September 30, 2001
Talking Moose's Weblog Manifesto
Talking Moose : The weblog manifesto -Interesting take on weblogs, where they are going, and some simple common sense ideas for making your weblog a better place to be!
Permalink | Comments (0)September 29, 2001
Some news...
Geez, nothing since Monday..did ya miss me? :) It was the last week of the quarter at work...very intense pressure to close business, the customers readiness to close the deal is not really part of the consideration. I guess thats life in a public company whose stock price is down 60% YTD. Oh, rumour has it 4000 people are getting wacked on Monday, I don't expect to be one of them. Sales is a fairly stable career if you can stay ahead of quota, which I am doing this year, so far.
Several friends got laid off from various companies last week - I think the economy is going to get worse still before it gets better.
Purdue won 35-28 in overtime, and our freshmen quaterback showed flashes of brilliance that have to get you excited. Well, maybe it won't excite the OSU fans in my audience ;) Now we are 3-0. I, of course, saw none of the game, as I was at a Cub Scout picnic. Purdue has been on TV twice this year and I have seen none of it. Oh well...
Permalink | Comments (2)September 24, 2001
Banned Book Week
It's banned book week. Let us remember that ultimately what makes our country great is freedom, not our ability to carpet bomb a third world country in oblivion. Turn off the TV, stop watching for signs of War in the Middle East, and read a banned book. I happen to have Farenheit 451 on the bookshelf and I have not read it in years. I think I'll rectify that this week.
Thanks to Davezilla for the pointer.
Permalink | Comments (2)September 19, 2001
New Mellencamp Song Out
John Mellencamp has his new single 'Peaceful World" available on his web site in Windows Media or Real format. The song is very catchy and has major hit written all over it. The lyrics are quite relevant given the current state of our world. I still haven't seen Mellencamp in concert. I've had tickets twice, and both times the show was canceled, once because somebody in the band was in a very serious accident, and the other time was due to John's heart attack. I'm afraid to buy tickets again...
Permalink | Comments (1)September 16, 2001
Book Review: For the Cause of Liberty : A Thousand Years of Irelands Heroes
Over 1000 years of history condensed into about 300 pages. This is a well done survey of Irish history, from Brian Boru, to King Red Hugh O'Donnell, to Gerry Adams. I finished this book with a much better understanding of Irish history and the dynamic between the Irish and British that led to 800 years of hatred and violence. If your of British descent don't bother - you won't like the way your country is presented in this book. However, the book does not come across as "Pro-Irish." In this case, the facts dictate that for most of the last 800 odd years, the British were the bad guys in Ireland.
How much of today's relative peace is indicative of a true resolution, and how much is a side benefit of the best economy in Europe will be an interesting story to watch over the next couple of years as the Irish economy inevitably slows down.
Permalink | Comments (0)September 15, 2001
Some good news
We rescued two dogs today from an uncertain future. Michelle went out this morning to adopt one dog - came home with two. Technically, we haven't adopted Fenway, we are providing a foster home. However, I'm sure we'll be adopting Fenway in the very near future. Fenway is a beagle, about 1-1/2 years old, and Isabelle is a dauschund/beagle mix, about 10 months old. It's like having toddlers around the house again...
September 13, 2001
Now I'm scared
ABCNEWS.com : Terror Probe Presses On
ABC is reporting that two more hijacks were attempted in NY airports this afternoon and evening. They were stopped and the perpatrators were arrested. With any luck they will mysteriously die in jail tonight.
ABC is also reporting (on TV - don't see it on the web) that the Air Force has planes in high threat mode at 26 bases - that is planes on the runway and pilots in full gear in the ready room waiting for a launch signal. They also have moved VP Cheney to a secure location.
Just what the hell is going on here? I was pretty sure this was a well planned, yet isolated act of violence that would not be repeated anytime soon.
Now I'm really starting to wonder if we are at war.
Permalink | Comments (1)The terrorists made a BIG mistake
One of the threads you often hear from our middle eastern enemies is that American's are weak. They point to our shallow pop culture and the apparent lack of faith and religion in our day to day lives as evidence of a "Godless" society not worthy of existance on this planet.
Isn't that kind of the same opinion the Japenese held of us the day they bombed Pearl Harbor?
Permalink | Comments (1)A large organization??
Why do all the "experts" keep claiming that this had to be done by a very large organization with hundreds of support people and very deep pockets?
I see that act needed a couple of dozen people at best, half of which perished in the act of crashing the planes. A small determined group of very hateful people pulled this off. They may have state support, they may not. However, it certaintly did not require a very large group of people to plan and implement this.
So again, why are we rushing to asume that a very terrorist organization is operating against us? Are the experts that clueless? I doubt it. However, political leaders from Machiovelli to Hitler have used the boogeyman of a common ememy to great effect. What better way for the government to get what they want than to scare us all into believing that we need even more government to protect from this big evil boogeyman in the Middle East?
Permalink | Comments (1)September 11, 2001
Random Thoughts on A very bad day
Today pretty much sucks. Like just about everybody else in the US, I've spent most of the day in front of the TV. I live 15 miles from Dulles Airport, where the plane that hit the Pentagon was hijacked. This level of evil being that close to my family is very unsettling.
Random thoughts from my 7 year old son, as he watched the news with me...
"Do they have enough fire trucks in NY to fight that fire?"
"Don't the bad guys realize they will die too in the crash?"
"Why are they closing the airports? If one of those planes wants to land they can't really stop it."
Why is our President in hiding? Shouldn't a leader be out front, leading? President Bush has not helped me feel better today.
Mayor Gulliani walking through the debris holding a dust mask over his mouth with one hand made me feel better. And I don't even live in NY.
Given our lack of success in bringing justice to terrorists in the past, what are the odds that the group we eventually pin this on will be the real ringleader?
How many 2nd rate terrorist groups will be motivated to try someting similar now?
Would you get on a plane Thursday morning? I mean, a cross country flight. Notice how all four planes were east coast to west coast flights? Lots of jet fuel on those planes...
Permalink | Comments (0)September 04, 2001
Shark! Shark!
Another person killed by a shark near the Outer Banks. That is two in 3 days. The Outer Banks is also where I am right now! The 10 year old boy was killed a little north of us, the guy from DC was about 30 miles South. I've been watching the helicopters buzz the beach all morning looking for sharks. Yes, I know statistically I'm still way safer in the ocean than I will be in the car driving home this weekend. We've been working hard to keep the kids in the dark on the shark attacks. I thought they were safe since they really don't go more than about 10 feet off the shoreline anyway, however the guy yesterday was only about 20 feet out.The weather forecast for today is not too good so I think we are going to go visit Kitty Hawk and do some other stuff that does not involve the beach. I'll deal with my irrational fears tomorrow.
Permalink | Comments (1)