http://www.skepticality.com/iboard/index.php?app=blog Community Blog List Syndication Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:55:03 +0000 feedback@skepticality.com (Skepticality Forum) IP.Blog 60 This was my second blog post (after the introduction). I'm reposting it here because, after all, this is still my blog.

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Winding my way up Ute Pass on the way to work, I heard Philip Escoffy make the following statement on Episode #69 of The Skeptic Zone; as skeptic we need to replace what we take away with something else. It's not in quotes because I am paraphrasing, but you get the gist. Mr. Escoffy was speaking about people who believe in psychics and ghosts, but the same statements could be made regarding a wide spectrum of beliefs.

Immediately waves of arguments broke upon the barren shores of my conscious mind. In actuality the waves had been building for a while as I've recently been exposed to life-outlooks loosely based on an amalgamation of ideas from The Secret, The Science of the Mind, the Power of Positive Thinking, and other philosophies purporting to imbue the believer with the power to literally shape the universe to their needs.

Examined with a critical eye, all these philosophies are no more and no less than a variation on the prayer idea. In both cases there is an appeal for an unseen force/entity to bend the progression of reality and time for the benefit of the supplicant.

There are many arguments one could use to counter these notions, but we, the skeptical ones, are often held back by something similar to Escoffy's argument; we can't just go in there willy-nilly and tear down a structure that may be critical to the current well-being and peace-of-mind of the believer.

The dilemma for the skeptics is these philosophies leads to very poor decisions. Fine if Oprah wants to live her life that way, but when it's a family member, friend, or someone a skeptic cares about, the skeptic faces the decision of trying to help them now, or watch them slowly ruin their lives. Of course, things could work out through sheer dumb luck, and then the skeptic has to suffer through countless "See!?! I told you it works!!"

But if one decides to intervene, all one has to offer is the following: "life is difficult, requires a lot of hard work, and offers no guarantees in return" . . . admittedly, such a message is not going to capture anyone's imagination.

But that is the reality of life.

No one had the right to live in a fantasy world and expect others to defer to them. Yes, all we skeptics have to offer is the harsh reality of life. But you know what? I firmly believe everyone would be better off, individually and as a society, if people based their lives, their decisions, and their plans on this harsh reality.

There are no free lunches; you have to work and plan for everything you want. There is no intervening power; you bear the responsibility for your decisions. There are no guarantees one can buy or wish for; random chance will favor one, and harm another, and all we can do is strive to better the odds.

The universe is a cold and dark place, and the totality of humanity is but an insignificant speck. Truly understand that, and you understand how absurd it is to imagine oneself or others imbued with any special power beyond our capacity to reason, or imbued with abilities beyond our capacity to work as individuals and collaborate as a group, or imbued with understanding beyond what has been painstakingly learned from the examination of the physical world around us.

The sad part is that as a species we have accomplished far more than was ever dreamed by charlatans of years past, have greater understanding than was ever claimed by countless mystics of centuries past, and have access to wonders far beyond what was dreamed up by past or current seers . . . but the majority is still not content; they listen to promises of eternal life, they are lured by visions of vast rewards for little work, they are seduced by the idea of being something special.

They do that while standing on the shoulder of those who painstakingly, through thousand of years, have build a foundation of knowledge which allows for the continuous improvement of the human condition. Improvements which are at the same time maligned, and taken for granted.

So, when I hear "we need to replace what we take away with something else", I immediately know we are not likely to succeed because people who believe in anything beyond reality have already rejected the one thing we could offer them.
]]> Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:29:00 +0000 As everyone moves to social media sites, podcasts, and video-casts, and as blogs blend into a mass of irrelevance, I am jumping in and starting to blog. To be fair, I’ve had a blog here at Skepticality for some time now, but it never quite felt as if it was a proper blog.

Mind you, I appreciate the opportunity, the site is great, and using it is easy. But I now must venture out and see just how frustrating it is to post my thoughts, writings, and photos where no one is likely to take notice of them.

Ah, but I have a plan!! . . . I plan to augment new posts with a mix of ideas, stories, and photos I’ve posted elsewhere (here at Skepticality and FaceBook). I’m heading in that direction because blogs with little content generate little interest . . . not that I’m saying I’ll generate interest, but the odds are greater if there’s actually something to read if people happen to visit the blog.

Well, OK . . . the main reason is I enjoy reading my old stuff. I have a (relatively) large volume of mostly unseen content, and re-posting it here, intermingled with fresh material, is likely to give the occasional reader the idea I am a prolific writer. Notice I did not say great, or even good.

No, I have no illusions of greatness. Well . . . I have personal illusions; I don’t let a day go by without praising myself on my philosophy of life, my writing efforts, and my photography. Considering I am self-thought, I have great admiration for myself and my efforts in various things I dabble in. I know few, if any, share in my self-adulation, but that’s why it’s so important for me to steadfastly maintain my one-person cheering section.

Yessiree (or is it yesiree?), I am my number one fan, so I’m assured at least one visit and one reading for each of my posts. And I know for a fact I will find them insightful, interesting, and always entertaining.

And so I begin . . . and since I'm new to blogging, I am trying three services.

http://dispersertracks.blogspot.com

http://disperser.wordpress.com

http://disperser.livejournal.com

They will all have the same entries, and eventually I'll decide on one of the three. If anyone has any alternate they want to suggest, feel free to comment or e-mail me.
]]> Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:25:00 +0000 Closing out 2009.
(if only interested in the albums, please go to bottom of this document for the links)


With the Hawaiian vacation pictures taking precedence, I failed to properly close out 2009. By all accounts a crappy year all around, there were still photographs taken, and December had it's own share of snapshots outside the plethora of Hawaii pictures.

By the way, I still need to post a SmugMug album of Hawaii pictures . . . at this rate it will be a month or more, but it will eventually be there.

Meanwhile, December was yet another month that, when convenient, I went on pre-sunset drives looking for worthwhile subjects to digitally capture for future generations to see what the world looked like before overpopulation, wars, greed, and iPhones messed it all up.



Most pictures depict things which captured my attention, but which are likely to elicit little interest from others. Still, I figure I should post them to the web so they can be ignored by a larger number of people.

By far the most favorite subjects of late, and the reason for my drives, were hawks. Specifically I wanted to emulate photographers whose livelihood depends on great pictures of wildlife captured in the act of being wildlife. I can't say I succeeded to the fullness of my expectations, but I think some of the shots I got might be worthwhile.



There are two kinds of hawks I've seen here; Northern Harriers and Red-Tailed. There might be more, but that's all I've seen, or recognized. Red-Tailed Hawks are tolerant of balding photographers wanting to have them as subjects. Northern-Harriers, on the other hand, are reluctant subjects; they don't hang around much past me raising my camera.

Both are difficult to capture in flight, especially if one tries to capture the moment they depart their perches. All one gets, or at least all I get, are blurry images of magnificent birds spreading impressive wings to the waiting breeze.



Ducks, on the other hand, appear to be more acclimated to having people around, especially if some people regularly feed them at their favorite pond. One such pond is behind a strip mall about four miles from my house. It is home to a large number of waterfowl nearly year round (different individuals, I'm sure, but there are always some there). I've posted pictures from the pond before, but usually the ducks are on the water, and they tend to move to the opposite side of the pond whenever I approach.

These days, however, the lake is frozen, and ducks hang around the parking lot and under nearby shrubs. This offered me an opportunity to snap some pictures from fairly short distances.

They are difficult to photograph (at least for me), as the sunlight tends to play on their feathers and make getting an accurate exposure a tricky proposal.

Still, I think some people might enjoy the few duck pictures I've chosen to offer up.



December offered a few other critters crossing in front of my camera. Add a few shots of the local landscape, and we have a diverse offering of albums. To be sure, knowing most people are not that interested in anything requiring more than a few minutes (a.k.a. Twitter-sized) offerings, these are relatively small albums. I list them here for them who be interested, and have the time to peruse them.




SmugMug Albums:

Dec '09 Closing out the year (14 pictures) - a mix of landscape and critters.

Dec '09 Horses (8 pictures) - some equines who captured my interest

Dec '09 Ducks (7 pictures) - waterfowls in repose

Norther Harrier Hawk (12 pictures) - pictures of perched and flying Norther Harrier hawks

Red-Tailed Hawk, Part 1 (10 pictures) - a Red-Tailed hawk intent on its meal, and then flying off

Red-Tailed Hawk, Part 2 (11 pictures) - a young Red-Tailed hawk perched on a pole, and then flying off]]> Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:42:00 +0000 Rather than put up a lengthy post, I decided to try something new.

It may be many will find it daunting, mostly because in my attempt to make it easy and flexible I probably made it complicated and confusing . . . but it's just a bunch of linked documents which recount our stay in Maui and Oahu.

Account of our Big Island stay was previously posted, so I did not repeat it. My original thought was to use linked blog posts, but it's just not practical, and this seems to work a little better . . . at least in my estimation.

I know few, if any, will be interested in reading my lengthy accounts . . . that's fine. The link below will take you to a sort of portal to the write-ups, pictures, and movie clips. Read, look at, or watch whatever you are interested in.

Anyway, click HERE for the start of the adventure.
]]> Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:46:00 +0000 This is the second in my trio of reviews. This opinion piece is for the movie Terminator: Salvation.

You can read the piece as posted at Slice of SciFi HERE, or as usual, read it below.

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Baleful Terminator
Not really; maybe Balesome, for Bale/John Connors was not the central character of Terminator Salvation. The story is about the missing Terminator link, Marcus Wright. And the story is not that bad. In fact, aside a few gratuitous and pointless action sequences, I enjoyed the movie. True, I could still be shell-shocked from Star Trek's so-called-plot, and anything might looks good at this point.

But no, there's more than that; here we are presented with a character we can connect with. We may start out with mixed feelings about Marcus, but it does not take long to get us interested in his story, to establish a connection with his persona.

Of course anyone who has watched the trailers know what he is, but that just serves to form a stronger bond between the character and the audience as we follow him along the path of self-discovery. Unfortunately it's difficult for the audience to connect with the rest of the cast.

Bale is a passable laryngitis-struck version of John Connors, but his main role is to react to Marcus. There are attempts to show he has some kind of leadership characteristics, but they are not enough to establish credence the character is a resistance leader. Although, he does bring more credence toward his eventual role of resistance leader than Chris Pine brought to the character of Kirk as a Starship Captain.

I think the role of Kyle was miscast; Yelchin was passable as Chekov in Star Trek, but he did not bring to this role the intensity of the Kyle we know. In fact, he seemed to reprise his Chekov role (minus the overdone accent). By the way, I don't get why the machines would not have killed Kyle immediately upon finding him. No real good explanation was given, and if the aim was to get rid of both Kyle and John at the same time, all it would have taken is a booby-trapped cell.

The only other character with potential of connecting with the audience was Blair (Moon Bloodgood ) but her role is also tied to Marcus. Oh, wait . . . the T-800 makes an appearance. They obviously liked that particular CGI angle because the fight between the T-800, John, and Marcus drags on much longer than needed. Again, given the elaborate and long-term planning by SkyNet, it seemed rather shoddy to leave the outcome up to one unit, and to have no backup plan at all.

It took me a little while to realize the movie is nowhere near human-victory-over-the-machines in the Terminator franchise timeline, but once I did the plot was easy to figure out, and the ease of figuring out stuff detracted a bit from any suspense or surprise for the last 30-40 minutes of the movie. That's also where the plot gets a little thin, up to and including the act of self-sacrifice by Marcus.

This is my only complaint with the movie. It's obviously a set-up for a sequel, but they got rid of the only character I connected with, and there is little left to build a sequel on aside Connor himself, and we (I) still need to be shown he is a worthy leader and savior of mankind. Sure, we know that's his role, but it would be nice to see some evidence he is fulfilling it. Rather than the beginning of a series, this is very much a stand-alone movie, and we'll have to look to the next one (if they have a next one) to establish a rapport between the core characters (at this point only John) and the audience.

Perhaps the hook will be the story of John and how dogs become an important line of defense guarding against human-looking terminators. They'll call it Terminator Old Yeller, with Yeller sacrificing himself to keep a still floundering John alive in the hope one day John will be able to speak clearly and inspire someone, anyone, with his leadership abilities.]]> Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:23:00 +0000 I wrote this a few weeks ago, but for some reason the blog would not let me post during the last week and a half. Here it is now.

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Months after it ceased to be news, I finally watched Star Trek, and as usual decided the world needed my input on this supposedly milestone film.

Slice of SciFi was once again kind enough to publish my review:
Star Trek Musings

For those not interested in going to another link, here is the full text (but I would advise visiting Slice of SciFi for their great content):


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While everyone I meet is raving about Avatar, I only just recently caught up to the big Sci-Fi movies of last year.

I'm speaking Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, and District 9.

Mind you, I plan to go watch Avatar at the theater, maybe even at the I-Max, but for the three movies listed above I had to wait for the DVDs to be released. Now that I've seen them I can write about them, and I'll start with the one for which I had the highest expectations.

A lot of people liked the Star Trek reboot, but I was not one of them. Sure, the movie was a passable action flick, but it lacked a decent plot, and the characters – while sporting familiar names – were seriously deficient in the likability department. I get it, the universe changed because some dude traveled back in time, but apparently the main change was to turn nearly everyone into jerks, while still ensuring they all end up in the same ship, with the same Starfleet ranks, and without credible evidence of their professed abilities.

Some people I know made the argument the improbable paths to their respective slots in life were the result of the universe's attempts to realign timelines and events. That might be a good argument were it not for the millions of people who died on Vulcan alone, not to mention those meeting their demise when a large portion of Starfleet was wiped out . . . by a mining ship. Apparently none of those people were franchise players . . . just a bunch of Red Shirts as far as the Universe was concerned, their sole purpose to provide an emotional hook for the audience; an audience which obviously has no need for decent plots.

At this point I have to wonder if it's time for me to stop referring to myself as a science fiction fan, but then I remember . . . there was no evidence of science in this movie, only fiction. Well, OK . . . bad fiction. For that's my biggest beef with this thing; the original series also played fast and loose with science, but to their credit, back in those heady early days we knew a lot less than we do now. The moment I saw the Narada hang motionless halfway out of the black hole I knew the writers did not bother with even basic science, let alone looking up the "spagettification" effect near the event horizons in black holes. The Narada is a mining ship, and as such would not have any special properties allowing it to negotiate singularities. Certainly there is no indication, or explanation of how/why, it has the ability to hang half-in-half-out of a black hole.

Further, the original series utilized science fiction as a neutral vehicle for the exploration of social themes and the human condition. What did we get here? Revenge is presented as the driving motivator, but there is no exploration beyond that, no resolution, no moral to the story, and most of all, nothing is required from the audience other than to suppress any thinking process.

For if one were to think they might start wondering about the odds of Nero dumping Spock Prime (!) on a planet in the Vulcan system so he can watch the destruction of his home planet, which he got to see appearing larger than our own moon looks from Earth, through a small break in the clouds (lucky that – a few minutes either way and he would have missed it), and the Spock-not-Prime dumping Kirk on the same planet, and that being the same planet where Scotty is stationed doing transporter research. One might also wonder about a transporter powerful enough to beam two people onto the Enterprise which has been traveling for some time at warp speed.

I won't even mention the idiotic monster chase sequence on the moon or the water pipe incident once they beamed aboard the Enterprise. Wait, now that I did mention them, I should say something about them . . . oh yeah . . . WhyTF WERE THEY IN THE MOVIE!?!?

Sorry, small outburst. Where was I? . . . something about thinking, or not thinking, as it were. As in why launch three people to glide onto the drilling platform above Vulcan when later we learn all it takes is a small ship to shoot the drill to bits. And if that's all it took, why didn't Vulcan, or for that matter Earth, send out a couple of military vessels to do the same thing?

And most of all, if it was 150 years before the destruction of Romulus, why didn't Nero fly there and warn them about what would happen, thereby saving those he loved and the whole planet to boot?

And then there are the characters themselves. I suppose if one accepts the altered timeline hooey, one must accept the differences in personalities from the original characters, except . . . we have an original character, Spock Prime . . . only he's not. Spock Prime shows few of the traits of the original Spock. He seems more relaxed, apparently mellowed in his old age. Why he almost smiles a couple of times while cracking jokes. In fact, he reminded me of Mr. Miyagi in mannerism and comportment. I half expected him to pipe up with "Logic On, Logic Off" while waving his splayed fingers of the traditional Vulcan greeting.

And so, here I am. I'm wondering why this movie was so well liked. The only serious complaints I heard were about lens flares. Yes, lens flares are stupid, but as a Star Trek fan I felt insulted by what was shown to me, not the manner it was shown.

I normally add the disclaimer this article expresses my opinions, and I respect differing opinions about less-than-life-shaping entertainment. BUT . . . I am at a loss to understand why Star Trek fans liked this effort. I still respect other people's opinions, but I plead with someone, anyone, to explain to me what made this the supposed great reboot many rave about.

About the only argument which comes even close to making sense is this opens up the way for more Star Trek tales. But that just saddens me for all it points to is more plotless action, and since filmmakers feel compelled to top themselves with each franchise offering, I suppose we can expect even more absurd stories adorned with these newly introduced cardboard characters. I'll repeat my oft-stated opinion we should hold film makers to higher standards, and crappy sci-fi is not a viable substitute to no science fiction at all.]]> Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:21:00 +0000
“Whale!” The cry stirs the tourists into a horizon-scanning frenzy, and I reach for my camera as I too look for the tell-tale spout indicating a behemoth of the sea is gracing us with their presence. After a few minutes of not seeing anything, I look back at the person who shouted the warning, hoping for an indication of the direction of the sighting. . . . he’s pointing at me, and everyone is snapping pictures.


So, maybe I’ve gained a few pounds, but still, I think that’s pretty mean. Pissed off, I roll away from the crowd, huffing and puffing . . . “thar he blows!” . . . the cry fades as I dive around a corner of the building, and give my belly a chance to catch up. Anyway, as I rest from the exertion I will summarize our stay on the Big Island.


Coming from a long lineage of sea-faring folks I am drawn to the ocean as if being called home. Weird that, because I not keen on being a sea-faring folk. I’m not a big fan of boats, I’m not a strong swimmer, and I don’t particularly like the idea of swimming in water many, many creatures use as their toilet. That includes humans as I’m reasonably sure, but not certain, many habitually relieve themselves while frolicking in the surf.


That said I do like watching waves. I do like listening to waves. And I like feeling the shock from awesome surf propagate through the ground. That last may be subjective, but when those big ones angrily smash the shore I believe it feels as if the very earth shakes. So, being a wannabe photographer and writer, I take lots of wave pictures, and then I try to write about them so as to bestow even a small sense of the wonder and power associated with big surf.


Having done that, here is a small update on our Hawaii vacation.


First full day in Hawaii; travel between islands, moving into the condo, buying some essential supplies; eggs, butter, Portuguese sweet bread, and 100% Maple Syrup . . . all the supplies essential to making French Toast the way it should be made; unadorned by cinnamon and other trappings. We also went to the farmer’s market and picked up some strawberry papayas. They go well with nearly any breakfast.


With Christmas Day nearly over we went to a buffet we had booked before leaving Colorado. It was crowded, the food was so-so, and it did not feel like a proper holiday meal. Still, food was had a –plenty, and we waddled away content.


(Note: albums are named for the days, but they may span multiple days)
Day One Album


Next day we went to the place of refuge . . . no, not the dark corners of my basement, but rather a Hawai’ian sacred place now turned into a National Park. It’s called the place of refuge because any miscreant able to swim across the bay to the place would be granted asylum, and after a suitable amount of time could rejoin society cleansed of their transgressions. You can read all about it HERE.


The story sounds fishy to me as it seems to give any good swimmer essentially carte blanche to do pretty much anything they wanted. I suppose at least the people had to be fit . . . unlike these days, when all it takes is some money, and you can go through life being a complete rear orifice and get away with it.


Day Two Album


Sunday was spent heading to, and returning from, Tex Drive –In. Once again, we were in for a small disappointment, this time with regards to Tex’s world famous Malasadas. We both remember them more flavorful and lighter (fluffier). These were good, but they tasted more like Indian Fried Bread, and while not a bad thing that, it was not what we had a taste for. But no matter; we had what we came from.


Along the way to and from Tex Drive-In, we also passed a few other landmarks. I could detail all of them, but suffice it to say we drove through the High Country, to some famous lookouts, and general nice scenery. We were back at the condo in time to sit out and watch the sunset, and celebrate the end of another day with a dinner out (we usually alternate decadent condo cooking with decadent eating out).


Day Three Album


Monday was a trip to the Volcano National Park. We should have checked ahead of time . . . part of the park was closed due to excessive sulfur fumes from the new eruption (steam mostly right now). The caldera rim drive was closed, as well as sections of the caldera itself. The Chain of Craters road was open, but that is not as interesting as the sites of current activity. Plus, the lava viewing was now outside the park boundary, and was run by the county, which means it was only available between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, and involved trucking in the dark over lava fields. Yeah, not going to happen.


We opted to go on to Hilo, where we had a nice picnic by the bay, and then continue on around the island, going by Tex Drive In again, and back on down to Kona. Along the way we stopped at a couple of more parks, and did a four mile scenic drive off the main road. Overall, a nice outing, with the only bad thing being the traffic we hit when we got near Kona.


Traffic!! A far cry from our first visit here, back in the early 90’s. One other unwelcome change . . . the locals seems a lot less friendly, and on the roads they are downright rude and inconsiderate. It’s primarily the younger set, so maybe that’s just a reflection of things all over . . . the younger generations have all been infected with the A**hole virus, and the symptoms are getting worse. Anyway, we were back once again in time to view the sunset, then had some fried eggs on top of fried Spam on top of toasted 12 grain bread. After dinner we enjoy a banana split. And another day draws to a close.


Day Four Album


Tuesday was a relax day, shopping day, and swimming day. Nothing of note other than we had us our traditional Kona Mud Pie (Kona coffee ice cream pie with chocolate and whipped cream). After the sunset I made another batch of French Toast. And another day drew to a close.


Wednesday opened with my usual walk along the shore (1.5 hours) shooting waves and tidal pools. We then headed up the coast hitting a few “famous” beaches. Most were too crowded to actually spend time in, but we did find a few places where we could walk along without having to deal with crowds. We also hit a couple of the golfing resorts, but they really make inconvenient to just visit, so we did not spend much time there. We headed back to Kona and spent a nice dinner watching the sunset as we ate the fresh catch of the day.


Day Five Album


And here we are. New Year’s eve, and I’m about to go out and watch the sunset, then spend the evening packing for our flight to Maui tomorrow. I’m including links to a couple of videos I shot. Lots more that will be uploaded once we are back home, but for now these will have to do.

(remember to watch in HD)
Video One


Video Two

ejd
]]> Fri, 01 Jan 2010 04:58:00 +0000 I usually post some sappy message around the major holidays, but this year, busy with last minute preparations for our holiday escape to Hawaii, I was remiss in sending out our Christmas greetings. As we sit here at the Oahu airport and havean hour to kill I figure I can remedy the situation.

In the past I've occasionally attempted a year-end summary, explaining the generalities of our boring life, as in nothing really happened, and no personal or professional growth occurred.

And so it is this year. Of course, those who opted to receive my infrequent e-mails, or bother to read my blog, get the occasional link to a photo album, or some demented ramblings on various topics of interest (interest to me, anyway).

Oh yeah; there is one thing. Weare spending Christmas and New Year in Hawaii. Of course, I cannot yet regale you with all the wonderful details, pictures,and accounts of massive eating binges, for they have not happened yet . . . but they will, they will.

Meanwhile I extend to all my wishes for a great HolidaySeason, a fantastic New Year, and good health and prosperity for the comingyear.

Aloha and Mele Kalikimakala (or something like that).


]]> Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:38:00 +0000 As some might know, I bought a Panasonic DSC-ZS3 camera for the purpose of taking videos. Yes, I know . . . I am a photography guy, and rest assured I plan to remain so. Still, there is no denying for some instances video is the medium of choice to share an experience.

With that in mind, the following test shots were uploaded to YouTube. The music is canned music available for free in YouTube, but I thought it fit the clips nicely.

The clips are from yesterday, December 17th; they are segments of my daily commute down Ute Pass, between Woodland Park, where I work, and Manitu Springs at the bottom of the pass.

The limit on that road is 45mph, but I just let the car go in third gear. The object is not to hit the brakes or gas all the way down, I start out at about 45mph, and by the last curve (end of the first video) I'm doing about 55-60mph, but sometimes, like when holding a mini-movie camera and forgetting to go into third gear, the car will hit 65mph. You will notice a number of cars braking in front of me . . . an annoyance I put up with because the remedy to that problem would likely land me in jail.

Anyway, here are the two clips (the music ran out on the first one because I did not realize the clip was longer than the audio . . . part of learning the video ropes). The clips are best viewed in HD (the button to the left of the menu bar just under the video frame.

http://www.youtube.c...feature=channel

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=lM_RVClc7v0

Normally the drive home is in the dark this time of year. Yesterday I left earlier than usual. Boring videos, I know, but some might find it interesting, and for me it's practice.]]> Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:04:00 +0000 For us, despite the various store displays that have been up since Halloween, Thanksgiving marks the start of the holiday season. The weeks until Christmas seem to drag a little less, the drive to work is a little better as decorations spring up on houses along the way, and of course, one looks forward to the days off.

It's also the time we remember family and friends; not that they are forgotten, but we give them a little more thought, send wishes of well-being their way, and perhaps consider their contribution to our own well being, and the worth they add to our lives. Some are near, some are far, and some are just names on e-mails or forum posts. The later is especially true for me; a significant part of my social circle is comprised of people I will likely never meet, but whom I feel I know as well as many of the people I interact with in person.

For both of us an equally significant part is comprised of people with whom, in times gone by, we spent a large part of our lives with, both at work and at play. Thousands of miles now separate us, and yet they are still near in thought. Not always, maybe not even often, but enough to ensure they will not pass from memory.

I send our best wishes for a great Thanksgiving day as the first salvo of the holiday season greetings, even to them who perhaps do not celebrate it in their respective countries.

]]> Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:45:00 +0000