helpful table in this report (page 13) on what percentage of Americans consider themselves to be Republican or Democrat. It shows that in both 2004 and 2005, 30% said they were Republican compared to 33% who said they were Democrats. The new CBS poll (even after being weighted) had a population of only 28% Republicans to 37% Democrats.

In short, the poll was skewed in favor of a negative rating for the President. To be fair, CBS claims to do random calling in search of answers to their poll questions, but one can't help but wonder how random an activity that actually is.

Does this mean the President's approval rating is 70%? No. But the 59% disapproval rating is a historical high for the polling folks at CBS News. THAT is what people remember---the biggest/smallest/oldest/fattest/whatever since the dawn of recorded history. Many of us, myself included, fall victim to this numbers game and, in the end, it does nothing but mislead us. Or, and this is worse, we cling to a poll which suggests something we believe to be true. If you hate the President (I use that word because many of you reading this actually hate the man, something that says more about you than about him), then this poll will be met with thoughts of "yeah, I thought so".

Polls are good indicators, even when skewed. A President with an 80% approval rating is hard to hide. But the bias of the mainstream media is subtle and meets us in those gray areas of journalism. Not to make comparisons or anything, but what is it I heard someone say about the devil? "He will tell an ocean of truth to float one lie."

Row, row, row your boat.

34%

Mr President:
Is your support of the UAE worth losing the House and Senate in November? Just wondering.

George Noory summed this all up very nicely the other night: "high strangeness".

The One Thing

No one's asking me, but here's a thought: if I could give a teenager one piece of advice, I would say that it is a major mistake to live your life for someone else.

Keep in mind I didn't say WITH someone else. Married life is wonderful because if you find that right person, sharing your life with her and having her share her life with you is a great thing. What I'm advising against is living your life by the rules, codes and standards set by those whose approval you seek.

There's a Hollywood sort of version of this advice. Their version is about rebellion and being a freak. I still believe there are societal norms to which you should adhere. For example, you need to get and keep a job, not just to pay the bills but because you live in the greatest nation on the planet and you should contribute to that nation's economy in whatever way you can. You should obey the law and pay your taxes. Ignore those two and all your choices could soon go down the crapper.

I started in college in January, 1993. I wanted to be a history teacher. But I allowed my parents, neither of whom has ever walked into a college classroom, to convince me that teaching was a guaranteed ticket to permanently low salaries. Instead, I switched my major to business management which, according to them, was much more economically positive. I never graduated. I'm a 34-year old junior in college. Hooray for me.

They were right about the money. But now I realize how little that means. Mom and dad wanted all of us to make money because they never had any. They never factored job satisfaction or general happiness into the equation. I have worked with many well-to-do people in my life who are stressed out and miserable. Money is nice from a physical standpoint, but true happiness comes from somewhere else. If your only source of happiness comes from new stuff, you've got a problem. But mom and dad did what they thought was best. It was just wrong.

I'll never be a history teacher. It's not that I couldn't be. But I know how I am and I know that I will never go back to school because life will always get in the way. Kelli went back to school four years ago and finished her degree and I'm still amazed that she was able to do it. But she's strong in that way and I'm not. I'm distracted too easily by things that are of no consequence in the long term.

I think there are only a few things that matter in a person's life. Love. Honor. Loyalty. Honesty. Happiness. All else is dust. So love with everything you've got, be the friend that you've always wanted and do whatever the hell it is that makes you happy. I wish I had.

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy

Today is Nancy O'Dell's birthday. You may wonder why I am bothering to mention this, but let's just say that Nancy used to be an important part of my day.

In 1991-1992, I was stationed in Charleston, S.C. Nancy was known as Nancy Humphries then (her maiden name) and she was a reporter for one of the local stations. I was away from home, away from Kelli and had little in my life of light and joy. But every evening at 6PM, Nancy waltzed right into my living room (and later barracks room) and proceeded to report on something. I have no recollection of what she reported on, except the one time she went on a marijuana raid with the state police and she wore a set of BDUs (camos). Wow.

Evidently, she has been married more than once because she goes by O'Dell but she married a man with another last name in 2005 or so. I hate these men, and I want to proclaim here, for the record, that all her husbands/boyfriends/lovers are homosexuals who are using her as a beard. Write that down.

More Podcasting

I stayed home from work today with a sore throat, probably the sort of pain I hate the worst. I have twisted ankles, dislocated shoulders, been punched in various places and many other pains, but a sore throat beats them all somehow. What makes it worse is that if you go to work with a sore throat, you will have to talk twice as much as you normally do. That's just the way it is.

On to other things: I am going to be taking part in a new podcast. As most of you know, I was once part of a radio show in Louisville on WHAS 840AM called "84Online". The show ended in 2004 because the host was fired, but the team lives on. We are going to be doing a podcast, sort of a "TWiT" for people who aren't fully geeked out.

Here's the twist. We want to keep the show to five people doing a roundtable but there are about fifteen active members of the team. Thus, we will rotate around so that everyone will get to participate. I won't be on every week and it will in no way interfere with 'Matt's Today in History'. I'll be mentioning this on my next podcast (hopefully Friday evening) and I'll post the link and the feed URL as soon as we get the format down. We are doing a test run this Saturday. I'm stoked. It will be good to get the band back together.

Anarchists, Antichrist

The attack on a Shiite mosque in Samaara, Iraq yesterday will, in my opinion, be looked upon as a turning point in Iraq's quest for a new, free and democratic nation. Whether the turn will be up or down is still in dispute. Reprisals are underway against over 90 Sunni mosques.

Iraq, like other nations in the Middle East, is home to both Sunni and Shiite muslims. The Sunnis are in the minority, but it is important to remember that Saddam Hussein is a Sunni. Thus, his "people" were shown a great deal of favoritism during his time in power. Now, three years after the invasion, they have once again become a true minority in every sense of the word. I'm sure that this is unacceptable to some Sunnis.

There are people who claim to be muslims who would like nothing better than a civil war in Iraq. The terrorists we are fighting there couldn't care less about their fellow muslims, be them Sunni or Shiite; their goal is chaos, at least for now. Once the coalition leaves (they hope), they will come in and force order via a government like the Taliban set up in Afghanistan. Wouldn't that be progess?

This attack and the counterattacks tell me that the Iraqi people are still clinging to their clanish ways. The young United States had the same problem with statehood. Even at the time of the Civil War, many men chose to stay with their state and fight against their nation. That sort of misguided loyalty cost the nation dearly and left wounds we are still coping with today. Until the Iraqi people realize and believe that they are one people with different faiths, democracy and order will be impossible.

Open Ports

The controversy over the management of six US ports has reached a sort of crescendo. The President is adamant about his decision to allow a company from Dubai, which bought the British firm that currently manages the ports, to take over management of the facilities. Bush is calling everyone out for their double-standard:

"I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company," Bush said. "I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

Back when the President was talking about the Axis of Evil, many people were wondering why we were not preparing to invade North Korea since it appears that they have nuclear weapons, or at least the capability to build them. As I said then, foreign policy is NOT a card game---not everyone can be handled by the same rules.

No one complained about the British company, Mr. President, because we have closer ties to the British than any other people on Earth. Dubai, I believe, has only cooperated with the US during this war because, right now, it is in their best interest to do so. One day, their best interests may lie elsewhere. Furthermore, Dubai is a country that has yet to acknowledge Israel as a nation and still considers the Taliban to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

I realize that a private firm may not hold the same opinions as their government. I also understand that this firm manages ports throughout the world. But I can't understand why the White House is defending this decision so aggressively. Is this some sort of payoff for assistance in catching terrorists? If so, then admit it and let's move on.

Most likely, nothing will happen because a company from Dubai is managing our busiest ports. But in a society where perception is reality, this is a very, very bad move. A double-standard? You bet.

Google Gaggle

A Chinese newspaper is claiming that Google's new Chinese search page is not properly licensed. Considering that Google has chosen to censor results in a fashion much to the liking of the Communists in Beijing while telling the US government to go get bent (over a demand that was, to be fair, ridiculous on its face), I have to wonder what sort of backflips they will now do in order to stay in the Man's good graces.

Google has drawn a lot of attention lately over its dealings in China, but it is certainly not the first American company to do business there. But I can't help but be bothered by this on some level. Yes, China is the largest market on the planet and, yes, capitalism is embraced there to some extent. But too many people confuse capitalism for democracy. They are NOT interchangeable terms. As I've said before, the Chinese learned their lesson by watching the collapse of the closed Soviet economy. Now, the regime in Beijing has one of the worst human rights records in the world but Western companies are lining up to cash in as over a billion people tune in and turn on.

What will the next 50 years bring?

Top 10 Reasons Geeks Make Good Fathers

Hat tip to this lady:

Ok, after writing about how it isn't always easy being married to a Geek, and ten reasons Geeks make good friends, I have one more Top Ten of Geekdom for you inspired by Maryam's geek blogs: Ten reasons why Geeks make good fathers. And they do! They really are uniquely qualified for this role. My husband says I never blog nicely about him, so honey, here you go:

1. LEGOS. The Geek is really more of a Man-Child than an adult. In their minds, they are still 10. They freakin' still love to play with their legos, and have never grown up. I have one friend, WHO WILL REMAIN NAMELESS, that still has legos in his room. He doesn't have kids. Just legos. Of course, my children love legos and Steve will lovingly spend hours playing legos with them.

2. VIDEO GAMES. Due to the whole Man-Child thing as stated in #1, the Geek loves video games. And he's good at them too. My husband is the hit of all the kids' friends because not only can he talk video games, he plays them too. If my children get "stuck" while playing their Gameboys and bring it to me for assistance, all I can do is feebly hold it and say " Mommy doesn't know how to play this." Daddy, however, can beat the game.

3. MATH. A huge plus here. No matter how old they get, Steve can still help with the math homework. My ability to be of assistance is going to last another few years before *I* end up throwing the math homework across the room in disgust.

4. SMART KIDS. Smart Geeks make smart children. Although for the most part, it's great to have really intelligent children, when your just turned two year old is using the word PREPOSTEROUS correctly, it makes for some difficult times as they get older. I literally spend a large part of my time scheming to stay one step ahead of my oldest child.

5. UP ON TECHNOLOGY. The beautiful thing about having a Geek for a parent is that you aren't wondering what your children are doing online. You *KNOW* what they are doing online and you can limit it if necessary.
It's fabulous peace of mind.

6. SCIENCE FAIR PROJECTS. Children of the Geeks always have the coolest science fair projects. And you don't have to cajole your Geek into helping. You'll find him fiddling around with the science materials whether you asked him to help or not.

7. TOY ASSEMBLY. You will never, ever have to spend six hours of your life, that you will never get back, trying to assemble some 2,000 piece toy at 3 am on Christmas Eve again. The Geek can do it in minutes flat. Usually without the directions. Whereas I have tried to assemble toys and said "Mommy has to go to the bathroom" just so I could escape and scream into my pillow in frustration, if the Geek is around, he can take it right off your hands. I now just say "Daddy is really good at this, let's wait until he gets home."

8. GADGETS. Never again will you have to wonder what that new electronic toy is that all the kids have. In fact, your Geek will probably already own it. The problem arises when the Geek won't share with the children. "Daddy, I want a digital camera." After the child leaves the room: "I'm not spending hundreds of dollars on a digital camera for him, he's too young." I say "Let's get him a cheap one." Steve looks at me as if I just said Aliens are invited to dinner. " To have it take crappy pictures?" He scoffs and walks away in disgust. No sub-par electronics in this house! How dare I suggest it.

9. SMART IS COOL. Having a Geek for a father instills the message into your children that smart is cool. They idolize Daddy. Hopefully, they'll want to grow up to be just like him.

10. BEING IDOLIZED IS GOOD FOR YOUR GEEK. Course, you have to be careful that his head doesn't get TOO BIG. That's why I blog. Gotta keep his ego in check SOMEHOW.

This Old House

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few days. As some of you know, the office in our new house has no floor; that is, there's only a sub-floor, which in older homes looks alot like a hardwood floor. Our master bedroom was the same way, but my dad and I put down some Pergo-type laminate before we moved in back in November.

Originally, we planned to do the office around the same time, but time and the pressures of getting everything out of our old place pushed everything back. Then there was Christmas and the new year and now, suddenly, it's the middle of February. Finally, dad and I set an unmovable date of February 18th.

We woke up yesterday morning to heavy snow. I called dad and told him that I didn't want him driving through the snow. It was too late to push the date back because the entire contents of the office (including this Mac) are now in the dining room. So to make a long story short, I did it myself. I started at 9:30 yesterday morning and I stopped at 9:00 last night because I didn't want the noise of the table saw to bother the neighbors. My lower back is killing me this morning.

I haven't done a podcast since Wednesday night and I don't think I've written anything here since Thursday. At least I have an excuse this time.

The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

Thought For The Day

Some days I'm very glad I get to filter the e-mail attachments.

From Fourth Estate To Fifth-Rate Trailer

In case you just flew in from Pluto, Dick Cheney accidently shot one of his hunting buddies. The man had a small heart attack today, but it looks like he's going to be fine. This is embarrassing for everyone involved and, of course, Leno, Letterman, Stewart and all the rest are going to have weeks worth of material. As I was shaving Monday morning and I first heard the story, I immediately thought of the Aerosmith song "Jamie's Got a Gun" and re-titled it: "Cheney's Got a Gun". As I said later, if I can think of this stuff at 5AM Monday morning, anyone can.

What is not funny at all about this story is the White House Press Corps reaction. Say what you will about how the story was handled by the White House, but the fact is that a small Texas newspaper got the story before the big boys in DC. This ruffled a lot of feathers in the Press Room, so much so that Scott McClellan has had to start treating a few of the reporters as if they're angry pre-schoolers throwing a temper tantrum. From Drudge:

'Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras,' Gregory said, voice rising. 'Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question.'

'I'll calm down when I feel like calming down,' Gregory said. 'You answer the question.'

If this were one errant reporter, it could be overlooked. But a female reporter actually asked McClellan if the VP is going to step down over this. Really? How much is she getting paid to ask questions like that?

Reactions such as this demonstrate how far off track the Washington media and Old Media in general are in terms of what their purpose is. A reporter is there to report facts, not make assertions in the form of a question. The anger over a Texas newspaper breaking a story smacks of arrogance, as if the Washington Press Corps somehow deserves a place at the head of the line whenever the President or VP do anything.

I believe Watergate did more to change Old Media than anything before or since. After 1974, reporting became agenda-driven, with every would-be Woodward or Bernstein suddenly realizing that he's not a collector of facts but also a protestor/advocate/enforcer. We accepted this for almost 30 years because there was no place else to turn. But that time is gone and the choices for news spread out before us like an open field. The assertion that online news and blogging is somehow "less" than mainstream channels of communication is the last gasp of a dying giant still wrapped up in his own self-importance.

And, for the record, I think Scott McClellan deserves a medal. Or something.

Let Me Count The Ways

This post has been a few days in coming. It began life as two posts: Microsoft's unveiling of a for-pay security suite and my review of our new 20" iMac. But as I see it now, it's all really one issue.

First, please allow me to remind you of a post I authored in December, 2004:

MS getting into the anti-spyware market is like a drug manufacturer getting into the casket business. One solution: bundle it with Windows and give it away. Otherwise, they're going to come off looking like they want to capitalize on their own security problems (shocking!).

I'm going to make a promise now, and it's something I'm very serious about. If MS does NOT give away this new software, I will NEVER use their products again.

Fast foward to last week, when my friend Hash sent me a link to a ZDNet article:

Microsoft plans to ship a new security product in June, charging $49.95 a year to shield up to three PCs against viruses, spyware and other cyberthreats, the company said on Tuesday.

When I wrote the above post, I assumed any move I made away from Windows would be to SUSE Linux. But two weeks ago, we bought a new iMac (talk about timing!). And so, as of February 2nd, I'm finished with Microsoft on my desktop. My job requires me to use and work on Windows machines and my wife has a Dell laptop she likes very much, so Billy Boy Gates and Company will never be far from me. But when I'm doing my own thing such as posting here or creating a podcast, it will be with a Mac...from now on.

I will not repeat my analogy from 2004 about Microsoft's attempt to profit from their own security woes. But it is my firm belief that if a scam such as this were happening in any other industry, there would be howls of protest, Congressional hearings and someone would be on trial for fraud. The only thing saving Microsoft right now is the general public's belief that spyware and viruses can exist independently of a flawed operating system; in other words, the MacOS, Linux, Unix, FreeBSD, etc. operating systems would suffer the same problems if they were on 85% of the desktops in the world. It doesn't wash.

So what of the iMac? It's wonderful. It is not a perfect machine but, then again, I've never owned a perfect computer (even the ones I built myself, which is most of them). But it is fast, beautiful, well-designed and well-implemented.

First, there is the design of the machine itself. The entire computer is about twice as thick and a little taller (and much heavier) than a regular 20" LCD display. But that's ALL there is to the thing. Most of the components (except for the hard drive, I think) are actually made for laptops, but it is still an engineering marvel.

The LCD display is a thing of wonder. Because of the screen's aspect ratio and default resolution, I can easily have two documents or webpages or applications open side-by-side without compromise. The screen is bright and the colors are brilliant.

OS 10.4.4, the operating system included on the machine, is great. If you've used a Windows machine, you would immediately be able to adapt to this new desktop even though Apple implements things very differently. The OS also has one cool feature that Microsoft has never been able to perfect: sleep mode. Many Windows machines will not recover from sleep mode correctly; the iMac does it perfectly every time and the recovery is almost instantaneous. Most of the forum posts I've read recommend only shutting down a Mac when you're going to be gone from it for several days. Thus, I have only shut this machine down twice in the past two weeks (to move it and to install RAM). You CAN do that with a Windows box, but performance will almost always suffer.

The most impressive aspect of this machine is the included software bundle. Instead of stuff I'd never use, the iMac includes iLife, a suite of applications which allow you to edit video, audio, pictures, create websites, etc. Garageband 3, the audio portion of iLife, was the big selling point for me as it allows me to do wonderful things with my podcast (or, rather, it will as soon as I learn a little more about it). Also included is Quicken 2006, Safari (a very cool web browser), Mail 2 (an e-mail client I have yet to use) and a 30-day demo of iWork, Apple's partial answer to MS Office (the 2004 version of Office comes along as a demo on this machine; that's the first thing I removed).

The machine is not perfect. It is RAM-hungry; even though 512MB is included, 1GB should be a minimum for any kind of serious work. The hard drive on my machine is louder than I thought, but that may be because my old Windows machine had loud fans which drowned out the hard drive clatter. The hard drive noise sounded to me, at first, like a loose fan. Very disquieting. Finally, this bad boy was NOT cheap. 'nuff said about that.

Should you buy one? Yes, if you're tired of viruses and spyware and you don't mind spending a little more. Let me sum it up this way: if Steve Ballmer isn't losing sleep, he should be.

What the f*$#& is Kayne smoking?

This man makes me sick. Read this first http://contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/cocky west i should be in the bible_09_02_2006. WOW!! What is he thinking? He should be a character in the Bible? I think there are lots of people who have actually made a difference in people's lives that could be incorporated into a modern Bible, not this "entertainer".

What has Kayne West done for music or the world community? His music is nothing unique, its catchy and melodic, but nothing so unusual that everyone raves about how special it is. And as far as his comments on recent events, he has done more to divide people and cause racial rifts than help bring people together to overcome tragedy.

I am ready for his 15 minutes of fame to be over and done with!

A Warrior Goes Home

If you have some time, take a look at this.

The Other Clinton

Senator Hillary Clinton (it's been six years and that still sounds odd to me) is already campaigning hard for the presidential position she is not yet running for. She made an incredible statement today, one so brazenly hypocritical that it can't possibly escape without someone calling her on it:

She said a speech by presidential adviser Karl Rove two weeks ago showed the GOP election message is: "All we've got is fear and we're going to keep playing the fear card."

The fear card? OK. If Republicans are playing the fear card, then the Democrats have he rest of the deck. Here's a short summary:

1. The race card: Democrats have been fostering black dependence on the federal nanny state since the days of Lyndon Johnson. That's why black Americans vote for Democrats 90% of the time--money equals love and liberals love to spread the love around for votes. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and "black leaders" like them have told generations of blacks that they are victims of an oppressive majority. It makes sense that they would do this because if enough people realize that they have great opportunities ahead of them, they won't need Jackson and Sharpton (or the Democratic Party) anymore.

2. The class warfare card: remember the phrase from the 2000 election that Al Gore nearly wore out when he talked about taxes? He said, "The rich need to pay their fair share." Nevermind that the top 10% of wage earners in the United States pay 50% of the income taxes or that the Clinton Administration's definition of "rich" was anyone with a household income greater than 60K a year---in other words, anyone who might vote for a Republican. Furthermore, consider their use of the word "big" as in Big Oil, Big Pharmaceuticals, Big Tobacco. You are the little man living you life of quiet desperation while the fat cats light their Cuban cigars with $100 bills. Then, from over the horizon, come the Democrats, the champion of the Little Guy. They will defeat Big Business by taxing it out of existence. But what about the fact that Big Business gives Little Guy a job and a paycheck, you ask? Poppycock!!! The Dems will take care of Little Guy from cradle to grave as long as he tows the liberal line all the way to the ballot box.

3. The war card: this is the one that disgusts me the most. The Democrats saw how popular the President was immediately after 9/11 and they just couldn't stand it. After that first wave of patriotism wore off (winter soldiers, indeed), they went back on the attack. When the invasion of Iraq came in 2003, they were chomping at the bit, some of them probably hoping for a large number of casualties. It didn't happen during the invasion, but over the following months. At last, they had a sure-fire winner! Americans don't like wars and here, at least to Democratic eyes, was an honest-to-goodness Vietnam in the making. Then came the lies: the war was about oil or Halliburton or Bush's father. The war was fought because the President lied about intelligence despite the fact that every major intelligence organization in Europe agreed with our conclusions. Somehow, reality didn't matter.

But this does matter: the Dems lost ground in both 2002 and 2004. If they don't stop pandering to their looney left colleagues, they stand a good chance of making a bad show this November as well. At least I hope so.

Getting The Band Together

I produced my first podcast using Garage Band 3 tonight. It sounds very similar to what I did before (to me, at least) with the exception of some audio "ducking", which I explain in the 'cast. If you're not subscribed, please visit my podcast site and have a listen.

I have received e-mails from several of you wondering about my iMac experience. I am waiting to write a review until my additional 512MB of RAM arrives, which should be tomorrow. Overall, the experience has been pleasant except for an annoying noise that I at first attributed to a loose or out of balance fan but now believe it to be the hard drive. After all these years, you' think I'd be able to tell the difference.

What I have noticed is how comfortable I am with Windows, even the features that drive me crazy. I'm not alone, and I think this is why many Windows users don't like OS X---it's different in many, many ways. However, I am finding it every bit as friendly and even more so when it comes to many of the system settings.

More on this later, hopefully Thursday.

Not-So-Funny Pages

This one of the cartoons at the center of the Islamic rage now encircling the globe.

In Islam, any image of Muhammed is forbidden. A picture of him wearing a bomb is, well, cause for anger. Let me be clear from the outset: These cartoons should never have seen the light of day. I say this as one who has seen dozens of anti-Catholic cartoons in our local rag over the years. While this IS a freedom of speech issue, having a freedom does not mean it must be constantly abused. When Oliver Wendall Holmes made his point about yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater, he was trying to tell us that freedom has limits and responsibilities.

But the cartoons were run and then run again in more newspapers around Europe. The sin has been committed and acknowledged, but yet the protests continue. In the Middle East, Asia and Africa people are in the streets threatening death to the infidels. What do these people have in common? An Islamic faith perverted by culture.

If the point of the cartoons was to point out the terroristic and base nature of radical Islam, these protests have driven that point home. Consider:

""They want to know whether Muslims are extremists or not. Death to them and to their newspapers," he said."

I'm not a killer and if you say that again I'm going to kill you. Uhuh.

What can the endpoint be now? Will things calm down to pre-cartoon levels, or are we going to see Europe in flames? I don't pretend to know, but I do know this: there is more of this in our future and it needs to be addressed right now.

Super Day

I'm not a sports guy. I watch NASCAR, but there is this thing in me that keeps me from considering it a real sport. Yes, I know the drivers are very, very skilled, but I question the sportiness of any activity I can do well. But I digress.

Superbowl '96 was between the Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys. I was living in Big D at the time and owned a '71 GMC truck painted, you guessed it, yellow and black. Peter, Joe and I hit on this idea to take the truck and drive it down to the club to see what would happen. We were talked out of it, but our plan was more than theoretical. Looking back on it, I guess we were angry---about being broke all the time, about being lonely (that was me), about not living the life we thought we deserved and a thousand other things.

Yet, I can't help but miss those trying times, especially on days like this.

Spinning Out

I know my posts here have became increasingly rare despite my numerous promises to post more often. Although I know all of you understand what it's like to be insanely busy, I believe I should share a decision I've taken to make my life a little easier in the hope that it will reflect in my relationship with Kelli, our family and friends.

As of today, February 3, 2006, I will no longer be doing freelance computer work. I will continue to help family and friends because I think it would be selfish to turn them away and I will finish the few jobs I still have pending and honor the warranties on the new machines I have built within the past year. Other than those few conditions, I'm out. And even for family and friends, I will no longer build new machines.

If you've read this blog for a while, you know I have said this before. The extra money is nice and the work is not physically demanding, but it is beginning to take its toll on me. Why? Put simply, most people whose PCs I have worked on can not distinguish between problems they have caused and problems I am responsible for. I'm not trying to make any claims about anyone's intelligence; everyone has marketable skills and this is mine. But I am not Dell or Apple and when I build a new PC for someone and something happens to it almost immediately, it hurts my pride, makes the person angry and/or frustrated (which is understandable) and ends up eating up the small profit I make on a new machine.

There is also the issue of time. As Peter and I discussed last night, every day that goes by is another one that we will never get back. No value can be placed on a lost weekend spent working on an 8-year old PC when that time can be spent with my wife, whose company I enjoy immensely (I've never understood men who look forward to weekends away from their wife; if you don't like being around her, why did you marry her? I miss my wife after a day at work---I'm miserable after a weekend away from her).

And then there are all the things I am NOT getting done around the house. Add to that the fact that my podcast and blog are suffering (I haven't put out a 'cast in four days) and you see why I'm so frustrated. Thanks for letting me blow off some stress. I've always said this is better than therapy. Or cheaper, anyway.

Vote Early, Vote Often

It's the first of month, so that means it's time to vote for my podcast at PodcastAlley.com. If you enjoy the 'cast, please visit www.podcastalley.com, do a search for "matt's", and give us a vote. Thanks.