Any Fool Can Get Published...

A couple of weeks ago, IDC put out a study http://www.emc.com (paid for by EMC) that estimated the amount of data produced in 2006 and projected the load for 2010.

The figures are astounding.

All of us together, mostly individual users, created 161 exabytes of data in 2006.

That's 161 billion gigabytes.

In 2010, that figure will rise to almost a zettabyte. That's roughly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes.

My eyes go cross just trying to count the number of commas.

Now, there are many scary things about all this data.
For example, if you're looking for a needle in it, how will you find it?
Will today's search techniques be up to the job?
Unlikely.
Particularly, if it is stored here, there, and everywhere.


Also, the quality of all this data will be — how to put this politely — uneven.
Back in the 18th century, an educated person may well have been able to read everything that had ever been published because the archive was not all that large.
And to get published, the thing had to pass some minimal standards at a publisher.

Today, any fool can publish and does. (your reading this, aren't you)?
Profusely. So who figures out what the good stuff is?
Where is the trusted arbiter of quality? Brand names will figure prominently here.
If you believe the Wall Street Journal, then you'll buy its version of things, and if you believe Jerry Falwell's version of things, then you'll buy into whatever the National Liberty Journal says.

So the moral here is...check the background and reputation of the sources of your information before you give it weight or creedence...

or the drivel that you are regurgitating as facts may be your own!

Political Correctness Kills...

When former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the infamy of Sept. 11 a "wake-up call from hell," he meant just that. His characterization demands repeating again – and again – because worse than Sept. 11 will happen unless we heed the call.

I am not so sure the commissars of political correctness, who so dominates our media, our government bureaucracies and other institutions, are willing to unshackle the will of the American people and allow us to destroy the terrorists and the nations that back them.

President Bush has done a remarkable job – especially in light of the hand he inherited from the previous administration. It is also important to remember that a hidden problem for the Bush administration is that the U.S. government, including our Pentagon, CIA and other agencies, is still largely run by appointees of Clinton-Gore or the career military and bureaucrats Clinton-Gore promoted through the ranks.

The same people who left us vulnerable to the acts of Sept. 11 are now claiming they will solve our future problems.

I believe long-term good will come out of this catastrophe only if we learn from the events of Sept. 11, hold accountable the people in our government who failed us, and make necessary reforms.
If we do not do this, it is doubtful we will exist as a great nation 10 years hence.
We should also heed the Roman statesman Cicero, who remarked that great nations are destroyed not from the barbarians outside but from the civilized people within.

The logic of this is simple: There will always be barbarians outside the gates. It is up to us to have the character and strength and will to defend against them.

Before Sept. 11, P.C. thinking taught us that nothing we do matters; character didn't count. It was the Age of Clinton. After Sept. 11, the overriding lesson is that everything we do counts; character does matter.

Even the liberal Boston Globe recognized this.

Breaking from the P.C. crowd, it reported that Clinton's sexcapades and scandals detracted from his ability to focus on hunting down Osama bin Laden.

That story got almost zero national press coverage.

FROM A 21 YEAR OLD VETERAN...god help us, what have we done to an entire generation?

I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground.

I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods.

My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.

I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again…and yet, I too, am just a boy….my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead.

I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid…because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.
There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own…but that are necessary for survival. I’ve made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets…who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.
And to think, I volunteered for this…
And I am ignorant to the rest of the world…or so I thought.

But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn’t fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.

I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that’s what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.

People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don’t realize its effects on this war.

In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy’s brutality because it’s against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war.

And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation’s news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes…only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society…and they are becoming our enemy.

Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word “quagmire” around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.

Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet…and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed…for doing their job.

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we’ve done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It’s all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual…the war doesn’t affect you.

But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what’s left of them after their service…where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can’t touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.

We are the hope of the Iraqi people.

They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor…we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It’s supporting our President, our troops and our cause.

Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn’t.

Let’s stop all the political nonsense, let’s stop all the bickering, let’s stop all the bad news and let’s stand and fight!

Isn’t that what America is about anyway?

In a Nutshell...

I don't normally put entire quotes here...but I think this warrants it....

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: "We have made a lot of mistakes in Iraq.
But when Arabs kill Arabs and Shiites kill Shiites and Sunnis kill all in a spasm of violence that is blind and furious and has roots in hatreds born long before America was even a republic, to place the blame on the one player, the one country, the one military that has done more than any other to try to separate the combatants and bring conciliation is simply perverse.

It infantilizes Arabs.

It demonizes Americans.

It willfully overlooks the plainest of facts:

Iraq is their country.
We midwifed their freedom.
They chose civil war."

Where Did I Go Wrong??

"FATAL ERROR": Where Did I Go Wrong and What Can I Do Now?

There is nothing more frustrating when Web surfing than to be stopped dead in your tracks by one of many error messages. Often cryptic in nature and downright scary in tone, messages such as "Error 404," "Unknown Host," "Your Client Does Not Have Permission to View This Site," and "This Program Has Performed an Illegal Action and Will Be Shut Down," can have a chilling effect.

Following are some tips for getting past, or better yet, avoiding these interruptions altogether.

The Web has no spellcheck.

Make sure that you've written "Amazon" not "Amizon." If you have copied a Web address, make sure that you've captured the entire URL (e.g., "uwnyc.org" not "uwnyc.or"). If you accidentally include even tiny extraneous characters - like a number or a period used in a listing - your computer will inform you that there is no Web site named "1.uwnyc.org". Nice try, but... Even intelligent guessing won't always lead you to the right answer. For example, how would one figure out that the Web address for Stan Hutton's wonderful "Guide to Nonprofit Charitable Organizations" is ".nonprofit.about.com". Think of the hours which might be wasted if you tried every possible permutation and combination. Instead, type what you know of the organizational name into a search engine like Google.com and scan the hits that it provides until you recognize the specific reference you're seeking. Then click on the link provided and consider bookmarking the site so you can easily locate it in the future.

What's in a name?

While one "Center" may choose "ctr.org", another may use "cent.org". I have often been asked if a comprehensive or even up-to-date URL "yellow pages" or "white pages" exists and the answer is "no", on both counts. If all else fails, go back to the search engine approach. Which suffix will suffice? Not every organization that works with nonprofits is itself a nonprofit, and not every provider of goods and services is a business. If "name.org" doesn't work, try "name.com" - or vice versa. If you still get no satisfaction, try ".net" or possibly ".gov" before giving up. It's a long shot, but you never know.

Do we have TIME for this?

TIME TRAVEL has become, if not respectable, then certainly fashionable in some quarters of the physics world over the past decade or so.

Much of the blame can be laid at the door of the astronomer Carl Sagan, who was writing a science fiction novel in the summer of 1985, and asked the relativist Kip Thorne, of CalTech, to come up with some plausible sounding scientific mumbo-jumbo to "explain" the literary device of a wormhole through space which could enable his characters to travel between the stars. Encouraged to look at the equations of the general theory of relativity in a new light, Thorne and his colleagues first found that there is nothing in those equations to prevent the existence of such wormholes, and then realised that any tunnel through space is also, potentially, a tunnel through time. The laws of physics do not forbid time travel.

This realisation had two consequences.

When Sagan's novel, Contact, appeared in 1986 it contained a passage that read like pure Sf hokum, but which was (although few readers realised it at the time) a serious science factual description of a spacetime wormhole. And as Thorne and his colleagues began to publish scientific papers about time machines and time travel, the spreading ripples have stimulated a cottage industry of similar studies.

Oh Carl, wherefore art thou now??????

Why music should be illegal...

Sometimes I wonder why music is legal.

Music can alter your mood and your body chemistry just like any illegal drug.
The fact that it goes into your body through your ear shouldn’t make a difference. We take drugs via practically every other hole in our body – mouth, butt, eyeballs, nose – you name it.

Ain’t nothing special about an ear.


Music is clearly unsafe.
Suppose you’re in a perfectly good mood and a depressing song comes on. That could make you sad and break down your body’s natural defenses.
You could get sick and die.
Thank you very much Freddie Fender.


Many songs are dangerous to hear while operating a motor vehicle.
For example, anything by ZZ TOP will force me to exceed the speed limit. You probably have your own songs that make you speed. If you believe in free will you might argue that people always have the choice of NOT speeding. But by that reasoning it should be legal to allow drunks to drive because they have the choice of not doing it.

Let me put it another way.
If gum made people more likely to speed, you know there would be a law against chewing and driving.

If it goes into your body through your mouth, it’s a drug.
If it goes in through your ears, it’s entertainment.
That seems random to me.

One way you know you have a drinking problem is if it affects your work.
I don’t know about you, but if I have a song stuck in my head, it lowers my I.Q. by about 40 points. I can sometimes do two things at the same time if those two things are easy, such as humming and walking. But if I’m trying to work or read a contract, a song in my head will turn me into a chimp.
Case in point – I have a song in my head right now and this post sucks.

Don’t forget – music is a gateway drug to harder stuff.
Music attracts dancing.
Dancing attracts alcohol.
Alcohol leads to unwanted pregnancies.
Unwanted pregnancies lead to abortion.
If you believe life begins at conception, you have to believe that music kills babies.

And then there’s the corrosive effect of rap music.
I don't think it's even music, but after hearing three tracks I have an urge to slap a ho.
That can’t be healthy, especially for the ho.

I have a thing about the New Orleans gun confiscations...

I think all of us have been pretty unhappy about that happening.

But what I am unhappy about is how easily they did it.

How easily it was to disarm a whole population. Door to door confiscations went too smoothly... it worked. All they did was go door to door and they took all the guns.

Easy as pie.

That is what concerns me the most.

That is what troubled me the most.

Almost complete lack of resistance - other than some yelling and cussing.

Pathetic.

I would rather have seen a rolling street battle, but you know, I don't think that would happen.

Most gun owners would, like in New Orleans, just roll over.

You ask yourself this... Would you roll over? Or would you stand and fight?

Just ask yourself that.

One day there is going to come a pounding on your door, and your are going to have to have your answer ready.

The end of an era...

There really is very little reason to use floppy disks anymore.

Devices such as USB drives are not only more convenient, faster, and more spacious than floppies, but they’re also inexpensive. A good USB drive will only run about $15-50 depending on what brand and type of size of USB drive you get.

Some models even offer encryption. What’s not to like? Do yourself a favor: Dump your floppies, go to Wal-Mart or any computer store, and buy a USB drive. There’s no reason not to.

When floppies fade into computer history and everyone else tries to make the transition to a new storage format, you’ll be glad you have one.

You can even impress a few of your non-computer-savvy friends and maybe even get them to purchase one.

I believe we will soon arrive at the end of a floppy era… a very floppy era…

Why are we here?

We thirst for freedom, yet all the while we are imprisoned by conditioned beliefs and paralysed by fear.

Freedom and restrictions do not go well together. They are constantly at odds with one another. And since both are constant companions, the stage is set for a permanent dual.

So, like sheep, we suffer, wear ourselves out and eventually die.

Such is our lot in life.

Legalize It All !!!

I had a thought recently.

What if our reality was just the dream of another reality? What if peanut butter and jelly were somehow the answer to many of the mysteries of the universe?

I know, weird.

Then, I put those thoughts on hold and had another thought.

What if we legalized everything? Anything that didn't physically harm another person is perfectly legal to do. Sex, drugs, suicide — it's all fair game.

Here's why I think this would be good for the world.

We let everyone do whatever the hell they want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. This way, the smart people will try it, get tired of it, learn their lesson, and then pass this lesson on to their children.

The stupid people will overdo it and die, and hopefully somehow take their children with them.


What do you think?

Should We or Shouldn't We ???

This isn't about moral superiority, it's about protecting our country.

That isn't to say morals have no place in the matter. I don't think torture precisely appeals to anyone except nut jobs and sadists. I know from experience that the majority of those who torture do so not out of sadistic pleasure, but out of a desire to protect our country from future attacks.

There's only one problem with this: torture generally doesn't prevent future attacks.

These terrorists tend to be absolutely insane, and I believe many of them will not give up information no matter what. The real problem with torture is that torturing is essentially the same thing as posting "Join Al Qaeda" signs in neighborhoods of those undecided between extremist Islam and moderate Islam. Bin Laden prospers off the ignorance of the people in his country, and he uses their ignorance to be able to point to America and say, "They are the reason for all of your suffering."

If we torture captured Iraqis, it will only reinforce his message that we're all devils. And think about that message in the light he's portraying it for a second: it sounds quite sane and rational.

Big bad America invaded us, we shot at them to protect and defend our country, and now they're torturing our soldiers.

You could argue that this is irrelevant because Bin Laden can put whatever spin on things he needs to, even outright lie. True as this may be, I don't for the life of me see how feeding the fire could be helpful.

So when you think about it in these complex terms, not torturing may actually benefit our national security and our troops overseas more than torturing would.

A big problem with America is that we tend to take many more prisoners during combat that any country in the world. Other countries without embedded reporters on the front line have a higher enemy casualty rate when they engage. I have a real problem when you do everyting in your power to kill an enemy solder, before he kills you, then run up and yell "MEDIC" to save his life! When every shot we fire is broadcast on CNN and Al Jeezera that afternoon, this is the world America lives in.

With that in mind, I say that there are times when torture is appropriate. When you capture a man whom you know, without a doubt, knows something vital to our security, then should torture be allowed, nay demanded.

Not assumptions, not "he must know it, he's so high-ranked", but certainty (such as in a case where you have a fragment of a letter by a man with a detailed plan to bomb America).

Torturing under any other circumstances is foolhardy

And to say a few words about the Geneva Convention, I would like to remind everyone that it offers protection for those solders who fight for an established, recognized country, whose solders serve in uniform and in an organization with rank and structure.

To the man, those in our overseas detention facilities are terorrists who fight in civilian clothes, often hiding behind women and children. They serve themselves, and are often mercenaries from neighboring countries, being paid by warlords, druglords and just plain thieves to disrupt the politcal environment.

Be Kind to the Pizza Guy...

Kindness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in equality.

My measurement as a human being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job --any job -- and the respect with which I treat others.

I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve.

I am the equal to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart.

And it all starts here -- with the pizza delivery dude.

Found Where ???

To: American People

We, the members of UCAWWW, petition that the Internet (World Wide Web) creates nothing but harm in society today. The Internet is a cause for addiction and sin while taking away traditional family values. Our children are being exposed to filth that causes sexual tendencies and drug addiction.

We therefore, demand that the internet be permanently banned from American homes.

We MUST restore faith in God and steer clear of the devil!


Sincerely,
The Undersigned

I found this petition at, of all places, www.onlinepetitions.com. Only in America can you find an online petition to ban being online!

What the????

News Flash!!!

An international animal rights group {PTEA} is sending a protester dressed as a black bear to follow the Queen when she visits Canada this month.

Does anyone else see what's about to happen here? Canada harvests more black bears in one season that the rest of the world combined...

...only PETA would think of something like this!!!

Why we are who we are...

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
who has given us the right to vote.

We go, not because we want to, but because we need to!

Wether we believe in the cause or not,
we go uphold the Constitution,
so that EVERYONE will get to keep their freedom.

Religion...

A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.

Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.

Carl Sagan

Cats...

They will not go quietly,the cats who've shared our lives.

In subtle ways they let us know their spirit still survives.

Old habits still make us think we hear a meow at the door

Or step back when we drop a tasty morsel on the floor.

Our feet still go around the place the food dish used to be,

And, sometimes, coming home at night we miss them terribly.

And although time may bring new friends and a new food dish to fill,

That one place in our hearts belongs to them...and always will.

--author unknown

If a Tree...

If a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

A falling tree creates vibrations in the air (as well as some damage on what it falls on). Vibrations in the carrier medium are not sound. Sound is when someone perceives those vibrations and therefore hears sound.

I hope this makes it perfectly clear and answers the question once and for all. Now on to the chicken or the egg experiment.

A Draft?????

Anyone standing in favor of a draft does not believe in individual rights, or human rights at all, for that matter. A draft, which is brought about because of lack of support for a particular military engagement, requires people who would not normally volunteer for the military to be conscripted. If the person had wanted to be in the military without the draft, and he decided it to be the best option available, that person would already be in the military.

The draft is, by definition, involuntary servitude. Once drafted, should the victim meet all physical requirements, the only way out would be a conscientious objector status – which he must ask permission to receive. This is not a very good argument in favor of the draft being anything other than involuntary, since the ultimate authority on whether a draftee must commit to the fighting machine is not the draftee himself.

Now, suppose we were to start calling a draft by another name for involuntary servitude: slavery. Would all of those writing in favor of the draft be willing to concede that, in order to stop the nation building going on today, we need everyone to pitch in and advocate slavery? With its nationalist appeal and media coverage, the draft is really just slavery all dressed up for the prom. It is nothing more. Involuntary servitude is not consistent with libertarian ideals. It is also not consistent with inviolable human rights to build an army of conscripts. Manufacturing slaves to spread ideals seems like a compromising position.

It would seem that, to advocate a draft, would be to violate any principles one has claiming inviolable human rights.