Couldn't agree more

Read this by Thomas Friedman. I think you'll enjoy it.
James

Auto blog

I really like this blog: autobloggreen. It's full of interesting news and articles about subjects related to green technology in the auto world. If you care about green tech, or you're an engineer, definitely check it out.
James

Republican Opinion

This is a great article by Sam Brownback. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but if the evangelical right had this attitude en mass, then there would be a lot less vitriol toward them in the country right now.

James

Quotes from soldiers

From this article: Soldier's perspective

Sergeant in his 2nd tour in Iraq

I honestly thought we were making a difference in Tikrit. Then we come back to a hellhole," Marino said. "That was a playground compared to Baghdad.

Staff Sergeant on violence in Baghdad:

The American people don't fully realize what's going on, said Staff Sgt. Richard McClary, 27, a section leader from Buffalo.

"They just know back there what the higher-ups here tell them. But the higher-ups don't go anywhere, and actually they only go to the safe places, places with a little bit of gunfire," he said. "They don't ever [expletive] see what we see on the ground."

Sgt. on the war:

Next month, the U.S. soldiers will complete their tour in Iraq. Their experience in Sadiyah has left many of them deeply discouraged, by both the unabated hatred between rival sectarian fighters and the questionable will of the Iraqi government to work toward peaceful solutions.

Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice -- 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad -- Alarcon said no: "I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life."

Gay Christian

gaychristian.net
This website was started by a friend of mine from high school. I challenge everybody, especially christians, to read and think about it. I especially like how he allows a place for both sides: GLBT who believe they are called to be celibate by the bible, and those who believe they are allowed monogamous relationships. I think that civil dialogue and honest discussion combined with sincere belief in the bible are what are desperately needed in the church. You may disagree with Justin's position, but if you know him and you read the website, you cannot deny that he and his website place their faith in Jesus Christ first.

-James

Good news on the Green front

Good news on the technology front. Another hopeful wanna-be, maybe, but just imagine if it was true. An end to gas stations, revolution in energy, Exxon out of business. That would be a shift.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/09/07/electric.car.batteries.ap/index.html

It's only gonna get worse

Dow slides again

Government considers intervention

Economic Downturn

If any of you follow the stock market, you know of the recent weeks' trouble over the looming global credit crunch and the collapse of the housing market in the U.S.. However, stocks are back up this week, and investors are beginning to call the crunch a simple bump in the economic road. Easy Parcheesi right?

Wrong. The current credit crisis is much larger than most people believe, and things arent getting better, they are about to get a whole lot worse.

Economic Woes

In history large years-long credit booms like the one we've seen in previous years have often been followed by significant market corrections (see: recession). While it is too soon to tell if the current boom will lead to a U.S. or heaven-forbid, worldwide economic recession, there will be significant financial bumps ahead. Lender's continue to have major financial problems, and jobs are starting to be cut in the industry. The credit crunch is particularly significant in the United States because so much of our economy is driven by consumption and construction, both of which could be harshly affected by the shrinking housing market. U.S. citizens still spend a significantly larger amount that they earn, and the collapse of free equity will have major impacts on consumption.

The big question is how much consumption will be affected, and how long the credit crunch will last. If not just homeowners but companies and corporations continue to have difficulty accessing capital to grow, this combined with a lack of consumption could lead to a major economic contraction.

Auto Sales

Job Woes

Additionally, dismal construction performance in the summer months prior to this will lead to major problems this winter, typically slower months for the industry.

Right now, honestly, I think we're in for a lot more "bumps" in the economic road, and unfortunately, the lower and lower-middle class will be the hardest hit.

Learning Relativity

I have borrowed my friend Jonathan's textbook on general relativity. Jonathan just finished his master's in Physics, and I am anxious to understand this most critical of physical theories. I got started in this because I've been reading "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin, which describes some of the conflicts between particle and cosmological physics, and their current unresolved state.

Now I know this definitely makes me a nerd, but I am already loving it. It's really so elegantly simple when you understand two basic facts: the principle of relativity, which basically says that there is no way to determine absolute velocity through observation, and the fact that observed speed of light never changes, no matter what speed you're traveling. This is the hardest part of relatively, I think, since it's definitely counterintuitive. I mean, we all know that if we ride a train, cars look like their moving only a little faster than us: like ten to 15 miles an hour. But if we're stopped, we observe them moving at the same speed as the speedometer, i.e. 50 miles/hour. But with light, it does work that way. If we travel in the same direction as a light wave, we still observe it moving at 186,000 miles/second, even if we're going 100,000 miles/second. That's flipping weird, but its been experimentally confirmed more completely than almost any other prediction in science.

Once you know those two things, you don't even need calculus, just a graph, some algebra, and maybe a Einstein or two of brainpower (at least to discover the connection between the two principles). Once you know the connection exists, any math or physics major could probably special relativity given some time and creativity (maybe I'm being generous here, but still, it's so elemental).

Maybe there's a physics major or two out there who appreciate this. If there's not, go ahead and laugh. But now that I have officially established myself as a nerd of the first class, I'm off to the text book. Yippee!

Food, Food, and more Food

I went to the coolest grocery store today. It was Whole Foods, but not just any whole foods, a gigante SUPER whole foods. It was freakin' awesome. I don't know about you, but I love good food. I actually do most of the cooking at my house, and I am a sucker for fine wine, cheese, freshly made pasta, and fruits and veggies of all shapes and colors. This Whole Foods had a gourmet cheese aisle that makes other gourmet cheese aisles look like an especially low class Kwik-E-Mart. It had the entire cheese block available to buy; the block that actually sits and ferments at the cheese warehouse. Not only that, they had every kind you could think of including a 100-pound Parmesan Reggiano block from Italy ( I don't even wanna know how much that cost). They even had fresh mint, a bunch for about 1.99!

Anyway, I dont think I ever want to go anywhere else to buy food again. I made my wife a nice vegetable pasta of sundried tomato and basil sauce with squash, zucchini, mushrooms and green peppers with some olive oil and freshly pressed garlic. Yum!

Soldier's Report

Soldiers Report on Iraq.
The War as We Saw It

This is one of the best articles I have read in a while: coherent, well-thought out, and very well informed. This really captures the war for me:

"Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence...In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are — an army of occupation — and force our withdrawal."

And this as well:

"This suggestion [partial withdrawal] is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities."

wow

This is from 1994. What happened? Did Cheney think the quagmire was going to be scourgified away by a wave of Bush's wand?

Cheney in 1994

If we had known.

If we had known this is what would happen to Baghdad, would you have still authorized the war, Mr. President ?

Inferno

Yet he did know. This was not only suspected, but predicted, by the CIA, by many thinking persons who grasped the complexities of invading a country unprovoked, a country only held together by the strength of a dictator for 50 years. Woe the arrogance of men and their guns! Woe upon those who use power to enforce their will! Woe to all humankind for violence begetting violence, for those believers who forget the words of our master. "All who live by the sword die by the sword."

To the Zoo

So I went to Zoo today with my wife, and had a fun afternoon. I always have mixed feelings at Zoos; I know that some animals don't like to be caged. I also know that many others may only be too happy to be caged and fed and coddled, and I enjoy looking at all of them. However, you do get some great photo ops there, without the thousands of dollars you would normally spend to get photos half as good halfway across the world. Here's a couple of mine. Oh and by the way, that's a hippo, not an alligator.

Evangelical Bias

Apparently a recent survey was done among professors at Universities, and it is detailed in this. I find this unsurprising for two reasons: 1) many christian beliefs are held in low esteem in academia and 2) many evangelical christians have an untenable anti-intellectual bias.
Oh well. Maybe this will finally shed some light on the issue.
-James

Spiderman 3

Went to see Spiderman 3 on Saturday night, and I have to say, I definitely thought it was well worth the wait. Many of the critics didnt give it sky-high reviews, but I thought it was almost as good as the second one. In some ways, it was better. It had a more gritty, real-life feel to it (if possible for a superhero movie), and i thought the actors' performances in it were just awesome, definitely the best of the three movies. It succeeded in feeling completely different from both the movies before it, while at the same time carrying much of the history.

I do think that the critics were right, that it was too long. The were times in the middle of the movie where it felt a little plodding, a couple more scenes that could have been cut. I heard that Sam Raimi was really scrambling to get it cut on time, and so i think he coulda used another week or two to get it just perfect. As it is, I'd give it 3.5 stars.

Don't know if they'll make another one, but these movies definitely rank as the best superhero movies of all time, and one of the best trilogies, up there with Star Wars (the old ones) and LOTR.

Oh, and by the way, if you haven't experienced a blockbuster movie in an IMAX, you havent experienced it at all. period.

-James

Why Tea is Better

(Warning: The following is totally off the cuff, no offense is intended)

Everybody in the world, it seems, drinks coffee. Even my wife. I used to drink it, but now sparingly. I used to think coffee was great, that it was cool, that it somehow tasted good.

Then, a few years ago, i had a formal introduction to hot tea. And now, here's my definitive list of why tea beats coffee in every category.

1. Variety: tea can come in an infinite number of flavors, each as unique as the next. There are herbal teas, green teas, red teas, black teas, white teas, fruit teas, etc. No matter who you are, there's a flavor for you

2. Flavor: Simply put, tea tastes good. And it leaves no nasty aftertaste. No bad breath.

3. Teeth stain: Some teas can stain your teeth. But not like coffee. So nasty

4. Caffeine: Most tea has 1/4 to 1/3 the caffeine of coffee. I am sorry, but if you rely on coffee to get you through your day, you're not getting enough sleep and playing hell with your body. You need to take time to relax and rethink life. It's true, tea drinkers are happier people; they've got their priorities straight. And if you need to write that occasional all night paper, drink a soda. Your breath will be better at 4 am (marginally) , and soda tastes better anyway.

5. Health: Many teas, especially, green, white, and red, have powerful anti-oxidants and many other vitamins & minerals that can prevent cancer and promote a long, healthy life. Coffee, well, it's not really that bad for you, but not that great either. Some types of brews have been linked to prostate cancer. Besides, that goes back to number 4.

In short, coffee sucks
tea rocks.

My recommendations

Madagascar Red Vanilla: This Celestial Seasoning brand is made from an african seed and is the best tea of all, in my opinion.

White with honeysuckle or pear: many different brands make white tea, but pick one with one of these light sweetening flavors. It's great in the morning.

Mango Black: a great tropical classic, for those summer days and evenings.

- James

Early look at Candidates

It's that time again.

A year and half before we actually go out and vote, the presidential candidates are well on their way to ensuring that fatigue will overwhelm whoever wins the presidential race. Our country will be able to sleep at night knowing a tired, stressed out, overworked, and overburdened man or woman will be making incredibly important decisions in January 2009.

Oh well. I may as well participate.

So here, for your viewing pleasure, is my early take on who are the best candidates put up so far by each major party.

Democrats:

Barack Obama:

Pros: Exciting as any candidate we've seen since JFK (at least, from listening to his speeches. I wasn't around then, so I can't really know). His rhetoric just blows everyone else out of the water, and the Democrats seem to for once have a fielded a candidate who takes traditional social morality seriously.

Cons: Experience. Definitely a newcomer on the national scene, and has only been a senator. The country may be nervous at this point to give the job to somebody who may be seen as inexperienced. However, the country is deathly tired of lies and shallow idealism. Abe Lincoln had almost the exact same amount of experience as Obama though, and he did alright. He also was a tremendous orator. We'll just have to see.

Hillary Clinton:

Pros: Crafty and clever. I don't mean this in a political sense like her husband. I don't think she's as good as her husband at wriggling out of the jaws of death in a media spectacle. However, by all accounts she has been very effective in the Senate at working with both sides and getting legislation passed. She seems to understand how power works, she grasps nuance, and generally is willing to compromise. I would really like somebody with these skills as our next president. Plus she's got more balls than all the rest of the senate combined.

Cons: Well, half the country thinks of her as the devil. That could be an obstacle. If she can overcome that political challenge, or at least win another 5% over to her side, she'll win.


Republicans:

John McCain:

Pros: Depsite the fact that he trails Giuliani in the polls, he has a lot more substance. He's been in politics for a long time, and he also strikes me as similar to Hillary: well versed in power and nuance. He's also a little more principled, I think, when he takes a stand for something. He's definitely proved that by sticking to the troop surge. A lesser politician would never, ever have done that.

Cons: As much as I admire his principles, well, we've all seen the danger when somebody is completely unwilling to compromise. I think McCain is light years away from His Excellency, but well, I just think McCain is plain wrong on the whole Iraq thing and that's hugely important for the next 5-10 years.

Honestly, there isnt really anyone else inspiring on the republican side, except the guy who hasn't officially announced:

Fred Thompson:

Pros: I like actors running for president. Not because they're smarter and better, but because i can think of no better training for navigating the halls of power and convincing others to get on board. Being a politician is really made of of two primary jobs: recognizing realities beyond your direct control, and creating reality in areas within your control. In politics convincing others to work with you creates new boundaries and structures that define daily life for billions of people, especially for an American president. Actors seems particularly able to do that

Cons: He's old, not running yet, and perhaps a little conservative. Not much else will be known about him until and if he enters the race.


People I really dont want president:
Giuliani, Edwards, and several of the other republicans. In my opinion, however, only Giuliani and the four above have any realistic shot of making it

My pics:
As of May:

Who will win: Obama

Who I want to win: very slight edge to Hillary

- James

Gun Control & the Media

I wanted to post some of my thoughts on gun control in light of the media reaction to the massacre at VT. In this first post, I'd to talk more about how the media reacted to the VT attack.

First, I want to say that overall, I thought that the media has done a good job covering the attack. They responded early, and they seemed to handle the interviews with victim's families and the injured in a responsible way. They also seemed careful in how they reported the initial facts, at least as much as can be expected in a tense and changing situation.

I strongly disagree, however, with the overwhelmingly rapid introduction of the gun-control debate into the situation. Within 10-12 hours, before any politician, victim, or advocacy group had sought to blame the situation on gun-control, the media began asking, was it because of a lack of gun-control? Right after the convocation ended I remember seeing anchors bring up that issue, again when not one victim, victim's family, or advocacy group had made a commentary. Nowhere in this initial reporting did i hear it stated "Victims are questioning gun-control laws," or "X organization issued a statement on gun-control."

I want to make a distinction here. I don't think it was wrong for the media to report where the subject received the gun, or that it was surprisingly easy; or to question, once they learned about his mental history, how he was able to obtain the gun and whether there was some violation of law. This is very different from a lot of what I saw, specifically the introduction by the media of the national gun-control debate into the middle of a tragic situation.

In the coming weeks experts and politicians will need to be discussing whether there should be changes in gun-control laws on a national or state level. But the media seemed to force the issue into the public debate before anyone else had said anything about it. That question was a media-driven question, and this to me seemed irresponsible. Imagine what the response would be if some leading presidential candidate had held a national press conference and blamed the tragedy on a lack of gun-control within 12 hours of the shooting. Would he or she still have any chance at all of being a contender? The media spurred this issue into the forefront, irresponsibly. Editorials should be left out of first-response reporting.

-James

Imagine

I was watching TV today, still overcome by the tragedy at Virginia Tech, when I noticed that there had been bombings in Iraq today. Almost 200 people were killed today there. Iraq is a nation of 26 million people. As a percentage of the population, if that were to happen in the United States, it would be equivalent (population wise), to 2,315 people dying.

Since the beginning of this year, a minimum 6213 people (non-U.S.) have died in Iraq. Two million people have fled the country for other lands since the start of the war. Imagine if 71,500 (the equivalent) people had died in the United States this year and 22 million people had sought refuge in Canada or Mexico. Heck, imagine if 6213 people in the U.S. had died because of madmen like the one at VT, shooting and blowing up random people.

What happened at Virginia Tech was horrible, gruesome beyond description. I have friends who work there, and it is truly an unspeakable tragedy. We are right to consider and to justly look for answers, for healing, for prevention of such madness in our society.

Yet the question must be asked: How do you help a society where hundreds and hundreds of people are willing to over and over again blow themselves up to kill innocents??? Why do we expect that adding more guns will stop those who have no thought for their own death and the death of others?

How can we expect to end that kind of insanity with force?

I know of only one person who can end that kind of hate.

He was hung on a cross.

He didn't carry a gun.

-James