Posted by andrew at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm heading down south to see the family, ring in the New Year and celebrate my dad's 70th birthday. I haven't been to LA in more than a year and a half. It should be fun to hang out with my little brother and sister, catch up with some friends and razz my dad about being so old. :)

Posted by andrew at 05:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The first of the Kiva loans starting being repaid today. Mr. Kouassi Houessou began repaying the 500 bucks he borrowed for a new freezer for his ice cream business in Togo and Madam Akossiwa Agbemaple made a repayment of 75 dollars on the 450 she used to build up her charcoal sales business, also in Lome, Togo.

To me this is very inspiring stuff. I expect all the loans I have made to be completely repaid and these business to flourish. When the money comes back, I will loan it out again so it can help more entrepreneurs who don't have access to traditional financial institutions. I highly encourage you to loan, even the smallest amount, 25 dollars, can make a huge difference, and it will make you feel great.

To read more about Kiva go here. To start a loan, just go the Kiva home page and sign up for an account. If you don't want to sign up for an account for some reason, just send me the money and I will loan it for you. One person has already done this and I've been sending her regular updates on the progress of her loans. Planning on giving someone money for a birthday or whatever? Why not fund a loan in their name? When the money is repaid, they can decide what to do with it. Whatever way you do it, it will be one of the best things you'll ever do in your life.

Posted by andrew at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rubbing salt into the wounds, Australia annihilated England in Melbourne's Boxing Day Test by an innings and 99 runs, a humiliating defeat for the tourists. The outcome of the series has long been determined. The only question now is will Australia pull off something neither side has managed in more than 80 years, an Ashes sweep. We'll find out when the final Test is played at the SCG in Sydney. Quite often, there is a let down in the final Test for the victorious side. The Aussies had a chance to pull off the sweep the last time England toured Australia, but managed to give away the final Test. This time, with Warne and McGrath retiring, they will be playing their last Test and I think they'll want to go out with a victory. Look for another English mauling.

Posted by andrew at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Had to go up to Heavenly today if I was going to get a day in before the end of the year. I couldn't sleep. I maybe got 2 hours. I hit the road a little before 6. Arrived in Tahoe just as the lifts were opening. It was everything I could do just to keep my eyes open on the last leg of the drive from Placerville, but I survived.

I validated my season pass. I went outside to Gunbarrell. It was shocking how little snow there was on the bottom of the mountain. There was more on the top, a few groomed runs with packed man-made snow, no doubt. Tthe crowds were light for most of the morning, but the Sky Express was closed because of high winds so there was no outlet to Nevada. Skiers started arriving at mid-morning and since there was no getting off the CA side, the lift lines started to explode. I was going to head down, take the shuttle over to Nevada and ski back, but I was there was only one lift open over there, so I called it day after about runs, just enough to shake the rust off and get a taste before real season starts.

Hopefully we'll get some snow. We really need it. I downloaded (sadly) and was back in the Bay Area by 2:45. At least it was a beautifully sunny day. The weather was nicer in Tahoe than it was in Emeryville. I want to say it was worth it. I drove 6 hours round trip on limited sleep to ski 10 runs. I had been postponing going up because I wanted more snow and for the whole mountain to be open. I got neither. I could have come up weeks ago and gotten the same experience and with a full night sleep. I'm glad I did it, but I don't know if I'd do it again.

Posted by andrew at 06:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Daily Show reruns are dancing in my head! Thanks for the link, Bri.

Posted by andrew at 03:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Following on the little 3.7 tremor of the other night that sent the cats into kniption fits, we had another 3.7 last night followed by what seemed to be a larger quake just a few moments ago. The cats seems to be adjusting well. They still get startled, but Fil does not seek refuge under the bed (she's actually smart-finding one of the safest places in the house) and they both recover to normal fucktard activities fairly soon after the event.

That's all good. The worry now is that we've had 3 quakes, albei minor, in very quick succession. I'm no geologist, so you can pretty discount everything I say from this point on, but it seems like we're building towards something. Many earthquakes speak of "The Big One" in terms of not if but when and how big. It's inevitable. All the fault lines that converge on the San Francisco Bay Area are again going to unleash death and destruction on a monumental scale. The only question, as the experts ask, is when and how big.

Posted by andrew at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nothing scares a cat like a random event that they can't percieve the origin of. And nothing is more difficult for a cato percieve than the origin of an earthquake. So the when the earth starts to move, even with the most minor quake as we had tonight, and you have 2 docile cats sleeping on you while you lie on the couch watching TV, you're in for more than your basic garden variety earthquake startle.

Magnitude-3.7 quake rattles San Francisco Bay area

Associated Press

BERKELEY, Calif. - A small earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area Wednesday evening, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage.

The quake, which struck at 7:12 p.m., had a preliminary magnitude of 3.7 and was centered about 2 miles east of Berkeley, just across the bay from San Francisco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

No one reported any damage or injuries, according to a Berkeley police dispatcher.

The temblor occurred on the Hayward Fault, which geologists believe is due for a large quake in the potentially lethal 6.7 to 7.0 range.

"It's a pretty small earthquake, but just another reminder we're eventually going to have the biggie here in the Bay Area," said David P. Schwartz, who has studied the Hayward Fault extensively as chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Bay Area Earthquake Hazards Project.

The Great Quake of 1868 struck on the Hayward Fault, a magnitude 6.9 rumbler that killed five people. Severe quakes have happened on the Hayward Fault every 151 years, give or take 23 years, meaning it is now into the danger zone.

The instant the house started to shake, both cats flew off me, and, as usual, didn't put too much thought into the havoc cuased by using me as a springboard with claws fully extended. To be honest, they don't put too much thought into anything much other than trying to escape the house or where their next meal is coming from. Fil zipped upstairs and took refuge under the bed. Mak leapt off the bed and looked around for something to flee from, but finding nothing, starred wide eyed at the TV, the largest, most obvious culprit.

It was all over in a few minutes. I coaxed Fil out from under the bed. Mak calmed down and before too long they were ensconsed back in their usual spot, my body.

This was nothing compared to what happened last Friday when Jen came over. Usually she peeks in through the windows in the door and taps lightly. The cats look up, acknowledge her presence, give her all clear, and she enters the house. But on Friday, Mak was patrolling the TV and didn't see or hear her. So when she opened the door, he wigged out and darted away like a spaz, which totally startled Fil, until then using me as a chaise lounge. She made a beeline for the kitchen counter, the furthest point from the front door, leaving a trail of foul smelling beaded liquid on the floor. Mak litterally scarred the piss out of her. Her fur was all puffed up, but soon relaxed when she realized it was only Jen and not whatever kitty boogeyman keeps cats twitching in the night.

Posted by andrew at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

To make your own digital snowflake. Whoever made this site is a genius.

Posted by andrew at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a good chance. Just have a listen to Evolutionary Biologist Richard Dawkins, author most recently of the God Delusion. I caught the tail end of his appearance on City Arts & Lectures on my way home from work, but sadly, they don't post their audio online. You can hear some of his other recent appearances here:

• Talk of the Nation Science Friday
• KQED's Forum

To me, Dawkins is the quintessential voice of reason, who breaks down religiosity with the cold, methodical logic that it deserves. He debunks myths about the nature of morality and the idea that nobie acts by humans cannot exist without the framework of organized religion. He debunks the myth that atheism is a religion. He's not wild-eyed. He's not crazed. He's the personfiication of cooly analtyical. Most importantly, he tries to raise awareness of the dangers of not just harboring irrational beliefs in systems of myth, but using those beliefs to make decisions about how we govern our world.

Very much like Sam Harris, he comes in for a lot of criticism for "rocking the boat" or lending aid and comfort to the creationsists, but that doesn't matter. It's all just noise. Dawkins is more concerned about being focused on what's true, what can be proved, rather than engaging in tactical, political battles to score points with irrational thinkers.

He's fascinating and worth a listen even if you find his ideas repugnant.

Here are two videos, the first a reading of The God Delusion and the second the accompanying Q&A. These are from the Philip Thayer Memorial Lecture at Randoph-Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, VA.

Part 1: Reading

Part 2: Q & A

Posted by andrew at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I was recently asked about some of the work I did while at Electronic Arts so I started poking around the Internet Archive to see what was stored in there and I came across the site for NBA Street which I produced and my good buddy John Egan designed.

We had a great time putting it together, but we did it under a very tight deadline and with almost no Flash skill between us. 2 white guys (one jewish) and indian-Canadian marketing manager, Otis- the game was built in our Vancouver studi putting together a website for a hip=hop basketball game--crazy. It was a Louis Farrakhan nightmare.

It was fun, but stressful. I kept John at the office late into the night. I'd ply him food to keep him happy. I think a few nights in the final week he spent the night in his cube rather than go home to his SF apartment. This was 2001 in Silicon Valley. Post bubble, but still very heady in some corners of the Valley, like ours.

We never finished the site. the version linked here was completed in the months before September 11th and we were both laid off shortly thereafter. It's possible John might have left before. I can't remember. But the site had such great potential, despite it's lack of technical polish. If I built it today, it would be completely different. Instead of one large movie the user has to load in advance, there would be a movie for each section that loaded on an as needed basis. We would have a preloader that actually worked instead of that ball rolling across the screen which, in fact, does nothing. And we'd build it with an XML backbone so it would be easy to update. Regardless of that, it's still a fun site.

Posted by andrew at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One ......... cut a hole in the box
Two ......... put your junk in that booxxxx!!!
Three ....... make her open that box
And that's the way you do it
IT"S MY DICK IN BOX!!!!

I know this video of the has been going around the Internet like a prairie fire, but I hadn't seen it until last night when i watched SNL on my DVR. SNL has been complete crap lately. Very few funny skits. No recurring skits. Lame openings. So this bit is huge a surprise. It's just stupid funny. I nearly shit myself laughing when the short came on. It's mock video as a paean to some of those horrible R&B love songs filled with the dirtiest lyrics, (think R Kelly or Color Me Bad and you have some idea of what I'm talking about it).

So if you need a holiday pick me up, .

Now, where did I put that box? Ah, yes....

The full lyrics are under the fold

Hey girl..I got something really important to give you So just sit down and listen...

Girl I know that we been together, such a long long time
(Such a long time!)
And now I'm ready to lay it on the line!
Weelll, you know its Christmas,
And my heart is open wide! (open wide)
Gonna give you something so you know what is on my mind!
(what is on my mind)
A gift real special, so take off the tie

So look inside....it's my dick in the box! (dick in the box!)

Not gonna give you a diamond ring
Thats the only gift that don't mean a thing
Not gonna get you a fancy car
Girl you gotta know your my shining star
Not gonna get you a house in the hills
A girl like you needs something real!
Wanna get you something from my heart
(Something special girl!)
It's my dick in the box!

A dick in the box, girrrrl..
It's my dick in the box!
Oooooh my dick in the box, girrrl..

See, I'm wise enough to know when a gift needs giving (Girl!)
And I got just the one!
Something to show you that you are second to none!

To all the fellas out there with ladies to impress
It's easy to do, just follow these steps..

One ......... cut a hole in the box
Two ......... put your junk in that booxxxx!!!
Three ....... make her open that box
And that's the way you do it
IT'S MY DICK IN BOX!!!!

My dick in the box, bay-by!
It's my dick in the box!
Whoooooo My dick in the box, girrl

Christmas...dick in the box!
Hannakah...dick in the boooox!
Kawanza...a DICK in the box!
Every single holiday a dick in the box!

Over at your parents house, a dick in the box!
Mid-day at the grocery store, a dick in the box!
Backstage at the CMA's, a dick the boooox!!
Well, well, well, weeeeeeelll!
A DICK in the box!

Posted by andrew at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

In many ways the 3rd Ashes Test at the WACA in Perth was one of the most remarkable I've ever seen, or rather listened to--I was listening over the Net. Australia won by 206 runs giving them an unbeatable margin in the 2006 Ashes series that will see them regain the Ashes after losing them 400 odd days ago in their tour of England. But that only tells a tiny part of the story. Again, I know you don't care, but I do, so please, bear with me.

Australia were in to bat first, which is normally a recipe for success, but they only managed 244, a minimal total for a team accustomed to putting up 500 for the first innings. The Aussies scored 602 and 513 in the first two Tests respectively on the way to victory. So the paltry 244 gave the tourists hope that they could stave off the inevitable. Hussy top scored with 74 but didn't get much help from his teammates as Panesar and Harmison took 9 wickets between them. Things were looking up for England. That is, until they went into bat and contrived to give the game away.

England's response of 215 wouldn't be remarkable except for the final pair. Pietersen put on a stalwart 70 but when his wicket fell, England were 9 for 175 facing a considerable 1st innings deficit and predictable loss of the Ashes. Then 11th man Monty Panesar strode to the wicket and the unlikely pairing of Monty and Harmison put on 40 runs for the final wicket, easily the largest partnership of the innings, something I don't believe I have ever seen. So England could have folded up their tent and gone home, but they were putting up a fight and by the time innings finished they found themselves behind by on 29 runs, a virtual tie. Then everything went wrong

Aussies roared back into form in the second innings, putting up a massive 527 for 5 declared, an astonishing 2nd innings total more than doubling the output of the previous innings. Gilchrst, Clarke and Hussy all put centuries while Hatden added 92. The total put England in serious jeopardy. The declaration left England 6+ sessions to score the runs, more than enough time, but England lacks the firepower to muster such a large total. Defending for more than 8 hours to hope for a draw with Shane Warne bearing down on them was always going to be an impossible task.

You have to put Australia's 2nd innings in context. Of the course of the history of cricket, the natural progression is for innings totals to decrease in the 2nd innings. Why? Well because the wicket, the playing surface tends to deteriorate over the course of the match which gives the bowling side a huge advantage. Plus the pressure of a chase makes it difficult for a trailing team to sustain the concentration needed over a long time to produce the runs while not losing wickets. This is why the record second innings chase is somewhere in the mid 300s. so Australia's 527, while not in the chase, is still an astounding total.

Part of that total including the rather brisk work of wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist who put up his century for a mere 57 balls, only the second fastest ton in the history of Test cricket, a history that goes back more than 100 years.

Gilchrist barely missed the world record of 56 balls set by scintillating West Indian Viv Richards against England at St. Johns in 1985-86. He also broke the record for the most runs in a six-ball over in an Ashes series when he plundered 24 off Monty Panesar. Simply astounding.

So England were looking up at an almost insurmountable total. The first innings lead of 29 had been augmented with 527 more runs leaving England needing more than 550 runs for victory and to stave of the loss of the Ashes for another Test. Everyone, including me, suspected England would fold quietly. And our thoughts were ratified when Strauss was adjudged out LBW for a duck to Brett Lee in the first over. At stumps on Day 3, they were 1/19 with 6 sessions remaining. But in the morning, Cook and Bell put on 170 for the 2nd wicket and when Bell finally succumbed to Shane Warne, amazingly England were 1/170, still needing a massive total, but not without hope, at least for a draw.

Collingwood was only able to manage 15 for the 3rd wicket, but the arrival of Pieterson brought with it the idea that England could hang on. They managed to put so, putting on runs at a slow but steady rate, frustrating the Aussies until the final handful of overs when Cook and night watchman Hoggard fell in quick succession. England finished day 4 at 5 for 265 which must have been incredibly disheartening since they easily could have been 3 for 265 which would have made all the difference. So needing just under 300 runs, it never was going to be an easy task, but it would have been far more realistic with 7 wickets in hand instead of just 5. A fresh Cook alongside a stalwart Pieterson would have been an imposing force and England, while daring to dream for victory, could easily sniff a draw.

But it wasn't to be. With only 5 wickets in hand, the English tail didn't put up the fight of the first innings losing Jones, Harmison, Mahmood and Panesar for the addition of only 5 runs while Pieterson looked on hopelessly from the non-strikers end as the Ashes melted away.

The Aussies celebrated the "Return of the Urn" vigorously, as you would expect and now we're onto the traditional Boxing Day Test in Melbourne at the MCG. Sadly, it won't have any meaning as far as the series is concerned, but it's always a great event for me and brings a flood of memories of my time in Melbourne. I went to the Boxing Day Test in 1993 against South Africa. It was Springboks first post Apartheid tour of Australia, but the Test was a wash and the typically horrendous Melbourne weather pissed down on the MCG and erased the first two days. I went on the 3rd day and saw Mark Waugh hit a 6, which was the highlight of my short-lived cricket watching experience. There might have been a few hundred fans in a stadium that easily holds 95,000. It was eerie.

*A day or two late, hopefully not a dollar short

Posted by andrew at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Why they deny the Holocaust

On top of nearly constant anti-Semitic propaganda, much of the Muslim world hasn't even heard of it.
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali

AYAAN HIRSI ALI, a Somali immigrant who served in the parliament of the Netherlands until earlier this year, is the author of "Infidel," an autobiography to be published in February.

ONE DAY IN 1994, when I was living in Ede, a small town in Holland, I got a visit from my half-sister. She and I were both immigrants from Somalia and had both applied for asylum in Holland. I was granted it; she was denied. The fact that I got asylum gave me the opportunity to study. My half-sister couldn't.

In order for me to be admitted to the university I wanted to attend, I needed to pass three courses: a language course, a civics course and a history course. It was in the preparatory history course that I, for the first time, heard of the Holocaust. I was 24 years old at that time, and my half-sister was 21.

In those days, the daily news was filled with the Rwandan genocide and ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. On the day that my half-sister visited me, my head was reeling from what happened to 6 million Jews in Germany, Holland, France and Eastern Europe.

I learned that innocent men, women and children were separated from each other. Stars pinned to their shoulders, transported by train to camps, they were gassed for no other reason than for being Jewish.

I saw pictures of masses of skeletons, even of kids. I heard horrifying accounts of some of the people who had survived the terror of Auschwitz and Sobibor. I told my half-sister all this and showed her the pictures in my history book. What she said was as awful as the information in my book.

With great conviction, my half-sister cried: "It's a lie! Jews have a way of blinding people. They were not killed, gassed or massacred. But I pray to Allah that one day all the Jews in the world will be destroyed."

She was not saying anything new. As a child growing up in Saudi Arabia, I remember my teachers, my mom and our neighbors telling us practically on a daily basis that Jews are evil, the sworn enemies of Muslims, and that their only goal was to destroy Islam. We were never informed about the Holocaust.

Later, as a teenager in Kenya, when Saudi and other Persian Gulf philanthropy reached us, I remember that the building of mosques and donations to hospitals and the poor went hand in hand with the cursing of Jews. Jews were said to be responsible for the deaths of babies and for epidemics such as AIDS, and they were believed to be the cause of wars. They were greedy and would do absolutely anything to kill us Muslims. If we ever wanted to know peace and stability, and if we didn't want to be wiped out, we would have to destroy the Jews. For those of us who were not in a position to take up arms against them, it was enough for us to cup our hands, raise our eyes heavenward and pray to Allah to destroy them.

Western leaders today who say they are shocked by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's conference this week denying the Holocaust need to wake up to that reality. For the majority of Muslims in the world, the Holocaust is not a major historical event that they deny. We simply do not know it ever happened because we were never informed of it.

The total number of Jews in the world today is estimated to be about 15 million, certainly no more than 20 million. On the other hand, the world's Muslim population is estimated to be between 1.2 billion and 1.5 billion. And not only is this population rapidly growing, it is also very young.

What's striking about Ahmadinejad's conference is the (silent) acquiescence of mainstream Muslims. I cannot help but wonder: Why is there no counter-conference in Riyadh, Cairo, Lahore, Khartoum or Jakarta condemning Ahmadinejad? Why are the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference silent on this?

Could the answer be as simple as it is horrifying: For generations, the leaders of these so-called Muslim countries have been spoon-feeding their populations a constant diet of propaganda similar to the one that generations of Germans (and other Europeans) were fed — that Jews are vermin and should be dealt with as such? In Europe, the logical conclusion was the Holocaust. If Ahmadinejad has his way, he shall not want for compliant Muslims ready to act on his wish.

The world needs to be informed again and again about the Holocaust — not only in the interest of the Jews who survived and their offspring but in the interest of humanity.

This is very instructive to help understand why the deniers deny. There's no real excuse for it, but if you going to have one, I suppose ignorance is as good as any as a starting point to being to understand the roots of this problem

Hirsi Ali is a fascinating individual. Her Wikipedia entry makes an interesting read.

thanks to Jason for sending this to me.

*Ignorance is not bliss

Posted by andrew at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I woke up this morning and there was ice on my windshield. Not frost, but ice. I'm not adverse to the cold. I'm against this dry cold. If it's going to be this cold, it must snow.

Posted by andrew at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I received an update from Kiva this morning from one of the loans I helped fund, Tienda Ronny, a going concern run by Elsy Santana Guayaquil, Ecuador:

Elsy emprendedora muy trabajadora. Su crédito lo invertirá en la compra de inventarios para atender a la comunidad de su sector. Ella espera en un futuro tener un negocio mas grande para así generar ingresos suficientes para el bienestar familiar. Su financiamiento en estos momentos es de mucha importancia para su visión, les agradece a toda la comunidad Kiva solidaria por la noble gestión en la lucha contra la pobreza.

I don't read the Espanyol so well, so I went over to Babelfish, still one of the most useful sites on the web to get a translation:

Enterprising Elsy very worker. Its credit will invest it in the purchase of inventories to take care of the community of its sector. It hopes in a future to have a great business but thus to generate sufficient income for the familiar well-being. Its financing at the moment is of much importance for its vision, is thankful to them to all shared in common the Kiva community by the noble management in the fight against the poverty.

Okay, so it's not a perfect translation, but I get the idea. It's very exciting for me to get updates like this. I can't wait to see more from Elsy and the several other entrepreneurs around the world whose businesses I'm now a part of.

I cannot express enough how import microfinance is fighting global poverty. The people who give out the Nobel prizes know this. They just presented Muhammed Younis, the founder of microfinance from Bangladesh with the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

It's really simple to get involved. Just go kiva.org and sign up. And remember this is not a donation or grant or a gift of any kind. This is loan to responsible business and you will be giving the money with the expectation that your loan will be repaid. You won't earn interest, but you will earn a tremendous amount of good will and feeling that even a little effort can go long, long way.

Posted by andrew at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the benefits of insomnia is that it allows you time to tackle lingering problems that have heretofore gone unaddressed, such as the irksome line break issue in the comments whereas the lines would not break despite all the willing them to do so that I could muster up. I poked around and finally discovered the problem. Somewhere in the code, an attribute called "convert_breaks" was set to 0 and it should have been set to 1. This was overriding the settings I was giving the blog in the admin tool. Oh, well, it's over. Our long international line breaking nightmare is over. I did it for Johnny.

*No virgins were sacrificed in the solving of this problem

Posted by andrew at 03:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I don't know what's going on. I can't sleep again. Same thing as two nights ago. I feel asleep earlier on the couch watching a Flash training video (if anything will put you to sleep..), but then when I went up to bed, nothing. And I was exhausted. Could barely drag my sorry ass up the stairs. At least it's been raining all night which means desparetely needed snow.

Posted by andrew at 03:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is this worse than the Dennis Miller era? You bet. Is ESPN going to do anything about it? Don't count on it. Will I continue to watch Monday Night Football? Most likely...

The trio of announcers that ESPN has calling MNF, the corner stone of broadcasting our national sport (sorry, baseball, time to wake up and smell reality), is a nothing but a pure joke. The show is really in shambles. I like Mike Tirico. What's not to like? But he screams golf. Tony Kornheiser is a buffoon. Joe Theismann? He was a couragous, undersized, overachieving quarterback, but as a broadcaster, he needs to be euthanized. Sad to say, but this group worse than ESPN's previous crew for Sunday Night Football of Mike Patrick, the aforementioned QB and the waste of space Paul MacGuire. These guys make the NFL Network crew of Bryant Gumble and Chris Collingworth like Jackson and Fouts.

Now why I even bothering with this tirade? Because I care about football and I care about broadcasting. ABC, the former home of MNF, the home of the classiest most intelligent announcers (with some notable exceptions) which should be the home of all major sporting events. They never should have given up MNF to ESPN. Never.

Ironically last year's MNF team, Al Michaels and John Madden, probably the best in the history of football, were lured away from ABC and now rule Sunday Night Football. ABC's loss of Al Michaels is really a loss for America. Even if Michaels ends up back in the NBC monopolized Olympics where he belongs, the Oympics belongs on ABC which takes sport seriously and not on that touchy bullshit tape delay crap that NBC spoon feeds every other year.

*Da-Da-Da-Da! Duh-nuh-Nuh-nuh-Nuh-nuh!

Posted by andrew at 10:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More than 50% of Americans have a "negative" or "highly negative" view of people who don't believe in God. 70% think it important for presidential candidates to be "strongly religious."

"A person who believes that Elvis is still alive is very unlikely to get promoted to a position of great power and responsibility in our society. Neither will a person who believes that the holocaust was a hoax. But people who believe equally irrational things about God and the bible are now running our country. This is genuinely terrifying."

44% of Americans think Jesus Christ will return in the next 50 years. (22% are "certain" that he will, another 22% think he "probably" will.)

"According to the most common interpretation of biblical prophecy, Jesus will return only after things have gone horribly awry. Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency."

Only 28% of Americans believe in evolution (and two-thirds of these believe evolution was "guided by God"). 53% are actually creationists.

"Despite a full century of scientific insights attesting to the antiquity of the earth, more than half of our neighbors believe that the entire cosmos was created six thousand years ago. This is, incidentally, about a thousand years after the Sumerians invented glue."

87% of Americans say they "never doubt the existence of God."

"Had the residents of New Orleans been content to rely on the beneficence of the Lord, they wouldn't have known that a killer hurricane was bearing down upon them until they felt the first gusts of wind on their faces, but a poll conducted by The Washington Post found that 80% of Katrina survivors claim that the event has only strengthened their faith in God."

28% of Americans believe that every word of the Bible is literally true. 49% believe that it is the "inspired word" of God.

"We read the Golden Rule and judge it to be a brilliant distillation of many of our ethical impulses. And then we come across another of God's teachings on morality: if a man discovers on his wedding night that his bride is not a virgin, he must stone her to death on her father's doorstep (Deuteronomy 22:13-21)."

80% of Americans expect to be called before God on Judgment Day to answer for their sins. 90% believe in heaven. 77% rate their chances of going to heaven as "excellent" or "good."

"In the year 2006, a person can have sufficient intellectual and material resources to build a nuclear bomb and still believe that he will get seventy-two virgins in Paradise. Western secularists, liberals, and moderates have been very slow to understand this. The cause of their confusion is simple: they don't know what is like to really believe in God."

65% of Americans believe in the literal existence of Satan. 73% believe in Hell.

"It is terrible that we all die and lose everything we love; it is doubly terrible that so many human beings suffer needlessly while alive. That so much of this suffering can be directly attributed to religion-to religious hatreds, religious wars, religious delusions and religious diversions of scarce resources-is what makes atheism a moral and intellectual necessity."

83% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. (11% disbelieve. 6% don't know.)

"The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive."

These are quotes from Sam Harris' new book, Letter to a Christian Nation, written in response to feedback he received following the publication of his first book . I read the former over the weekend (it's quite concise) and finished the latter last week. Both are at the same time frightening and heartening.

They are frightening because Sam Harris in his brilliant points out the quite obvious problem that many of the most important decisions being made in the world today are being made by people who firmly believe their holy books are the literal word of god. They are heartening because Sam Harris is articulating what many people like me who live in a reality based world where evidence trumps faith is leading the charge against the dark age thinking that drives this country and much of the rest of the world.

One of the main problems with faith, and there are so many, is that the underlying beliefs are used to justify some of the most egregious affronts to humanity--the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Inquisition, suicide bombing. Each of these has a single common thread--they have been justifyed in the mind of the perpetrators by a firm belief that they were doing god's will.

Mr. Harris writes with far more eloquence and intelligence on this topic than I will ever be able to muster. I urge you to Check is books out of the library, go down to you local book monger or today.

And to the 50% of Americans have a "negative" or "highly negative" of my atheism, I say, wholeheartedly, FUCK YOU. My faith that your belief system is irrational and dangerous will never kill a single human being. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU.

*Irony

Posted by andrew at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

So I never confronted the manager who gave me the gift card with the missing money. I was never going to. I just thought it was funny. I decided I was going to spend the money and I was going to buy a rack for my car, something I've been eyeing for a long time. I had originally decided to buy one from REI, but at the last minute I decided to go to the Sports Basement in the city, just to go into the city. I got the address off the Internet, but when I arrived at the place, there was a hand drawn sign saying the store had moved. I sort of got lost in Potrero Hill trying to find the new store. I passed by a boutique pet shop and stopped to check it (bought new collars for the cats). As it was getting dark, I found the Sports Basement. I found a parking spot right in front. I walked up to the front door. There was woman standing there who asked me if I wanted a 20% percent coupon. She was shopping, but couldn't find anything she wanted. Sure. I'll take it. How lucky that turned out to.

If I had the right address, I wouldn't have run into this woman and I wouldn't have gotten the coupon. If I didn't stop at the pet store, I wouldn't have run into this woman and I wouldn't have gotten the coupon. If I had gone to REI as I originally planned, I wouldn't have run into this woman and I wouldn't have gotten the coupon.

But I did, I did and I didn't. And I got the coupon.

Now fucking racks are expensive. I went with Thule, because Sports Basement only carries Thule, but the two brands are basically the same. They both sell everything "a la carte". I had to buy a set of towers($130), two load bars($57), a set of locks ($50), a set of plastic caps for the load bars ($4) and a farring($53). That's 293 bucks before you ever buy a hunk of metal that holds your gear. Add a single bike rack ($90 and a ski/snowboard rack($120) and we're well over the $500 bucks of my gift card (actually $494.05 if we're being far.

But, add in a 20% discount and I saved 100 bucks. It allowed me to buy a new ski jacket and get the rack for the dough on the card and 35 bucks. Not bad. Now if I can just figure out how to the rack on the fricken car, I'd really have something (and if it snowed, I might be able to wear the jacket).

*I don't actually believe in karma.

Posted by andrew at 09:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Iran opens Holocaust conference

By Associated Press Monday, December 11, 2006 - Updated: 09:12 AM EST

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran on Monday opened a conference that it said would examine whether the Holocaust took place, claiming the meeting was an opportunity to discuss the World War II genocide in an atmosphere free of what it termed Western taboos.

The conference was initiated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has described the Holocaust as a "myth" and called for Israel to be wiped off the map. Even before it opened, the gathering was condemned by Germany, the United States and Israel.

The organizers, the Foreign Ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), say the two-day conference has drawn 67 foreign researchers from 30 countries.

In his opening speech, the institute's chief, Rasoul Mousavi, said the conference provided an opportunity to discuss "questions" about the Holocaust away from Western taboos and the restrictions imposed on scholars in Europe.In Germany, Austria and France, it is illegal to deny the Holocaust.

"This conference seeks neither to deny nor prove the Holocaust," Mousavi said. "It is just to provide an appropriate scientific atmosphere for scholars to offer their opinions in freedom about a historical issue."

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki dismissed the foreign criticism as "predictable," telling conference delegates in a speech that there was "no logical reason for opposing this conference."

"The objective for organizing this conference is to create an atmosphere to raise various opinions about a historical issue. We are not seeking to deny or prove the Holocaust," Mottaki said.

"If the official version of the Holocaust is thrown into doubt, then the identity and nature of Israel will be thrown into doubt. And if, during this review, it is proved that the Holocaust was a historical reality, then what is the reason for the Muslim people of the region and the Palestinians having to pay the cost of the Nazis’ crimes?" Mottaki said.

In Israel, the official Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, issued a statement condemning the Tehran conference as an attempt to "paint (an) extremist agenda with a scholarly brush."

"The Iranian governments pseudo-academic conference, 'Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision,' is an effort to mainstream Holocaust denial and must be unequivocally rejected," Yad Vashem said Monday.

The leading Israeli novelist and peace activist, Amos Oz, denounced the meeting.

"I think the conference in Iran is a sick joke, and I hope it will be received with revulsion and disgust everywhere in the world," Oz said.

Among the participants were the prominent French holocaust-denier, Robert Faurisson, and six members of the group Jews United Against Zionism, who were dressed in the traditional long black coats and black hats of orthodox Jews.

The Jews, two of whom said they were rabbis, came from the United States, Britain and Austria.

The conference was expected to receive a message from President Ahmadinejad, who has said that the killing of six million Jews by the Nazi German regime during World War II was a "myth" and "exaggerated."

The president has repeatedly questioned why the Holocaust has been used to justify the creation of Israel at the cost of Palestinian lands - a view popular among Iranian hard-liners.

Iran has spent months preparing for the conference, even publicizing it during the September visit to Tehran of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who contradicted his hosts by saying the Holocaust was a historical fact and that an exhibition of anti-Holocaust cartoons, then on display in the city, promoted hatred.

*My grandfather was the only member of his family to survive Ahmadinejad's myth

Posted by andrew at 09:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been sleeping reasonably well lately, but I have a long history of insomnia and tonight, it doesn't matter what I do or how long I toss and turn, I cannot get to sleep. It's such a curse. I don't even know how long I should be trying before I give up. Tonight I tossed and turned for about 3 hours before I gave up.

Posted by andrew at 03:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I first heard about the memorial on NPR and it was just strange to hear a news story about something so close in a town I pass all the time. The jist of the storaty was not that the memorial was that, but that it was causing contoversy. I don't really see it. Maybe it's because I was against this war from the beginning, like most sensible people who saw it for what it was. But it seem to me that if you're against this war memorial, you'd have to be against every war memorial. You'd have to be against the WWII memorial on the National Mall, and the Viethnam memorial and the Korean War Memorial in the same place, and, well, all of Arlington National Cemetary which is essentially a massive war memorial. You get the point.

The controversy stems not from the memorial itself. It doesn't take ad absurdum logic to see that. The ontroversy is because of the poltical viewpoint of the people who erectred the memorial. See, it's ok to put u
p a memorial, but only if you support the war being memorialzied.

I have on Flickr

Posted by andrew at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Fil's on the job

Posted by andrew at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You know, we live in the digital age. We have so many options, so much media streaming into homes, digital cable, braodband internet, iPods, etc, so there's no reason ever to see something like this:

Due to rights restrictions, the ABC is only able to offer the audio stream of its Ashes coverage to users within Australia.

If you have come to this page it means you are trying to access the stream from an IP address which suggests you are outside Australia. However, via the Cricket Australia website, you can access the ABC Grandstand Cricket call of the action. But please note, there is a charge for this service.

Please note, it is possible that you have been referred to this page even though you are in Australia. If that is the case, it has occurred because your IP address - that is, your computer's Internet identity - is not registered as Australia. This could happen, for example, if you work for a company which sources its IT infrastructure from another country.

If this is the case we are unable to offer you access to the stream. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.

What makes it worse is that right now, Australia is chasing a modest total of 100 runs with 8 wickets in hand and 23 overs to be bowled on the 5th day of the 2nd Ashes Test in Adelaide. I think they're going to make it even though the Aussies are traditionally not great in the chase. With the wickets in hand, the number of overs to be bowled and Ricky Ponting at the crease, I wouldn't bet against them.

Sadly, with no radio feed to listen to and no TV coverage in the States, I'm reduced to "watching" written ball by ball by commentary. It's pathetic.

UPDATE I went around the Aussie firewall and found an ABC feed on Penguin Radio. Aussies are finishing strong. Time to kick back, crack open a Cascade, a Carlton or a XXXX and soak up the cricket, a rare pleasure these days.

UPDATE*Ponting out on 49, just short of another half-century. This could put the brakes on the Aussies inevitable march to victory. Damien Matyn coming to crease. Aussies need 52 to win at 116/3. I have a bad feeling. Martyn is fine player, but I can remember him letting the Aussies down back when I lived in Australia in the 93 Test series against South Africa. He couldn't hold up the tail and Fast Farnie de Villiers(10 for 123) scuttled Australia win 5 runs to spare at the SCG and tied the series -- Before I could finish writing this, Martyn is out. Amazing. Simply Amazing, Martyn out for 5 on 4 balls. 4 for 121. Aussies need 47 to win. Fookin' Amazin', mate.

UPDATE**Michael Clarke arrives at the crease having made a century in the 1st innings. Still 4 for 121. Are the Aussies about to collapse? The rate is 3.61. Not a hard ask, but the Aussies can't afford to lose to many more wickets or this is going to be a real nail biter. Who am I kidding? Thiis is a nail biter. It's rare to have matches this close. Rare for me, anyway. It's going to come down to the wire. It's hard to relax with Australian wickets falling all over the place.

UPDATE***Clarke's arrival has settled the Aussies down. Mike Hussey has brought up his second half-century of the match with 7 off the last over. It's going to take a monumntal collapse by Australia to not take a 2-0 series lead. 16 runs needs. 6 wickets in hand. 7+ overs remaing. It's all but over. This has been a very odd Test. England batted first and put up 551/6 declared. That's a huge 1st innings run total to eventually lose. The worst you'd expect is a draw. But with the Test in it's death throes, it looks like England's massive 1st innings (and Collingwood's double century) are going to be wasted. England started the day at 59 for the loss of one wicket, all but assured of victory, but they imploded and were bowled out for 129, scoring at barely a run an over. Warne was simply briliant, bowling 4 for 29, 12 maidens in 32 overs that included bowling double-centurian Collingwood for 2. The Aussies were set 168 for 37 and seem to on their way to making it. There will lots of disappointed cricket fans in England when they wake up in the morning. Aussies need 10 runs from 5 overs. You do the match. They'll probably manage it in 2 or 3. Seems inevitable at this point. I'm psyched at the impending Aussie victory, but even more so that I was able to listen to the final overs. I wish nothing more than I could be in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test. It's hard to believe that I haven't been there in over 10 years.

UPDATE****Oh, no, the radio feed gone dead. I'm gone to miss the delerium at the Adeliade Oval. Fuck. Real Player is spitting out a hiigh pitched whine and it's freaking the cats out. Back to the written commentary, I suppose.

UPDATE****It's Over. Australia has done it. Here's the full scorecard, if you care, which I doubt. I know only one person who reads this sitewho gives one shit about cricket. Sorry, Phil. Better luck in Sydney. Here's how the winning runs were "broadcasts" on Cricinfo:

32.5 Anderson to Hussey, 1 run, that's it ... Hussey drives through extra cover and punches the air and jumps around as well he might. Australia, seemingly down and out after two days, have recorded a remarkable win. Handshakes all round, and the grinning Australians emerge from the pavilion to meet the hangdog English side at the boundary edge ...

Aussies by 6 wickets. Andrew to brush teeth, hit sack. G'night

Posted by andrew at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Posted by andrew at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been playing around with video compression and Flash. It's somewhat tricky to put it together, but when it works, it's pretty damn amazing stuff. Let me know how it works for you, especially if you're on a slower connection.

Posted by andrew at 02:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)