April 2005 Archives

Not having watched the news today, I thought this post must be exaggerated for humor. That is, until I tuned into CNN myself a few minutes ago.

At the top of the hour, they had an exclusive report from some reporter who flown on the plane with the would-be bride. He actually described the scene as she went to use the bathroom during the flight. And almost breathlessly, he relayed that the flight attendant had told him that the wedding is "still on."

Twenty-one minutes after the hour and they were still talking about their top story. Alas.

Remember when CNN used to have the reputation as a news source?

CNN's question of the hour, where viewers are encourage to call in and opine, is whether or not this woman's fiance should give her a second chance. I think a more appropriate question is whether or not I should give CNN a second chance. Perhaps Fox News isn't that bad after all.

I was out last night and didn't catch all of the "tough" questions. Only caught part of the show on re-run. But I noticed that one thing kept popping up during the hour [note these are all separate instances]:

--I told him I appreciated his courage

--We didn't appreciate that

--I appreciate that gesture

--And I appreciate that gesture

--No, I appreciate that question

--I appreciate the strong bipartisan support

--I think the American people appreciate somebody bringing up tough issues

--No, I appreciate that question.

--I appreciate that, John.

--they appreciate the fact that the system now shows deficiencies early so they can correct those problems.

--Yes, I appreciate that.

I bet I can guess what one of the buzz words is that the presidential handlers have been working on behind the scenes.

USAToday runs the numbers. If this plan had been adopted in 1991, a 2004 retiree would receive a $1,587 benefit, versus the existing $2,111 benefit.

Sounds like a winner to me.

If you're a newspaper running a story on how you are changing your website, it might be a good idea to actually change the website when the article says.

UPDATE: The "new" site has been launched. Definitely a cleaner look. Hopefully it won't take five minutes to find stuff on the site now.

Here:

The 8:30 p.m. EDT East Room press conference comes at a time when Bush is facing some of the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency.
. . .
Bush could also face tough questions on Iraq after the top American general acknowledged this week that the insurgency remains undiminished in its capabilities in the past year despite landmark elections and U.S.-led efforts to crush the rebels.

Face tough questions? Since when? Will this be an open house press conference?

Bush rarely faces tough questions because reporters always ask such broad questions that he can easily slide into his package talking points. Yes, we're working hard to catch the terrorists. Yes, we're working hard to lower gas prices.

Here's the type of question we'll likely see tonight:

Mr. President, Americans are concerned about the recent rise in gas prices. Is your administration concerned that high oil prices might slow down the economy?

Duh.

Here's the type of question we should be hearing tonight:

Mr. President, you recently met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Are you convinced that the Saudis are producing and exporting as much oil as possible? If not, why not? And if they are, doesn't this mean gas prices will go significantly higher if demand continues to grow?

Of course Bush would dodge the question and still talk about his "plan" to construct nuclear power plants. But the press could at least force him to work a little harder in the process.

The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization has prepared a Knoxville biking "report card."

Suffice it to say the area doesn't offer much as far as amenities specifically designed for cyclists: 285 bike racks in an urban area of 377,000 people, with a whopping 4 miles of bike lanes.

If you want to ride anywhere in this city, you better be comfortable ridding alongside vehicular traffic.

That liberal media strikes again!

Watching those big egos clash is kind of like watching a car crash--captivating, yet terrifying.

This should come as a surprise to no one:

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann noted that the Family Research Council (FRC), which is currently campaigning to stop filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees by Senate Democrats, was quite vocal in the late 1990s in defending the right to filibuster another presidential nominee, James C. Hormel, who was nominated by President Clinton as ambassador to Luxembourg.

Follow the link for the details.

As they say on The Daily Show, there's a principle for every occasion.

Morgan Stanley's senior economist Stephen Roach has a pretty sharp criticism of the Federal Reserve:

The rhetorical flourishes of America's central bankers have dug the US economy -- and by definition, a US-centric global economy -- into a deep hole. To this very day, the Fed has never confessed to the Original Sin of condoning the equity bubble. On the contrary, Greenspan & Company have been on the defensive ever since by dismissing the increasingly dangerous repercussions of the original post-bubble shakeout. Far from playing the role of the tough guy that is required of independent central bankers, the Fed has become an advocate of the easy money of a powerful liquidity cycle. One bubble has since begotten another -- from equities to bonds to fixed income spread products (i.e., emerging market and high-yield debt) to property. And financial markets have gone along for the ride -- not just in the US but also around the world as global investors and foreign central banks have rushed with reckless abandon to finance America's record current-account deficit.

The day is close at hand when US monetary policy must get real. At a minimum, that will require a normalization of real interest rates. Given the excesses that now exist, it may even require a federal funds rate that needs to move into the restrictive zone -- possibly as high as 5.5%. Yes, this would cause an outcry -- perhaps similar to that which occurred in the spring of 1997 on the occasion of the Original Sin. But in the end, there may be no other choice. Fedspeak has taken us into the greatest moral hazard dilemma of all -- how to wean an asset-dependent system from unsustainably low real interest rates without bringing the entire House of Cards down. The longer the Fed waits, the more perilous the exit strategy.

If you're into this topic, go read the whole thing.

I continue to wonder how the economy seemingly chugs along despite some of the negative economic forces at work. I doubt some of the economic indicators are telling us the full story.

That eye peering over your shoulder will be zooming in:

In a move that could rankle privacy advocates, Microsoft said Monday that it is adding the PC equivalent of a flight data recorder to the next version of Windows, in an effort to better understand and prevent computer crashes.

The tool will build on the existing Watson error-reporting tool in Windows but will provide Microsoft with much deeper information, including what programs were running at the time of the error and even the contents of documents that were being created. Businesses will also choose whether they want their own technology managers to receive such data when an employee's machine crashes.

Microsoft claims consumers will be able to control what information is being transmitted. Most people will probably just check "yes" without knowing what they are consenting to, but okay. I just wonder how far off we are from the day when Microsoft, or someone else, will be required to report when people are using their computers for "bad" things (e.g., visiting certain websites, copying or downloading copyrighted files). This could end up be another tool authorities use to monitor what people are doing.

A few of you may have wondered why a comment wasn't displayed when you submitted it.

I recently updated to Movable Type 3.15. It came with a setting where comments are not posted until I "approve" them. I've wasted at least half an hour trying to figure out how to configure it so that approved commenters can post without further approval, but thus far no luck.

Hopefully I'll get it fixed soon. If you have a tip on what I need to change, post it in the comments. Oh, never mind . . . .

From my alma mater:

Around 3:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 26, a fire broke out near a kitchenette on the third floor of Thatcher Hall, the women's residence at Southern Adventist University.

Twenty-two fire trucks responded. There has been one fatality. The victim's family has been notified. Two students have been taken to the hospital. All residents of Thatcher Hall have been evacuated and are in a safe location on the university's campus.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim's family and students during this time of crisis.

"This is affecting us very deeply here at the university,"� says Gordon Bietz. "Please pray for the students and the staff as we struggle to deal with this tragedy."�

The academic deans are meeting to decide what to do about today's exam schedule. A service will be held on campus later today, and campus counselors and pastors are providing counseling for the students.

More details here.

What a bad way to end a school year. Prayers go to the family of the victim.

Ha ha. On tonight's Daily Show Jon Stewart reviewed the evidence from Bush's so-called "Earth Day" speech on Friday and concludes that Senator Embarrassment Frist has lapsed into a persistent vegetative state.

That would help explain a few things.

Pockets of reason still remain in the U.S. Senate GOP caucus:

Apparently, there are a core of sane Republican Senators who realize the irreparable damage that would be caused by Frist's going "nuclear." These Republicans Senators appear to be Sens. McCain of Arizona, Chafee of RI, Snowe of Maine, Hagel of Nebraska, Collins of Maine, Sununu of New Hampshire, Smith of Oregon, Graham of South Carolina, Lugar of Indiana, Specter of Pennsylvania, Warner of Virginia.

As Democrats (or most of us anyway), there can be no doubt that we disagree much more than we agree with the above listed Republican Senators. But it would be wrong of us not to acknowledge and applaud the integrity, love of country and political courage these Senators are exhibiting in this situation. The political pressure they are facing must be enormous.

Yeah, some of it being applied from our very own Senator Embarrassment (R-TN). Kudos to these "moderates" for standing up on principle.

Not sure this is the real reason or not, this is what Bredesen says:

Gov. Bredesen has reservations about a proposed federal requirement that would force states to screen driver's license applicants more closely.
. . .
Bredesen said the proposal is an unfunded mandate.

He said national security issues don't belong in the hands of driver's license bureaus of the states.

He's correct in pointing out the federal nature of the problem. This appears to be another feel-good, look-at-us-getting-tough measure by Congress. If it was really serious about stopping illegal immigration, it would tighten up the border and go after employers. But that would alienate too many business folk. So apparently we are left with symbolic legislation.

This weekend marks Resonance's two year blogiversary. What it may lack in quality and quantity, it's making up for in longevity!

Thanks for reading.

Seasoned readers of this site have probably gathered that I've been getting back into bicycling after a hiatus. I rode quite a bit as a kid, and even into high school. But for whatever reason it took a back seat when I went away to college and then I didn't ride much for several years. Three summers ago I broke out my old ten speed again, and each successive season I've been riding more until I've reached the point now where I'm awaiting a sexy new bike.

Last year I started sinking a little money into the sport. When I first started shopping around, I experienced a severe case of sticker shock. Back in the day (1984), I got my bike for $200. Suffice it to say that $200 doesn't go nearly as far as it used to. Heck, a real good pair of shoes go for more than that.

Since I've been shopping for more stuff and another bike, I've generally become accustomed to the price level of cycling goods. But I still get surprised from time to time.

Take a look at the price on these babies. Yes, that's just for a couple bicycle wheels. But they do throw in a pair of free tires. So I guess it's not so bad after all.

Hope that if you ever have to call 911, that it doesn't go like this:

"Can you please send someone now!," said Erica Turner, the victim.

There is no mistaking the urgency in Erica Turner's voice.

"I have a restraining order. The guy's at my door. He's knocking on my door threatening to kill me. Can you please? He got a gun. Can you please hurry up and send somebody? We called here five times already. He's in my hallway knocking on my door, Please!" said Turner.

It was one of almost a dozen 911 calls she and three of her relatives made to the Irvington police department on April 4th.

But with a raging ex-boyfriend at her door at 49 Maple Avenue, Erica's initial pleas for help went unanswered.

"I understand that. But right now we really really do not have nobody. And I been trying my best to get a cop car to ya'll, and we really do not have nobody," said 911 police aid.

The kids they've got answering the phones today--where's their training? We really do not have anybody. Remember that double negative thing?

Oh yeah, and if someone is being threatened by an armed ex-boyfriend, it's probably a good idea to find an extra policeman somewhere and check it out.

SayUncle is less than impressed with the Transportation Security Administration's screening. There's good reason not to be.

The TSA may be performing poorly at finding weapons, but there is one thing it's doing quite well: spending money.

I'm shocked by this turn of events.

Missed this story over the weekend. Apparently the oil squeeze is being felt around the globe:

JAPAN and China were due to hold "peace talks" this weekend amid rising tensions over violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in China and a mounting dispute over oil and gas reserves.

Nobutaka Machimura, the Japanese foreign minister who is due to visit Beijing tomorrow, said he hoped the trip would defuse tensions, but the bitter rivalry between the two countries looked set to intensify after Japan announced plans to drill for oil in a disputed area of the East China sea.
. . .
Protesters in Beijing are threatening a further mass demonstration against Japan this weekend, after a rally last week in which several thousand demonstrators pelted the Japanese embassy with stones and bottles, and smashed the windows of Japanese shops.

Not the same thing, but wasn't oil a contributing factor in a war way back when? I don't suspect we'll go there, but I wouldn't be surprised if we see oil strain international relations on a number of fronts in the next 20 years.

I saw my first firefly of the season (not pictured) floating around a tree this evening. I was a bit surprised because I didn't think think they came out until May.

I like fireflies. They conjure up memories of long summer evenings--my favorite time of the year.

Clearly this smoke from the Sistene Chapel chimney thing wasn't developed with live media coverage in mind. Perhaps they should update to fireworks or something else less ambiguous. But it is entertaining listening to these news anchors try to figure out what color the smoke is.

UPDATE: Bells are now ringing. Befuddled anchors and reporters breathe a sigh of relief.

UPDATE: Pope Hitler Youth, if the NY Post can be trusted.

I sometimes wonder how people who conduct forward-looking studies come up with their estimates. Here's another example:

At least one politician or public official would be busted every other year if the ethics legislation that passed the state Senate last week becomes law.

That's not the estimation of some cynical statehouse ob-server or disenchanted activist. That's the estimate of the state legislature's own staff.

The ethics bill, which has different House and Senate versions but generally aims for greater public disclosure of lawmakers' consulting work and connections to lobbyists, would apply to state lawmakers, the appointed members of the governor's cabinet, and local elected officials to the city council level.

Seems to me that if you change the rules, most people inclined to take money--at least at the state level--will simply get more creative in their means of obtaining it. There are rules against taking money in other areas, and people rarely get caught unless one of the parties admits to doing it or is very careless.

I was flipping through the news channels as they were covering the Oklahoma City bombing memorial service. The ceremony included 168 seconds of silence for the victims. I flipped over to Fox News and the anchor was jabbering through 70% of the silence time.

Kind of defeats the purpose of the coverage, doesn't it?

I guess if you really want to watch these events, you should watch C-SPAN anyway. You're much less likely to be subjected to some windbag making up stuff about how "hopeful" a city is.

Anyway, best wishes to those remembering victims of the bombing.

Given the media's fixation with Hillary, you might not hear about anyone else, but it appears Wesley Clark is gearing up for a run, no draft required.

Meanwhile, John Edwards' website appears as if he never stopped his 2004 campaign: same look, same guy running the blog. I'd be surprised if he wasn't in.

South Knox Bubba has an exclusive preview.

Thirty-one House Democrats who voted to repeal the inheritance tax and repeal protections for those seeking bankruptcy.

Lovely.

Krugman:

In 2002, the latest year for which comparable data are available, the United States spent $5,267 on health care for each man, woman and child in the population. Of this, $2,364, or 45 percent, was government spending, mainly on Medicare and Medicaid. Canada spent $2,931 per person, of which $2,048 came from the government. France spent $2,736 per person, of which $2,080 was government spending.

Amazing, isn't it? U.S. health care is so expensive that our government spends more on health care than the governments of other advanced countries, even though the private sector pays a far higher share of the bills than anywhere else.

Yes, that is amazing. And I, for one, am not getting my tax dollar expenditure's worth of care under the current system.

Here's another one for the don't-blame-me-I-didn't-vote-for-this-clown file:

As the Senate heads toward a showdown over the rules governing judicial confirmations, Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, has agreed to join a handful of prominent Christian conservatives in a telecast portraying Democrats as "against people of faith" for blocking President Bush's nominees.

Fliers for the telecast, organized by the Family Research Council and scheduled to originate at a Kentucky megachurch the evening of April 24, call the day "Justice Sunday" and depict a young man holding a Bible in one hand and a gavel in the other. The flier does not name participants, but under the heading "the filibuster against people of faith," it reads: "The filibuster was once abused to protect racial bias, and it is now being used against people of faith."

These generalizations are pretty silly, but to the extent one is true, you could say that the filibuster has been used not against people "of faith," but rather against people who want to impose their faith from the bench.

Funny, but the people who are really paying attention to the nominees' faith are the ones crying persecution. And our good Senator is now hooking up with the "victims." 2008 can't be far away.

Here's something I wasn't aware of:

After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now saying that drinking too much during intense exercise poses a far greater health risk.

An increasing number of athletes - marathon runners, triathletes and even hikers in the Grand Canyon - are severely diluting their blood by drinking too much water or too many sports drinks, with some falling gravely ill and even dying, the doctors say.

I don't think I'll ever have a problem with this. Basically, the only time I try to "over drink" is when I am sick, or feel like I'm getting sick. I'm generally an underdriker. I always seem to misunderestimate the amount I'm going to sweat.

Funny quote, from someone's signature on a forum:

The best way to watch a Girls Gone Wild video is backward, because then it looks like the girls have learned their lesson.

Indeed.

Due to technical difficulties, the site has been down for a couple of days. The hosting company suspended my account, apparently due to some type of spam attack. Thanks for that, whoever you are. The hosting company would only reactivate the account on the condition that I updated my Movable Type installation--I guess I was past due for that anyway. So I've done that. Or attempted to. But the comments and/or everything else may be out of order temporarily while I try to figure everything out.

Via TalkLeft, Blaghdaddy makes the case why political blogging is a waste of time. Basically, it's because most Americans don't care or even know about many of the things bloggers get worked up about.

It's hard to argue with that; most Americans don't know what is going on. But just because people aren't paying attention doesn't necessarily mean some of the issues aren't important; some of them are. Besides, I like knowing what's going on, regardless of whether blogging has an impact or not.

I have a very small stash of $2 bills. No real reason why; since they are relatively rare I just felt like keeping them rather than spending them. Perhaps I there's a good reason not to spend them after all.

Apparently in Florida the first to draw his side arm is the winner!

The Schiavo memo evidence has finally surfaced and it turns out that a lot of people were simply blowing smoke. Surprise, surprise.

Some people faulted news outlets for poorly sourcing the memo story when it first ran. But if those journalists running a correct story "blew it," what credibility do we assign those mouths who denied the story, offering no contrary evidence to support their false theories?

All this coverage of the Schiavo episode and the Pope has got me to thinking of a new cable station venture (if it doesn't already exist): The Death Channel.

It could feature death watches, funerals, mourners, obituaries, executions, autopsy shows (how about some classic Quincy, M.E.?), combat/catastrophe specials, murder trials, on and on.

People are naturally fascinated with death, and there would never a shortage of new content for this concept.

It's a bit doomsdayish, but this James Kunstler article on the world's energy future is quite thought-provoking.

It's unclear to me when the world will reach peak oil production, but it could be within a decade. And when we do, Mr. Kunstler's piece gives an indication of the kind of changes which could be in store for us. The days of the SUV/Suburan Sprawl Era are likely numbered.

Kunstler has an interesting prediction for the southeast U.S.:

I'm not optimistic about the Southeast, either, for different reasons. I think it will be subject to substantial levels of violence as the grievances of the formerly middle class boil over and collide with the delusions of Pentecostal Christian extremism. The latent encoded behavior of Southern culture includes an outsized notion of individualism and the belief that firearms ought to be used in the defense of it. This is a poor recipe for civic cohesion.

That's not very difficult to imagine.

Recently someone, who I consider to be in the know on political/economic trends, told me the day is not far off when government will be mandating much tougher fuel efficiency and the use of hybrid technologies in vehicles. It will probably start out in California and spread from there.

This sounds 180 degrees off the energy industry-authored talking points we hear from Washington these days. But it probably wouldn't take very long with $3/gallon gasoline to generate a shift in the political landscape.

Heh.

Heh.

Then again, perhaps all our former presidents are becoming Catholic. I just heard a news report on the radio about the gang heading to the Pope's funeral--all that is, except Carter.

"It's not clear why President Carter won't be traveling to the funeral," the news reporter said, disapprovingly.

Hmmm, perhaps because he's not Catholic?

Instead of asking why someone isn't going to Rome, I think the appropriate question should be why most of these non-Catholic politicians are going.

San Francisco attempting to regulate a campaign's use of paid political blogging?

This just in. Okay, if you are being picky, this just in two years ago: "Geographer shows 'Kansas flatter than a pancake'."

This (1) illustrates the importance of perspective, and (2) shows that academics have the freedom to do weird stuff.

Term I found in some comments. Pretty fitting. I may use it myself.

This reminds me how long some of my papers seemed to drag out back in educational days: "Internet study finished -- after 7 years."

No biggie, really. The Internet hasn't changed much in the past seven years.

Ha ha.