President Bauer?

From LGF

W is a force to be reckoned with tonight. This is like watching Jack Bauer deliver the SOTU address.

State of the Union

- Hmmm 8:07 Central and the only exciting news so far is that 'Mother Sheehan' has been removed.
- The wife wonders - whats the big yellow thing in the crowd?
- Aww - a kiss for Condi.
- 2nd standing O
- Nice Eulogy. Rest in peace Mrs. King. 3rd standing O
- Debate in civil tone. Nice dig.
- Strong and can get stronger
- Go get the bad guys - yea!
- Be a leader. Secure the peace. Best defense is an overwhelming offense
- 9/11 mention. The D's will harp on that
- Spread democracy around the world
- Oooh - Radical Islam. Perversion of faith. Fear is the only real weapon they have. Nice play on words with regard to the meek. 4th standing O
- No retreat, no surrender. 5th standing O. Rangel stays seated. What a loser.
- Evil Empire - kudos Ronnie!
- Their day will come
- Iraq. Layout the plan with freedom and self determination as the goal. Interesting that the D's aren't clapping except for Senator Lieberman
- Winning is the only option. 6th standing O. Well the R's and the military at least.
- Military decisions are made by the military - not the politicans. 7th standing O
- Nice dig at the defeatists. Can't cut and run. Stop living in the past. Our word must be gold. 8th standing O - both sides of the aisle
- Letter from a Marine. Tears in my eyes. Honor. Sacrifice. 9th standing O
- Military families.10th standing O
- Freedom from terrorists via Democratic reform. Accountable institutions. Hamas must recognize Israel and work for peace. 11th standing O
- Liberty s the right and hope of all humanity. Iran repressing it's people. Must end...
- No nukes in Iran. 12th standing O
- Citizens of Iran - we are your friends - free and Democratic Iran
- Compassion abroad. Stop the madness before it begins. Healthcare for those who need it. National security is at stake
- Support the pro's who keep us safe. 13th standing O
- Reauthorize the Patriot Act. 14th standing O
- Failed to connect the dots pre 9/11. Must pursue international communications between terrorists. Can't wait to be hit again. 15th standing O. Hillary rolling her eyes. Clueless
- Gotta get the bad guys. 16th standing O
- Lotsa new jobs. More than Japan and the EU combined. No new taxes. Immigrants bad? Not the legal ones... 17th standing O
- Grow the economy. Tax relief has put 800 Billion back into the their owners hands. Make the tax cuts permanent. Yes!!! 18th standing O
- Cutting spending. 140 programs on the block. On track to cut the defict in half by 2009
- Earmark reform - yes. Line item veto - yesssssss! 19th standing O
- Hillary can't even smile at a joke. Medicaid and SS reform. 60% of the budget soon. 20th standing O from the Democrats.
- Entitlements. 21st standing O
- End partisan politics to solve SS problems. 22nd standing O
- With open markets no one can beat us. 23rd standing O
- Imigration reform. Secure borders - yes. Start with Mexico. Big F'ing wall. Guest workers - not sure.
- Affordable health care. 24th standing O. Hell yes! Free for the poor and elderly. The wife wonders about the middle class or will we end up paying for all? Electronic records? Gotta be secure. Portable coverage. No OBs for women in 1500 countys. Medical liability reform. 25th standing O. No D's.
- Addicted to Oil. Foreign oil. Energy technology. 26th standing O. Hydrogen cells for cars - much better than hybrids. 27th standing O. Replace 75% of imported oil by 2025. Get away from a petroluem based economy. 28th standing O
- Must keep the education edge. Lead in math and and science. Energy research. Must innovate.
- Train teachers for AP instruction. Teach math and science - yes! 29th standing 0
- Great force for freedom and prosperity. Treat every one nicely. Crime down. Welfare down. Drug use down. Abortion down. Teen pregnancy down. It's all good. Revolution of conscince. Personal responsibility. 30th standing O
- People still worry. Never surrender. Prove the pessimists wrong. Over and over again.
- Roberts and Alito. 31st standing O. Judges must be servants of the law and not legislate from the bench. Happy trails Justice O'Connor
- Human life is a gift from God. 32nd standing O
- Trust. Ethics in Washington? hahahaha. Can't betray the public trust. 33rd standing O
- 34 standing O for Laura
- 85 Billion for the Gulf Coast. Treat the problems that existed beforehand. Must have hope and opportunity. 35 standing O
- Stop HIV/AIDS. 36th standing O. Work for the day of no new infections
- Will we turn back or finish well? Lead freedoms advance. 37th standing O

God bless you too Mr. President

Some thoughts - pretty good speech. The D's showed the usual lack of class save for a few. The pundits will be interesting.

More on Jack

A special Jack Bauer edition of the Carnival of the Clueless via Atlas

The Tao Of Jack Bauer

In order to keep you monitor clean please remove all food and water from your mouth before reading.

Personal favs - 1,10,20,23,29,35, and 43

Just paint and wallpaper

Thats what the wife said when she decided that we would redo the kitchen. We ended as soon as the wallpaper was picked out. Well I shouldn't say that as she has been clearing counters and hiding food so it's still a we.

So far I've removed all the wallpaper and started on removing any excess paste. then it's time for new lights, ceiling paint, and wallpaper. Only a few more weeks...

Oh - I really don't like wallpaper. I'm good at putting it up but I don't like it.

24 - Hour 6

Quiet night with regard to body count. The folks at Blogs4Bauer are kinda disapointed. On the other hand I had put 1 in as my guess and it looks like I was right!

I'm enjoying this year. The story has already changed once. The President lack a spine (hmmm - think back a few years...) and now wants to act like a man. Can't wait for next week!

Please Cindy - Run!

It would be entertaining to watch - Cindy for Senate. How long would it take for her to break down?

Bypassing Google's Evil

Instapundit has email that shows how to get past Google's evil ways. It's simple and easy for people like me. Misspell keywords...

Ha

Carnival of Cordite #45

Actually thats .45

Sky High

I've always like Kurt Russell movies. From Disney movies to Snake Plisken to Miracle - he's always seems to bring forward a enjoyable character.

Since the wife was visiting her dad in the hospital Thing2 and I watched Sky High. I know it didn't get great reviews but it's a fun family friendly movie. Older kids and adults will figure out the plot but we both enjoyed the movie.

Father-in-law

My father-in-law has been fighting a cough for the past few weeks. He went to the doctor yesterday and ended up in the hospital. He had a brochialscope today. Nothing unusual found. More tests tomorrow...

Google Censorship

Don't Be Evil

More from Google China

Via LGF

Search for tiananmen

google.com
google.cn

It's truly sad that their pursuit of money overshadows free speech.

Interesting Comparison

Jack Bauer on Privacy

I think he has the right idea!

Don't do evil

So Google won't help the US Goverment investigate child porn but they will censor search results for it's Chinese portal?

Kiddie porn is ok but free speech isn't?

How (not) to replace a computer fan

The story

Car Tests

Via Althouse - Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Me?

I'm a Chevrolet Corvette!

You're a classic - powerful, athletic, and competitive. You're all about winning the race and getting the job done. While you have a practical everyday side, you get wild when anyone pushes your pedal. You hate to lose, but you hardly ever do.

Fits me fairly well. It should be a Z06.

Girl Scout Cookies

My favorites are made with real Girl Scouts!

Someone at Sun has a bit too much time on his/her hands. A 2005-06 Girl Scout Cookie Equivalency Chart

One would think Open Solaris would be keeping them busy...

24 - Episode 5

A little on the slow side but some holes were filled. I was glad to see that there wasn't another mole inside CTU. It seems that, for a anti-terrorist unit, they seem to do lousy background checks. A mole in the White House staff - well a little far-fetched but with so many ulterior motives in the world it's not difficult to see.

President Logan, well, in some ways he reminds me of a certain recent Democratic president. No real spine. He should, like all smart husbands, learn to listen to his wife. I get the feeling that he won't survive the year.

On to the gun handling: The CTU folks are pretty solid in this respect but the "professional" hitman had his finger on the trigger of his Glock after assembly and while racking the slide. How stupid can you be?

Body count: The folks over at Blogs for Bauer have been tracking this. Why? It's part of the show. How many bad guys can Jack send on their way each hour? Well good guys die as well. This week only 2 died. I guessed right this week. I'm sure the winnings are in the mail. :-)

Hero's get a reprieve

From the clueless commies known as Code Pink. They have lost their corner by Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC where they have been spewing their hate at the brave men and women who have been injured in service of their country.

LGF has a thread open.

The DC Freepers and Protest Warriors rule! Be sure to check the top right pic on the Protest Warrior web site.

How to keep a computer busy

By busy I mean at 100% cpu and physical memory for 8 or 9 hours. :-)

Thing1 and I built new computers last year. Nothing fancy - Athlon 64 3000+ with a gigabyte of RAM. Thing1 built his for games where mine was meant for video work. I've been taking my 8mm and miniDV tapes and making DVDs out of them. Generating that DVD takes an hour or so. 8 hours would be a challenge.

Started by recording 24 to one of my PCs using a Hauppauge PVR250 card in near DVD quality. Edit the resulting MPEG using Adobe Premiere Elements to remove the commericals and write a DVD quality MPEG. That takes about 45 minutes but it doesn't chew up the machine. Repeat for all 4 episodes broadcast this year.

Now fire up Premiere Elements again and add all four episodes as video sources. Mark each element with a scene tag and then create a DVD menu. Now set Premiere to create a 8.5GB DVD image on disk. Adjust quality as necessary. Hit the start button and let it go. Within a few minutes CPU was at 100% utilized and the 1GB of RAM that the machine has was completely used.

When I went to bed 5 hours later the progress bar was at 65%. According to the file modification times writing the DVD image took 8.5 hours. Busy, busy, busy.

Now to buy some dual layer media.

Let's Get Dangerous

Thing1 is a happy camper this morning. Darkwing Duck is coming to DVD!

This was one of his favorite shows when he was young. Glad to see that, while growing older is mandatory, growing up is optional.

The Winner?

From CSI last Thursday:

Warrick: Who brings a gun to a knife fight?

Grission: The winner?

I guess it would depend on just how close the fight started and how good the guy was with the knife is...

Carnival of Cordite #44

Gullyborg has it for your reading pleasure

A trip to Yerkes

Thing1 called last night from Lake Geneva. They had stopped on the way home to get coffee for the trip home. They were blessed with a clear night and were able to view Saturn as well as some star clusters with the large telescope at Yerkes. To quote Thing1 the guide was a "riot" as he combined astronomy with humor and movie trivia (20 minutes of Chain Reaction was shot at Yerkes) during the tour.

I agree

with Robert Redford? Scary as we're as opposite as two can be. But somethings should just not be attempted. From deseretnews.com

Asked about rumors that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck may be remaking "Butch Cassidy," Redford said he finds that "depressing."
"There is no shortage of good, original ideas, and there's just no point to remakes. Why do they have to mess with things that were perfect the first time around?" he said with a groan.

Remake Butch Cassidy? Please noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

School Fun

Thing1 is back at school for his interim class where he is taking Astronomy. Today they are visiting the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin. Tomorrow the Adler Planatarium in Chicago. What a great class!

I wonder if I could tag along as a "responsible adult"? Me? hahaha

For those of you who, like me, enjoy looking at the stars but want to see whats out there without leaving your computer I highly recommend the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Skyserver site. In particular the Famous Places link. I know a few of the people involved in this project and they are producing some amazing images.

Without Remorse

One of my favorite Tom Clancy novels is Without Remorse, or as I describe it - How Clark became Clark. It was an excellent read with only a small reference to Jack Ryan. I had always thought that, if the screenplay followed the book, it would make an excellent movie.

Thing1 pointed out to me today that John Singleton has signed on to do Without Remorse. Great director. Boyz n the Hood is one of those movies that you need to see.

Now we just need Clark. And no Ben Affleck.

I'm not a fan of meetings

Just about everyone has them where they work. Some folks get off easy with one a month or maybe once a quarter (like the wife) whereas we have them several times a week. Group meetings, team meetings, policy meetings, etc. Some weeks it feels like I spend 50% of my time in a meeting or preparing for a meeting. (We once has a meeting to plan our presentation at a pre-meeting discussion). Most meetings can be skipped - or at least really shortened. An agenda is necessary. Whoever is running the meeting needs to be capable of keeping control and sticking to the agenda. Otherwise the meeting gets out of control and becomes a time-sucking abyss.

Thing1 sent me a link to some UK researchers who have discovered that:

"We propose that despite the fact that meetings may help to achieve work-related goals, having too many meetings and spending too much time in meetings per day may have negative effects on the individual."

Go and read the whole thing.

If you have to have a meeting make it early in the day and keep it moving. Don't waste time.

24

Started a bit late due to the Bears-Panthers game running over a few minutes. It didn't take long for the body count to start. President Palmer, then Michelle, and possibly Tony. Luckily Jack came back and put 4 bad guys away. This looks to be a great story line although a mole in the White House seems unlikely. Hopefully there isn't one in CTU again as that would be a bit lame.

Only 9 1/2 hours till part 3.

I'm truly glad I wasn't watching on WACH-TV.

From The State.Com

Columbia’s FOX affiliate, cut away from the last 10 minutes of the blockbuster show to start its 10 p.m. newscast — leaving fans in the Midlands hanging.

'24' gets cut off in last 10 minutes
TV fans hit the roof when local newscast begins before show ends
By ADAM BEAM
Staff Writer

Midlands fans of the FOX show "24" are used to cliffhangers - but nothing like what happened during the fifth-season premiere Sunday night....

Da Bears

With great sadness I watched the Bears defense pick yesterday as the day to not show up. Cornerbacks that spent the day chasing Steve Smith into the end zone. A defensive line that couldn't get much pressure on the Panthers QB. And a Bears quarterback that looked to be pretty nervous. A sad way to end a season rescued by Kyle Orton.

Sunday School

The wife tweaked something in her shoulder so she wasn't able to go and teach on Sunday. So I 'volunteered'. Thing2 and I went off to Church so she could attend the junior high bible study while I taught Sunday School. Five kids showed up and we had a great time. The kids got into the discussion and even picked on me a bit. Pretty sharp for second graders.

DVD Viewing

Why do dual layer DVDs switch layers in the middle of a scene? The pause, while brief, is annoying. And it seems to happen within a second or two of a scene change where it wouldn't even be noticed. Seems that the mastering of the DVD could be programmed to avoid this.

Carnival of Cordite #43 - Special Zombie Edition

Cause you never know when zombies are going to strike.

#43

Personally if Zombies attack I hope I have Alice and Jill on my side.

A Jarhead Speaks

Uncle Jimbo has a interview with Captain B over at Blackfive

..the V8 small block engine could be the best engine ever built, I believe its ok to kill a mosquito with a sledge hammer, I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter...

This Marine is awesome! And so right. Go and read the rest.

I should clarify that almost every Marine I've ever met is an exceptional person. Whether it's just the caliber of person that the Marines accept or what becoming a Marine does to you - well I don't know. I just know that they are good people.

Feelings

From a list I'm on. Don't know if its valid but it's worth passing on.

While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters
News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al
Qaeda in Afghanistan. The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."

Isn't Technology Wonderful?

I was catching up on my blog reading and came across a recommendation for John Ringo's Ghost on Blackfive. Looks kind of interesting so I check my local libraries web site to see if they have it. Two copies and both are out. Hmmm - there's a hold button now...

Enter the number off my library card and then my PIN for the library and it's on hold for me. Very cool!

Apple and the x86

I was pretty excited to hear about this. I had always thought the low performance G4 chip in the Apple iBooks and PowerBooks was a huge minus to a otherwise interesting package. While I had hoped they would join the AMD camp the Intel based machines are interesting.

One of my coworkers pointed out that, on the day that Apple announced the x86 based Mac's, Apple stock (NASDAQ:APPL) closed at 80.86.

It must be a sign.

If Apple really wants to make personal computing interesting then OS/X needs to be available for retail purchase for installation on non-Apple hardware. 64 bit please.

I am Coming

...I want you to know also that I am very good at what I do. I can put a 2,000 lb weapon through a window from 10,000 feet up. I generally only fly at night, so you may want to start sleeping during the day. I am not eager to die for my country but I am willing to sacrifice my life to protect it from animals like you....

GM Roper has the rest. Worth the read.

Carnival of Cordite #42

A Happy New Year with a cordite chaser!

Just one more week

Till 24 comes back. What will Jack have to do this year? I'm sure Blogs For Bauer will know...

I can't wait!

Medical Tee's

Via Instapundit I found MedTee's. With all the interesting diseases in our family - well some of these shirts just make me smile. Thing1 has a few he likes - just not the colors. His skin tends to destroy white and light gray.

What a shock!

Not really. From the NY Post.

January 4, 2006 -- Tinseltown teen queen Lindsay Lohan has finally 'fessed up to doing drugs — and becoming so bulimic that she couldn't stand the sight of her own skeletal figure.

Thing2 is 14 and, like most teen girls, has image issues. Seeing these skeletal figures in the magazine doesn't help me as a parent convince her that every girl is different. When I bring up (what I think is) the fact that these girls starve themselves she tells me they just gave up junk food. Maybe this will help her understand where I'm coming from.

Oompa Loompas in Redmond?

I didn't read much work related email over Christmas but I did follow the Windows Metafile vulnerability story as it played out. I thought it was interested as this isn't really a bug but a feature being taken advantage of - in a way it wasn't really meant to be. Microsoft has announced that a patch will be available as part of the usual Patch Tuesday monthly release. Given how critical this issue is it seems that this is a long time to wait.

The SANS ISC has been doing a great job in covering this event. Up to date reports, 'unofficial' patch testing, and even the discussion of a oxymoron.

Nice thing about this - Mozilla Thunderbird/Firefox users get prompted to open files that may have a ulterior motive...

Back to work

I haven't been here for 12 days. It felt real strange even setting the alarm clock last night.

Did I miss anything? Doesn't look like it. The usual micromanagement is still here, "leaders" changing server configs, assigning projects on special purpose servers without notifying the server admins, etc. Oh well - it's another year. Time to make the best of it.

Fiesta Bowl

No I wasn't watching it. I happened to flip to it after watching Unleashed on DVD with Thing1. (highly recommended. A Jet Li movie with a plot!) Back to the Fiesta Bowl. At half time there was a lady down on the field trying to throw a football through a hole in a target. She missed and Tostidos ended up donating $25,000.00 to the USO rather than some higher amount had she made the shot.

After the throw the announcer asked her to wait as someone wanted to talk to her. A Army Lt. who had just came back from Iraq came out and gave her a hug. After a few tears he got down on one knee and proposed. She said yes.

Very cool.

Mike Tice

While I'm not a Vikings fan in any way the way Mike Tice was removed as the coach of the Minnesota Vikings was beyond disgusting. After being told he was to take part in a meeting with the new owner on Monday afternoon, the owner sent a press release announcing his firing to the locker room while some players were still there just after the game. A new low for an owner.

The nice folks over at Powerline have a different view of Mike Tice. One you should read.

Happy New Year!

May your year be filled with peace, love, and happiness.