Happy Birthday Universe!

James Ussher (1581-1656), was Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland, and Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin, was highly regarded in his day as a churchman and as a scholar. He is best known today for Annales Veteris Testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti ("Annals of the Old Testament, deduced from the first origins of the world"), which appeared in 1650, and its continuation, Annalium pars postierior, published in 1654. These are the basis of the Annals of the World and the "Ussher chronology".  This chronology  was quite respected in its day and was incorporated into the authorized version of the King James Bible printed in 1701.       In this work he established the first day of creation as Sunday 23 October 4004 BC, which would make the universe 6015 years old today.

According to some, (reason #17 listed here) the amount of dust on the lunar surface backs up an age of 6,000-8,000 years old for the moon, which would jive with Ussher's calculations.   (Just for fun, here is the page listing reasons #32-58 for a young earth)

In what might be called a "wise move" by Wikipedia editors, their article on lunar soil makes no mention of the rate of accumulation.   I say thats a good thing for Wikipedia because according to others nobody really knows the rate of accumulation of lunar dust and all our efforts to clarify the problem have only exaserbated it.

Not everybody agrees with Ussher (not even all his contemporaries) and thankfully, this is an opinion opinion opinion opinion opinion blog (mostly politics and the 2nd Amendment), so if pretending that the universe is billions and billions of years old helps you sleep at night, so be it.    I have several learned friends of that opinion.    But you'll notice that there is no "young earth creation" label on this post because thats not what this blog is about.   Plenty of argument on both sides on the internet already.

This is just an interesting piece of historical information.

Chinese Instructions

Recently I received this email from my dad. I can only hope that Chinese government agencies (Communists) employ translators of a higher caliber than those utilized in this example (the Capitalist arm of China).

I bought a pen with a light from a man in the plaza in Acapulco last week. The reason I bought it was because he said it helped the "casa hogar de los ninos". Later he showed me a list of "casa hogares" and they were all over the world. Don't know if it is legit or not, but here is the instruction given on the back of the plastic holder the pen came in.:

Function: The electric power is ample, the convenience illuminate Write the fluent, a thing two use

Press the button then illuminate

Also on the other side of the pen's cardboard holder it says:

Assemble high can the battery, electric power hold out for long
time.

Incidentally pop tells me that, despite the humorous/atrocious translation, the pen writes and the light works.

Weekend Review

Okay I've had a couple tough weeks at work and today was no better. (btw Boss, if you're reading this, then that comment about work was just "dramatic license")

Also profound loss has recently been a significant part of the lives of those closest to me. It's not easy to watch those that you love the most suffering. Unfortunately this is part of our lot in life. But I won't get too morose. Between all the intense emotions (not just the suffering) that I've been close to during this month, I have found myself unable to muster a good political rant.

On more than one occasion this month I have started a blog entry and found myself so distracted by life that I couldn't even put a paragraph together.

I'm sure I've got something in the email box that is sufficiently "rant-worthy". More later.

Two dollars and 97 cents !!!

Right now I'm sitting on a big fat full tank of gas because the Aziz Quick Stop on Jackson & Nolana is selling gasoline for $2.97 !!!

I CANNOT believe that I am happy to be paying $2.97 for a gallon of gas. Of course, I was listening to Lars Larson this afternoon (he's broadcasting from Israel this week) and he said that in Israel gasoline is over EIGHT dollars a gallon right now. Their per capita income is less than the per capita income of the U.S. and they still have traffic jams.

I Lost My PG Rating !

Just for giggles I checked my "rating". After the post "Supreme Court Majority Appears To Back Gun Rights" now the widget gives me a rating of R !

Before (with the PG rating) the warning was "Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children". I can live with that. Now the R rating warns "Under 17 Requires Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian" and the "What's My Blog Rated?" widget tells me:

This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
gun (8x)
murder (5x)
dead (3x)
shoot (1x)

This makes me wonder. If talking about the murder rate in the nation's capitol gets me an "R" rating then what should we rate Washington D. C. itself? That's a scary thought.

Toward A Simpler EULA

So I'm dragging my heels again (technology wise) and just finally getting around to installing a webcam on my wife's computer. I have ZERO excuse here because the webcam was a Christmas gift (sorry Moose).

It occurs to me that we could really simplify the "End User License Agreement" (EULA). I am apparently among the 2% of computer users that actually read the EULA (have you ever read one) and they all seem to be very similiar to me in essense. So why not save some words, simplify things for the consumer and raise the percentage of people that actually read these things all in one fell swoop?

It would be a short, simple four point document.

1. This software can only be used on this one machine. If you want to install the software on other machines, buy more software.

2. This software can only be used for the purpose stated on the package. You're forbidden from using it to write you own code, you're forbidden from taking the software apart or anything of the like.

3. If you should choose to install this software, you can't blame us for any run of bad luck. If your machine bursts into flame, if your significant other leaves you, if you get fired or if you run your car into the ditch, you can't blame us. Sucks to be you.

4. Any dispute over this EULA will taken care of in a jurisdiction that is most favorable to us and least favorable to you. (Just like your credit card)

I'm just saying...

Happy Anniversary VoG

December 12 is a big deal in Mexico. According to news shows on all the local Spanish channels this morning, the Virgen de Guadalupe (Virgin of Guadalupe - i know, you never would have guessed, right?) appeared to Juan Diego on this day 476 years ago.

The easiest way to tell that this is a big deal in Latin American culture was NOT the costumes, NOT the parades, NOT even the cheering crowds. No, the easiest way to tell that this is a big deal in Latin American culture is the fact that all three psuedo news shows used this as their Lead Story at the Top of the Hour superseding the morning Bush-bashing.

It really is humorous how predictable the Spanish-speaking "drive by media" (to use a Rushism) is in their "reporting". And as far as fact-finding goes, they make CBS look good. Sightings of chupacabras are reported just as seriously as if they were a train wreck or chemical spill with hundreds injured. More than once I have heard the statement "No one has ever seen chupacabras, This is what it looks like." (When i see that "artist rendition" the first thing i think of is a "gray")

I can hear it now - "You're White, you can't say stuff like that!" Whatever. Obama wasn't weak on foreign policy because he's black, he was just weak on foreign policy. Hillary isn't wrong on healthcare because she's a woman, she is just wrong on healthcare. McCain is overreacting to all the waterboarding nonsense - the fact that he's a former POW doesn't add any actual weight to his opinion on the matter.

The truth hurts.

How much do you tip the Animal Control guy?

First off I don't want anybody to freak out - Caspian is still warm and dry and a cherished member of our family.

The reason the local Animal Control guy was called was because two large white pit bull terriers (that do NOT belong to us) were camped out in our back yard.

This is how our little drama unfolded:

6-ish in the evening: I heard a loud noise coming from near the front door (but it also sounded like it was coming from under the house), I poked my head out the door, I saw the bull terriers, I yelled "YgitoNNouttahyeea!!!" [not sure of the exact spelling] and they (apparently) ran off.

7-ish in the evening: Diana opened the back door to take Caspian for a walk and (thankfully) she saw the bull terriers before they could make an hors d'oeuvre out of Caspian. Not ever having had to call anybody for something like this before, I just called the first number that came to mind - 9 1 1 . (They very pleasantly gave me the number for the local police department)

7-ish in the evening [plus a couple minutes]: I called the Police Department and they (after making sure that everybody was safe) told me that they would call the Animal Control guy.

10 to 12 minutes later: The Animal Control guy called and told me "I'm involved in a case right now. I'll be there in 20 - 30 minutes." This seemed believable - we live in a small town.

Just shy of 2 hours after my first call to 9 1 1 : The Animal Control guy (i think he said his name was "Steve") showed up. I told everybody to get in their rooms and I brought Steve through the house. It just seemed "poor form" to ask Steve to go around the shed and potentially get maimed but a wild bull terrier. (They had growled at me earlier.)

I told Steve "One of 'em is sitting next to my shed but there was two of them earlier." As soon as Steve stepped out the back door (I was holding Caspian) he said "The other one is under the step - I can feel her moving the steps."

So just as I'm thinking "Wow, those dogs looked solid to me - i was right!" and "Man alive I'm glad a professional is taking care of this instead of me" Steve hollers "um...I'm going to need your help on this."



oh.



Crud.



Long story short (too late, right?) Steve tells me what he needs and, after I retrieved the other pole from his truck, he took the (larger) male dog to the truck and I followed with the female. I can now check Leading an animal on the end of a dog-catcher's pole off of my list of "Stuff to do before I die". (Just kidding - I had never imagined that this kind of "opportunity" would arise. It's not the sort of thing that I would go looking for.)

After we got both dogs into cages in the truck, Steve told me that he was "pretty sure" that the terriers lived at a house down the street.

Steve and I shook hands and parted ways and only after he had driven away and I was in the house did it occur to me "Was I supposed to tip the Animal Control guy??".

Stuff I forgot

It has occurred to me that I neglected to mention (in my September 3 list of all the "online" stuff that I do) that I also "maintain" a website for my parents (although it's not updated as often as it should be) and I am on the "Website Committee" of my state professional organization. I know what you're gonna say but we are working on it.

And right now I need to quit "blogging" and finish the presentation for tomorrow's church service.

I must quickly mention that we were invited to the home of some really good friends to help them celebrate a birthday and I believe I met a new friend or two. We had a great time hanging out with our friends and talking.

Life is good.

More books

While visiting South Padre Island recently, my family shopped at a couple different stores with "used books" sections. There is a funny thing that will happen when my pop and I are going through a smallish section of used books: whoever makes it to the books first starts on one end and the other one will start at the other end (that way we don't get in each other's way).

That's not the funny part. You see, even though my (borderline unnatural) love for books was fostered by hours of helping pop sort through his book collections; pop and I have (almost) completely different tastes in books and authors. So, as we're working our way through the books, occasionally each of us will run across a book that we think the other might like and we'll say something to the effect of "You might want to take a look at this one". I've figured out that when I see a book that I might want I will go ahead and add it to my stack because if I don't I won't be able to find it later. And I can always take books out of the stack.

The funny part is when pop and I pass in the middle of the book section, each of us with a stack of books. Despite the fact that pop and I maintain our unique tastes in books and authors, it will invariably happen that one (or both) of us will say "Um, were you going to buy that or were you just looking at it?" The other day I even talked up a book that I had noticed in hopes that pop would add it to his stack and lose interest in another one that he had picked up.

The upside of all this silliness is that it is a harmless and educational vice. Now if we only had time to read all these books we buy! Pop does much better at this than I do - Wednesday morning he was reading a book while sitting in the hot tub. I never have been able to do the "bathtub reader" thing.

How Do They Lean?

Here, in alphabetical order, are several of the current Republican Presidential hopefuls (and a few possible "spoilers") and how they lean politically according to http://www.ontheissues.org/ : (The grid with the political philosophy is at the bottom of each person's ontheissues page)

Mike Bloomberg (Moderate Libertarian Liberal)
Sam Brownback (Libertarian-Leaning Conservative)
Jeb Bush (Populist-Leaning Conservative)
Newt Gingrich (Libertarian-Leaning Conservative)
Jim Gilmore (Populist Conservative)
Rudy Giuliani (Moderate Liberertarian Conservative)
Chuck Hagel (Libertarian-Leaning Conservative)
Mike Huckabee (Moderate Conservative)
Duncan Hunter (Moderate Conservative)
John McCain (Moderate Conservative)
George Pataki (Moderate Populist Conservative)
Texas Representative Ron Paul (Moderate Libertarian)
Mitt Romney (Moderate Populist Conservative)
Mark Sanford (Populist-Leaning Conservative)
Tom Tancredo (Moderate Conservative)
Fred Thompson (Moderate Conservative)
Tommy Thompson (Moderate Populist)

You can go here for the Vote Match quiz used to "score" these candidates. According to this 20 question quiz. If you are at all interested in the issues and who becomes the next person to be "the most powerful person in the free world", then you should take the quiz. This grid idea is more informative than the old "left or right" and it is very interesting to see where exactly on the grid the candidates fall.

The first time I took the quiz it told me "Your political philosophy is Populist-Leaning Conservative". After a couple hours of reading info on the ontheissues website I took the quiz again and now it tells me that I am "Hard Core Conservative" (I think I got fed up with all these "Moderate Conservatives" and their policy statements :-)

The "useless information" tag is tongue in cheek. This information is only useless if you don't care. (yes sir, i am opinionated - God Bless America)

Multilingual Cockroach

This probably is pretty low on the "useful information" scale, but in case you were curious, (or you travel a lot) here is "cockroach" from the Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary. K Dictionaries Ltd. 20 Jun. 2007. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cockroach.

Arabic:صَرْصور
Chinese (Simplified):蟑螂
Chinese (Traditional):蟑螂
Czech:šváb
Danish:kakerlak
Dutch:kakkerlak
Estonian:tarakan
Finnish:torakka
French:blatte
German:die Küchenschabe, die Kackerlake
Greek:κατσαρίδα
Hungarian:svábbogár
Icelandic:kakkalakki
Indonesian:lipas
Italian:scarafaggio
Japanese:ごきぶり
Korean:바퀴벌레
Latvian:tarakāns
Lithuanian:tarakonas
Norwegian:kakerlakk
Polish:karaluch
Portuguese (Brazil):barata
Portuguese (Portugal):barata
Romanian:gândac de bucătărie
Russian:таракан
Slovak:šváb
Slovenian:ščurek
Spanish:cucaracha
Swedish:kackerlacka
Turkish:hamamböceği

Bon Voyage!