Sad Day... The Beach House Is Gone

Well, it looks as if it is gone! This is truly a sad day. I practically grew up in that house and was watching my son do the same. All my friends and family that have visited over the years... all the new friends and a lot of the new family met for the first time.... college parties... spring break... best seafood ever... Mama Theresa's... sitting in the swing with the cool ocean breeze with my coffee (or Bloody Mary)...

Too early to know if/how we will rebuild.

The best look we have had so far. See the larger image at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/txterrill/HurricaneIke#5246244312841290450

See the Coast Guard video at:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/17471901/

Ike Update

Night has fallen and after a hard day of traveling and working it is finally time to rest. We got a lot of work done here in Deer Park but there is still so much more to do. Then we need to go to Nonnie's and all the others.

You can view the photo's I took today at http://picasaweb.google.com/txterrill/HurricaneIke#

Although Mom has power (thank goodness) Trish and Uncle George does not so we are moving the generator back and fort in an effort to save the freezer and fridge.

One thing the news is not really sharing with those not in the area is the incredible amount of helpful folks just going around and doing things, anything. Not for money, not for attention, but just because they feel they need to do something. Amazing! Scratch that, it's not amazing. It's Texas!

In Houston

Damage and water everywhere

Aggies have power.

In Calvert. First place I see damage.

Mom has power!!!

On my way to Deer Park.

The Beach House

Not looking good. Thanks to Bryan for tracking down these photos. It is hard to tell, but I think this first one is a view of the Big Store which is about 2 miles from The Beach House.

Some other photos.

Help is on the way

Thanks to the generosity of friends I am headed down with supplies, generator, chain saw, and of course, beer. Let the clean up begin!

Thanks especially to Angie and Chad for use of their Generator and Bryan and Lisa for their gas cans and "body" cooler to hold a butt load of ice.

The real question is did the Beach House survive. Early reports don't look good.

I will report what I can from Deer Park.

Storm has Passed

Mostly. Still very windy but no rain. All are fine and Nonnie didn't even loose power!

From Mom...
Eye just pasd no pwr fence dwn all ok bt hot

Time is wrong

Just noticed for the first time that my post times are Pacific not Central. Wonder if I can change that?

IKE update

Worst is moving on shore now although the eye is still about 2 hours away. Sustained winds at 110 mph (111 is a Cat 3). Morgan's Point wind gauge is off line, but last check it was gusting up to 65 MPH.

Text Mom about 20 mins ago but have not heard back. Cell may be out. When I hear from her I will update.

IKE Update

Mom just lost cable. Power still on.

Update

Rain bands are moving into Deer Park. Can't even get to the NOAA web site to see what the storm surge is.

Mom still has power.

I 'm freaking a bit. I should have stayed.

Mom still has power

From Mom...

Neighbors across st decided to leave. Afraid of trees around house. :-O

Text from Mom....

Wind picking up now but still no rain

Update Ike

Just spoke to Mom. All OK and still not much wind and rain.

IKE Update 15:20

Storm surge on Bolivar is above 8 ft. Winds at 39 mph gust to 51.

Morgan Point (on the Channel near Deer Park) is at 6 ft. Winds at 20 mph gust to 31.

 

Mom says not much wind and barely sprinkling so far.

Some good sites to watch

Near real time wind speeds

http://co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/hgports/hgAllMET.html

 

 

 

Storm surge updates.

http://www.weatherforyou.com/cgi-bin/hw3/hw3.cgi?forecast=stormreports&use_state=tx&nc=forecast,pands,country&dpp=0

Update

Current wind speed in Deer Park is 25 mph gust to 36 mph. TS winds on Bolivar.

Update

Just talked to Nonnie and she is holding pat. I made her promise that if she loses power for more than 12 hours that she gets out. Of course that is if the roads will allow.

 

Just tried to call Mom, but the network was busy. She sent a text message and all is OK but she feels like she is in a cave because the house is all boarded up. Still sunny and little wind. For now…

 

Laura is also staying in San Jacinto county. I’m a bit worried about that because she did not board and she is in the middle of the piney woods. But she has lots of neighbors staying so she should be OK.

 

New forecast is that Ike will not make it to a Cat 3, so that makes me feel MUCH MUCH better.

Evacuated

Well, I thought I was going to be stuck down in Deer Park even though I had a seat out on the 09:20 flight this morning. Yesterday, when I couldn’t get out on stand-by, I had to take a taxi just to get someplace Mom could pick me up. Traffic was at a standstill all over Houston and especially on all roads leading away from the coast.

 

I was pleasantly surprised that there was nil traffic this morning at 06:00, so Mom dropped me off and out I went.

 

It’s 11:19 and according to KHOU.com, the Peninsula is already under water. I see a new shed at the beach house in my future.

The Beach House

Bob and the gang prepare the Beach House.

 

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1138292619/bclid1137896012/bctid1786849054

 

 

I45 North

I45 North is beginning to stack up as mandatory evacuations are being ordered for the Houston/Galveston area ahead of Hurricane Ike. I’m in downtown Houston at a postal conference but will be catching the first flight out in the morning. So far most of the family is holding tight. Aunt Brenda and Uncle Steve (Port Lavaca area) I believe are headed out since they are in the direct path. Kathy and Patrick will be spending quality time at the hospital where they both work even though La Porte is in the mandatory evacuation zone. Everyone else is staying put.. for now.

California Teen Accused of Posing as Soldier for Perks

In the “How sorry can you be?” category:

 

CROSSVILLE, Tenn. —  A California teen was arrested and charged with criminal impersonation in eastern Tennessee for allegedly fooling businesses into thinking he was a soldier to get discounts and other perks.

The Cumberland County Sheriff's Department arrested 19-year-old Damian Paul Castillo of Anderson, Calif., last week on 25 counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, six counts of violation of the bad check law and one count of criminal impersonation.

Sheriff's Investigator Ben Waller says Castillo is accused of passing himself off as a member of the U.S. Air Force by wearing a military uniform. He's also accused of bilking nine businesses out of more than $14,102. Investigators say the Air Force confirmed he had never enlisted.

Some of the alleged scams included getting plane tickets upgraded, shopping tax-free or getting a military discount. Investigators say he's also accused of using a credit card that was not valid and writing bad checks from another fraudulent account.

 

Psychiatric Test Ordered for Accused Meat-Cleaver Killer

Do you really want to be Psychologist who examines this guy?

 

A judge has ordered a psychiatric examination to determine whether a former mental patient accused of hacking a Manhattan psychotherapist to death with a meat cleaver is fit to stand trial.

View article...

Sites From The Stadium

The Texas Flag

The Texas Flag

Game Day

There is NOTHING better than opening game of College Football! As you know I bleed Burnt Orange, but it doesn't really matter what school is your passion, it is the tradition, the friends, the history! I LOVE IT. Beat the hell outta FAU.

Hypocrisy

McCain announced that Governor Palin of Alaska would be his running mate. She was elected in 2006 as the youngest and first female Govenor of Alaska. In response to this, Bill Burton, spokesman for the Obama campaign had this quote…

 

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

 

 Hmmm, suddenly the Obama campaign thinks experience matters? I guess those extra 2 years in the Senate gave Obama all the experience he needs to be not a heart beat away, but the President himself.

 

The rumors of Mr. Burton’s gagging cannot be confirmed. Idiot.

 

 

On The Road Again

Back to LHR and Brussels. The is my bird over the pond.

Stupid and Vain

It is August 1 in Fort Worth, Texas and it is forecasted to be 106 degrees today. So when I see cars park on the roof I giggle at the stupidity.

 

This blond obviously did not want anyone to cause damage to her cookie cutter white Honda so she parked covering two spaces. I wonder if she knows that the inside of her car will reach upwards of 160 degrees shortening the life of the instruments, leather or fabric, vinal, plastic, and any thing she left behind?

Kyle's First First Class Trip

Just a short trip down to Houston. We had no choice to go first, coach was full.

The Baron von Raschke

Wabasha's favorite son?

While enjoying a 4th of July concert Under the Bridge in Wabasha we ran into one of Glenda's childhood heroes, The Baron von Raschke. The Baron was a famous wrestler from the 7o's and 80's who was know for "The Claw" (that is what The Baron and Kyle are showing you in the picture). The Baron was among the top in the world of professional wrestling for many years and even played Madison Square Garden to a sold out crowed.

Glenda was taken back to her youth and giggled like a school girl when she met him. It brought back very fond memories of watching the Baron battle it out with the likes of Andre the Giant and The Crusher with her dad on Sunday mornings.

Wabasha, MN

We decided to get out of the heat and celibrate the 4^th in Wabasha, MN. Home of the Lillies. AKA GaGa and PaPa. This is Kyle in GaGa’s garden. Yeah, that’s corn in the background. 

 

In the Category of things that don't suck

wow

4 dads, 6 boys, and a lake - Pig Boy 2008

A great Memorial Day weekend!

Words

When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you CAN make words mean so many different things."

"The question is", said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that’s all."

 

 

I am finding this passage to take on great meaning lately.

Selfish

I got upset today. I know that is nothing new nor is it something to really right about. I probably get upset more than I should. But that is not why I’m writing. I’m writing today because I got upset at my son for being selfish. Remember, he’s eight. Of course he is selfish. That is what little boys are. I know that, but I’m the dad and it’s my job to point out to him that being selfish is not a good thing to be. In actuality, I don’t believe that either, there are times when it is perfectly great to be selfish, but you don’t tell your eight year old that. So it got me thinking about our society and are we a selfish society in that we are selfish to a bad point? The easy answer, and I bet the popular answer, is yes. But I don’t know that we are. We do selfless things everyday but if we are not selfish, we don’t brag about it nor do we really notice when others do because we expect it. I did a cursory look around the net for some simple site where one can go to brag about a simple selfless act, but could not find one. Not sure if anyone would ever read a site like that, but I would think it would be uplifting.

Take Me Out...

Bryan scored some great seats.

Looks like the Simpson’s are Longhorn fans.

The Future

I wonder if we will see a much bigger Kyle with this pose at the ballpark someday.

The fun

Yea, traveling is glamorous.

T5

After an uneventful flight over (in first class) I feared the worst, a connection through the now infamous T5 at LHR. However it could not have gone more smoothly. Much better than T4. Of course I am carrying all my bags.

Space?

I'm off again, back to Brussels with a side trip to DC on the way back. This time I have a phone that will supposedly work over there. If so I can send updates on the road.

Now about the photo. Looks like a bad shot of a space magazine but it is actually the counter at Wolfgang Pucks at ORD.

Extreme bocce

Kyle playing extreme bocce at Eastwind Games.

Grandpa and coffee

Say goodmorning. You owe me a dollar.

News Flash: Obama is Black

 Well, it finally happened on the main stage. It was really only a matter of time before it did. Geraldine Ferraro made a comment that Barack Obama is the Democratic front runner because he is black.

 

This is the point where you are wonder which way I’m going to flop on this debate.

 

Wait no longer.

 

She is right.

 

Now before you go off calling me a racist think about it. He is the 46 year old junior senator from Illinois elected just 3 years ago. He is a prolific speaker and in fact gave the rousing speech at the DNC in 2004 which placed him on the main stage of American politics. He has very little experience and in my opinion hasn’t really offered much in the way of what he would actually do if elected… other than change things. So why is he wildly popular? Because he is fresh, young, and not seen as an old established politician. A huge part of that is due to the fact that he is black. Ask yourself if all things were equal except the color of his skin would he be the likely nominee?   

 

Now, all that being said, I don’t think this is a bad thing and I certainly don’t think that Ferraro is a racist because she said it. It is no less true that Hillary is where she is today because she happened to be married to Bill. It is no less true that W is in the white house because he is the son of GHWB. It is no less true that a big part of the reason McCain is where he is today because he was a POW. We all use our strengths to advance ourselves and our cause. Obama does and should use the strength of the color of his skin. I am just glad that society has finally reached a point that being black is considered a strength.  At least for some and as it looks now, enough to get him the nomination.

 

 

 

A Texan and His Word.

As you know I am a proud Texan. Something that endears me to some and is frowned upon by others. Regardless of how you feel about Texan pride one must admit that it is based on a profound history of brave and honorable men and women. Unfortunately since the time of the Carpet Baggers, not all those that make it in Texas government deserve the right to call themselves Texan.

This is true of Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. I have no idea if Mr. Patterson was born in Texas or not, but I can tell you he can't be a Texan. You see, the State of Texas received a generous donation of land near Big Bend under the condition that it be conserved. The deed stipulates that the land must remain in public hands unless written permission by the donors is received. Unfortunately Mr. Patterson instead decided to pull a move befitting the seediest Yankee lawyer and put the land up for sell to the highest bidder. When asked about receiving permission from the conservationists who donated the land, he stated that he would ignore that restriction in the deed because it is unenforceable.

That may be, but my daddy taught me that a Texan's word is gold. That a promise in Texas is stronger than any contract. Now I'm not stupid, I know that this is a quaint view, but damn it, if the State itself can't keep a promise what does that say about being a Texan?

Venus and Jupiter

It has been a while since I have left for work before 06:30 as I did this morning. So it was a surprise to be greeted to an astronomical event. The Venus and Jupiter, two brightest objects in the sky outside of the Sun and the Moon, were in the sky right next to each other. Now, I know very little about astronomy but this was pretty cool. I wonder how often this really happens.

Settle a few things

Had a great night last night with friends at the pub. Of course when you get me and my friends together and throw in some adult beverages it usually sparks some great and controversial subjects. I won't go into all of the debate points now, but I do want to clear up a few things.

1. The US is the worlds largest economy. I searched and searched for the "most fair" documented proof on the web and quite frankly could not find any source that did not say that the US was the worlds largest economy. They only thing that came close was the International Monetary Fund which lists the EU as a single country and was slightly bigger than the US. A point that can be argued at the next meeting is if the EU is a country.

2. The definition of mercenary is "Motivated solely by a desire for monetary or material gain." Therefor I think it is unfair to say that all of the US Military is mercenaries because while many may in fact join in part for monetary or material gain, I would have to say that the vast majority are also motivated by the desire to serve their country.

3. Prince's "1999" was debuted on the album "1999". Which was 1 year prior to the movie "Purple Rain". It is still, at this point, undetermined if the song was sung in the movie. It does not appear on the sound track.

A Rich Man

It is amazing that when some call, many come. That is the sign of a very rich man.

Monkey's are ALWAYS funny!

Tee hee.

Easy

See MB, It's that easy. Awwwww....

The Difference Between Us and Them

After reading the above Pearls Before Swine strip, how did it make you feel? I giggled pretty hard at it. But then I wondered how others would take it. I’m not practicing any religion at the moment, but I grew up in the Baptist church and know plenty of other Christians and I can’t think of any that would be offended by it. I’m sure there are some that will, but over all, I don’t think you are going to hear calls for Mr. Pastis’ head.

Now consider the recent plight of Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher who merely allowed a student to name a teddy bear Muhammad while teaching at a school in Muslim Sudan. She was arrested and immediately sentenced to 15 days in jail. If the British Government had not stepped in, the sentence would have included lashes and could have been punishable by death.

So which is worse, illustrating your Savior as a comedic crocodile or naming a teddy bear after your chief profit? Either way I think the reaction speaks for itself. This is just another reason why Western cultures are seen as superior to others. We don’t want to kill people for making a joke.

Personally, I would have slapped some boxing gloves on the bear and said I was just a big fan of 1970’s boxing.

Love Advice

So we're sitting at a Mexican food joint when Kyle declares that the waitress is "hot". Now for those of you that know him you aren't surprise. The in issued this bit of love advice...

"You have to make them FEEL cute before you tell them they are. If you just tell them they are first, it will ruin your whole relationship. They have to feel it first."

1. He is eight
2. He is right
3. I'm in big trouble when he starts dating.

Ahhhh Traffic

Since I have nothing better to do but blog while sitting in this crap, I thought I'd send this in. I used to get really uptight in traffic but either age or just getting used to it has calmed me down. Often I just thing that the poor slop that is causing this jam is worse off.

Blogging

 Tee hee

 

Why I live in Texas

Just a little proof that we do have some color here in the fall, and unfortunately my little camera just can’t capture the colors very well.

A lot of people think Texas does not have a fall, actually they are wrong, we have a very long fall, we just don’t have a winter. Not a long one anyway, about a day or two is plenty for us. Y’all can keep the snow, if I want snow I know where to find it.

Seriously, I know it gets too damn hot in Texas during the summer which also last too damn long, but when you have days like today I can’t honestly see why someone would live anywhere else.

Antwerpen 1.5

Did I mention the narrow, yet historic roads and alleyways?

 

 

 

 

Antwerpen 1.4

Most of these photo’s came from personal walking tours and a guided tour that our host, Post Belgium, conducted for us as we did a progressive dinner. You know what I mean, drinks in one place, appetizer in another, main dish in another and so on. Six stops in all, I think this one was appetizers. It was really kind of neat, even if all we really wanted to do was drink (hey, we are mail guys and gals, it’s what we do).

 

 

 

Antwerpen 1.3

“Hey, what are you staring at? Not every part of my body can be GIANT!”

 

Cute statue of drunken sailors looking at the giant. Just very unfortunate positioning of the little guys.

 

 

 

Antwerpen 1.2

At first I thought this was yet another gruesome statue, which of course it is, but it really does fit. This is the top of a statue that is found in the main square. It tells the story of how Antwerpen got it’s name. Apparently during the medieval times they found some whale bones near the river… being medieval type people with medieval sized brains, they just figured it was the bones of a giant and thus had to come up with a story. So I guess the one that stuck was that there was a giant that would make boats pay a toll to come this way up the river. If you didn’t pay the toll, it would cut off your hand and toss it to river. Apparently there was a Roman hero that came up there river and battled the giant, cutting off his had and tossing it in the river thus ending his reign of terror. Werpen was the Roman word meaning “to throw” and thus “Hand – werpen” became Antwerp.

 

Hey, I don’t make them up I just tell them.  

 

 

Antwerpen 1.1

I was fortunate that our meeting was being held at the Hilton in the historic district of Antwerpen because believe me my company would never have approved the cost had I not threatened to take a taxi every day from the other side of the city. (What they don’t know, is that probably would have been cheaper).

 

Old Antwerp is dominated by its Cathedral and indeed it proved very useful while marching through the narrow and winding streets and alleyways of the city. If ever I wondered where I was I only had to look up or listen for the bells that rang every 15 minutes. The cathedral has a much storied history. Started in the 15^th century it latterly took centuries to finish. In fact, some would tell you that it is not yet finished as it only has one tower. You can see it’s stubby, unfinished, sister just this side of the finished tower the photo here. Indecently, I tried taking many many photos, but being that most of the time I could be out and about the city it was dark, this is really the best I had. The one thing I was told by locals is that everyone can remember how tall the tower is because it is an even and easy to remember 123 meters high. I guess because it is the 1-2-3 it is easy to remember, but I thought it would have been easer to remember if it was 100. I guess they didn’t ask me.

 

Back to the history… I’m doing this from memory, so don’t sue me if I get it wrong in a few places. After the Romans left town the Vikings decided to take a turn at Antwerp (something that apparently happens a lot) and being Vikings, they burned the place to the ground. After the Catholics came a conquering they found, in the ashes, a statue of what appeared to be a Madonna, which was most likely the Roman Fertility god, but it was burned and when you’re looking for a miracle, who’s counting. So they figured this was where God was telling them to build a church, they did. The decorated it with a lot of great art, most of which can now be found somewhere in Madrid, because of course the Spanish had to have their turn with Antwerp.

 

 

 

Antwerpen

If you have ever been to Europe you know that the Train stations are magnificent. Of, course they were the latter day “airports” and nobody does them better than Europe and Antwerpen is not the exception. Never caught when it was built, but the façade is at least 18^th century. After some much needed sleep it was time to wake up and shake the cob webs from my head. Unfortunately, being nearly winter, the sun went to bed early and with was dark by 5 o’clock.

 

 

 

Something new

OK, I’m going to try blogging about the trip and since I like this new email interface so much, I’m going to use it to get this accomplished. So you will see multiple posts instead of one long one. Oh, and I’m doing this because my little TV. screen on my flight home is busted and I can’t watch movies. Arghhh.

The posts I made from my phone should be posted by now so you know how I got there, but you don’t really know the story of my getting home. Ah the trials and tribulations of airline employee travel. I can’t just buy a ticket like a normal person. No I have to fly stand by on any carrier but mine. I have been pretty lucky, but that luck ran out and I couldn’t get on the flight from BRU to FRA so my best option was hopping the Eurostar to London. With the new high speed tracks now on the English side and the new arrival terminal at St. Pancras (pictured) I was there in two hours! Then a short tube ride to Victoria station and then on the Gatwick Express. From the time I made the decision to abandon hope getting to FRA to the time I was at LGW was less than 4 hours. Not too bad.

Sleeeeeepppp

It is 10.47 am on 28 Nov and I have been traveling for over 13 hours. I went through FRA this time and barely got on the LH flight to BRU but here I am. Now an hour train ride with connections to Antwerp. A short taxi (hopefully) to the hotel then some glorious sleep for a few hours.

Back on the road again.

Well that was quick day and a half. I will write more about Antwerp when I am less mobile, but for now it is back on the train to BRU after only 3 hours of sleep.

OFF again

As you know I have come to the point where I hate to travel. But it is always a good feeling when I have to and I get to turn left after entering the airplane.

More Fun

Now I'm just getting silly. I took some more video on my camera, but blogger rejected it saying the file was too big. We will see if I can do it this way.



These people are leaving work early for the Thanksgiving weekend. Unlike us dedicated employees who just stay here and use company resources to blog :-)

More Fun

And now some video. View from one of my office windows.

Having fun now

Well, more like testing how far I can go. I just sent an attached photo to see what it would do.

Woohoo it worked.

Now I just have to follow through and actually send the emails. Incidentally, this is what I did...

http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=41452

Have a great Thanksgiving.

If this works...

Some really good suggestions were received from my post yesterday which means that you people are actually reading this. Amazing!

So per one suggestion I am sending this from my phone. Apparently Blogger has this feature already enabled, so if this works I may be able to rant much more often. Lucky you.

It is what it is

I am a terrible blogger. But you knew that and yet here you are reading it anyway. Get a life freak… :-)

But seriously folks, I don’t do this enough. As those of you that know me know, I like to rant about things. Most of the time I will throw facts in to support my position, but they really are just rants. But as I get older I find that I just don’t care much anymore. I guess that is not unexpected but I find it disappointing. I hope it is just maturity and the realization that there are truly important things to care about and everything else is just crap you need to deal with.

So, what to do about blogging? I wish there were a chip I could embed in my brain that was hooked to a device that would just record my every thought. Because mostly what I do today is react to the current situation and move on. These situations, other than work shit, rarely happen while I’m near a computer and I fail to jot down my thoughts on the situation. Then either because I’m too old to remember or I just don’t care enough, I never write them down when I do get back to the computer.

Well, it is what it is.

I haven’t ranted in a while so I’m over due. This fact is aided by the fact that I was upgraded on my flight back from Sacramento and have had a few malt whiskies. Anyone that knows me knows how philosophical I get when I drink scotch. So here I am with my scotch somewhere near the Four Corners catching up with my email and RSS feeds and I read this…

http://krmb.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/rld-book-edia/

Now most of you are (or should be) subscribed to the KRUMB and know how much I enjoy it. I mean absolutely no disrespect to Kyle for what follows.

Sometimes a duck is just a duck. The above entry makes a fantastic symbolic statement on knowledge and the loss of it by a mass media world. I agree with Kyle in his acieration that it is sad to see a book filled with such knowledge destroyed because of that symbolic statement. But that is all it is, symbolic. The true sad fact is that whoever felt the need to dump the books couldn’t be bothered with taking them to the local library and donating them, but I don’t think it is a loss of knowledge.

In fact (and here goes the rant) I think we are smarter and more knowledgeable than we have ever been. I can’t tell you the last time I picked up an Encyclopedia. Today I just double click my CTRL button and Google Desktop is there at my fingertips ready to open the world to my request. I am not sad by that nor should anyone else. I know that there are those out there (including my lovely wife) that think that there is a lost art in reading books and writing letters but I don’t. To my credit, I have been trying. I have even joined a book club, but to be honest, I don’t really see the point. I will admit that it makes me read things that I would not normally read, but I’m beginning to discover there is a reason I only read the things that interest me… the rest of the world I boring. OK, so that is a bit of an overstatement, but still, I have tons of crap I want to read and here I am spending time reading crap someone else selects. I will probably continue if for no other reason than I might find something new I like, which I desperately need. I suppose all things have a purpose and book clubs are no exception.
Geeze… didn’t expect the rant to go that direction. I hope the book club folks don’t subscribe.

Back to the photo and loss of knowledge. Again, I think it is fantastic photo and I’m sure if Kyle had connections he would probably get a NEA grant to expand on the dirty book photo art form, but really I think thy guy was just too lazy or stupid to actually take the books to a library or school. Sad, but somewhat innocent of the charges of destroying knowledge. Let’s face it, the WWW offers a thousand times the knowledge the World Book every did and could. What is truly sad is the countries that sill restrict the internet. If Kyle could capture that in a photo, he would win the Pulitzer.PPPPP

Atheism, Agnosticism, Religion, and Scott Adams

A friend of mine sent me Scott Adams recent blog on Atheism and asked how it fit into my theocratic arguments. The basic premise of the post is that since you can not be 100% certain of anything isn’t it better to believe in God just in case there is one because not doing so will damn you to Hell for all eternity. It also says that if you are 100% certain that there is no God then you yourself must be God because to have that kind of knowledge you must possess God like knowledge of the universe.

I don’t subscribe to Adams' blog, but if these are the types of topics he discusses then I will start. First let me just say that his argument is silly. He is attempting to apply scientific proof logic to a theological problem. “You can’t prove God does not exist therefor he might” is no more valid an argument than “Show me proof there is a God and then I will believe.” Perhaps that is who Mr. Adams is attempting to reach with his post.

But that is not why I write today, today my friend asked how it fits in my theocratic arguments. I think he is referring to my proclamation that there are no agnostics only athiests and people who believe in different “gods”. I don’t think I have written about this in the past so I will attempt to explain. I came to my conclusion by attempting to figure out why people claim to be agnostic. I did so while trying to figure out my own beliefs and thought that I might possible be “agnostic”. First I think it is important to know that I am basing this off of conversations I have had with numerous self proclaimed agnostics using their definitions of agnosticism. I know the Oxford/Webster’s/Wikipedia definition of the word so please don’t send them to me.

“I can’t find any proof God exists so I’m not sure there is a god”

To me this is a compelling argument but one that is easily taken apart in most of our lives. Every one of us believes in something that we can not prove. I believe I am a good father and my son will be prepared for what life throws at him. I believe I am a good husband because my wife tells me I am. I believe that I am secure in my employment because I work hard and my bosses seem pleased. I believe my car will start tomorrow because it started today. I can offer no scientific proof of any of these things but I believe them.

“I believe in some kind of higher power, but I don’t think it is God”

Then what is it? Figure that out; see if there is a group of people like you that think that way; build you a church and call it a religion. Poof, you’re not agnostic. Seriously, I think this is the category most people who have a problem with modern organized religion fall into. They believe that something unexplainable has influence in the universe, just not your god.

“I just don’t know much about religion”

You are just lazy. Go out a learn something. This is important stuff. You can’t go through life not interested in the way things came to be and the way things are going to be for the rest of eternity. If you do, then you are doomed to either be blissfully happy but stupid, or you are going to be miserable. Regardless, you are not agnostic you are uninformed.

“I believe in a god, but not Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhist, etc”

OK, fine… but you believe in a god. Therefore you have defined it in your belief system and therefore know about a god. You’re not agnostic.

There are of course variations of each of these categories, but for the most part this is what I have observed. I would love to hear others but I think I can shoot them down.

Oh, and you’re right. I did not address the “I’m sure there is not a god or higher power or a flying spaghetti monster” argument. You’re right… they are atheist. For more on that see Scott Adams.

May God/Alah/FSM/Zeus/nobody bless you.

Something Special In The Air

I know I have written about this in the past, but this whole travel thing needs to be reworked. As you know I work for an airline so my customers, who are as demanding as all customers, expect you to be wherever at the drop of a hat. Take today for instance, I went to Los Angles for a 45 minute meeting. I was up at 04:30 this morning to catch a 06:45 flight. A 45 minute meeting then back to the airport for the flight home that gets me in at 19:00. Now I could have stayed overnight, but to be honest I just can’t stand the thought of another hotel bed not to mention another night away from the family. “But Terrill, don’t you get upgraded?” Yes, when pigs fly. To be fair, I have been lucky with the over seas trips and have been upgraded most of the time, but domestically… no f*&#ing way. Even though I travel enough to be triple platinum gold sapphire diamond, I don’t get miles so back with the working class I go. But the worse thing about it is that my company expects me to save seats for the paying passengers so they don’t allow me to book my flight more than 7 days in advance and then even then I can only book in a class that is just above the class they allow virgin flyers and convicted felons to book in. So even though I may know I absolutely have to be somewhere 3 months in advanced, I never know if I can actually get a flight. If, at the last second, a seat does not materialize that is likely in the middle of the last row or actually in the john I then am expected to beg the president of Cargo to grant me a seat if and only if he deems my trip worthy. That is a bit unfair to my Pres, because he is a great guy, but really should I have to bother an officer of a Fortune 100 company for a seat on a plane that we own? As much traveling as I do I should have my name tattooed on a first class seat.

Enough for this rant. I’m sure there are those of you out there that think I am way off base and would love to travel like I do. To you, I wish you never have the need to think otherwise.

Geeks Who Drink

I first heard about this group while listening to Coverville. It is an apparently local phenomenon in Denver where, as the names suggests, geeks get together to drink. But it seems to be centered around trivia. It seems to be a great idea that I would love to get started in the DFW area despite my inadequacies in all things trivial. But good news, I am currently sitting at the Irish Snug near downtown Denver. It was a pleasant surprise being that it was literarily right across the street and tonight they host the gang. So I was graciously paired up with a couple of guys who were short a crew and I did my best to help out. They were not easy questions. But as I write this it is only half over, so here’s hope.

More later.

Hang on Snoopy...

In the spirit of the Krumb (http://krmb.wordpress.com/feed/) I took this photo on my way to Fort Worth. I traveled about 45 miles with speeds in excess of 75 mph and this little guy managed to hold on the entire way. It was fascinating seeing him position himself behind the mirror for the least wind resistance. But what was truly interesting is when I made several stops (including a long one to get gas) he never left the window. I half expected, and was disappointed when it wasn’t there for my trip home.

Philosophy, Science, and Religion

Question about Science, Philosophy (Oliver Leaman responds): There's an article in The New Yorker this week (Feb. 12) about two philosophers-turned-scientists who, in the course of their studies, developed a strong distaste for the philosophical way of things (one of them bashes Thomas Nagel's bat thought-experiment as an incompetent way to approach the mind-body problem).

Is it true, as the article asserts, that philosophy is continually ceding its territory to the sciences (philosophy of the mind may be rendered obsolete by neuroscience), so that less and less is left to philosophers over time? Could science make philosophy obsolete?

Response from Oliver Leaman on February 15, 2007

I don't think so, although this is often claimed. The links between philosophy and science are complex and easy to get wrong. Philosophers are not looking for answers to problems in the same way that scientists are, although the difference is quite subtle. With the mind-body problem, whatever scientific developments on this occur, the issue of how to best characterize the relationship remains a conceptual problem, and no scientific discovery would force the philosopher's hand to come down on one approach or another.

________________________________________________________________________

This was from AskPhilosophers.org and I found it to be an intriguing. What is the relationship between philosophy and science? Is there one. Mr. Leaman indicates that there is but that it is complex. I’m not sure I agree. Although the definition of philosophy is itself a great philosophical question, most would agree that it involves reasoning, debate, and critical thought but rarely can produce physical evidence to support its arguments. I think most would agree that science involves both theory and physical evidence to support or prove the theory, not just the theory.

Now to be fair, Mr. Leaman did not call philosophy a science, only stating that there is a relationship between the two. This would, it seems, suggest that philosophy sort of takes care of the things that can not be proven by science. A great example would be the fact that the human animal kills for enjoyment. Science can’t (not yet anyway) offer evidence as to why we do that but philosophy can certainly offer theories on the subject. So if philosophy does take care of the nonscientific realm of the universe the how is it different than religion? I know this too is a great philosophical debate but I fail to see the difference. To say that philosophy isn’t religion because it does not have a supreme being controlling the universe doesn’t cut it in my eyes. It only shows that philosophy fails to make the next leap and explain the unexplainable with a god. Perhaps that is the definition of religion, philosophy with an answer. Even if it can’t be proven.

Summer Gas

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2374

A good article that anyone concerned about gas prices, pollutions, global warming, or corn…. Yes corn should read.

Mr. Anonymous Sticks it to Terrill

There was an anonymous comment on my "Perry Sticks it to Young Girls" entry. Boy am I sorry I didn’t see this comment earlier. Apparently I need to check my own blog more often.

A quick review is in order. I had commented on Governor Perry using executive powers to force girls to be vaccinated for the human papilloma virus (HPV) before entering school. As most of you know, HPV is most commonly contracted through sexual contact. But read the full article if you want to know more. The comment that was left was…

“But have you studied the information on vaccine injuries to children? Adults too for that matter. Merck is considered one of the biggest culprits in the contamination of its vaccines. Please inform yourself before you support such a drastic approach to dealing with a potential problem for some girls.”
Posted by Anonymous | April 25, 2007 12:56 PM

First, the author apparently does not know me well because if he did he would know that I do research my subjects before I comment. (Quick side note - I suspect the author is a woman but I am using the literary “he”). On the rare occasion that I comment on a subject with out thinking it through, which includes doing a little research, I will always inform the audience that I “don’t know much about the subject, but on the surface…”

Admittedly his reason for disagreeing with the policy did not make it my originally list, but there is a reason for that. To withhold a vaccination from a child due to safety concerns about the vaccine itself is asinine. I am assuming that the author has never taken any medicine of any kind for the same reason. No aspirin, cold pills, polio vaccine, smallpox… etc. Now before the rest of you go off on me too, I realize that caution is needed for new vaccines, but the HPV vaccine has been tested extensively and has been used effectively for years. Unfortunately it does not protect for all forms of Cervical Cancer, but it does for some very common ones.

So not to go on a rant… (I know, I know), the answer to your question Mr. Anonymous, if that is your real name, is yes, I have considered it and I think I will keep taking medicine despite the risks and my child will be vaccinated (once it is approved in the States for boys). (Huh? Do some research.)

Off again

Once again I am off on another trip. This time it is a three country world wind tour. I fly to Frankfurt (hopefully in the front of the bus). I will get there and do my customary 2 hour nap, get up find a pub, or in this case a bier garden, have dinner and be back in bed by 8 pm. Get up really early and run around on the ramp at FRA airport. Then I fly on Iberia (my first time) on Monday to Madrid. Spend the night there and wake up early and run around the ramp at MAD and meet with Correos (Spanish Post). Then on BA to Heathrow and do the same thing there, but for two days.

Glamorous huh?

It's Official

Febuary 19, 2007

Its official, I hate to travel. At lease I hate to travel the way I have been traveling… on business. This hatred has manifested itself over the last couple of months but really took off in the last couple of weeks when I have been traveling at least one day each week. It feels kind of silly writing this right now since I have sitting in first class on my way to Miami, but even getting upgraded doesn’t make the time I spend away from my family worth it. I miss my wife and my son terribly. I know many of you are wondering what kind of nonsense I am speaking and wish you had the opportunity to travel. I did too, but as they say, be careful what you wish for.

I’m sure things will be different once things settle down a bit at work, but I have no idea where that will be. It would also be different if my family could travel with me. In summer that may be possible but since my son is in school and my lovely wife must stay at home with him that will have to wait. But even in summer it might not be worth it because I generally only travel no more than three days at a time and mostly just overnight. So it usually would not be worth the hassle. So for now I will just stare out the window at the puffy white clouds and think of the smiles of my wife and son until I can see them in earnest soon.

Perry Sticks it to Young Girls

Rick Perry, Texas Governor, and staunch conservative shocked most folks when he signed an executive order forcing Texas girls to be vaccinated for the human papillomavirus (HPV) before entering the sixth grade. HPV is the sexually transmitted virus that is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Initial reaction has been controversial at best. Criticism is coming for the religious sector stating that giving the vaccine to girls will tell them that it is O.K. to have unprotected sex. People who just hate Perry point out that the maker of the vaccine, Merck, was a contributor to Perry’s campaign. Parent rights advocates point out that the state is removing their right to decided how to medically care for their children.

I want to go on record saying I didn’t vote for Perry and I don’t usually like his policies and unless this is your first time reading you know that I am not exactly a liberal either. All this aside I somewhat agree with Perry but I have a few qualifications (you knew I would). But let me address the critics first.

The religious right’s argument that getting a shot will cause young girls to run out and have sex is the same old argument against the pill and condoms. Do I really need to go into why this is wrong? Even if you buy this argument it is not really applicable here because apparently the vaccine is most affective if taken before the subject becomes sexually active. Despite what most fathers would love to believe, some day their daughters are going to have sex.

As for Merck’s “contribution” to Perry’s campaign… it was $6,000. Not even a drop on a drop in a bucket of water. Perry’s raised hundreds of millions of dollars; I hardly think six thousand is going to make him feel obligated.

Perhaps the most compelling criticism is from parents who believe that the government isn’t very good at raising children and should leave important decisions up to them. I tend to fall in this camp but I also know that this can’t be absolute. Otherwise we would have parents keeping children home from school without bothering to educate them at home just because some yahoo who never finished the 4th grade was able to make a baby and figures “hell, I’m doing all right”.

On a less cynical note, the state has the right to protect its investment. In other words, it can require it’s citizens to perform certain tasks that will help protect them from becoming a social and financial burden to the state at some point in the future. This is the basis behind tax funded education. The problem with this is that I could not find anywhere that said that the state will pay for the vaccine. Perhaps that is to come and if so, then I’m all for it. At the minimum the state needs to assist those that can not afford to take the vaccine just as they do today on other vaccinations.

In the end, I think this is the right move. If nothing else, it will encourage more insurance companies to cover the vaccine or it will make it easier and cheaper for those that can’t get access to the vaccine to get one.

The Day the Music Died... or at least was never heard.

Time for another rant…

My MP3 player went missing last time I was in Miami. I’m sure I probably left it in the hotel room but shockingly they were unable to find it when I called. It was not a huge loss because it was only a little key drive that happened to play mp3’s. Not many features but it got the job done. But since it was gone it needed to be replaced. So after doing a lot of research and settled on the iPod. Yeah, it surprised me too. Those that know me know that I will usually go out of my way to not be main stream but just like my attitude on Microsoft there is a reason they are wildly successful. The sound is very good and the features and accessories are ample. But what pisses me off (you knew there would be something) is that with everyone trying to do the right and legal thing with music downloads is screwing the little guy. Over at the The Lucky Word I blogged about The Departures and really wanted to listen to some of their music to see if they worth a damn but the only media on their site was either streaming snippets or must be downloaded via iTues UK and not available in the US. So how is this benefiting this group? Here is a guy sitting in Fort Worth Texas wanting to listen to their music and even willing to buy a song but can’t because they have it too restricted. I’m sure it is probably not their doing. I’m sure they turned over their eBusiness to some company that said they can take them to new levels. But all it is doing is preventing someone from hearing what they want the world to hear. If it were my band I would stomp my feet and cry like a baby until someone did something about it. I would at least insist that my web site had songs in MP3 format ready for download by any and everyone so that they can get a sample of my music and I wouldn’t listen to some suit telling them how it should be done.

Arrrrghhhh.

The Lucky Word

I have always been intrigued by randomness. I know, a weird thing to be intriguing but even the debate on the mere existence of randomness is fantastic. Randomness as a concept is easy to understand and define. It is simply something that is without order. However most of us use the word random to mean things that are not really random. Example: “I just picked a color at random.” We may think we picked a color at random but most likely we have a bias towards or away from certain colors. I for one tend to avoid maroon or dark reds mainly because they are the colors of Texas A&M and OU, but I digress. Another, albeit darker, misuse of the word random is the “random killing”. We just had a very gruesome murder in Dallas in which a man can be seen on a video monitor seemingly picking a woman at random and then following her to the street and shooting her at point blank range. On the surface it seems that is was just rotten luck that the poor woman was chosen and that the man selected her at random, but in the video we see that the man watches several people pass before selecting her. This indicates to me that he was looking for a type of person to kill and therefore introduces a trace or order in his thought. Still unlucky for the poor woman but not truly random.

So, in the human mind randomness is not really random, but I think most of us understand that. So what about math and computers? Mathematically speaking is it possible to truly be random. Of course it is, it is just not easy to get the results. We can, however, get really darn close which for most things is perfectly fine. Take for example the practice of drawing names from a hat. Everyone throws a piece of paper into a hat with their name on it and then the host will shake up the pieces of paper and reach in and grab one. Random right? Not really, most people will either draw the first piece they touch or they will draw from the bottom, either way there is an order to the piece of paper that is chosen because of the way they are written, the size and weight of the paper and even the shape of the container. That makes some sense, but what about the computer… surly the random number generator is truly random, right? Wrong. Every computer has a build in random number generator. It is used for things like randomizing your play list or choosing the photo to display on your screen saver, but it is not really random either. It needs a “seed” in which to start. It then uses a fixed algorithm using that seed as the start to select a random number. This means that if you use the same seed you will get the same set of “random” numbers each time, hardly random.

So back to the common use of the random concept and why I’m ranting about this. I had an idea for a new blog in which I will use a “random” word and plug into Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” process and then blog about the web site that comes up. If you are not familiar with Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” it is a function that takes a word you supply and then takes you to the highest ranked site. In order to get my “random” word I am using “The Random Word Generator” to get the word. I will try to do this at least two or three times a week. Should be interesting and fun, hope you like it. Check it out at http://luckyword.blogspot.com/.

The Oldest Newspaper In Texas

Some friends of mine, Kyle and Marita Beth, have a little project going in which they each take a photo a day and publish it on their blog The Daily KRuMB.

One of MB’s (far left) latest photos was of the old Galveston News building in Galveston, Texas and it made me think of something I heard growing up on the beaches of Galveston County. That is that the Galveston Daily News (now the Galveston County Daily News) is the oldest newspaper in Texas. So I thought I would provide you with a few facts that I managed to find. Oh, and I found an old photo of the same building. Interesting how it has changed. Probably all those hurricanes.

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• Galveston Daily News first published April 11, 1842


• Changed its name to Galveston County Daily News in 1993


• It is the oldest newspaper still in circulation in Texas


• It is the 18^th oldest newspaper still in circulation in the USA


• It is the 80^th oldest newspaper still in circulation in the world


• At the time of the first publication, Texas was an independent republic and not part of the United States


• The population of Galveston in 1842 was about 4,000 people


• In 1902 the newspaper was the first business in Texas to install a telephone


• The newspaper founded the Dallas Morning News in 1885

sources:
http://www.wan-press.org/article2823.html

http://galvestondailynews.com/history.lasso