Public Opinion War Statistics.

A poll released yesterday by the Associated Press made it official: Americans are more likely to believe in ghosts (34 percent) than to believe that President Bush is doing a good job with the war in Iraq (29 percent).

(Washington Post) May require free registration.

UT: "We have no duty to protect students"

As UT's legal counsel stated yesterday. "We have no duty to protect students."

At UT this went over like a lead balloon.

Student's conversations overheard today :

"Why do we have blue phones then?" - Note the dead link to blue phones at UTPD web page.

"Why do we have an SMS alert system?"

"Are we supposed to call KPD instead of UTPD?"

"Is $300,0000 more important to UT than the UT image to Alumni, current and future students?"

Hmmm. Let me get this straight. UT simultaneously denies its duty to protect it's students, and strongly insists it has the duty of preventing them from defending themselves:

Pursuant to TCA 39-17-1309 it is a FELONY offense for any person to carry a weapon on University property. This applies even to individuals who possess a valid Tennessee Handgun Carry permit. Individuals who possess these permits are NOT authorized to carry a weapon on any University owned or controlled property.

UT has created a target-rich victim zone and then turned their backs on the past and future victims.

Go Vols! And go defenseless! And go quickly, lest you get hit in the head with a brick in a poorly lit parking garage.

Lead and Crime

The NYT has an interesting article about the post leaded gasoline drop in the blood lead levels of the US public and a corresponding drop in crime.

Makes me wonder about reloaders and folks that work at indoor ranges...

Wikipedia edits, blogs and the CIA

I was reading Wikipedia today and looking at anonymous edits at the Wikipedia Scanner. The CIA netblock has many anonymous Wikipedia page edits, including edits to the user page of "Acadac" from IP address 198.81.129.193. Interestingly Acadac's Wiki page links to Acadac's AOL Page, where I learned that Acadac's "real" name is David Calvin Andrus, Ph.D. A quick google search and I found that Andrus is the Chief Technology Officer, Center for Mission Innovation at the CIA.

A search of the IP address 198.81.129.193 on Wiki Scanner yields a list of edits to a wide range of Wiki articles on the topics of The Director of National Intelligence, Encryption, the TV show Jericho, The Year 2000 Problem, etc. Most edits seemed to be of items that the IP address owner was interested in on a personal level.

Three questions:

1. Is 198.81.129.193 the IP address of the desktop computer of the CIA Chief Technology Officer of the Center for Mission Innovation?

2. What are the implications for the accuracy of Wikipedia's information if the CIA is manipulating the global "open source" encyclopedia? I say, who cares?

3. Should Dr. Andrus be tweaking his Wikipedia user page from his work machine?

Using google, Wikipedia Scanner and Arin, I was able to find that the Chief Technology Officer, Center for Mission Innovation at the CIA is named Dr. Andrus, that he is a Mormon with five children, that he has a Blogger.com blog.

From the blog's sitemeter counter, I found that he is a Cox Cable subscriber, that he uses Windows XP, and that he browses with Firefox. I know that he was at home at his computer from 8:02 to 8:48 PM on October 18th 2007.

With the ATT Whitepages, I found that he lives in Sterling Virgina at 1947 E Beech Rd and his home phone number is 703-444-9169 (a Verizon landline). His wife's name is Janet, middle initial G. I know what books he reads, what music he listens to, what he looks like. I read the family Christmas letter from 1995, and know the kids names and hobbies. I looked at his house on maps.google.com.

I was thinking to myself that his means that someone could find out this much about me with the same amount of effort. I wonder if our society become too information based?

I did this from Tennessee, but could have just as easily found this information from China or North Korea, or (gasp) Iran. Imagine the infrastructure and expense that the Soviets would have needed to get this info on Dr. Andrus in circa 1955. I got it in 15 minutes, for free.

By the way, Dr. Andrus' blog is fascinating, so I added a link, right below the Communist Party USA.

12:35 PM 10/22/07 Edit: In an interesting display of recursion, a google search for the Andrus home phone number lists this blog entry as the third link.

The Database is Never Wrong

Have you ever been shopping at WalMart and had fruit ring up as fishing tackle? I have. The clerk closely examined the fruit to make sure it was actually fruit, not fishing tackle masquerading as fruit.

Convincing the .gov that it's database contains an error is next to impossible. If you are alive, and oracle thinks you are dead, you might be dead before you convince the .gov otherwise. Even worse than death, what if oracle thinks that you are, at this very moment holding someone hostage at gunpoint and hopped up on drugs?

Case in point.

Ultimate Cross Country Trip

Wired has a fascinating article on the breaking of the NYC/LA driving record.

My dad's ultimate road trip.

WWI Blog

While reading about WWI on wikipedia, I stumbled on a blogger that posts a WWI British Soldier's letters home in chronological order 90 years after the fact. William Henry Bonser Lamin's letters are posted at:

http://wwar1.blogspot.com

Awaiting the next invasion of Iraq, perhaps as soon as this weekend.

Via De Standaard: Turkey amasses troops on the border with Iraq in prep for invasion to deal with Kurdish (Sunni) PKK rebels.

The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked for a vote in parliament approving an invasion.

I find it interesting that this is front page in the Euro-Rags, but I have to search to find it in US media outlets.

Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize, or The Difference Between Republicans And Democrats.

Congratulations to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on winning the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize!

Both Gore and Carter have now won Nobel Peace Prizes for their work. Not for work done in office, but for work done after their time as public officials had ended.

One could say of both men that they have accomplished more after leaving office than during their time as elected officials.

Both used the position of leader as a springboard to improve the human condition.

Republican presidents typically leave office and campaign for the Republican Party.

Interestingly, Republican Presidents are not well liked overseas. Democrats tend to play much better with the foreign audience.

Will Al Gore win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday?

Al Gore is the bookie's favorite to win the Nobel Peace prize on Friday according to Belgian Newspaper De Standaard.

Al's biggest challenge for the prize is Polish WWII heroine Irene Sendler.

Good luck Al, and if you win, or even if you don't win, please run for president in 2008!

NSA Grants

Slashdot has an interesting article about googling for NSA grants.

Iftaar at our house, or at The White House?

For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
October 4, 2007

Menu for Iftaar Dinner

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup
Pumpkin Oil
Crispy Lavash

Spiced Rack of Lamb
Lemon-thyme Jus
Early Autumn Vegetables

Cucumber-Tomato Salad
Minted Yogurt

Baklava with Pomegranate
Mamoul Cookies

# # #

If guns cannot be evil, how can they be valiant?

I recently inherited several of my grandfather's NRA "American Rifleman" videos. The title of one is: "Guns of Valor".

Now my question is this:

If guns cannot be evil, because they are inanimate objects, then how can they be valiant?

I have also argued that guns cannot be evil.

Mr. NRA Video Title Picker Person, I would suggest renaming the video from Guns of Valor to something more in line with our philosophy, such as:

Guns used by valiant men

Or:

Guns used by men during acts of valor

Or:

Tools of the valiant

Or:

Some guns used by valiant men, a few of whom survived to tell this tale.

Imagine how pissed the NRA would be if the Brady campaign issued a video called:

Guns of Evil



Speaking of guns of evil, here they are in reverse order:

10: Walther P22 - it wears out too quickly
9: Desert Eagle .44 Mag - So goofy that it is evil.
8: The Gun of Muhymin
7: Bersa Thunder .45 -Ejects brass into your eyballs. Bad Carry Choice, unless you are already blind.
6: CZ-52 - I know that none of you can disagree with this one.
5: SAR-1 - Trigger slap
4: Mini 14 - Should be a tack driver, but.... it's like the anti-gun of Muhymin
3: S&W Lemon Squeezer - 15 lb trigger pull
2: Saiga 12 Gauge - See reason for # 6
1: Kel-Tec P-3AT - Most likely to be put in your pocket because it's so small you don't need a holster, so that when you need it you either kneecap or castrate yourself.

The other poorly titled NRA video that I inherited is named:

10 guns that changed the world.

Don't even get me started.

The Smallest Bandwagon

Based upon my informal bumpersticker count, Ron Paul will be elected president in November 2008. The smallest number of bumperstickers are the W crowd, but I have yet to see bumperstickers from the smallest 2008 presidential election bandwagon: Bush Third Termers.



I have been tempted to create a Bush Third Term grassroots webpage, purely for the love of satire. What should I call it? I had thought of W^3, or WWW. Or, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine", no, I meant "W- Third Time's The Charm".

A google search for "Bush third term" reveals a wealth of links. Not many pro-W^3, but I believe we can fix that with a well organized, heavily funded grassroots campaign.

Anne Coulter would run the campaign. We would impose a poll tax and literacy tests because as Ann says, too many people vote in this country.

Sound crazy? Not as crazy as the "Americans for Gore" grassroots campaign to get Al Gore in the White House in 2009.

OK - I admit that I would vote for Gore.