Microsoft Buys Cake

Microsoft should thank the developers of Firefox. Or at least the users of IE should thank Firefox. It was about time that Microsoft came up with IE 7. I am quite happy with it, but I've only used it in Beta. Since I'm on dialup right now, I haven't taken the time to download all 24MB. But you can bet I grabbed the 5MB download for Firefox 2.0!!

California out of the Fall Classic

Ok, I concede. All three of the California teams will not be playing in the World Series. Now I have a hard time to decide which team to cheer for. Will it be the Tigers or whoever wins in the National League? I don't know. I've always defaulted to the National League because I don't like the designated hitter rule. But I don't really like either the Mets or the Cardinals. So I might just go with the Tigers... we'll see who wins the NLCS first.
Which team do YOU want to LOSE? Let me know... so I can cheer for them! (Then they'll lose)

Rant - I'm in the Minority

Tonight I would like to be watching the Dodger game -- it's at Dodger Stadium and it's a playoff game. But I'm in the minority - more people want to watch football. Two channels running college football, but none showing the NLDS.

If I had a faster internet connection I could be watching it on my computer -- but thanks to where I'm at, I can't.

And the internet at Starbucks blocks it.

At least I can hear it on the internet. And listening to Vin Scully on KFWB, while not a replacement for seeing the game, is the next best thing.

Unfortunately the Dodgers are down 3-0 already in the 1st inning.

We'll see if this is the last game for the Dodgers this year. If not, I can wait until March and Vero Beach.

More on Digital Natives

I know that we've joked about digital natives and digital immigrants. (If you wondering which one are you, click here.) Now, however, the digital natives are invading the workplace. And, no, I'm not talking about myself. True, I've grown up in the age of an IBM PC or PC Clone: the IBM PC is older than I am. But I'm clearly not the only one. The recent 21-year-old college graduates (Class of 2006) were:

born in 1985 -- 10 years after the first consumer computers went on sale and the same year that the breakthrough "third generation" video game, Nintendo's "Super Mario Brothers," first went to market.
-Pew Research Center

And that makes ME feel old. Sure, I'm only four years older, but if we think in terms of technology, four years ago there were only the very first iPods (patented in 2002) hitting the market.

I'm not trying to make anyone feel old - just realize that the world has changed significantly.

'This is only technology for people who weren't raised with it.' Whoa. The point that came home to rest for me is that for LaShonda, IM'ing and texting are like breathing. Fish don't know they're in water. LaShonda didn't consider her gadgets technology."
-IBID

Elections - Comparing 1994 & 2006

I wrote this just before the 1998 Congressional Election. Now that we are facing the 2006 Congressional Election, I find it interesting to look back 8 years ago and see the paralels to the modern day. Are we facing another realignment (the last one taking place in 1994)? I stated, and I still stand-by that premise, that a realignment cannot me observed over two elections. The Republican grip on Congress has been slipping, especially with the War in Iraq. Looking back, the election of 1994 was a realignment -- Bush was elected in 2000 and the Republicans have had control of the House and Senate ever since getting it in 1994. But also looking back we see that my conclusion still holds:

"One other major factor is for the Democrats [to] show how they could run America better. Even if the Republicans are not running America well, if the Democrats do not show how they can run it better most people would stay with the current Congress...Whoever wants to win this election should show how they can make America better."

We will see next month.

---

AP Government and Politics
4^th Period
Mr. Behrend
10/26/98
Village Christian

Elections Essay

The 1994 election alone cannot indicate the beginning of a critical electoral realignment. Because of the many factors involved (campaign money, low voter turnout, etc.), a single election or even two elections cannot accurately predict a realignment. For a realignment to take place, the citizens have to switch their allegiance to the Republicans.

The Republicans, after winning in the 1994 and 1996 elections, have had four years to direct the Congressional proceedings. The critical election will be on November 3 this year. This election will give a clearer picture if there is a realignment. If the people believe that Republican control of Congress has been good for the country, then the Republicans should stay and continue to be in power. If the people believe that the Republicans have not accomplished enough, then the Republicans might loose some seats, if not the control of Capitol Hill.

For the Republicans to maintain control of Congress, they need to show what they have done that a Democrat Congress would not have done. They need to show that a Republican controlled Congress is good for America. Otherwise, there is no reason why not to switch back to the Democrats controlling Congress.

One other major factor is for the Democrats not show how they could run America better. Even if the Republicans are not running America well, if the Democrats do not show how they can run it better most people would stay with the current Congress. Whoever wants to win this election should show how they can make America better. If they do not and their opponent does then most likely their opponet will win.

October Greetings

Greetings again, all!
The march of time has not changed though there have been some days recently when I’ve thought I’ve entered a time warp. It feels as though the calendar has flown until this point where I can get another chance to catch my breath. In the interim, I have received several requests for my opinion on topics; some of those topics have now been superseded (I think the phrase is that “the issue has been overcome by events” – but I don’t know). I will attempt to address all, additionally adding some of my own design.

October
First and foremost, though, is to welcome all to the month of October. October: hay rides and apple cider, crisp mornings and Indian summers, golden forests and bonfires. And did I mention: Pumpkin pies, apple cobbler, Supreme Court, and the World Series? OK. I don’t know how the Supreme Court gets to take their summer break from June until October (they started in session today – hence they made the list) but the baseball games are called, after all, the October Classic. The Dodgers get to play again in October (the post-season timeframe) for the first time since 2004 (interesting that it’s the OTHER year in which I was deployed overseas). Hopefully they won’t get out first round, but we’ll see. At this point I could try to brag and say how 60% of California’s teams made the playoffs, but then someone would just point out how New York got 100% of theirs. Anyway, we could very easily end up with just California and New York teams in the end.

Tribunals
I don’t know about the legal aspects – I’m not a lawyer – but what I do know is that we can’t indefinitely hold detainees and still maintain the moral high ground. If we expect to win the war on terror, we have to win the “hearts and minds” of the people who would otherwise support the terrorists. So however we are able to have fair judicial treatment for those we are holding, imprisoning/punishing those who deserve it, freeing those who do not. Congress and the President seem to have reached an agreement. I wait, just as everyone else, to see how this will be received.

The Pope is Jewish
This one I really don’t understand. Iran’s leader has said that the comments that the Pope made that incited lots of {unwarranted ??} violence (reference the Cartoons for more on absurd Muslim violence) were caused by the US-Israeli conspiracy. While I might buy off on the US and the Vatican conspiring… no I don’t even accept that. It makes no sense. The US, let alone Israel, does not control the Papacy.

My Space Rage
Lest anyone think I’m picking a fight with Muslims for over-reacting, let me give another incident of raising ire that raises eyebrows: a 22-year old woman hired an (unbeknownst to her) undercover police officer to kill another woman because she appeared on her boyfriend’s myspace. Pray tell, do I need to remove any photos from my page to save a life?? Come on people!!! It’s nothing real. It’s just a bunch of ones and zeros. It won’t give you life, it won’t give you health, you can’t touch it. There are real things to worry about – not who appears on whose page.

War of Civilizations
I don’t know if there is a peaceful solution to the impending crisis, unlike what Kissinger thinks. Sure, he has much more experience in policy and statecraft, but historically when two civilizations opposed to the values, actions, and beliefs of the other, war is the only inevitability. I’m not saying that we are on the brink of world war, but unless a cultural war can be won, a fighting war will be fought.