Testing Is a Good Thing

Nope, I’m not writing about the scandal of Atlanta teachers cheating on test scores to make themselves and their classes look better. What I’m writing about is about personal testing of one’s limits. All too often we skate by through life without seeing where we are and what we can really achieve.

That’s actually quite a broad topic, so for the sake of brevity it will be narrowed down to one example. A personal one at that.

In a recent post, I mentioned how my times in Yahoo crossword puzzles had been doubled while I had the respiratory infection. While the puzzles are being used to sharpen my rusty word skills, they serve another purpose as well. That is to see how well my brain is functioning that day. Cognition is something heavily affected by CFS and while I can usually tell how well I’m doing there, it isn’t always the case. So a more objective test on a daily basis is helpful to see how I’m doing and assist me when I’m waffling about how alert I’m being.

Previously, I’d been using a game called Audiosurf on the Steam game service to judge how well my physical reflexes (and to a lesser degree, alertness) were doing on a given day. Having fallen out of that habit, today is the first day of reinstituting that test alongside the crossword puzzles. It is a fun game, especially since I only play on Mono Pro setting to avoid real aggravation. Since it also uses music from the player’s personal collection to generate the “roads”, the soundtrack is always good.

Testing my capabilities each day helps me assess and allocate my energy for the day. Energy management is a must with CFS. Overextending causes lengthy setbacks which require far too much down time to recover from. While unavoidable in general, limiting the severity increases what you can do in the long term.

Today was a fairly good day on both tests with the mind sharp enough and the reflexes at my normal level. Those mistakes were rust from not playing in a long time, I tell you!

The Sounds of Silence

“He’s dead, Jim.”

That was what flashed through my mind around 9 PM last night as it became clear that my external backup hard drive hadn’t just failed, but had done so in spectacular fashion. Despite an array of utilities I have, the thing won’t cough up any data whatsoever. Not even a low level format is possible.

I’ve had drives fail over the years in every possible way except bursting into flames or exploding. But none so completely. It looks like the power outages on Friday night killed it, since I suffered a BIOS corruption on our media center PC too. That was easily fixed.

So the hard drive I rely on to protect my most important data has shuffled off the mortal coil. Oh the irony. At the moment, I can’t afford a new one so I’ll have to buy a refurbished one at this rate. Of course, it was well out of warranty. Irritating.

Oh and for the record, it was a Western Digital 500 MB MyBook. WD drives and I have had an excessive failure rate compared to other brands. Perhaps I should find another brand.

Happy Independence Day!

It is a good thing to remember how this country was founded and the immense sacrifices made by our founding fathers. Many who signed the Declaration of Independence ended up losing everything during the Revolutionary War and I wonder how many today would take that kind of risk. Sadly, this is not a time of optimism or hope in the United States with the future looking quite bleak. But at least for a day, we should set aside our differences and despair to celebrate the grand experiment that began in the late 1700’s.

On a more local note, I was glad to see a lot of people turn out for the annual La Crosse Ward “picnic”/cherry pit spitting contest. No, I didn’t compete because I was out of spit, as usual. Elder Tataipu won convincingly with a 42 foot spit, easily outdistancing everyone else. Score one for the full time missionary from Hawaii!

I’m wobbly from the weekend, it has been an endurance run. Saturday night I ended up in charge of the fireworks again and that was exhausting, though fun. We probably spooked every critter in the Yucatan valley with our light and sound show. There are leftovers, so we’ll be well prepared for next year.

A Mighty Wind

With the 100 degree weather yesterday came a break from the misery late in the evening. The only problem is the break also broke trees. The National Weather Service summary has a list of all the damage reported from the high winds that swept through. The animations show a faint bow echo ahead of the rain and that’s where the worst of the winds were for us. When it hit, I thought the air conditioner was going to be shoved into my room it was shaking so much. In fact, it has never shaken during any storm. Power was out for several hours starting at 10:30 PM. With the heat and humidity in the house it made for uncomfortable sleeping.

Things were far worse in other places in Minnesota and Wisconsin, so I can’t complain. Not exactly a good start to the Independence Day celebrations.

Photos of our rather unimpressive damage:

Scattered branches and twigs litter nearly all of the West  and front yards.

How these branches missed the antenna, I don’t know. Not that it made much difference when the power went out.

The maple tree out back has taken a beating this year. The big limb drooping is damage from the earlier storm that spawned a tornado in La Crosse.

Biggest damage was to this Asian Elm which was slated for being cut down anyway. While a lovely tree, it has wet wood, a bacterial infection that can spread to other trees. That dark stain on the right side is from water continuously being pushed out through its vascular system.

Amazingly, most of the branches in the East yard came from trees in the West yard. The cottenwood and oak trees were the main victims.

Health 7-1-2011

We are having a mini heat wave, it will be 100 F with a heat index of 106 or better.  I’m trying to both clean and take it easy, which isn’t working out too well. I wonder why?

Still dizzy and congested, but ever so slowly improving. Only had to get up once last night during a coughing fit, which was short and productive. At least I can breath again!

Lately, I’ve been doing crossword puzzles on Yahoo games to keep my mind going and to gauge how well it is working on a given day. Normal time is 11-15 minutes for me but during the worst of this bug it has been 20-35 minutes – roughly double. I wish to note that these crossword puzzles are not exactly the most challenging out there and I’m appalled by even my best times.

Did not sleep well last night due to the coughing fit and back pain. The pain flare up surprised me and it wasn’t until thunder and lightning showed up that I understood the cause. Nothing quite like being a human barometer.

The Shutdown

The big news in Minnesota is the state government shutdown due to an inability to get a budget passed. As I expected, the media is backing Governor Dayton and one of the main line of attacks is hammering on incessantly about the closure of state parks during the popular camping season of the 4th of July weekend. All very predictable and probably very effective in swaying public sentiment. Portraying the Republicans as only cutting spending when they actually presented an increase in spending is all part of the dishonest game.

I have to give credit to the state Republican leadership who didn’t cave in despite knowing this was exactly what Dayton wanted, contrary to his protestations to reporters. The surprising thing is how many Republicans I know who didn’t think the shutdown would happen. When a reversed version of this happened while Pawlenty was in office in 2005, the Democrats used it to great advantage to vilify the Republican party and it was believed it contributed to the rout of the GOP in 2006. Of course Dayton was going to return to that playbook!

In the end, there is a high probability that doing the right thing on holding back spending will damage Republican chances statewide in 2012. The power of the media is still great and that can’t be ignored. For all the talk of how the new methods of communication like Twitter and Facebook have changed things, the old partisan media is still where most people get their information. However, there is a lot going on nationally that will effect the local races, especially the economy. That keeps things unpredictable for the moment.

Frankly, I don’t think the public has the intestinal fortitude to deal with the extensive cuts that are really required and we will see Minnesota and the nation collapse into economic ruins. Cynical pandering and class warfare are already being used to buttress the Left’s insane devotion to Keynesian economics. Spending when you have no savings will never get a person, a state, or a nation out of debt. So all of that stimulus into the economy just made things worse and yes, both political parties are to blame for it. You would have thought the lessons of the 1970’s would have been remembered.

Dark times are ahead, far darker than most expect because it is a systemic problem with how our government “works.” People look to the demonstrations and riots in Europe while wondering if it can happen here. It can and could get much worse with the Left’s history of violence.

I would like to be wrong about this.

C–Control Anime

Found another thinking person’s anime that just wrapped up.  C – Control: The Money of Soul and Possibility is something I was going to avoid, but checked out on a whim. At first blush it appeared to be a Pokemon style fighting show, but turned out to be an exploration of economic and philosophical theories instead. Oh there are fights, called “deals,” in it but they aren’t always shown and aren’t the main focus. Instead, expect a lot of dialogue and character development combined with moral dilemmas.

The plot is about an impoverished and miserly college student in Japan who is sucked into participating in a parallel world called the Financial District. Fights are fought on a regular basis and the money from there can be used in the real world. It is a slow starting show but once he gets his “asset”, Mashu, things really pick up. I will note the show confused quite a few otaku’s online who managed to completely misinterpret the finale and what happened.

The fight moves being named after economic jargon has to be one of the most amusing things about the series. Not for kids at all, it is another TV-14 due to violence and one unnecessary bit of fan service in episode 8 that is censored. If this ever gets licensed in the U.S., I’ll be buying it and rare is the anime I’m willing to buy.

Check out  C-Control at Hulu.com.

A Day in the Life

It looks like this post will be made up of bits and pieces of random thoughts, as I’m a bit fuzzy today.
Finally, a good night’s sleep indicates I’m finally getting over the respiratory infection. Still not recovered from it, but it is fading out and the coughing has subsided.

By making myself post regularly, it is helping with being able to write even when impaired by illness. So I’m pleased with the results of prioritizing writing and hope to get started on some fiction.

My sister, her husband and step kids are arriving tomorrow and the place is a wreck. The two weeks of being sicker than usual were supposed to be devoted to cleaning which isn’t going to happen. Irritating. And messy.

The weather is nice and I want to see if the new Hogue grips I put on my Ruger pistol will help with accuracy. It has helped other owners of the same model. But I’m way too shaky at the moment and need to use my energy for other tasks. If I don’t get the improvement I’m hoping for, I’ll probably have to do some trigger work to lighten the pull. While I love a military style pull on a rifle, it appears to give me problems on pistols.

Why does iTunes importing CD’s default to 128 bitrate AAC when their store doesn’t sell anything less than 256?  I’m glad I moved to Media Monkey Pro a long time ago. FLAC is the best way to go if you have decent speaker or headphones, but 256 AAC isn’t bad at all. I do most of my purchasing at Amazon MP3 these days and take advantage of the cloud storage.

Having become a fan of Jack Wall’s soundtracks for video games, I was happy to score the Jade Empire Soundtrack for $1 from a vendor on Amazon. I wish his soundtracks Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 had been put out on CD as well. But the CD is in trouble and digital delivery is the future.  And yes, I did buy them digitally and burned CD’s, but I’d like the higher quality.

I got a bicycle pump to modify for cleaning electronics. A spring around the hose base is needed to guarantee air flow and so far the basketball needle adapter has worked well. The setup will be a lot cheaper than buying duster cans.

Democrats arguing that having a debt ceiling violates the Constitution shows what amazing hypocrites they are. All of the talk coming out of them lately is how the Constitution isn’t really law, is out of date, and was only meant to be a rough guideline. Two faced doesn’t begin to describe them, especially since there was a default on federal bonds under Roosevelt in 1933. I have no faith in anyone dealing with the economic calamity that is upon us.

Was John Lennon a closet Republican?  Maybe, but I doubt Yoko was.

Mystery Science 3000 is an excellent medication when ill. Watched Werewolf and Laser Blast among other bad movies with Mike, Joel, and the Bots the last couple of weeks on Netflix streaming.  The new settings allowing lower quality streams has been very helpful on our measly 1 MB DSL.

Also saw John Wycliffe, the biography on John Wycliffe, the man who laid the foundation for the Protestant Reformation. Classic early 1980’s video quality but very good. Many Christians know who Martin Luther was, but how many know the man who first translated the Holy Bible into English in the late 1200’s?

Collateral Damage from the Cyberwars

Given how little people venture out from the big headlines in the news, I don’t know if most are aware of the increased “hacking” going on.  So far this week, I’ve had to change two passwords on accounts that were compromised or suspected of being compromised.  LulzSec were responsible for the data breach over at Bioware’s old Neverwinter Nights forums and that spilled over to some EA accounts, mine included. I was hoping EA was being overly paranoid when they reset my password, but another account just made me do the same thing.

That just shows how you can have problems even if you avoid the dark side of the Internet. If you ever have an account anywhere, it can be compromised due to no fault of your own. But you still have to be vigilant since the weakest points in computer security are the users themselves. Don’t even get me started about how easy it is to get infected on Facebook through third party apps.

Meanwhile, the shut-ins who make up groups like LulzSec and Anonymous have been on a tear this month, gleefully hacking databases and exposing information in them in the name of opposing censorship. Targets included credit card companies, law enforcement, gaming communities, and government agencies. For all their posturing about being liberal avengers fighting against fascist government, LulzSec have proven to be a bunch of immature script kiddies who don’t care if anyone is hurt. Exposing personal information of Arizona law enforcement agents is simply asking for drug gangs to kill those agents and their families.

They declared an end to their activities but word comes today of them merging with Anonymous and more cyber terror is to follow.  Especially since they have inspired others to become “hacktivists.” Their lack of understanding of the concepts of cause and effect is going to bite everyone on their rears, sadly.

Governments worldwide have proven to be not amused at these “funny” antics. I expect to see a tightening and increase in laws related to cybercrimes because of these actions. In other words, the exact opposite of what LulzSec’s purported goals were. More censorship, more government oversight of the Net, and easier access to data by law enforcement are sure to come.

Brilliant job there, hackers.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

One of the best things about the lay ministry that is at the heart of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is something that is called Home Teaching. For the worthy men in the Church holding the priesthood, it is their duty to look in on and minister to households they are assigned to. Since our bishops and branch presidents (akin to a minister or priest in other denominations) hold full time jobs and have families, there is a need to spread the weight of taking care of the flock.

While there are many different callings (unpaid jobs) in every congregation, Home Teaching is the one every priesthood holder must do. It is the one calling you never get released from. That alone shows how important it is. You have different families you are assigned to over the years, but you are never to stop carrying out your teaching.

I vividly remember the first Priesthood Sunday school meeting I went to while investigating the Church. Guess what the lesson was on?  You got it.  Right away I was excited because I knew that this was the way things should be. God wants his children to learn to love each other and there is no better way to learn than to do.

So what exactly is Home Teaching then?

By the book, it is a once a month visit to a household by two priesthood holding men in the Church to teach a short lesson about the Gospel. You have to get in the door for it to officially count. Now some will consider any kind of visit to count and it is up to the individual home teacher and the priesthood leadership to determine that. Me, I’m a stickler for getting in the door and it has everything to do with the real reasons we have Home Teaching.

What it is really about is looking out for the well being of those we visit. Not just the spiritual well being, but the emotional and economic as well. Latter-day Saints are often fiercely independent, which has a lot to do with the emphasis on self reliance taught in the Church. But that can be taken too far and people in need of help will either feel afraid or too proud to ask for help once in a crisis. Unlike a full time paid clergy, our leaders can’t visit everyone in a large congregation on a regular basis. Combine that with a natural human tendency by some to be afraid of anyone in authority and needs can be overlooked. That’s where our home teachers come in.

If they have built up a good relationship with the people they look after, the home teachers are able to see what things are most needed for those people. It also means being someone they can call in a crisis, someone to provide a shoulder to lean or cry on, and someone who will be their friend. In some cases, it also means being the only contact with the Church for those who have fallen away from attending or are unable to attend due to health.

In order to minister properly to others, you need to know the hearts of those you teach. It is said that “home is where the heart is” and in my experience visiting people in their homes brings a totally different spirit. There you see people as they really are and which enables you to talk freely in ways I sometimes think our culture has forgotten in the States. Personally, I love to visit the families I’ve been assigned to.

In the end, Home Teaching is about loving and serving others, giving of your time and energy to be there for them. In order to live a Christ-like life, we must follow in the footsteps of the Savior, no matter how large or small they appear to us. Home Teaching isn’t a sacrifice to me, for I get a lot back out of it too. In doing service for others, I find myself comforted by the Spirit and closer to Christ as I try to emulate his actions. I’ve also gotten to know a lot of wonderful people  this way that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

I think Paul summed up what I feel about Home Teaching when he wrote to the Corinthians:

What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. 1 Cor. 9:18-19

It has definitely made me a better man and hopefully a better priesthood holder.

Oh and lest I get in trouble with the sisters of the Church, I better point out that they have their own version called Visiting Teaching. In this case, they visit the women members. It isn’t surprising they are better at doing this than the brothers. I have no end to my admiration of Relief Society, which also happens to be the oldest women’s organization in the country.

Health 6-26-2011

Still sick with the upper respiratory infection. As a result, I had to skip out on weekly socializing last night and church today.  A trip out for groceries as a passenger turned into a very nasty test of will last afternoon.  Extreme dizziness and nausea made it a surreal experience – amazing what a sinus infection can do to the inner ear. If I’d tried to drive, I would have been in a ditch because it hit me as soon as the car started moving.

A rough night followed as I’m still a little dizzy from the local expedition. So far, so good on avoiding full blown bronchitis though the right bronchial is still being a bit congested. Since I’ve had it twice this year, I’d really like to avoid the hat trick. Upper respiratory infections are so common with CFS sufferers and I’m no exception to that.

Dad it determined that I eat at least 30g of protein for breakfast to assist in losing weight.  That’s a piece of advice he got somewhere and I’m having a hard time justifying the expense. Not to mention the stomach space, that’s a huge amount to consume in one sitting for me. Don’t know if it will be feasible at all to implement into my diet, which has been showing modest results from cutting even more simple carbs out.

Started taking 1000 units a day of vitamin D several weeks ago to boost the immune system, since it is the latest fad. Or repeat of one, as is more likely the case. While too early to tell the results (six weeks is my minimum on trying something), I’m not impressed so far.

I hope I improve quickly, the house needs cleaning this week and I’d like to get the guts of the media center PC transplanted into the newer case. Range time for shooting is desired, but that will have to wait until after the visit. Not that I could hit the broad side of a barn as dizzy as I am at the moment.

When the Levy Breaks

Watching the Berlin Wall being attacked with sledgehammers as East and West Germany spontaneously reunited left an indelible impression on me in the early 1990’s. The following Russian revolution that took down the Soviet Union had memorable images as well, especially of Boris Yeltsin leading the rebellion. But the unexpected fall of the Soviet Union was a surprise to all and even today it is somewhat of a mystery of why it happened. Leon Aron has written an intriguing theory over at Foreign Policy.

In it, he puts forth the idea that it was a desire to morally reform the Soviet Union that led to its downfall. This is a fascinating idea given the events in Arab countries right now. Economics is usually cited as a causal factor in revolutions by our liberal media and intelligentsia, which reflects their Marx influenced thinking. But what if it is something else entirely?

Lately, I’ve come to the conclusion that governments and businesses are supported by faith in them, or confidence, rather than actual merit or results. As long as confidence remains in them, they stay afloat. But once that is lost, the beginning of the end is soon to be seen. Parliamentary systems of government illustrate this rather well, but it applies to all forms of government.

The money quote of the article:

"Dignity Before Bread!" was the slogan of the Tunisian revolution. The Tunisian economy had grown between 2 and 8 percent a year in the two decades preceding the revolt. With high oil prices, Libya on the brink of uprising also enjoyed an economic boom of sorts. Both are reminders that in the modern world, economic progress is not a substitute for the pride and self-respect of citizenship. Unless we remember this well, we will continue to be surprised -- by the "color revolutions" in the post-Soviet world, the Arab Spring, and, sooner or later, an inevitable democratic upheaval in China -- just as we were in Soviet Russia. "The Almighty provided us with such a powerful sense of dignity that we cannot tolerate the denial of our inalienable rights and freedoms, no matter what real or supposed benefits are provided by 'stable' authoritarian regimes," the president of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, wrote this March. "It is the magic of people, young and old, men and women of different religions and political beliefs, who come together in city squares and announce that enough is enough."

I would submit that the United States is not immune to this. With the rise of the Tea Parties, a direct challenge to the current system is being made. A large number of people feel that the wheels are coming off of our society and that corruption feeds the growth of the government. Even discounting the vocal protesters, I’ve run into many of the apathetic middle who no longer trust the government to do anything right. This isn’t the “malaise” that Jimmy Carter spoke of around 35 years ago. Instead, it is a feeling of resigned resentment.

Technically, we have a system designed for easy change. Unfortunately, sprawling bureaucracy and Obama’s attempts at an imperial presidency have done too much damage to the system. The system of checks and balances between the branches of government have been compromised to the point of no return.

Nobody saw the fall of the Soviet Union coming until it happened. Are we ignoring the same signs in their infancy here? I wonder.

There is also the problem of revolutions rarely delivering on what was promised. They are glamorized by historians and the media, but tend to unleash the darkest aspects of the human soul with oppression and bloodletting being the end result. In Russia, Putin is poised to openly rule again as an elected dictator. Not exactly what was hoped for when the Soviet system was dismantled.

I can’t say if Aron is correct, but his ideas are very interesting to say the least. We need to be looking around and re-evaluating events like this to find lessons. While we always live in uncertain times, things seem to be more unstable than usual and I have the impression that the world is about to be plunged into great turmoil. Being a history buff, this is exciting but I can’t say I’m looking forward to it!

The Real Stealth Involves Politics with Japan’s ATD-X

Over at The Diplomat, David Axe has written an interesting article speculating on Japan’s stealth fighter project. Read the whole thing to get an idea of the aerial arms race going on in Asia – it is even bigger than the article makes out.  Even the smaller countries have been pouring money into advanced versions of older aircraft such as the F-15 Strike Eagle, F-16 two seat attack variants, and Su-30 multirole fighters.

But back to Japan’s stealth fighter. My belief is that it is a bargaining chip with the bonus of getting some good experience with cutting edge designs and materials. The F-2 was a fiasco of epic proportions and they just lost 18 of them to the tsunami earlier this year. It will be about $73 million to repair each one if they make that decision. You can buy a better brand new plane for that! So I really don’t see Japan building a new fighter on their own unless forced to by circumstances.

The F-35 Lightning II is the best fit for their multirole needs even if it will be produced later than they want. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t go with an advanced F-15 Strike Eagle variant like South Korea and Singapore did. After all, Japan already flies their own variant of the Eagle, the F-15J Kai, for air superiority.

With all their economic problems, I think the ATD-X really is a stealthy bargaining chip to get better terms on F-35 production. Its size limitations render it useless for combat but it sure looks pretty and evokes national pride. The F-35 will be a match for the J-20 at worst and most likely superior to the Chinese fighter. Looks and aerodynamics tell only a part of the story on a modern warplane. Instead, the avionics, radar, and weapon systems fill most of the narrative – and cost.  There is where the Lightning II is going to be revolutionary. Once people see how the incredibly integrated sensors on the plane function in the real world, I predict they will be very surprised.

Meanwhile, it amuses me so many people quote Carlo Kopp. That just proves you don’t need to know anything to be considered an expert. Calling Australian Air Power a think tank is very generous indeed.

Health 6-24-2011

Time to stop complaining about writing these journal entries on health and just do them. While I’d toyed with the idea of a separate blog just for them, I’ve had enough trouble maintaining one blog as it is.

Yesterday whatever bug I have got worse and made straight for the chest. It has gotten to be an old pattern and one I’m well sick of. Figuratively speaking, though literally works of course.

Last night was a difficult one with coughing enhancing the experience delightfully. Sarcasm alert.

This morning, I can breathe a little easier and the small amount of wheezing seems to be gone. As usual, the right bronchial is the main culprit. It always goes bad first and if I can head things off by doing essentially nothing it can be contained there. So far, so good.

Looks like a sunny day out; wish I could enjoy it.