Bleach Ep. 16: Encounter, Renji Abarai!

As the first season draws closer to its end, Ichigo finds himself crossing blades with another Soul Reaper. Why?  Because Rukia’s past has finally caught up with her. While the daft humor is still present in places, the situation is becoming much darker for Ichigo and friends.

For the entire season, there has been a brooding undercurrent of fear radiating from Rukia even as she has tutored Ichigo in the art of Hollow battling. With this episode, we find out why she was afraid and it turns out the diminutive Soul Reaper had good cause to be. Kiss those light hearted school days goodbye as the story descends into darkness.

Summertime

Aside from being a great tune, that is what today is. Summer has officially arrived with the solstice, but the weather has actually moderated compared to the past few days.

The corn is growing and so are the weeds. For the moment, the thistles have the height advantage.

Health 6-19-2012

The pain I have been suffering has been slowly getting less intense. There is an odd rash on my neck that popped up around the time this started and it has gotten larger. Part of the pain at night has been an abnormally stiff neck and coughing. If it does not go away, time to see a doctor.

Something I forgot to report: A couple of weeks ago, I stayed overnight with some friends who had the air conditioner cranked up beyond what I was used to. Despite having covers and a blanket, I began shivering violently. While I have had this happen before when cold, the severity was a new experience – as was actually generating significant heat from it. This is interesting and a positive change, I think.

My suspicion is that the H202 therapy I went through changed quite a few small things in my system. It made me tolerant to rice, it has helped my circulation, helped stave off bronchitis, and I did not have a bout of eczema this winter. I’ve thought of CFS as being a “death by a thousand cuts” kind of illness, so it is strange to experience something positive working along the same lines.

Odds and Ends 6-16-2012

I have spent some time going back through old review posts and have done some minor editing to improve layout and add needed tags. Tagging is still underway, because I had previously thought of it in a master index way instead of how people actually use tags. If a tag is used to look up other posts, it is off of the post, not the side bar and I finally got that through my thick skull. New genre categories of science fiction, fantasy, comedy, and classics have been introduced to help with that.

One consequence of looking over the older reviews is finding the need to rewrite or update seven of them. In one case, that will require a newer and better DVD, but fortunately that will be under ten dollars to do.

Health 6-15-2012

The last few nights have been ones of utter misery as pain has made sleeping very difficult. Swelling in the head, pinched nerves, and muscle pain have combined to make for a nasty mix. Add in a slight cough to make things interesting and I am not pleased.

There is much to do this weekend, even if the weather does not cooperate. Speaking of that, it may be the wildly fluctuating weather fronts that may be causing the pain. Time will tell.

Health 6-13-2012

Rain, rain, go away!

Being a human barometer is annoying, for every time a significant front goes through the pain index shoots up like mercury in a thermometer on an August day. Last night featured quite a drop in temperature, so sleep was fitful at best.

At least I got my Civilization V strategy testing over with yesterday afternoon. That was a pain of a different kind, one of playing a game you do not like to find a way to beat it and yes, it cost me hours of sleep the past week.

Why do I mention it in a post on health? Because the Civilization series is the most dangerously addictive games I have ever played. In fact, I removed Civilization IV from my computer due to becoming addicted to it.

The good news is that I am burned out on gaming other than with friends online, which is sporadic. Other than that, it is time to take a break from it. After all, summer is nearly here.

Insecurity

The more we connect electronically, the more we invite crime it seems. This past week, I have had to change my passwords to LinkedIn and lastFM – the latter I had only tried out briefly in 2009. Both services have suffered cyber break ins with millions of passwords compromised. League of Legend European site had user data stolen along with passwords as well. After logging in on another service on a friend’s laptop, I was so appalled by his meager security and use of shady pirating sites that I changed that service’s password once I got home.

An over reliance on antivirus and firewall software, deleting browser history and cookies, and running malware scanners is no substitute for smart browsing in the first place. While useful tools, they mostly are of use after your system has been compromised. IP filtering via service such as OpenDNS is more proactive, but no substitute for avoiding where you should not be in the first place.

Yet there is no real protection once you sign up somewhere online for something. At that point, you are at the mercy of the security employed by that service. It turns out that a lot of them are not that secure. With so many people willing to hack for money and kicks, the attacks are escalating. That is not even counting what is going on with cyber attacks from government, China in particular.

So you can add cyber dangers to the economic insecurity we are already feeling. Get used to it, it will not be getting any better. No wonder some of the white nights in cyber warfare have bailed out.

Culling the Herd

While I am no longer active on Facebook, I did go back today to remove the remaining hundreds of “friends” I accrued while gaming there in past years. As it stands, I have 67 people left, most of whom I know in reality or through politics. Read what you will into that.

I doubt I will ever be active again there, as I forget it even exists until someone brings it up. Meanwhile, Google + is a bust, which can be of no surprise to most. Over at LinkedIn, I had to change my password due to the massive hack attack that exposed many passwords.

Social media sites, or the Web 2.0 as the wits dubbed it, are losing their luster since they are inherently superficial. But the greatest threat is the lack of security and the fact that hackers are targeting their databases more and more.

Blogging at least allows coherent thoughts to be put up, so I am content to write here where nobody pays attention. I would rather post substance and be ignored than to post twaddle and have “likes” dinging it up!

Thoughts on the Scott Walker Win

What can be learned from the fiasco that was the recall effort?

First, the Democratic Party will do anything to win. There is no depth too low, no line that cannot be crossed, and no limit to their harassment/bullying. Locally in La Crosse County, brand new roofing nails were tossed into driveways of residences that had Walker signs up. Signs were stolen, vandalized, and I directly know of one renter who had her sign taken by her landlord and replaced with a Barrett one.

So much money, time, and emotions were invested by the unions and their puppets in the Democratic Party that things got more than a little out of control. The image of Barrett being slapped for conceding illustrates that in a way no words can. All of this rage only netted State Senate District 21 for the Democrats, which gives them control of the Senate. However, that will most likely end in November due to redistricting. I should note they got another seat to flip in earlier recall elections, so they got two. Unless there is a special session called, they will not even meet until after November.

Ray Bradbury Died

One of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, died last night. While he lived a good and long life of 91 years, I still feel sad that he is no longer in this world. It was The Martian Chronicles that introduced me to his wonderful writing style that evoked moments of time so familiar to me even as a child. But my favorite work of his would have to be Dandelion Wine, which is about a momentous summer for a young boy in a small town in the nineteen twenties. Thanks to my sister, Ann, I have this in a leather bound edition from Easton Press.

While he wrote Fahrenheit 451 as a warning against television wiping out literacy, he was prolific in that industry. The Ray Bradbury Theater series is available on DVD and I recommend that highly, as it was the author’s chance to adapt his own stories after being disappointed with Hollywood’s attempts.

I will end with the opening from Dandelion Wine, for it is one of my favorite openings to any book:

It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.

Hopefully, Bradbury is enjoying his first morning of true summer.

The Cocoanuts (1929) Review

This wildly inconsistent movie catapulted the Marx Brothers to fame on the eve of the Great Depression and heralded a new form of utterly insane humor. Long before Monty Python or even the Goon Show, the Marx Brothers brought savage wit, inspired lunacy, and irreverence toward all authority to the big screen. Over eighty years later,  are they still funny?

The Marx Brothers burst onto the scene and achieved stardom quickly, or so it probably seemed to the American people of the 1930’s. Instead, the Marx family had spent many years traveling and performing while grooming their sons for success on the Vaudeville circuit. Sons of immigrants, they were part of a Jewish invasion of American humor, much like the British invasion of pop thirty years later.

The Cocoanuts was their first film and an adaptation of a smash hit on Broadway, not to mention anywhere else they toured with it. Fast talking, absurd sight gags, and a mocking hostility toward authority were their trademarks and Americans ate it up. Yet superstardom would not have been possible for them except for that great innovation in cinemas: sound. The timing was perfect for Groucho’s quips and Chico’s flimflamming to hit the big screen. Then there was Harpo’s mute horn honking and harp playing to add to the madness. Oh yeah, there was Zeppo to play straight man, if anybody noticed him at all.

Health 6-4-2012

A bad weekend followed a good week of increased activity. Having been successful at getting in a walk a day, my body decided it was time to get a cold on Friday night. So I missed out on gaming night and church. Instead I ended up playing video games and reading.

Hopefully, things will go a bit better today.

After more than twenty years of slamming my head against the proverbial brick wall, it finally occurred to me that if endurance is the main problem exercising, maybe I should cut back on the length of the walks and weights sessions. I fell into the trap of trying to do that the minimum that a normal person can do and never got out of that mindset. Since my endurance does not increase despite exercising and, in fact actually crashes downward, it is time to let go of any attempt at normalcy.

Meanwhile, the changeover to a primarily rice diet has resulted in much more stable bowels, less appetite, and seems to working out well.

Spring 2012 Anime and More

UPDATED

Just when I had given up on anything interesting showing up in the genre, the current crop of shows have been a welcome change. While it is too early to declare anything to be a classic, entertainment is to be found for all age groups. What follows is some short thoughts on the better shows, all of which are available on legal streaming services:

Space Brothers (found here)

A rarity in current anime, a story starring adults feauturing adult life, Space Brothers follows two brothers in their quests to become astronauts. Actually, it is only one brother’s quest, since his younger brother already has made it. Set in the near future of the 2020’s, the struggles and doubts of the main character, Mutta, are easily related to by adults dealing with hard economic times. Set to run 48 episodes, it has a breezy, laid back charm that is given additional warmth by flashbacks of the brothers growing up together.

Recommended to adults, those struggling in life, and lovers of serious science fiction/space exploration.

In Memoriam

Here in the United States, it is Memorial Day. This holiday was set aside to honor those who fell in service to their country, thereby making the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom of their fellow countrymen. So please stop to think about what you have and enjoy, then about the people who have died to make that possible.

I am grateful to the fallen understand that freedom is purchased at a very high cost. Sadly, too few appreciate this today, if the ceremonies locally are any indication. While a local auditorium was packed, the average age of the attendees had to be in their sixties or higher.

So if you are treating this as just an extra day to the weekend, I implore you to stop and think on why the holiday was established.

Finding Brett Kimberlin

Today is a day about defending freedom of speech and exposing a man who will go to any lengths to suppress information about what he has done, including threatening people. That man’s name is Brett Kimberlin and I do not expect you to take my word on it. Instead, I will give you links to search engines for you to explore for yourself:

Google

Bing

Ask

Check them out and come to your own conclusions about who Brett Kimberlin is and why this is important.

Blogger Flees Home Due to Left Wing Activist’s Threats

That is a pretty sensational headline and sounds inflammatory, doesn’t it? It also happens to be true. Beyond the idea of having to go on the run for your own safety reflecting the decay of America, this is a fascinating story of how a convicted terrorist and conman became influential in the Democratic Party. His nonprofit (for whom, I ask) has been heavily funded by some big name leftists such as the Tides Foundation, the Heinz Family, and Barbara Streisand.

I suggest people read up on Brett Kimberlin and ponder just how dysfunctional our society has become when people like him are allowed out of jail and into positions of influence. There has been a call to blog about him on Friday, but I felt the need to jump the gun in this case.

And people wonder why firearms sales are up.

UPDATED

The story gets worse as another blogger reveals how he has been harassed by Kimberlin and his cronies, including having an armed SWAT team sent to his house by placing a fake murder call to 911.

Basically everyone who posts about this thug are risking their livelihoods, if not their lives. While I am not even a small fry and will not be noticed, it does not matter. Unlike others, I really have nothing to lose, so I really appreciate what the bigger bloggers are doing by tackling Kimberlin.

Kimi ni Todoke Ep. 3: After School

Sawako’s fledgling efforts at making friends begin to pay off, while Kazehaya attempts to get closer to her. It is an uphill battle, but he has a secret weapon in reserve. Everything seems to be going well in this beautiful episode…

I am not a lover (or even a liker) of chick flicks, but I find myself utterly smitten with this lovely story. Slow moving and heartfelt, there is  purity to it that has sadly gone missing from our modern world. It does not hurt that I went through most of school being the outsider and turned from an extrovert to an introvert for a good chunk of years. I can remember that slow coming out of the shell even decades later.

Health 5-21-2012

That was not a fun week to get through. Sinusitis, headaches, bouts of nausea, sneezing fits, and chills ebbed and flowed across the days. At first I thought it was allergies causing fits, but then remembered that they never make me nauseous. Multiple naps a day meant that I spent a lot of time in bed. It is hard to tell if it was a virus or if it was CFS reacting to my increased walking and other light exercise.

Since my life is one never ending cycle of frustration, you would think I would be used to this by now. At least I feel a little more energetic (relatively speaking) today and need to spray the gigantic weeds that have popped up over the past couple of weeks.

Area 88 Ep. 3: Viewfinder in the Blue Sky

A hunt for treasure inflames the greed of the mercenary pilots, yet that only serves as a backdrop  for the main story. With Makoto’s stalking of him getting to Shin, he decides to take action to find out why he is a target. But a close call rattles the young Japanese pilot as the mystery around him deepens.

It is time to get back to writing reviews to sharpen my skills of observation and writing. At this point in the series, the base and the desert are almost becoming characters unto themselves, lurking constantly in the background and adding atmosphere to all the proceedings. That was my thought after watching the opening to this tense episode. Neither location is a comfortable one and if there is one word to describe the mood evoked by this installment it would have to be the word uneasy.

Mormon Patriotism and Washington D.C.

CNN’s Belief blog has a very well written article on Latter-day Saints in the nation’s capitol worth checking out. I can say from personal experience that the leadership principles taught in the Church were of great help in political organizing in many ways, but especially on running meetings where the delicate task of balancing focus and creativity is a priority.

This quote from the article addresses something I have been pondering about current politics with its “interesting only when winning” attitude I see in so many people:

Young Mormons also hone leadership skills by serving missions away from home. The missions last from one and half to two years and happen when Mormons are in their late teens and early 20s and often include intensive foreign language training.

Chaffetz, whose son is serving a mission in Ghana, says the experience is the perfect preparation for political careers.

“They learn rejection early on,” he says. “If you’re going to be in politics, that’s a pretty good attribute.”

I would say that also helps in a lot of situations in life, not merely the political. My older friends remark on how bad the younger coworkers are in dealing with people and it usually boils down to their being unable to handle opposing viewpoints. That is a pity, for having your beliefs challenged is the best way to find out what they actually are.

One thing I would like to note is that the Washington D.C. Temple was the closest one to members in this area until the Chicago Temple was built. It served the entire country east of the Mississippi when it opened, so it was very important in Church growth. Now we have one in St. Paul so the traveling is a lot easier, thankfully.

Anyway, read the article.

High and Low Technology

To start with, I do not have enough money to be a true gadget freak or enthusiast. That said, I love clever devices whether they be complicated or simple. So it was an interesting day when my latest box from Amazon arrived this afternoon. Contained within were two devices, one a sophisticated work of silicone and metal, the other harkening to simpler days despite being electrically powered.

Having succeeded in reviving my video card from failing this winter, it was with great disappointment (and financial pain) that I realized the fix was not going to work in the long run. For the past several weeks, the card has been running hotter and hotter with the occasional glitch. Time was clearly running out for the old beast, which had given very good service. Since I have a smallish case, a top of the line replacement was out of the question – and out of reach of my bank account.

After checking around for the best bang for the buck that would actually fit in my case, I settled on a Gigabyte AMD Radeon HD7750 that is factory overclocked. From my studies, it would be more of a horizontal upgrade (according to some benchmarks) with hopes that it would actually perform a bit better. Best of all is the fact that it consumes far less electricity and runs much cooler. Heat is the enemy of electronics and I liked the idea of having the entire PC run cooler.

So far the new video card is doing just that. Throwing my best games at it resulted in maximum temperatures that are twelve degrees Celsius less than what the old one idled at. The massive fan also is dramatically quieter for an added bonus. Fancier video decoding, deinterlacing, and scaling have impressed and eventually I will get a second one for the media center in the living room.

The other item in the box was a rice cooker that doubles as a vegetable steamer. Since I only used it to steam asparagus tonight, I will not go into detail on the little appliance other than to say it is highly reviewed. That and I cannot remember the name of the company that makes it at the moment.

It will be used heavily if things go according to plan, for making rice a regular staple is on my agenda of improving my diet. Steaming veggies is also part of the goal and it did a good job on the first experiment. So while writing more about the high tech item, it is this simple device that I am the most excited about.

I must be getting old.

The Avengers (2012) in Theater Review

After multiple solo films, Marvel’s heroes band together for a cinematic spectacle that may be the best superhero movie made so far and one of the best action films ever put on screen. UPDATED for 3D.

Yeah, that basically says it all. Go see it.

What, you want more than that? Fine…

The cast is terrific (even Scarlett Johansson does a great job), the effects are convincing, the writing excellent, character moments and development everywhere, and that final action sequence puts other blockbusters to shame. With Loki as the main villain, the drama and psychological battles equal any of the physical combat. This added much to the film and made me look forward to every scene he was in. Not since The Dark Knight has there been as fascinating a bad guy to watch.

If there was one awkward thing about the film, it would be the way it starts. The structure feels like the first act was skipped and we are dropped into the second act already in progress. In a sense the previous solo movies are collectively the first act, so it was slightly disorienting until I figured that out.

Every character gets good development and the interactions between the disparate personalities is played to entertaining effect. Stark and Banner’s “bromance”  is a highlight, with Stark and Loki’s back and forth a close second. Captain America gets some terrific lines as the elder of the group trying to adjust to the modern world, while Thor radiates guilt and frustration at not properly protecting the planet he has grown fond of. Meanwhile, the “normal” humans, Hawkeye and the Black Widow, have some very good moments dealing with personal loyalty and adjusting to the escalating weirdness around them.

The special effects deserve a comment or two. Not once did they pull me out of immersion in suspension of disbelief. Given how big and spectacular the set pieces were, this surprised me a great deal. WETA did a fantastic job.

Various themes are interwoven throughout the story, with freedom being the biggest one. Redemption, control, trust, narcissism, and self sacrifice are just some of them in this densely packed movie.

Expect to be highly entertained and left wanting more.

I need to see this film again and soon – this time in 3D.

UPDATE:

Well, the 3D did not disappoint like it usually does for me. Instead, I was highly impressed by the organic feel of the effects and felt it leant a lot to the movie. In fact, the 3D version was better to my surprise. Check out any sequence involving the Tesseract (still the Cosmic Cube to me) to be very impressed. The Stark tech holograms looked fantastic and made me want to see a 3D redo of Iron Man.

Also, I now have to say this is the best super hero movie so far. The Dark Knight is a more brilliant movie and true art, but part of its success is that it was a better James Bond movie than any since Sean Connery’s era. Which is to say it was not a comic book come to life on the big screen in the way The Avengers is.

Health 5-8-2012

I thought I should record that after much careful stretching and alteration to sleeping positions, the new back problem has settled down to a dull ache. Of all things, it was watching my cats stretch that clued me in on how to do it properly.

Other than that, nothing much to report other than I will continue to tinker with my diet to improve things. A rice cooker has been ordered and I will be making that a mainstay in my eating. Also, I will start NADH (aka Enada) again next month after making enough room in my budget to afford it. It helped a great deal with CFS related cognition problems and I hated giving it up due to expense years ago.

Sears Roebuck and the Blues

Just a short post to link to a fascinating (but all too short) article on the birth of the Blues and its connection to the old Sears catalogs. Since my father worked at Sears as a repairman for twenty years, I tend to notice anything written about the company. I would like to see this expanded into something bigger, for the article only just scratches the surface of how cheap products from Sears mail order enabled some famous musicians to get started.

Let’s Twist Again

To all those who are so insulated by wealth and luck, it will come as a shock when things do fall completely apart economically. Part of being insulated from reality requires having limited and/or censored information to look at that reinforces willful ignorance. Watching how the media distorts and outright lie on many things has been rudely educational for me.

So when when the employment participation rate plummets to its lowest level since Reagan took over from Carter’s disastrous presidency, I was not surprised to see attempts to twist things into a rosier picture:

Still, the report was not all negative. The government revised upward its earlier estimates for payroll growth in February and March by a combined 53,000.

That was the best they could do, given the grim numbers, but hey, they tried. The emphasis on the unemployment rate has been deceptive because it is artificially lowered by not counting those who have given up on finding a job.

Sadly, I cannot exclusively blame a dishonest government and a dishonest media alone. With most people being intellectually lazy in the States, they do not bother with digging for information themselves. Heck, we are lucky if the masses even pay attention to superficial sound bites on serious issues. The excuse I always hear is that “nobody has time to.” Yet they have time to watch Dancing with the Stars or other things of little import. Entertainment is the priority now, which is another twisted thing in my opinion.

Facts and statistics are twisted in every possible way these days and I suspect the horror of fully realizing how bad it is may be too much for people to confront. But you cannot hide from reality forever for it will confront you eventually.

And people wonder why I put faith in God above that of the efforts of man…

Fly Like an Eagle

Living out in the countryside has many benefits with one of the more interesting ones being the variety of wildlife that inhabit the area. Bald eagles have been making a comeback over the past couple of decades and lately have been moving into the Yucatan area. For some reason I never have a camera when one is around. Today that changed, though I was not able to get good pictures in the end.

My father came downstairs and announce he had been watching quite an aerial show. Puzzled, I asked if a crop duster was in the area again. No, he had been watching a bald eagle fight with a turkey vulture over a carcass and had not bothered to let me know it was going on…

Fractale English Dub Arrives in July

The best part of the release is that it will be a combination Blu-ray and DVD set. I have to say that Funimation did a great job with the trailer for it, since it captures how serious and dark the series really is.

Between this and the final set of Kimi ni Todoke, I am going to be broke in July. Broke but happy.

Back Off! or Health 4-25-2012

You know that temptation to scream “BACK OFF!” (or the more profane variation) when somebody annoys you now end and will not shut up?  That is how I feel about my back right now, pun intended. If I could remove the thing and still be a functioning carbon unit, I would.

For the last couple of months, new and creative pinched nerves have popped up and on Monday I discovered one in my middle back. How? I dared to open the fridge door and try to push it open more. No, I could not have some dramatic story about lifting a car off of someone or going too far in a workout. Instead it had to be something ridiculous.

Anyway, it was not just the usual pinched nerve, but the blinding pain kind where my vision blacked out momentarily. Excruciating is the word to describe it and it simply would not stop. Hobbling into the living room bent over like Quasimodo, I collapsed into the chair with the shiatsu massager on it. Even that did little to relieve the pain or instant locking of all my back muscles.

Now it is two days later and I can at least use my left arm again and the pain is down to a dull ache. Twinges still happen, but at least I can lift things again. Sadly there is still no way to tell one’s own back to “back off!” – though I am working on it.

The Slow Death of the Minnesota GOP Isn’t So Slow Now

Back when I was in the leadership of the Houston County Republicans, I used to lock horns with the state organization and quickly learned they did not have a clue how things were in outside of the metro areas. Initially a strong proponent of the caucus system, once I actually saw how it worked I realized that it allowed very small groups vast power over candidate selection which allows for abuse. On paper it looks wonderfully democratic, but it is not in actual execution. A much fairer process is the primary system.

Those thoughts have resurfaced ever since the precinct caucuses to bedevil and annoy me. After reading that twenty of twenty four delegates are now bound to the very liberal Ron Paul, I have zero doubts about being correct in thinking the caucus system is a failure. It is not the first time I have seen superior organization put forth an inferior candidate here and I am sure it will not be the last.

Meanwhile, the state GOP has been served with an eviction notice. Yeah, that shows how well organized the state level has been. While the new chair cannot be faulted for the financial problems, the following email I received trying to downplay it does not inspire confidence:

The Prisoner (1967) Ep. 1: Arrival

In 1967, a surreal and cerebral television show unlike anything seen before debuted to the amazement of viewers worldwide. Ostensibly about an unnamed spy kidnapped and confined to a strange community on the sea, Patrick McGoohan’s deeply personal project delved into themes of individuality, totalitarianism, paranoia, conformity, brainwashing, and the struggle to be free. Still debated over nearly forty-five years later, it is arguably one of the best dramas ever put on TV, if not the best.

A first episode is always a tricky thing for a series and that is doubly true for one that aspires to be anything more than average. With the incredibly popular series, Danger Man (Secret Agent in the USA), wearing thin on him, McGoohan had a desire to do something different. Different only scratches the surface in describing The Prisoner and Arrival establishes that very quickly.

An extended version of the title theme by Ron Grainier (he also created the original Doctor Who theme) plays over a montage of a man (Patrick McGoohan)  in black driving a Lotus Seven roadster to a government building. Once there he angrily storms into an office while the sound of thunder accompanies his rant, which we do not hear. In fact, no sound other than the soundtrack is heard during this intense opening sequence. Slamming his resignation down on his superior’s desk, the man drives off while we see his record amended and filed away in ominously impersonal fashion.

Health 4-18-2012

One of the “joys” of having chronic fatigue syndrome is all the little infections I get, most of them being some form of upper respiratory problem. The latest has gone on since last Friday and is an inner ear issue with my right ear. Occasional dizziness has always been a part of the illness for me, but having the room swim around when I move my head is not.

So far no pain, so I refuse to waste anymore of the taxpayers money on a visit to the doctor. Instead, the H202 doses have gone back to daily and that has helped. Also, not taking my generic Zyrtec to allow the allergies to run wild should help burn the infection out. There has been improvement and I though I had it licked yesterday, but it is being mildly annoying today.

However, I am dead tired from a busy weekend and have not recovered at all from it. One way or another, I will make it to church on Sunday to substitute teach Gospel Doctrine. That should be fun, since I have not had the opportunity to do so before.

That reminds me, one of the odd bits about the dizziness is that it is worse sitting than standing as teaching Gospel Principles showed me this past Sunday. Weird. Bending over is not fun, of course.

The weather looks nice outside, wish I felt like taking full advantage of it.

Things Keep Falling Apart

Lately I have been having far too many items owned break down. This week it was my office chair, which collapsed when a cat jumped off me – seriously. While due for replacement by the end of the year from the upholstery tearing and the wood on one arm delaminating, the central steel tube tearing was not something I foresaw happening. So of course it did.

This followed having my Dell Axim PocketPC finally show its age and have problems with its batteries (I have a spare) and battery compartment, the already damaged (and cobbled together) halogen torchiere lamp burn out, and my subwoofer develop a noticeable fuzz. The Dell was replaced a couple of months ago, but I had to buy replacements for the lamp and chair this month. For a month where I was trying to save back a good chunk of money, I now find myself struggling to have enough to cover the bills.

At least I got some serious bargains in the process. The replacement lamp uses conventional bulbs (using GE Halogen ones in a experiment) while being 55% off at Shopko. The chair was 42% at Office Depot off and is getting its break in as I type this. The sub will not get replaced. Kindness to my eyes and to my back take precedence to my ears. Oh, and the light bulbs were on sale too.

The chair dated back to the mid-nineties, so I suppose I got every last iota out of it before it failed catastrophically. Likewise, the lamp was as old. But the timing was not great financially and that irks me. I would go beat on the engine compartment of the car, but thunderstorms are due today.

So I settled on blowing things up in a video game.

The moral of the story? Still working on that, but it might be that everything failed only when it was possible for me to buy things above my normal ability. Maybe I am being watched over no matter how much I whine.

Odds and Ends 4-10-2012

Since I have not done this in awhile, I will throw some links up to what has caught my attention lately.

Locally, the apple orchards that are such a part of the region are under threat thanks to the cold snap this week. The combination of unusually warm temperatures followed by unusually cold ones is lethal to apple buds. Not much can be done but hope there will be Honeycrisp’s this year.

Ah, those wacky Japanese using high tech to better humanity. Oh wait…

At least they are diverting resources from making robot women. Don’t get me started there.

Having watched the dot com bubble of the late nineties, I have been getting the feeling of déjà vu again. It turns out I am not alone in worrying over how the latest Internet startups are over priced. I suspect we are headed for a dot com bubble 2.0.

The media in all its forms is increasingly dishonest as things crank up for the elections this year. Race baiting is one of the more evil ways to stir things up and it is being employed fully as a rallying tactic for the left. Outright fabrications are being spread around to inflame tensions. The ends justifying the means rarely leads to anything good, but people never seem to learn that.

The mainstream media cannot be trusted to be guardians of the truth or public good and I wonder if they ever were worthy of it. Given how partisan they have become, they resemble the state controlled media of totalitarian states more and more. Maybe the idea that yellow journalism died out was an illusion in the first place.

One thing that has bothered me for a very long time is how humanity lost its willingness to take risks by the end of the 20th Century. We need to go to space, take chances, colonize, and build. Yes, people will die in the endeavor, but there are far worse things than death. One of them is stagnation. So it is sad to see plans from the 1950s aimed at going to Mars and realizing there is little chance that will happen this century.

I am probably not alone in that. An anime adaptation of Space Brothers has started airing in Japan and streaming worldwide at Crunchyroll. It is a rare thing these days to see an anime featuring characters that are all adults and dealing with adult problems. Set in the near future, it is about a pair of brothers hoping to make it to the Moon and beyond as astronauts. Warm and sentimental, it also catches some of the current cultural malaise in Japan. Man, it makes me wish we had real space programs and not the token jokes we have today.

For Easter

One of the lessons I have learned from the Savior is that at the heart of all good acts lies sacrifice. One must go beyond selfish wishes, or even the instinct of self preservation in order to do good. What a world we would have if everyone behaved that way, but alas, too many think of themselves above all others.

I am grateful for such a role model and messiah. Hopefully, I will continue learning at His feet and become a better man.

Pulling on the Dragon’s Tail

Anonymous went after the Chinese government in another coordinated attack on a large amount of websites. Given how much cyber warfare is conducted by that government, I would not be surprised to see Anonymous get hacked thoroughly in retaliation. There is a strong nationalist streak that has been inculcated in the populace for the last couple of decades which means there will be plenty of retaliatory attacks from outside the government as well. Break out the popcorn, this could get very interesting.

Health 4-4-2012

It is time to write one of those posts I hate to write. Part of keeping a journal here is keeping track of my health and I am doing a poor job of it.

For the past week or so, pinched nerves in the back have been worse than usual. The lower area has finally loosened up and than has been an immense relief. But the upper area took a strange turn for the worse and has been mostly immune to the stretching exercises learned over a decade ago. For several days it was so bad that I was loosing control of the right arm due to pain flaring and the arm refusing to accept commands.

Things have improved with a rearrangement of pillows when sleeping and trying to stay flat on my back. Still twitchy, though. The worst of it coincided with the cold suffered during the weekend.

Today started fairly well with crossword puzzle and Audiosurf going well. But mid afternoon I felt extremely tired and took a short nap. It should have been short, that is. Forcing myself up at 9:00 PM I found the rest of daylight lost, which is very annoying. So much for getting the new floor lamp (one has to love clearance sales) assembled and in place.

Insert Title Here

Pick a title, any title, my creativity is not flowing today. While I have more energy than I did over the weekend, yesterday was a busier than usual Monday and so today is already dragging and it is not even 10:00 am yet.

One thing worked on yesterday was revamping and partially rewriting an old movie review. While I have done this to a minor degree before, this is a much more comprehensive overhaul which makes it a learning experience. Today it should get finished and it is about time I figured out how to bump a post to the front page. If I remember to, that is.

It is spring, so thoughts of maybe following baseball have emerged again. I find it ridiculous that streaming MLBTV online costs $20.00 a month. How sports fans can continue to fork out insane sums of money for PPV, tickets, and merchandise is beyond me. All I can surmise is that it is the latest form of idolatry to afflict the masses and there isn’t even a dollop of spiritual rewards promised.

I am not pleased with the Supreme Court ruling on strip searches. While it is a sad testament to the decay of society that such searches are often needed, the ability to force them on a person if they are arrested for anything is way over the line. The argument that ruling against them would have a “chilling effect” on law enforcement is somewhat legitimate, but when are we going to stop ceding all our civil liberties to the government?

Meanwhile, President Obama took another step toward tinpot dictatorship by threatening the Supreme Court over Obamacare. Why he thinks this will work when even Franklin Delano Roosevelt could not pull it off? FDR was far more popular and had much broader support, but the public completely rejected his attempts to bully and replace that branch of government. Rallying the base is one thing, but when it alienates everyone else it is not even a zero sum gain. It is a loss.

That is a lesson that seems to have been forgotten by a lot of politicians across the spectrum of late.

The wrong hood was ordered for the car and a new one has been placed. Hopefully a sunny day will arrive soon (forecast says tomorrow) to continue work on straightening metal. There is still a radiator attachment made of plastic that I have not figured out how to repair. Since the only other option is replacing the entire radiator, it has to be solved. Normally, a pin could be inserted into a drilled out hole, but I am afraid of leaks from the area if I do drill. Sigh. I probably could seal it well enough if that happens.

I am puzzled how people think that increased manufacturing with decreased demand is a positive sign, even in the short term. All it means is inventory will increase, which is not a good thing in a “just in time” economy. But if there is one thing I have learned about economic experts and investors is that anything can be tortured into becoming good news when desperate.

My growing suspicion is that the US stock markets will become the last haven for money for the wealthy before that wealth is permanently destroyed. Metals and real estate are the best places to sink money into, because the value of both will never reach zero. You will not be able to avoid losing money so it is all about having something rather than nothing in the end.

On that subject, the single most awesome thing I have seen on the Web so far this year. See, the Canadians are good for something!

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999) Review

aka Awakening of Iris aka Gamera 1999: Absolute Guardian of the Universe

The final installment of Shuseke Kaneko’s trilogy of Gamera films aspires to be more than a giant monster movie when the giant flying turtle faces multiple foes – with the most deadly being a teenage girl. An unrelenting rollercoaster of a ride, Gamera 3 achieves the feat of becoming the most serious kaiju movie since the original Gojira stomped onto the screen. Combining an emotional plot, terrific pacing, and high attention to detail makes for a memorable movie whose images linger on well after the end credits roll.

Opening with haunting and evocative music, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris presents us with an unidentified location on the Ecuator in 1999. Doctor Mayumi Nagamine (Shinabu Nakayama) from Gamera: Guardian of the Universe has been called out to a remote jungle village where the body of a young Gyaos lays decomposing.  Absent from the second movie, the ornithologist has been spending her time researching the bird like monsters and now their return adds an ominous air to the proceedings.

Health 3-31-2012

Here it is General Conference again and I have a mild cold. It seems like this happens a lot for the April sessions. So I will not be making it in for Priesthood tonight.

Just looked at bread purchased earlier in the week and it has all gone moldy. This is getting to be quite a problem in this house for it is too humid in the kitchen once warm weather begins. There is no way the two of us can eat a loaf quickly enough, it seems.

At least I am more alert today. Since Wednesday, I have been completely thrashed from a trip to the capitol in St. Paul. Time to get some writing done!

F-35A Tests Its Wing Pylons

It is odd, but I think the bird looks better with things hanging under the wings. While it kills the stealth, the idea is that after the enemy air defenses are taken care of more weapons can be hauled for close air support and interdiction. The big question is whether the coming economic collapse kills the expensive program before it reaches service.

The End of Bleach: 2004-2012

There seem to be a lot of things ending for me of late and the as of today the Bleach anime is no more. After 366 episodes and four movies, it ended due to a collapse in ratings and declining DVD sales in Japan. The cancellation was rather sudden, but the show managed to conclude the most recent story arc without throwing too much out.

While not popular with a lot of the fans, the Fullbringer arc adaptation was actually superior to the original manga and showed a great deal of creativity was still left in the staff after all these years. My suspicion is that showing the main character, Ichigo, go through an emotional wringer and having to grow up is the last thing the target demographic wanted to see. But it did appeal to an old timer like me, for character development is what made me like the silly series.

Though rushed, the final episode shows how much Ichigo Kurosaki has grown since the first season that made such a splash worldwide. Not only does he look older, the decisions he made at the end were much more mature and a conversation by two characters about him highlighted it. He has become a man and a good one at that.

All the familiar faces from Soul Society and the real world have cameo appearances and the final minutes of the show end on a nice note filled with a sweetness – something it needed to after the very grim arc. No longer the angry loner, Ichigo has more friends and loved ones than he can count. When he tells Rukia, “Seeya around” the message is aimed at the viewers as much as at the diminutive Soul Reaper.

Ending on a truly warm moment was a nice way to finish the series and I will miss the silly thing.

Tools of the Faith

When it comes to technology, I believe that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are more geeky than a lot of the population at large in the United States. That is a bold claim in the era of iPads, iPods, and Facebook, but I notice we tend to be early adopters of technology and love to incorporate it into church wide usage. Now that I have moved over to an Android platform for my portable assistant needs, I am finding my suspicions are correct.

The last revamp to LDS.org has made it a more useful tool for individual members, whether they be leaders or the average person. While the updated profile information and access to online versions of manuals/teaching tools impressed me, it was not until recently that I began to really appreciate what can be done with them.

Both  iOS and Android devices have free apps that allow you to sync up all your highlights, annotations, and bookmarks from your scriptures, magazines, and manuals with your LDS.org account. This is tremendously handy for me, since I try to keep my electronic and hard copy scriptures in sync. Making sure to highlight or note something in my Holy Bible or Book of Mormon that I did with my tablet is not easy simply because my memory is not that good. But if I synch my tablet to the account, all I have to do is look under “My Study Notebook” and voila, there it is. Then I crack open the books and get my highlighting pencils out to manually sync the paper editions. The ease of that made me very happy.

Search for “Gospel Library” in Google Play, Amazon Kindle, or iTunes app stores for the very well done app from the Church. If you have a lot of space on your tablet or smart phone, I advise downloading all the conference talks available. So far everything back to 1974 has been issued in electronic format for the app. I also suggest exploring all the lesser pamphlets and manuals, for there is a lot of good information there.

But wait, there is more out there!

I highly recommend Stake Central for Android. While some may be content with the lesser Ward Central app, this has your local leadership and stake calendar included. Both are very handy for active families looking to keep up with local events and contacting people for information. It is the same data you can access on your LDS.org membership account, but downloaded for when you have no Web access.

Another useful tool for digging into scripture is “LDS Citation Index”, which allows you to find conference talks, books, and manuals that reference a specific verse of scripture. This is great for preparing lessons and talks when you are on the road or cannot get to a PC. Look for it in Android markets.

There are other apps available, but those are the ones I am using currently. Now to get the stray annotations out of my old Dell Axim…

Posting and Health 3-21-2012

The current slow down in blogging is due to the slowdown of me. Since the unusual and record setting heat began, I have had a hard time adjusting to it. Radical changes in temperature hit me in two different ways, with a sudden cold snap causing sneezing and sudden warmth causing my digestive system to get out of whack. The latter is the problem right now and I am being a bit of a zombie. Part of this is fallout from having a more active week before, but most of it is the heat and my body’s poor coping skills.

Sleep has been sporadic and of low quality thanks to all this, which is not helpful. As the week has gone on, things have improved gradually. It is annoying to be yawning as I type this. The good news is that I have not been totally incapacitated and have been working on a monster of a movie review. The screen captures need to culled to something workable and after they are edited the writing will begin.

After that, I will be beginning a new series to review – my favorite one of all time. Expect a lot of theorizing as attempts are made to understand the thinking of its creator and star.

Then there is a post that has slowly been forming in my mind about how hatred and raw emotion have come to dominate what passes for discourse in society. That will be quite a long post.

Mass Effect 3, Entitlement Culture, and Endings

Over at Bioware’s Mass Effect 3 forums there is a considerable uprising in protest of the grim ending to the game. Without going into the merits of the how the ending was written and presented (there is very legitimate and not legitimate criticisms), what strikes me is the rage at not having a happy ending possible. There is sloppy writing involved and the ending was rushed along with other parts of the game, no doubt about that. But it is a cohesive and logical ending despite what those who are angry are writing.

Part of what I like about the Mass Effect series is that it does not shy away from hard choices and painful outcomes.  The idea of sacrifice runs through the entire series, starting with the Virmire mission in the first game where you have to choose which one of two main companions dies. At the beginning of the second game, the death of your character, Shepherd,  was a red flag that you would probably die when all is said and done, despite the resurrection after the opening titles. I took it as meaning Shepherd was on borrowed time from then on out.

But a lot of people reject that concept and are demanding a new ending be made and released. Thanks to the afore mentioned sloppy writing, there is an accidental out for Bioware and EA if they choose to use it. Yet I find it amazing that gamers believe they have a right to a happy ending. Long have gamers clamored that games be taken seriously as art, alongside movies and novels. So when a game takes an artistic chance and reaches for that brass ring, this happens. Sigh.

There is additional anger that the vaunted choices imported from the previous games do not effect the ending. My reply to this is that Mass Effect 3 is a final act in a larger story and those choices are shown to have large repercussions for the galaxy. Entire races can live or die depending on the choices you have made. Conflicts between races can be ended and paths for their cultures changed. That is not small in scale, is it? So a great deal of the reward for past choices is delivered well before the ending sequence and I consider that argument a nonstarter.

It speaks a great deal about how well written the characters are when players get this emotionally wrapped up with them. A lot of this ire has to do with failing to get a happy ending and seeing your Shepherd happy with his or her love interest as a reward. Life is messier than that and these games have always reflected that.

Currently, the people in most industrialized/Westernized nations have come to believe that happiness is a right to be guaranteed by their governments. Usually that takes the form of a welfare or socialist system of some variant. Expectations are high that failure will always have a safety net. Economics and demographics are starting to assert their terrible and unstoppable refutation of such systems being sustainable in the long term. Watching the riots and demonstrations in Greece has been informative as to how people will react when such nets begin to unravel.

By the way, “happiness” is not guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States of America. The word is not even found in it or the Bill of Rights. So where does that mistaken belief come from? It comes from the Declaration of Independence. To make things even clearer, that statement of intent (which is not legally binding) had “the pursuit of happiness” as a right. Last I checked, pursuit is not a guarantee you will catch the thing chased after.

But back on topic. So what does that have to do with a silly video game, you ask? (Or at least I ask for you.)

Well, people had the expectation of getting their way at the end and when that was dashed, they became disenchanted, bitter, and often furious. So now petitions have begun and an organized movement to force Bioware to release a free happy ending patch or DLC is well underway. This is not too different from protests seen in Greece and soon to be seen in other parts of Europe.

Somewhere along the way, great swathes of people began to believe happiness could be guaranteed. Reality and history say otherwise, but we have so much that we have become spoiled rotten. Thanks to the melodrama playing out over Mass Effect 3, some things I have been pondering have come into better focus. Too many people are utterly unprepared for worst case scenarios, at least emotionally. This is not good, given what is coming.

Odd that a PR disaster for a game is giving me a better grasp of some societal mechanics, but hey, I take my inspirations whenever and wherever I get them.

I wish to note that this is not meant as a full blown apologia for Mass Effect 3’s ending. There are plenty of flaws to it and to the series in general. I cannot present the trilogy as a paragon of storytelling or game making, for it does have plenty of warts. While I do not like how it became a gay rights propaganda platform, a player had the choice to avoid it for the most part – until this installment when it was rammed through with all the subtlety of a wrecking ball. Still, it is an entertaining and interesting science fiction property that might be best served in other media than games in the future.

Something occurred to me while playing through it the first time. The sensation was much like when I saw Return of the King and it can be described as a feeling that nothing will top what I just viewed. For me, Mass Effect 3 is the last video game I will ever get excited about, much like the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy affected my movie viewing. Oh I will get the DLC’s and play out all the bargain games I have gotten on Steam over the years. But it feels like the end of an era in my life and the enthusiasm will never be the same, not due to disappointment but completion.

For me, that is the biggest and perhaps best ending.

The Week That Was

Sitting here and typing that it is Friday night seems strange, because it seems like Sunday was only a day or two ago. Time flies when there are things getting done and this week was a better one than I had experience in some time.

I took advantage of the warm weather to get a 2.5 mile walk in yesterday and thought I would never make it back up the hill. That bug last month really knocked the stuffing out of me. The good news is that I managed to be functional today.

While it looks like I did not do much with the blog, I updated two reviews, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and Gamera 2: Advent of Legion with sections on the bonus features. If you ever wondered what making a big monster movie was like before CGI took over everything, there are some good glimpses of the work involved. Next up will be the concluding movie to the trilogy, but that will wait until next week.

One thing I did not get done was re-entering my contacts data on my CyPad tablet. Despite buying Titanium Backup Pro, it failed to save that data in its pre-Ice Cream Sandwich backup. Everything else worked fairly well, but I need to check the settings.

Why Hollywood is Evil, Part 1,345,798,221

The production and licensing company that owns rights to The Hobbit are suing an English pub that has been named The Hobbit Free House for twenty years. Read the article and ponder the stupidity of the money grubbers sitting in the USA going after small fry in another land. If the name Zaentz sounds familiar, he is the one who screwed over John Fogarty and prevented him from recording for years after Creedence Clearwater Revival broke up.

Odds and Ends 3-13-2012

It was a nice day out today and tomorrow promises to be even better. While I was dead tired today after a tiring, but interesting Sunday, it turned out to be a day to get things done.

After much wrangling, ranting, research, trial and error, I managed to get a Sylvania 7” Android tablet working again for a friend. It was a Christmas present for his oldest boy and locked up when they first used it. I count that as a victory.

The upgrade to Android 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich on my Iview CyTab went relatively smoothly last week. While slightly slower in some ways, the stability is an immense improvement. So far I like it a lot and the various Web browsers seem to be happier than on Gingerbread. The keyboard is a huge improvement and nearly worth the upgrade alone.

It is hard to believe that Sunday was the one year anniversary of the tsunami that hit Japan. Their economy is still affected by it and I read that a lot of a manufacturing that had not already left is now going to China. It is a strange thing to watch because I remember when all the cheap knockoffs had “Made in Japan” stamped on them.

We had a township election today and for the second time in a row it came down to a tied vote decided by drawing cards from a deck. Yucatan Township is an interesting place to live, that is for sure.

The massacre in Afghanistan by a renegade soldier may turn out to be an even bigger tragedy than reported. There has been a report that he had suffered a brain injury while serving in Iraq in 2010. It used to be that was an automatic discharge, but he was sent back into combat duty. If true, careers need to end for the officers involved in the decision.

I finished Mass Effect 3 and found the ending to be interesting. Other people are incensed by it, but a happy ending never seemed to be in the cards to me. This series is gritty and serious science fiction, not Star Wars or Star Trek. In fact, it felt a lot like how Babylon 5 ended in some ways. Come to think of it, the Reapers remind me of a cross between the Shadows and the Borg.

Bleach Ep. 15: Kon’s Great Plan

The first season takes a breather and slows down in this comedy centric episode starring Kon, the stuffed lion. When Kon can no longer take being treated like a toy, he runs away from home to find a better place. But there is a moody parallel story as Rukia finds herself becoming too attached to others in the mortal world. So what does a mysterious black cat appearing mean for our heroes?

Bleach’s comedy is not for everyone and is often over the top. This is one of those episodes, but is leavened by a growing melancholy that quickly becomes foreboding. There are no fights, but plot development is carefully advanced as the next big storyline is setup.

The duality of the episode is introduced early on with a brooding Rukia in bed and a crying Kon dealing with having been put in a ridiculous dress by Ichigo’s sister, Yuzu. Both are suffering for very different reasons and each handles their problems quite differently. At least on the face of it…

Another Year Older, Another Year Wiser?

My birthday was a low key affair, which has become the norm for many years now. While we all get older, the real trick is becoming wiser as the years go by. In a culture devoted to perpetual adolescence, wisdom is dwindling. Not that we ever had enough of that valuable resource, but it is becoming even rarer.

So I hope I have learned a few things in the past year and that they have or in the future will benefit others. It does not seem I learn much for my own gain as time goes by. Since I believe we are here to serve others, it is probably for the best in the eternal scheme of things.

This week I decided to take for myself though. Using my birthday as an excuse, I have focused on me and entertaining myself instead of being productive. This is something someone healthy cannot do and probably does not need to do, but being disabled means you live a life most cannot understand. While I rant against being in a culture of “mass distraction,” it has been a deliberate exercise in it this week.

Being distracted was made easy by the release of Mass Effect 3, the conclusion of the Commander Shepherd trilogy and my present to myself. Some of the content I do not like, but the finale is a worthy ending to the epic story and the conclusion that angered a lot of fans is fine with me. Especially since it appears to be more open ended than they perceive to allow for DLC packs to come. It is a grim story, with the destruction of worlds making that unavoidable. Fortunately, that sense of friendship and personal intimacy with other characters is still intact. Hate the new cover system, it got me killed more times than I can count.

As is tradition, my dad and I went out for crab legs on my birthday. Back when my mother was alive, our birthdays were slightly more than a week apart so we would celebrate that way between them. Amazingly, I did not overstuff myself this year.

Thanks to my sister, I have the Blu-ray of my all time favorite movie coming. Akira Kurosawa’s Ran is a true masterpiece and, in my eyes, superior to Seven Samurai. My first DVD purchase was of this movie, more than a year before I had a DVD-ROM player to view it with. It cost a pretty penny back then, around $35.00 and looked like it was lifted from a VHS tape. No anamorphic widescreen here, just a letterboxed scan wedged into 4:3 ratio. I tried watching it on the new 40” HDTV and it looked awful. So it will be nice to see it in high definition glory.

After we succeeded in out quest for snow crab legs, we went to Blaine’s Farm and Fleet for more wood pellets. There I ran into the deluxe two disc DVD edition of Lawrence of Arabia, the one with the cloth cover on the case. It was in the surplus rack of discount DVDs and was on sale at an additional discount. Paying four dollars to replace my no frills bargain DVD was a no brainer and capped off a nice birthday.

The Long Arm of Uncle Sam

This article on Wired (via Instapundit) caught my attention today. It may surprise people to see just how absolute the Fed’s power over the Internet really is. So any website ending in com, org, or net is claimed to be under United States jurisdiction. What does that mean? It means they can legally shut down any website in the world that ends with those suffixes.

Meanwhile, Anonymous are in a tizzy after one of their own rolled over to the Feds. Language warning for the article, BTW. LulzSec is pretty much done, but there are still quite a few in Anonymous who are sweating bullets at this point.

I am afraid a lot of people assume they can do whatever they want and get away with it due to government incompetence. The thing to remember is that governments are slow and ponderous, but not oblivious. Eventually they will get around to pursuing cyber criminals if they draw enough attention to themselves. With Anonymous constantly making declarations, they might as well be wearing blinking neon signs. Their time is running out.

No deep thoughts on any of this today, because it is merely interesting data for the moment.