Twenty-six?

I'm now closer to 30 than 20... wtf?!



Oh well, that means a party! Yay! Or at least beer... yay!

First day of summer... sigh

Today (20 June) is the official first day of summer -- the longest day of the year. Well, the day with the most daylight hours, at least. Today (and tomorrow) the sun rose at 5:30 and won't set until 8:35, giving those of us at 40.58° Latitude 15 hours and 5 minutes of official daylight (16:12 if you count twilight).

I love the long days and short nights that summer brings. For those of us who work from early til (relatively) late, it's sooo nice to have a few hours of sunlight after you finally get home from work. It just makes everything seem so much better. Not going to work in the dark is nice, too.

But since today is the solstice - the "point at which the sun seems to stand still," [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sōlstitium : sōl, sun; see sāwel- in Indo-European roots + -stitium, a stoppage; see stā- in Indo-European roots.] - it also means that ever day for the next six months will be shorter than the last, and frankly, I find that really depressing. I spend all winter and spring wishing that the sun was up for longer, and when it finally gets here, it slips away so fast.

Sigh... Happy summer.

Get Firefox 3 Today!

Four short years after Firefox 1.0 started to "reclaim the web," Firefox 3.0 has arrived! So help set a Guinness World Record (for most software downloads in a 24-hour period) and get Firefox 3 today here. (Or, the direct download link here.)

I've been using the release candidates for over a month now, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it for anyone to use.

Do it! All the cool kids are! ;)

Whoops, didn't see that coming!

I'm not real big on over-regulation and bureaucracy, especially when said regulation is rooted in pragmatism and short-term appeasement of some advocacy group's gripe. That's why I was pleased when I came across this interesting and well written column from the Freakonomics blog back in January examining the unintended negative consequences of several well intentioned laws.

Here are a couple of gems:

"...when the A.D.A. was enacted in 1992, it led to a sharp drop in the employment of disabled workers."

and

"...economists make the argument for 'the distinct possibility that the Endangered Species Act is actually endangering, rather than protecting, species.'"

I recommend you read the column. It's pretty short and doesn't really assign any blame, it just explores a little bit.

My Theory Proven: Liberals DO Whine More!

From a recent column at the National Review Online...

A wide body of research shows that modern liberals are much more likely to complain about things in their lives. Conservatives are more content with their lives. When asked “How satisfied are you with life these days? Sixty-six percent of conservatives said “very satisfied” compared with only 46 percent of liberals. Conservatives are more likely to say they love their jobs (53 percent vs. 41 percent) and even enjoy their hobbies more (63 percent vs. 51 percent). When asked by the Social Capital Survey whether they were satisfied with their income, liberals were more than three times as likely to say “not at all satisfied” — even when they earned the same as conservatives.

When it comes to something like housework, Democrats are much more likely to complain that the division of work in their home “is unfair to me” than Republicans. In fact, they are five times as likely to whine about it. Another study in The Journal of Applied Psychology found that feminist women do less housework than traditional women — but complain more about it.

Hahaha... the truth comes out!


(Thought I needed something a little less, charged than yesturday's post.)

The Audacity of the Democrats - American Thinker

The Democratic Party has devolved into a club for the illegitimately aggrieved, the self-absorbed, the self-hating and the perpetually pissed-off. It is a sanctuary where solipsistic malcontents and their disjointed causes find refuge and support. It has long ceased being an earnest gathering of broad minds where man's timeless problems are examined against the backdrop of the Constitution and solutions to them proposed based on the actual realities of the human condition. It is now the political province of the intellectually deceased...

So what does all of that have to do with the propulsion of Barack Obama to within a whisker of the Presidency? Everything.

Read this good, long, column in last Saturday's American Thinker where Rocco DiPippo details how it is even possible that such an unqualified leftist could be thrust to the top of the democrat party and the long chain of events leading up to this election season.

In a very large nutshell, here is now Mr DiPippo summarizes the "mechanics of the crude, hate-based initiative the Democratic Party and its media wing have forced on America since 2001:"

1) Invent, inflate, and over-report bad war news. Tie all bad news to Bush and/or Republicans. At the same time, ignore or downplay good news as it relates to Bush, the Republicans or the war(s).

2) Create the illusion of widespread, honest dissent to Bush policies by giving plenty of airtime to leftwing groups and individuals historically antagonistic toward the projection of US, and only US, power. Fail to report the true agendas of those groups -- when covering antiwar, anti-Bush protests and events, make sure to meticulously portray antiwar marches as spontaneous gatherings of mainstream, mom and pop Americans.

3) Downplay, ignore and disparage American success wherever you find it.

4) Exalt in, sympathize with and mythologize America's enemies, vilify and deconstruct its protectors.

5) Downplay America's generosity and righteousness. Recast a mission that includes saving a nation from a murdering brute and his rapist, sociopath sons as a brutal occupation in the pursuit of American Empire.

6) Fill the Nation's airwaves, from sea to shining sea, with questionable and sometimes outright false tales of Bush-related misery, butchery, fraud and waste.

7) Foment as much national anxiety and hatred of the Republican leader as money and can buy. George Soros and other moneyed leftists will fund you. Give airtime and print coverage to leftist radicals and Democrats who call Bush a war criminal. Present those radicals and their crazy plans to try President Bush and Vice President Cheney for "war crimes" as worthy of consideration.

8) Provide coverage to leftwing intellectuals and scientists making anti-Bush statements. Present them as legitimate, non-partisan experts in their fields. Publicize their specious, politicized findings, present those findings as non-partisan, accurate and objective.

9) Present major news coverage of every antiwar protest you can find, whether it draws 100 people or 10,000 people, ignore all pro-US, pro-Iraq War, pro-troop rallies completely or portray their attendees as violence-prone, fringe-lunatic jingoists.

10) Blame a hurricane's aftermath on Bush. Give news coverage to racists and Democrat crackpots who say Bush and Cheney actually caused the hurricane and blew up levees to kill African Americans. Keep that Bush-hate buzz alive at all costs.

11) Give airtime and print coverage to groups and individuals accusing George W. Bush of having engineered and directed the 911 attacks. Remember, it is not the credibility of accusations that count in shaping public opinion now, but the seriousness and sheer volume of accusations that do.

12) To sow further strife, anxiety and confusion, continue stoking the fires of racial tension and class warfare.

13) Once the onslaught of lies, moral relativisms and crazy notions have created a self-sustaining, luciferous, widespread unhappiness and confusion, dangle a fat bait of silence and tranquility -- of Hope, Change and Progress -- crowning your deceptive achievement by hooking the same fish you made hungry.

And this, my friends, is how the Leftists and the dominant liberal media believe that they will get their messiah, Barack Obama, into the White House -- with a shimmery glint of their brand of socialist, defeatist "hope."

Relative Risks of Alternative Actions

more graph humor and song chart memes

Geohashing - 2008-06-07, Denver graticule

Tomorrow's Geohashing location falls in a pretty convenient place for those of us in the Fort Collins / Loveland area -- just across the street from the Larimer County recycling center and landfill! (Click on the title link to see exactly where it is.)

I'm not sure which is lamer: not going there at 4:00 Saturday afternoon because I might still be downtown for my dance gig; or not hanging out downtown at 4:00 Saturday because I wanna go see if anyone else will be at the Geohashing meetup place.

Hmm... what a dilemma! If I do go, I'll take a picture.

Move info on the Denver graticule here.

Economics, Beer, and a New Sexual Identity

Just a short roundup of what I thought was cool today on the Internets:

**Battle of the Sexes: Dr Lott examines why our government has gotten so big.

"What changed [regarding expansion of the federal gov't] before Roosevelt [and the 'new deal'] came to power that explains the growth of government? The answer is women's suffrage."

**NY Times names my favorite beer, their favorite beer!

"Still, our No. 1 bitter was an American brew, the beautifully mellow Sawtooth Ale from Left Hand, which I felt was a dead ringer for a British bitter right down to the gentle carbonation."

**The Daily Mail knows what women want: a "Retrosexual" man.

"Gone is the metrosexual man, now women have been demanding the return of the real men, like Indiana Jones."

Enjoy!