Colorless Green Ideas

Tree falling without a sound burned limbs tearing off no sound as they hit the ground somewhere you relax your shoulders breathe control Close your eyes Hear the gulls waves against the shore one more mile twenty to go hunting the tiger hunting you rust never sleeps blacklight beauty patterns only show up later muscle memory pictures from an exhibition each myosin every actin on fire and crossing the line they wrap you in a space age blanket that wasn't so bad, was it? now try walking down the stairs

The market devaluation of 36.2% this year was exceeded only by the drop in 1929, where the markets erased 40% of their value. As I wrote earlier, the market may bottom at 8200. What I wanted to add today, however, is that won't stop the depression. Alot of what we see in America is , as they say in Vegas "betting on the come out" line. Alot of people put their investments up front for a quick bang out of the market - they bet on an active, buying public that essentially sheds their anxieties through the act of shopping. Absurdly huge shopping centers have resulted in part to this type of market analysis. Christmas had to be commercial in order for them to keep that kind of momentum (it really has to be relatively huge momentum to maintain these types of stores). Inventory taxes are steep for themed you-will-have-fun mega-shopping plexes if they can't shed their inventory before January 1st. And they won't. The retailers have attempted a veronica, leaving...

Sometimes I feel Like I don't have a partner Sometimes I feel Like my only friend Is the city I live in The city of angels> Lonely as I am Together we cry.. I drive on her streets 'Cause she's my companion I walk through her hills 'Cause she knows who I am. She sees my good deeds And she kisses me windy I never worry Now that is a lie I don't ever want to feel Like I did that day Take me to the place I love Take me all the way It's hard to believe That there's nobody out there It's hard to believe That I'm all alone At least I have her love The city she loves me Lonely as I am Together we cry I don't ever want to feel Like I did that day Take me to the place I love Take me all that way Under the bridge downtown Is where I drew some blood Under the bridge downtown I could not get enough Under the bridge downtown Forgot about my love Under the bridge downtown I gave my life away Open up your eyes

The sun casts a golden , warm light upon the field The tips of the grass feel soft to the hand We walk slowly as the wind blows our clothes dust floating in the air like stars I remember her eyes looking directly into mine I remember her face, the way the light caught her hair I remember her voice, I remember her smile her light, magical hand in mine the field of space and time where all life began it seemed I closed my eyes and remembered the delivery room where you were born I heard from the waiting room an electronic greeting card "Linus and Lucy" / the Charlie Brown theme every detail of the delivery room the sound, the sight - burned into my mind I can see it now I open my eyes again and I see, flash forward our family the picnic in the field peanut butter - jelly - one for you and one for me It feels good to remember what the sun felt like The day the darkness began I had just pulled out of the driveway, to take you to school and I noticed...

Lyrics: "She soars above freedoms lamp" , "This eagle is sad for what we've done to her". (para)

Second Life is writing its own doom. Key to the fall of Second Life, is the company that runs it - and their administration of the game. Linden has given in-world residents the right to build, act and transact as they see fit, however, they have not given them the right to govern themselves. They cannot really manage risk in currency, nor have any voice in legal issues, or otherwise be represented in any meaningful way. Linden is dangerously disconnected from the social experiment it created. The key to this is the disconnect between Linden Lab's view of what is known as a "Linden" transaction. Essentially, a micropayment. In-world the transaction is not governed by any tax, not regulated in any way. Vendors sell to buyers, buyers purchase from Vendors or other players. The beat goes on. The basic engine of the economy is an automated vendor that is placed on virtual land. That micropayment is then backed out of the game using a currency "exchange". So...

Proudly launched on 9-11. Taken off the market years later when people found out it was , in fact, a car bomb.

Democrats are, how can I say this tactfully..? Nerds. They're into finding solutions to problems, and doing things the right way. Checking their steps. Finding repeatable solutions. They get worried about Global Warming. Wonder about civil union. And they keep asking pesky questions about foreign policy. They don't support pre-emptive self defense. And with the election of President Obama, they're taking lobbyists out of power (Obama came to the office with the least amount of money from lobbyists as a percentage of total campaign funding - in 40 years). And unfortunately for your less than honorable friends, being kind of a bunch of nerds means that if your friend is cheating you raise your hand and tell the teacher. Obama wanted Valerie Jarrett, a really good person - to take his Senate Seat, in Chicago. He phones up the Governor and informs him of his recommendation. This is the transcription of the taped conversation that the Governor of Illinois made with his fr...

The short players are covering, we will get a bounce out of this for maybe two or three days. And then it will be quiet for the end of year. Markets usually drift sideways and don't make very big moves either way at the end of the year - the Asian New Year celebrations take most of people's focus in the East, while in the West - Hannukah, and Christmas tend to replace priorities. The so called 'Santa Claus Rally' is a standard rally at the end of the year, when the volume is very, very light and the markets walk upward a bit. I am happy with my work done on 8200, as a market bottom. The call was made on my part due to a series of statistical triggers being fired - the first being a tightening band of trade volume and price momentum at around 8200, the second being a correct study of short call pressure and finally the third being that I am probably just plain lucky and figured it out before anyone else. But this rally is occuring in the dark. Thats the next dange...

What I learned in my brief stint on the markets , was that the markets themselves don't actually trade on information that we, the public, are receiving. Which is why I was happy about 8200 holding a few weeks ago - the data we're getting today has been leaked 70 times since then. And so today is the final test of my predicted market bottom. Let me explain how things are going to work, today, at 4:30. There was short interest last week - that is - people who are betting the markets will crash, loading up. A short buyer always looks innocuous at first, because the market shows activity at a certain price range but his order to actually buy doesn't go in until he sees the price go down. So there's money in the markets when the short players are there. But it will snap up the stock maybe two weeks later or so. Alot of what pushes markets up quickly are these people covering - a short investor has an unlimited downside - the stock can go through the roof and whateve...

I still have the dream that I am missing a class. It is an english class. I never went, the entire semester. And now I am going to fail the course. Or at least I am truly worried that I will fail the course. I go to meet the professor. She says." You passed." For some reason the last time I dreamt it, I caught myself just before started to say something like how I understood so much of the course material already, how I am studying these different forms of literature, etc. and instead, I turn and listen to her. And I listen so intently that the shock of it wakes me up. Maybe there are no other forces in this world except those that can be rationally explained. Maybe the assumption that those forces exist, is the first step to seeking out a rational explanation. We've all had the dream we missed class. We've all awakened with a start. What was it we were really thinking about? At night we turn things over and over in our minds - searching for something. A ...

I was leaving the focus group this morning, a cool 200.00 in hand for one hour of semi-informed discussion ... when it hit me. Suddenly I knew exactly what to do with my life. A person such as myself makes a certain set of known transitions. First, your career focusses on technical work. You hone your skills on existing systems and structures, and make them work better. Then you're called upon to design large, complicated systems that work well together - you get a piece of the larger picture and you make sure it works with everything else. And then comes the bone chilling reality of finished software product. This is the hardest, and most painful moment for a person in my field. To let the software stand on its own - no consulting, no hourly billing, no requirements, no specifications, no deadlines, no maintenance, no glitches to be resolved. It either runs, or it doesnt. They either like it, or they don't. Trust me, this is the hardest moment for a computer programmer (...

(with apologies to Aaron Yonda) Hello. I'm a Turkey. In the beginning, my life was idyllic. Whole grain breakfasts. Congenial friends. Playing in the late Autumn sun. And then they came for me. I ran as fast as I could, but I suddenly realized I had a weight problem. I could barely run at all. They chased me down easily and I could feel their cold hands on my feathers. Soon I was in a metal cage. Where were they taking me? The life I had known was quickly receding. And then.. everything went black.. When I regained consciousness I was standing in front of a man they called "Mister President". He was chuckling and shaking his shoulders together. Would this man be my salvation? The flashes of light from the strange things the people they called "reporters" - had pointed at me - hurt my eyes. Then, a ray of hope. "Mister President" was actually giving me a pardon. Oh joy of joys! My feathers shook with excitement. I could barely keep from co...

That bounce of 500 points back from 7600 shows you the bottom holds - its not linear, you play the line that runs averaged through it all. The market makers play what they want to play at the end of the day but the std. deviation looks to be about 300 points. That means a run through 7600 that comes down from 8000 and then bounces back to 8300 is pretty much the bottom of the market. Should close around 8300 today. Have a great Thanksgiving colorless green readers! Do You Believe.. In What you See?

This move below the 8200 mark is an important statistical measure of the stability of the market. Markets are variable, they have a tendency to go above and below a certain mean. For the past four weeks, the Dow at 8200 has shown resilience in hitting that mark and rebounding. With most of the day trading sideways, we've seen a real trend in the market close to chase the indices down and close negative. At 1:00 today the markets were at or near 8200 and then they crashed down almost 600 points from their mean, to end at 7,600.

gouge away (you can gouge away) stay all day if you want to Missing aggravation from sacred questions Pandora's box Opens for you 8200 makes a bottom and holy hedge funds against the law? gouge away you can gouge away stay all day if you want to sleeping on your belly you break my arms you spoon my eyes been rubbing a bad charm with holy fingers gouge away you can gouge away stay all day if you want to chained to the pillars a 3-day party i break the walls and kill us all with holy fingers gouge away you can gouge away stay all day if you want to

Dear Mr. Saxby Chambliss, I understand that now your friends are circulating really scary commercials about how Jim Martin is going to take away America's right to a secret ballot. Hmm.. Thats neat. And what else? Oh, just really scary , whiny commercials? Like you did with Max Cleland. What a guy you are. Saxby, I am not sure why you whined so loudly about your "knee injury" when America asked you to serve. You ran away from your duty to serve, and you've done a good job of running away from your chance to stand up to the most corrupt and least effective Administration in American History. Sure are alot of good people out there you want to forget that fact. You'd better run some more scary ads. Oh, but I've found an Ad for you. So here's a message for you, courtesy of Mr. T. Now Saxby, don't get me wrong. Its nice to have good sounding, good looking people like you when folks like Jim Martin, who somehow balanced budgets eight years straigh...

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

I was five I sensed even then why you wore black I fell asleep in my mothers lap I couldn't stay awake for the whole concert I wanted be near you, John I wanted to hear you It sounded like a train and even then I knew poetry was a form of honesty Something passed between us then when I was only five Later, when I was older the glittering darkness was like a light it came for me when my brother died For Johnny Cash

Wow! First ever images of a planet outside our solarsystem. This is a star with 3 planets in orbit around it, and for the first time we can see the planets! W00t!!

Saxby ran for Senate in 2002 on a series of negative ads that , as Ralph Reed mentioned helped the People of Georgia " to elect a senator who supports president Bush" - and call out how shameful Max was, for trying to add support for the middle class into homeland security legislation that the Bush/Rove machine was trying to rush into law (he was just trying to get overtime paid) - the ads painted Max Cleland as someone who was in league with the terrorists - it flashed images of Bin Laden and Cleland. And these slick ads were paid for by lobbyists of course. ... McCain, in 2002, was quoted on the record, about Saxby's tactics - by saying: "I'd never seen anything like ( Saxby's political ad ) . Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to the picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield -- it's worse than disgraceful. It's reprehensible." -- Sen. John McCain McCain will be here in Georgia tomorrow. The goal...

The market will likely bottom at 8200, we are seeing all kinds of patterns here - we visited this zone about a week ago and it bounced up and now were are back in that zone again. The bad news is that damage has been done to the economy. We have to all work twice as hard, for half the pay. Thats just the way it is. Today's an important day for me at work but I wanted to write to you just a fast note that if you want to buy in, its a long ride - you won't buy in at 2, and then suddenly see 5. But you just might see returns in six months. I resisted the temptation to buy in yesterday. Bear in mind that in 1929 the crash preceded the actual depression event, which occurred in the years following. Obama's presidency is a shot in the arm. Historically, Markets have always rallied under Democratic administrations (look it up if you don't believe me). So hope for the best, but plan for the worst. If you can buy in, go ahead.

The road stretches out before him and as he passes the trees and buildings bright antenna glisten with energy forging the half spoken voices from the sky only to disappear as he passes beneath a bridge The talk show hosts pick their music before they make their debut they listen to the reception, which is always less than perfect and decide what sounds best a clip from a rock opera the beginning of a film score whatever makes them sound like they will take your call a lost world of bass and fade Now comes the inevitable telephone number over the eerie rhythm of an electric motor or the radio call of a power transformer Phone lines are open now They don't tell you they will screen two hundred calls and take only one thats the hidden price you pay for their elegant tirade (does it have to be this way?) The screen glows to speed up, to slow down - control from those who answer the phones, make their opponent sound dumb while captains of industry and pol...

The basic idea is a powerful one, and one of simple questions. Is it our destiny to be drawn to the person we love? The director of 28 Days Later has struck upon a nerve with me. This was a perfect monday morning discovery. I am kicking ass and taking names at work - its charged up my energy to go for the gold. This is a big week for me. My wife and I will go to see this movie , this Friday. And if you happen to be unattached, or single, or out there wondering whether fate will turn your way - remember that the depiction of fate on the Ancient roman coin - She held a sheaf of grain in one hand, and the tiller of a ship in the other. The idea is simple - fate can be kind, or she can turn your ship into the sudden storm and sail you straight into the maelstrom. What we know of this film is that it is golden. I guarantee it will win Academy Awards. Guarantee it. And thats not just because my uncle is on the voting committee

I went to a shooting range this weekend. The scope was miscalibrated and the gun had shaken itself loose so I was field stripping the weapon and setting zero near a sales counter with some borrowed tools. There was a Bush Republican behind the counter, and he was telling people that "Ever since Tuesday (read: The Election of President Obama), the handguns have been flying off the shelf." I just laughed.

Who gets to be secretary of State? In the running right now are John Kerry, and Bill Richardson. Which one do you want to win? I am of course hoping for Bill but hey. Its ok. Either way.

14 November 2008

Looks like Jim Martin Did it! with 96% of the vote, he's kept Saxby Chambliss under 50 percent, bouncing back from being the 29 point underdog to within 4 points ! Votes still being tallied. 12:04 ESDT. with 97% counted., Saxby at 49.9 percent. Ga. Law Requires 50 percent, plus one vote. What a race! Lets see what the next month brings - Run off Dec. 4th.

To everyone who voted, congratulations. You were a part of something greater than yourself. Like Michael Phelps winning the Olympic Gold in the relay, you came to the wall for your country. The highest ever recorded voter turnout. Electoral map at 370-150 for McCain. Obama with 52% of the popular vote. Martin in dead heat (votes still counting) with Chambliss ( in GA-Senate). The kids are alright.

GA State law requires that the Senator be elected with 50% of the vote, plus one. Jim Martin ran a valiant race, on his own. In the summer, with only 92,000.00 campaign funding - Martin came back from 29 points down, to make the race competitive. As soon as he did that, things got interesting. The votes are still being counted, but they're early votes - advance votes, and absentees. The chance of Martin forcing Chambliss to a run-off exists. Again, remember, Chambliss only needs to win by one vote. But, having said that, he can lose by one vote as well. Very proud of GA that we've sent a message to the biggest Bush Republican in the house that if he wants to keep slandering people and rubber stamping Bush policies, he's going to be out of a job. And , in Other news.. Onion News Network reports that Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job Update: At 7:30 AM, 14 Min. Ago. Martin, 46.8, Chambliss 49.8. AJC Reporting Update : 8:33 AM ESDT - Chambliss now at 51%, vote ...

Crickets. No lines. The GOP base voters are nowhere to be found. Should be interesting tonight. My prediction: Barack Obama, 51% Popular vote, with 374 EV. Landslide victory for Obama. Ga. Senate Race, Martin forces under the 50% line and the race for the Senate takes a strong turn towards Martin, who will have up-ended a very, very Bush Republican opponent. The video the vote project was a big success. Saxby Chambliss is putting signs on every corner, there's a serious air of desperation from his side of the fence. We worked the polls for two hours, at lunchtime there were people. But by and large, not a huge turnout. Nothing like last week, where in advance voting was like playing "Meet the Obama supporter" in line. I had to leave line, in fact, because it was so long. Did you vote today? Go! You're allowed to take off work. Just do it, even if you're planning on voting for the McCain Palin ticket. Conservative talk radio show hosts will be needing you...

Being an Indpendent, my vote is being cast for Barack Obama tomorrow morning. However, my focus usually strays from political issues , on election day - to one of basic electoral fairness. I normally consider the issues early on, and usually I have made up my mind from either the first or second debate. The debates are really important to me, and I am almost always working to keep them fair. How the candidates carry themselves is important. Alot went into the decision, I'm proud of it. In addition, early on, I usually think very carefully about a candidates campaign structure - are they getting money from lobbyists? Are they essentially telling the truth? I can easily check up on any candidates finances, not so much how much they have but rather where its coming from and how they are spending it - I use the center for responsive politics, opensecrets.org . However, what I really get into on election day, is basic fairness. I am leery of touch screens, and I am a technolog...

Have you ever stopped to consider, what life would be like if we could all wield powerful, life or death magic ? Would we be talking on our cellphone.. or , would we head out at sunset to the circles of summoning... GPS coordinates as the glowing runes of a magical sword. Would we use the trappings of modern society. Would money.. be the primary vehicle of status. If our very armor could protect us, would it simply be lands end. Or would it be something else.. altogether.. Beware nightfall, reader... something wicked this way comes.

Not many campaigns can afford to buy this much airtime. Not many campaigns have ever occurred in American history where the money comes directly from the people, through the internet. Not many people can afford to sit on their couch and hope that what is being broadcast to a million people tonight, is what they need to see. I'm glad someone posted this so I could find it. I hope you enjoy it as well. I especially liked the part that Bill Richardson played at the end, because I'm actually more stoked about the prospect of Bill Richardson as Secretary of State, than anything else. Have Fun This Week/ Happy Halloween, and Don't Forget Next Week You Rock The Vote.

The way to find a market bottom is to look at three factors. One, if something called a "triple bottom" is occurring where the stock prices try to fall lower, but hit a certain baseline and rebound three times. Two, where the um.. I forget what it was called, but its like a variance - begins with an S- or something, and it starts to narrow. Basically that means that the market is going into a volatile phase again (so its hit a stable point and moving upward). And three, if you read my blog and you're clever. Enough people make money off me already. Obama's speech yesterday didn't hurt, either. The markets rallied right after it - Wall Street wants a stable, respected administration. They didn't drink the Hang-Sen coolaid yesterday. What stocks look good? My uncle day-traded AIG to a two-bagger (200 percent return). I am thinking maybe its time to look at blue chips. It takes nerve to trade in a market like this. Then again. It takes nerve to fal...

Idyllic.. the sun on my skin..and then... they came for me.

Its funny when you work on language, you can be taken to the farthest reaches of best practices - if you play your cards right. People use language to identify themselves. Spammers can be identified by a triplet of information - the originating IP address or relay of the mailserver they use to blast mail, the sender, and the recipient address. These three elements are the only key elements of the message that can truly identify the origin. Accent can identify a person, as can language quirks. For spammers, the fatal identification is that their network identifies them. No spammer ever sent a single email without being able to login, receive a unique address, and then somehow connect to an address that is publicly routed. In addition, they often go with "fire and forget" .. they attempt to send the spam to one or several MX hosts for a domain, but then never attempt a true retry as a real MTA would. You've probably been annoyed by spam, at some point. I really like...

Jim Martin is an interesting candidate for the Georgia Senate race. First, he's running a campaign without money. Let me say that again, he's actually tied for winning a seat in the Senate of the United States of America, in the 21st century, from a campaign that has almost zero cash and is running literally , almost no television advertising. Martin is supremely qualified to be the Senator from Georgia. First, he really understands the healthcare issues of Americans and in particular, the role that a normalized, sane universal healthcare system would play in stabilizing the prices charged for medical services, and vaulting the 20 million uninsured into the system. He helped create Peachcare, which is Ga.'s healthcare system for young children and others who have no coverage - and its a huge success. The GOP cutting into this system, are losing massive numbers of voters and they're turning towards Jim. He's served served as chairman of a number of committees ...

Cue to the Cigaretta whipping past a Dade county harbor. .. Alright, I have noticed a difference in McCain vs. Obama, that here in Georgia, is starting to play out for a victory for Barack (he's already up by six points in early voting). Sarah Palin was the reason that GA turned to McCain's camp. Not many people know this, but before the GOP convention GA was 42 - 44 percent in favor of McCain. After, it was 55 - 39. But as the campaign wore on, GA voters, which are really voters for reform, and change - are noticing that Obama's campaign is about his presidency, whereas McCain's campaign seems to be a Karl Rove style succession of maneuvers like his appointment of Sarah, or his grandstanding of the Financial Crisis and subsequent attempt to stall his first debate. GA fought fiercely in the civil war - the North had the means of production, factories, gear. The south had moxie. To see McCain publicly stand up for courage, conviction, and change - and yet embrac...

We Vote. Go ahead and vote early, and get it done. This election is going to be about real leadership. And if Obama gets elected Nov. 2, then good. We've done something cool for the country. The real work will begin once we've got clear leadership.

I told my friend, that if you drop a dead cat from the top of the empire state building even though it would die, its body would bounce up after it hit the ground He turned to me and said the cat probably has a better chance of living even though it is falling from a higher place, because the cat would relax as it approaches terminal velocity And then it occured to me.. magneto was mad titanium too And the crimson dynamo just couldn't cut it no more ...you were the law What goes through the mind of a cat falling so fast.. his ass lulz

Animal Mind, faded from her cortex the high school still laughing at her she wants to hide behind her teen binder, there on her desk she wants to become invisible how could they lay all of her troubles down? how could they make fun of her like this? It was his fault, after all The words once flowed but now like a gun pointed in the wrong direction she can't make herself pull the trigger she can't do it anymore No longer a Desert Eagle No more connection to the blogger He decides to lock himself down for the cold winter and wait through it all he specializes in MILFs, he makes them feel wanted sexy, romantic, desirable but this world is nothing without her and he misses her She was the kind of girl that would grab it and tap it on the head and say "Is this thing on?" Quietly I spread my dark wings over their space Yes. Its dark at high noon And somehow they know Their new england eyes seem to whisper to me when they smile Sometimes I w...

She's standing next to Big Ben the morning is cold, she draws her raincoat tight the cross hatch timbers collect beads of light He wipes his head takes a drag of a cigarette meets her for coffee but not her gaze how could you do this? wear your pretty face turn to face the audience no one makes a sound the white lights upon him now sparkling upon his brow He casts his eyes outside cream swirls like fog in his hand How are you going to manage he asks beneath his breath she sits across from him in tight lipped rage She screams at him secretly in her mind the rage and frustration of a misspent life detonates upon on the table blowing the windows into the half-light to radiate cold shafts of broken glass hanging in the air , sky fire diamonds they play out their last scene They are alone, quiet, peaceful accepting a certain grace he puts the pen down on the table its metal sheen against the white cloth and she signs in broken hand in dark blue line o...

I share the problems, that Sarah Palin shares. I am, at my worst, egotistical, self centered, narcissistic and completely unable to see myself as wrong in any way. I try to force issues, where none should be forced. I usually try to find ways to make whatever I am thinking , the right thing for everyone - or, alternately, if you are opposing me - I tend to - when I am at my worst - give you the ninth degree. If at the end of all of that, you're still lined up against me, and you happen to be right - again, at my worst - I tend to acquiesce whatever point may have been made. I also share her problem of being unable, at times, to focus on a question. For example, she was asked "What is your Achilles Heel?" and she responded by saying , in effect, that she's perfect as she is. She completely ignored the question. In her mind, she felt that she answered it, I am certain of that. Because that delusion - that inability to see the question for what it is, and to fo...

Imprisoned by Sargeras, who then came to believe that the only absolutes in the universe were chaos and depravity. Freed, to serve him - and lead an army to burn the entire universe. Beware.

Today , McCain announced that he would , for very important reasons - halt his campaign. Today, for McCain, it's over.

This is epic. Absolutely epic. Obama today announced that any bill that is coming to his office for signature, 5 days before - will be posted online, right here in the blogosphere - to invite comments. If you are a tired old bush republican, you're probably going to just ignore that but to myself, as a free-thinking independent, this is huge. The lobbyists that control the bush republicans have engineered a huge takeover of Washington, quietly in the last eight years of unbridled - unprecedented - historic abuse of power. They operate by silently slipping provisions into bills at the last minute, and passing bills in the middle of the night. They wine and dine politicians, give them cash. The GOP has been taking it hand over fist, making the markets the free, open and wonderful thing that they are. Riiight. Oh yeah and making America. "strong". But one caveat. Almost all of these so called "strategy groups" that are just another name for "lobbyist"...

I mean this in a good way. There's a relationship between sex and death. Sex is a way to increase genetic diversity when the cycle of life and death are longer than the cycle of your opposition's mutation cycle. You have to understand the common virus to get this. A virus is a simple thing. A protein sheath wrapped around a some dna. All a virus does is live to cut into your DNA and then use you, as a kind of evil host to make more of itself. Virus life cycles are short. 20 days. So they mutate. Alot. You might make a copy of yourself once every 20 years, or even once in your life. They've got an advantage. But evil plagues are continually dying off and trying to come up with something new is hard. We are betting that the virus will have to repeat itself. So, what we do, genetically with all these unexpressed sequences of code, is we leave them in our study like a trophy. In fact, its kind of like an armory.. And so we end up with library sequences that allow...

Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it And spills the upper boulder in the sun, And make gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there, I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: "Stay where you are until our backs are turned!" We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of outdoor game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it i...

Today we saw what began on September 15, 2008. The great depression of the 21st century has begun. My day was fairly normal. We have long since been out of the markets, and have foregone much of the normal insurance - working as an independent contractor, I was hoping to get my invoices collected today. But knowing that there was pressure on the client, I chose not to bring it up. My check was ready at 3:30. My wife wanted to get free frequent flyer miles for our Delta Skymiles account, so after the children had all gone to school she dawned upon me that we would meet with a financial advisor today from Ameriprise. What was fun about the meeting was that , apparently, the gentleman with whom we would be meeting - would sign a voucher for 25,000 miles. Works out to about 250.00 an hour for the meeting. Close enough to my billing rate. We spoke of plans, both personal and financial. He mentioned that this year, he hopes to get negative 13 percent. On our way home my wife - who ...

Words and Music by Richard Wright. Rest in Peace.

Today the subject and outline of the book became clear. Like a writing assignment left on your desk by a six year old. Stick figures run around on a field of happy green grass. A home with a helicopter landing pad on the top. Smoke curling from the chimney. And a writer in the attic, light burning brightly through the day and night. This book is going to be good.

Sarah Palin, the GOP vice presidential candidate, and frankly - the person overshadowing McCain himself in his own campaign - has been kept from the press by the McCain campaign. Afraid that the press will probe into questions like "Didn't you run in 2006, with the 'Bridge to Nowhere' as part of your campaign promises?", which she did. Or .." But Sarah, you only shut down the 'Bridge to Nowhere' project after congress cancelled the funds, right?" ... or maybe, how about " But Governor Palin, did you in fact actually take money from the 'Bridge to Nowhere' project" , which, of course, she did. In fact, the Wall Street Journal - who is NOT a member of the so called "liberal media" that the campaign is supposedly "protecting her " - reported today: Despite significant evidence to the contrary, the McCain campaign continues to assert that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the federal government "thanks but no...

I am by training a physicist, and by practice an engineer. I live the motto - Less Judgement - More Curiousity. :-} I have followed an experiment for a long time. The basic idea, is that when we hit a beam of particles, with another beam - and we hit them hard enough - the constituent elements of the particle break away. Since its in a magnetic field, they make these little spirals (right handed). The spirals can happen in this place called a bubble chamber, where it will leave a little glowing trail like an airplane across the sky (assume voice of sam kennison .. "spiraling to its DEATH! oh! ohhh!! .") ... So, here's the thing. We've always wanted to measure the energy of the vaccuum. 3/4's of the universe , are this kind of dark matter. In fact, interesting point: if you collect up the dark matter in the solar system, its about enough for a small asteroid or a large man. Say a big one with a long flowing beard. This sort of background energy (the higgs ...