Rantings of a Nerd

This is dumb.  No criminally dumb.  Arresting a woman because she was eating a candy bar. 

Okay, they arrested her because she wouldn't stop for the police officer when he asked to see her ID.  Because she had the last bite of a candy bar in her mouth.  Perhaps she shouldn't have asked him if there were some "real" crimes for him to stop.

I think however that was a valid question. 

I hate the excuse given... The officer has been on heightened alert for weeks about terrorists alerts.  For what?  Candy eating terrorists?  Wanting to litter on the metro?

Don't get me wrong, I have recently ridden on the metro in DC.  It is damn nice, and clean.  Guess this is why.  I would have avoided it, had I known the cops were this unprofessional.

So are we now to subject ourselves to a loss of civil rights because cops are stressed?  Pardon me, but feel free to write this down and attribute it to me, "They can take that excuse and shove it up their collective asses."

Soldiers aren't allowed to just beat someone up a little because they have to, "let off steam."   If you can't handle the job, you need to quit or be fired.  In the case of soldiers there are court martials and military prisions.

Now if we can just get the TSA to let us carry pictures of kitchen knives. 

From Matt Drudge:

=================================================================

DEMO VICTORY: AL FRANKEN TAKES O'REILLY RADIO IN NYC MATCH-UPTue Jul 20 2004 15:52:21 ETAIR AMERICA's Al Franken shot past INFINITY's Bill O'Reilly in the just released ARBITRON radio rates for April thru June, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.The Franken victory over his latest nemesis came in the ad-friendly 25-54 demo, during the 2 to 3 pm hour, the only hour when the two directly squared off in the nation's top market New York City.Franken topped O'Reilly for the book, but did experience audience erosion in May and June after AIR AMERICA's much publicized launch.Rush Limbaugh easily took top honors in all demos, ARBITRON reports, pulling in more total listeners age 12+ than Franken and O'Reilly -- combined!Developing...

=================================================================

Guess there is only room for one on the right?  Rush seems to hold that slot down nicely.
It is interesting that Al Franken is beating Bill O'Reilly when they are head to head.  Bill, you are quite pithy, but beyond that you miss the issues.   If people want to hear a right wing point of view they have their voice already picked out. 

Thought it would be worthwhile to add a link to the NYT article about this.

Thanks to Matt Drudge we have the following story:

======================

NYT: COLLAPSE OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD ACCELERATES
Mon Jul 12 2004 18:17:38 ET

The collapse of the earth's magnetic field, which both guards the planet and guides many of its creatures, appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago, the NY TIMES is planning to report on Page Ones Tuesday.

Science reporter Bill Broad has filed a report, according to newsroom sources, which explores how: 'The field's strength has waned 10 percent to 15 percent so far and this deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the earth."

Broad explains: "During a reversal, the main field weakens, almost vanishes, and then reappears with opposite polarity. Afterward, compass needles that normally point north would point south, and during the thousands of years of transition much in the heavens and Earth would go askew."

Broad claims: "A reversal could knock out power grids, hurt astronauts and satellites, widen atmospheric ozone holes, send polar auroras flashing to the equator and confuse birds, fish and migratory animals that rely on the steadiness of the magnetic field as a navigation aid."

Developing...


==========================

My question is, how can Republicans and SUVs be blamed for this? Mark my words if an event of this magnitude happens there will be people screaming into cameras that this is because we haven't respected the earth and it is out to get us.

Now I like a good disaster movie as much as the next nerd, but I don't want to live through one. On the list of global disasters this however would be fairly easy to overcome. GPS instead of magnetic compasses. Perhaps we would have to redesign communication and GPS satellites to withstand the differences or lack of a magnetic field.

But all in all this is survivable. I just have to wonder if this guy is going to be exposed as an alarmist nutcase who in the past ran around screaming about asteroids destroying the planet or somesuch. We shall see.

This new India rock band that cannot be found on iTunes. They have that song, "The One Thing."

A video on MTV and a rather nifty album cover. However, you won't find these guys for download. You can buy the album from their own site or find it as I did at Circuit City.

This article speaks for itself. This guy is an idiot. If you are that dumb avoid situations where you deal with children.

California State Education Secretary Richard Riordan jokingly told a child her name, Isis, meant "stupid dirty girl."

Dumbass.

Looks like galaxies formed earlier than anyone thought. Perhaps the universe is older than we think. Or maybe we are only seeing a small part of the universe. It is far easier for me to poke holes in theories than for knowledgeable people to create and prove them.

This all goes to prove that the more we learn the more we realize that we need to learn.

This is just a great site for scripting info and examples on batch file scripting. It is far from complete, but it is a nice breath of fresh air when all you find on the web these days are sites that want you to pay for information. I felt like I had stepped back a decade to a more useful internet.

The fun has been joined. John Kerry now has his running mate and the real mud slinging will begin.

Opponents are already using Kerry's own attacks against Edwards. In much that same way Bush 41s attacks against Reagan still resonate today. Can anyone say, "Voodoo economics?"

Edwards is being called light on foreign policy, in fact he has not real experience beyond 4 years in the Senate. That does not disqualify him, it is just not a strong point.

It would be interesting to me to see a list of court cases he was involved in as a trial lawyer. In order to make $500 million dollars as a trial lawyer you have to have been involved in a few high dollar court cases. Bet there are a few people with an opinion in those cases.

Did you hear me, RNC? Go for the money... Point out the whole Kerry is a married to a Billionaire and Edwards earned almost half that as Trial Lawyer. It is an argument that will stick, just be sure that Bush and Cheney look clean before slinging that mud.

Not the story you think... Not the president you think. This is worth a read, if for no other reason than historical perspective.

One of my favorite themes... Intellectual bullies. Usually you can find these guys coming from the left. This is the first great example I have seen from the right. This guy is one of those who uses statistics to justify his racism. His big theme is that black are inferior and so are women. Mostly people who do not look like him.

These people are the ones who really scare me. They have the intelligence to understand complicated sets of data, but not the mind to interpret them. These aren't matters of opinion, this guy sounds like the eugenics people from the early 1900s.

He is subtle, but I think even a casual read will reveal his intent.
I agonized on whether I wanted to give this guy the publicity, but I finally decided that it was more important to shed some light on this kind of evil. Kind of like that ACLU argument that the way to combat bad speech is more speech not censorship.