Category Archives: Uncategorized

New Years’ Resolutions

Posted on by

I seldom make “New Years Resolutions” — I’ve just never thought much about it.

This year, I am making some.

1. Love my wife even more: seems pretty obvious, and some would even say “of course you should love your wife — what, you don’t love her now?” But as those in successful relationships know, Life isn’t a romance novel. And romance novels and chick-flicks warp one’s sense of reality. It is the rare exception to the rule when two people just “click” without a molecule’s worth of work. If your relationship is like that, God bless you. Life has instructed me, however, with many examples and lessons indicating: it isn’t necessarily so. And in that vein, I’ve discovered that a relationship is truly about work. It is about concentration and the purposeful application of kindness, consideration, sacrifice and teamwork mixed with a healthy helping of love. Sometimes I forget about the teamwork part or sometimes I think it’s more about me. That’s the precise time that I need to focus more on my lovely wife. I plan to do exactly that in 2009 and become a better husband. I’ve discovered: it takes work. And I plan to apply myself.


2. Get back to workouts: I lost 85 pounds in 2004/2005, and gained a bunch of it back in 2006 when I went to a Masters program in San Diego. Since I stayed in Old Town San Diego there wasn’t much to eat but Mexican food. Carbs, carbs, carbs. I also got out of the habit of running and exercising. For 2009, I want to get back into the habit of exercising and watching what I eat.

3. Continue with the Chiropractor: one of the best things I did late in 2008 was enlist the services of a chiropractor. An excellent doctor who does things globally, so to speak, I’ve been able to lessen my back pain and, on the other hand, handle various forms of physical labor with a fraction of the pain I encountered before.

4. Streamline my life: I started this project in 2008 and plan to completely finish in 2009. I cleaned out my outdoor shed, got rid of unwanted and unneeded items, started categorizing all my photographs, books, CDs, albums. I have, literally, thousands of music CDs and a like number of books I’ve collected over the years. I’m getting rid of much of these things, organizing each room of the house. I still have work left. When one project is done I move to the next. And with each concluded project I feel a weight lift from my shoulders.

5. Make more financial and retirement planning: self-explanatory. I need to focus more closely on my finances and watch spending. Time to conserve.

2008 In Summary:

Frankly, I’m glad to see 2008 exit. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” And unfortunately I only see much of the same for 2009. I’ve finally come to realize that the larger aspects of the world I simply cannot much influence: where the world is heading, geopolitics, my country, her economic plight. Certainly there are tasks I can accomplish in a smaller fashion. But I must learn to place things more into perspective.

Therefore I plan to concentrate on the aspects that I personally can influence: my relationship, my surroundings, my attitude, my mind, my immediate family.

And I cannot leave you, my readers, out of this equation. I began this blog in 2004, the result of a failed relationship and in accordance with seeking a time-occupier. What began as a spasmodic and periodic series of disjointed posts has turned not only into a hobby but a venting and a modulation as well. I’ve always written for myself, essentially, and that there are those such as yourselves who actually take the time to read my mental mush and then opine about those words — well, I consider myself deeply and truly blessed. I’ve made acquaintances and I’ve made actual friends, even met some of my fellow bloggers. So I thank you, my dearest readers, for taking time out of your busy days to read and then comment on my foamings. You have my most humble and appreciated thanks.

Those are my plans for the new year.

Do you have any for 2009?

BZ

P.S.
2008 Trivia Questions For You:

1. When the year began there were five major investment banks on Wall Street. Name the two that have survivied as independent companies.

2. Within $5, what was the highest per-barrel price for oil this year? And what was the lowest?

3. After peaking at a national average of $4.11 per gallon in July, gas prices fell to $1.66 by mid-December. In what year was gas last priced that low?

4. Which country’s beer conglomerate swallowed iconic American brewer Anheuser-Busch?

5. The only work of adult fiction to sell 1 million copies in the US in 2008 was a 576-page debut novel about a mute 14-year-old boy and a pack of dogs. Name the book and author.

6. Name three celebrities who died in 2008.

 Share

Israel Stands Firm; Postulating

Posted on by

Various organizations (as well as black Moonbat Cynthia “Unsinkable Cindy Brown” McKinney) have lobbied heavily against Israel having the present ability to defend itself despite two constant years of Hamas launching rockets and lobbing mortar rounds from the Gaza Strip into Israel proper. It is estimated that roughly 10,000 to 11,000 rockets and rounds have hit Israel in that time, equating to 12 to 13 strikes per day.

Despite this international pressure (oddly enough, the US has been strangely silent on the issue both from Bush and the president-elect), Israel has decided not to suspend its own defense:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israel rejected international pressure to suspend its air offensive against Palestinian militants whose rocket barrages are striking close to the Israeli heartland, sending warplanes Wednesday to demolish smuggling tunnels that are the lifeline of Gaza’s Islamic Hamas rulers.

Hamas has, in fact, stepped up its rocket attacks. Video of IDF targeting Grad missile launches here. Hamas rockets also struck a kindergarten in the Israeli city of Beersheba. The Israel Air Force has been bombing various Hamas-operated tunnels used for smuggling along the border of Gaza and Israel.

Major media coverage of Israel having the temerity to actually defend itself revolves around so-called “Israeli aggression” in concert with the “poor Palestinian people.”

I should like to remind everyone, however, of this one very important and salient fact regarding the “poor Palestinian people” within the confines of Gaza: Hamas was elected, democratically, by “the people” in this area. They actively selected Hamas as the governance of choice therefore, of course, endorsing the utilization, by Hamas, of rockets and mortars against the people of Israel. Therefore, the choice was made and the options are simple:

1. Stop the rocket and mortar attacks against Israel or
2. Expect that Israel will continue to kill Hamas terrorists with resulting collateral civilian deaths

I should also like to remind everyone tending to “bleed” for the “Palestinians” that at no time has any other Middle Eastern or sympathetic state or nation offered to provide land, to host or embrace, arms outstretched, their fellow Arabian brethren and sistren.

And that brings me to the second major point:

Whilst considering this situation I wondered, in reverse, what the reaction of the United States would be if, for example, Mexico began to lob similar rockets and mortars from Agua Prieta into the community of Bisbee, Arizona, resulting in deaths on US soil? My guess would be that America would not wait two years to send either an air strike against the town or troops on the ground. My guess is that the US would turn Agua Prieta to rubble.

With that in mind I managed to find, during my internet travels, a Belfast columnist who actually supports the idea of Israel defending itself — and she poses the same question I do:

Israel — the only country in the world not permitted to defend its own civilian population against attack.

Not without the usual, predictable international outcry anyway. If, for the last six months the south coast of England had been daily bombarded with rockets fired by a terrorist outfit in control of, say, Germany ? if people in the region had been forced daily to flee to bomb shelters ? if men, women and children were being killed on a regular basis … you’d imagine it would have made widespread global headlines. That there would be considerable sympathy for the civilians involved.

And if British forces were to retaliate against the terror group by launching air strikes against its bases — not primarily as a “revenge” operation but in a direct attempt to neuter those rocket attacks. . .

Would there be quite the same backlash in the British media against this as there has been this week against the Israeli response?

What else were the Israelis expected to do in this situation? Sit back and take it? And hope that the plight of its civilians might galvanise the rest of the world into putting pressure on the terrorist Hamas?

Imagine: a female columnist who has more balls, by herself, than all in the UK government. God bless her.

On the other hand, upon more reflection, would the US truly have the courage to mount a defensive attack? With either Bush or the president-elect in office?

I should like to think so. I remain not entirely convinced.

How sad is that?

Happy New Year.

BZ
 Share

The Ebola Virus

Posted on by

The Ebola virus has raised its ugly head once again.

Ebola, for those unfamiliar, is a ragingly-lethal hemorrhagic virus which was the topic of the 1994 Richard Preston book, The Hot Zone. Ebola is “one of two members of a family of RNA viruses called the Filoviridae. There are five identified subtypes of Ebola virus. Four of the five have caused disease in humans: Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast and Ebola-Bundibugyo. The fifth, Ebola-Reston, has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans.” Remember that last sentence.

Ebola consists of a single strand of RNA, the most base, rudimentary of genetic coding, unlike, for example, the double-helix of humans. The Ebola virus does one thing and one thing only: it exists solely to replicate.
Ebola first emerged in 1976, literally from the dust and dirt of Africa. Because it is neither living nor dead, it can lie dormant until encountering tissue forms. Like the worst scene from a horror or science fiction film, Ebola literally dissolves the host from within — humans included. Symptoms begin with a headache, backache, then progress to a complete collapse of every system and bleeding/tissue leakage (hemorrhaging) from all orifices, accompanied by seizures. Ebola has an 80% fatality rate and there is no cure or treatment.

People can be exposed to Ebola virus from direct contact with the blood and/or secretions of an infected person. Thus, the virus is often spread through families and friends because they come in close contact with such secretions when caring for infected persons. People can also be exposed to Ebola virus through contact with objects, such as needles, that have been contaminated with infected secretions.

With all this in mind, two recent notations:

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said one woman died on Sunday, while another man succumbed in Mweka on Christmas Day.

MSF is treating 24 other suspected Ebola cases at isolation units in the villages of Kaluamba and Kampungu.

It is monitoring 102 people who may have had contact with the virus. The latest outbreak in Western Kasai province emerged in late November.

MSF said there is fear and confusion among local civilians and health staff as rumours circulate of suspected cases or deaths from the disease.

It is the first Ebola outbreak in Africa since February and the fourth in DR Congo since 1976. The highly infectious bleeding fever kills 80% of those it infects and there is no known cure.

Then:

The Plum Island researchers also isolated the Reston-Ebola virus from 6 of the 28 swine samples tested. This marks the first time the Ebola virus has been isolated from swine.

The Ebola virus belongs to the Filoviridae family to which humans and other primates are susceptible. It was first reported in the Ebola River Valley in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976. Human pathogenic strains can result in fatality rates of 50 to 90 percent.

Now, reference the sentence highlighted in red above, regarding Ebola Reston. However, as with concern involving H5N1 avian flu, is it absolutely certain that Ebola cannot transition from the porcine to the human community?

Happy New Year.

BZ
 Share

Again, Big Brother Is Here

Posted on by

First, your car is chipped.

Answerable with information stored by your local, state and federal governments.

Think that’s fantasy? It’s already starting in the state just north of Fornicalia. Read on:

A year ago, the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it had demonstrated that a new way to pay for roads — via a mileage tax and satellite technology — could work.

Now Gov. Ted Kulongoski says he’d like the legislature to take the next step.

As part of a transportation-related bill he has filed for the 2009 legislative session, the governor says he plans to recommend “a path to transition away from the gas tax as the central funding source for transportation.”

What that means is explained on the governor’s website:

“As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system.”

According to the policies he has outlined online, Kulongoski proposes to continue the work of the special task force that came up with and tested the idea of a mileage tax to replace the gas tax.

The governor wants the task force “to partner with auto manufacturers to refine technology that would enable Oregonians to pay for the transportation system based on how many miles they drive.”

The online outline adds: “The governor is committed to ensuring that rural Oregon is not adversely affected and that privacy concerns are addressed.”

When the task force’s study and test were in the news in 2006 and 2007, critics worried that the technology could be used to track where vehicles go, not just how far they travel, and that this information would somehow be stored by the
government [of course those are valid concerns; it’s a small box affixed to the vehicle’s electronic system: how would you know?]

Here’s the long and short of it: because, as a good driver, you’re doing as you’re told — that is to say, driving less and using less fuel, producing less carbon — you’re also strangling a governmental source of revenue. So, to make up for this shortfall because you, the citizen, are doing the so-called “right thing,” it’s time to remove more of your privacy and liberties by chipping your car, so that you can be taxed further.

I should like to point to another example: back east, when citizens used less power in a community, as the government has been asking via public service announcements for years, the local power generation utility began losing revenue. Therefore, though the citizens were using less power their rates went up.

Further, if Oregon is thinking of this strategy, you know other states are also. Let’s also do what I call the Logical Extension: if the government is monitoring you via electronic nanny for mileage, the insurance companies will demand access to whatever information is collected as well, and the states will take their cut of cash for providing this information, against you, to your insurer.

And what if your car is hacked by someone wishing to have less mileage? What happens if, when a person is chipped, your entire life is hacked?

BZ
 Share