Cowon iAudio5

I must have been on Santa's good list this year because I got the Cowon iAudio5 mp3/ogg/wma (and asf and wav) player. It's a nice little player (made in Korea, too, which is better than being made in that other country) and I got the 512 MB size which should hold about 120 songs or maybe about 15 to 50 podcasts as most podcasts I've listened to have been between 10 MB and 30 MB in size.

I've been sampling a variety of podcasts using perlpodder as my client of choice. Mostly these are Linux or conservative-related podcasts. My favorite political one is the Conservative High Ground which is hosted by a college student (Charlie van Sant) in Athens OH. He's on break until early January and his last one was done before Thanksgiving.

On the Linux and technical side, I been listening to the Linux Link Tech Show and LQ Radio podcasts. Feeds for both can be found here: www.thelinuxlink.net.

Shaman

In praising a thug who murdered four people, Reverend Jackson said "...saw himself in the end as a 'healer, not a predator'" (AP). This is so true because his victims can no longer succumb to illness. I guess the thug must have seen himself like Jack Kervorkian. Jack Kervorkian saw himself as a healer, too. Except that, those Kervorkian healed requested to be healed. In the case of the thug, the thug chose whom he thought needed to be "healed."

You Get What You Wish For

Ah yes, chaos in NYC. Some people believe unions are necessary so workers can unite and lobby for fair pay and benefits. But when unions do what they do - deliver on a promise to strike when they feel they need more pay or benefits - it becomes an outrage. Mayor Bloomberg called the union's act "'thuggishly' turning its back on the city." (NY Daily News). He's right and surely one must feel for those who have to trek to work in the cold. Where's global warming when we need it? Just like defending workers who want to unionize, global warming only surfaces around election-time.

I am not criticizing the union but rather the people who only to seem to support unions when it conveniences them. It seems that anyone who doesn't stand up for unions around election time is uncaring and insensitive and an outright mean conservative who only cares for big business. Where's that love for unions now in NYC? Remember the old adage - be careful what you wish for because you might just get it.

Link...

...that I said in my podcast that I would post is here.

After 40 years of no apparent progress, I hear no cries of "cut and run" in this War on Poverty. It's interesting how some things fail and yet they must not be altered or given up on while other things show slow progress yet they must be abandoned immediately. It's the microwave society at work. If we don't get immediate results on something that is difficult then it's called hopeless and we "cannot win;" unless, of course, it's a war declared by someone who left office in January, 1969, and whose political party affiliation will remain unmentioned.

Bumper Sticker

Seen on a bumper sticker today:

You wouldn't let someone spread garbage in your house...so why would you let the TV do it?

Oh, Christmas Tree!

We bought our family Christmas tree this year. We paid $36.57 for it. Last year, we got a nice tree, similar in size and appearance for only $25. The place we bought from last year is no more so we went somewhere else. Nonetheless, that's 46% more than we paid last year! Forget the 12% increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline! Dubya should be doing something about the obvious gouging by the Xmas tree farms!

More Gas II

Well, some news reports say that gas has reached its low point and prices will begin to rise again. This means we will now see news stories again about the price of gasoline. When the price of gas plummeted 50 cents a gallon last month, the news coverage was scant, at best, and no one seemed to benefit from the price drop. Look for reports on how Bush ordered the big oil companies to raise prices again and how Bush doesn't care about people. It's Bush's fault that some people don't have an unlimited amount of money to cover all their personal expenses. Heaven forbid that people take 15 minutes and sit down with a pencil and paper and write down their income and expenses and draw a budget accordingly.

0.003289

Well, it's official - the 1000th person executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 took place. That means if you murder someone, you have a 1/3 of one per cent chance of actually being punished for it. This number is based on an average of 16,000 murders a year times 19. This is such an injustice to the 304,000+ families who became victims; real victims too, not people who claim they are victims because they are stupid and can't read or can't hold a cup of coffee. This reluctance to punish killers is such a waste of taxpayer dollars too. We should have hit 1000 before Carter took the oath.

Dezember

Ist es fast Frühling schon? Es ist kalt, dunkel und wenn ich die Zeitung 3/4 zerstoßen von Fälle heraus annoncieren aufhebe. Es muß Dezember sein. Ironisch ist mein Lieblingstag von Dezember (außer Geburtstag meiner Tochter) der erste Tag des Winters. Nach diesem werden Tage des Winters numeriert und die Tage beginnen, länger zu erhalten. Das Schauen voran zum Winter ist schrecklich, aber, sobald ich in ihm bin, kann ich die Tage, zum Öffnung Tag zu zählen realistisch beginnen; ungefähr 119 Tage zum zu gehen...