Accountability

The Navy had a fire on the USS George Washington that injured 37 did $70 M in damage and put the ship in the dockyard for a while. See a story here. Turns out it was smoking that caused the fire. The crew is ashore waiting for the ship to be repaired. The Captain and the XO are relieved. Probably they will retire very soon. The Navy holds the CO responsible for pretty much anything and everything that happens on the ship. They get fired first.

Here on Redstone Arsenal we had a major security breach. A women fleeing local police turned onto a road that only goes to the Arsenal. She drove through the gate without being stopped and made it across two thirds of the base. Unfortunately she stopped due to an accident and killed a NASA worker. The Army did an investigation and said that improvements to security will be made. The Base Commander, an O6 like the CO and XO of the Washington, retired. Nobody was relieved, or fired, or punished as far as anyone can tell. The gate guards will get more training. I waste 20-30 minutes a day due to the gate and the fact I need to stop and have my badge checked. That type of security obviously buys nothing. The person could have driven on with a large bomb and killed a lot more than one person. Accountability.

Long Day of Mundane Tasks at Work

Pretentious Blogging

I think it is safe to say that Bloggers are a little self-absorbed, or why would they blog? One blog I go to the proprietor posts his bio and head shot at the bottom of every post. I guess that helps him when people come from Memeorandum to a specific post. To me it seems a little pretentious, but perhaps this guy is trying to get work out of it.

Dead Italian Marxist Intellectual Comments on US Politics

Until today the City of Denver planned to supply the Democratic National Committee with tax free gas in support of their convention to be held later this year. That has changed when it was pointed that not only it was unfair, but illegal. See this story for more on that. Of interest most of the comments on the article are against this. The person most vocal in support of the DNC is a gentleman called Antonio Gramsci. He is a famous Italian Marxist scholar of the early Twentieth Century. He is quite dead thanks to the Il Duce. It is not just a coincidence of names as the photo the commentator uses is of Signore Gramsci. It is a weird world. For more on Gramsci see this.

Since When Is An Ad Welcoming?

If you go from a Google search to an article on Forbes.com you get a "Welcome Screen" before you get to the actual page. This is an ad. Somehow this is considered welcoming? I hope they make some money off of this as I am sure it upsets their readers.

Desktop

Where's Dagwood?

According to Twittermap I am somewhere in Austria. Near Salzburg actually, a place I haven't been since 1987. Lovely town, birthplace of Mozart and all that, but I haven't left the Western Hemisphere in 17 years.

See photo below:

Edmunds on Cheap Sports Car Comparisom

I just purchased a Mazdaspeed3. Here is Edmund's latest comparison of it to a WRX and the new Lancer Ralliart. Mazdaspeed3 wins going away, but based on price alone it would dominate.

The Kings

Not only is this a great video of a great early Eighties song, but it is great because the guy who made it did a mash up of various clips almost seamlessly. Much more on The Kings.

Scary Computer Crime

This must be the nightmare of any CIO. One of San Francisco's administrators decided to take over their main network. He locked everyone out but himself. No details on why he did it: ego, blackmail, power?

Arsenal

I haven' written much about the off season as the transfer market is a mess. Half of the team are leaving, and Arsenal will sign every big name out there. They lost Flamini, but gained Nasri, so a good trade there. If Hleb leaves they will sign some sort of mid-fielder. If Abdeyor leaves, well there are a lot of people out there, but the need Eduardo and van Persie to be able to play. The first games are starting and there is a lot more to happen so we will see. For a summary of the transfer market see this.

Alabama and California

My brother from California came to visit and wrote this post about the differences. The funny thing is that outside of Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Auburn; Huntsville is about as Democratic as it gets in Alabama. He would need to drive out to the small towns, which is the majority of the state, to see the real Alabama. Huntsville is a freak of government as if in 1941 the Army hadn't decided to build a chemical munitions factory in Huntsville none of the NASA or Army work would exist. Huntsville would then be like any of the other larger, agriculture and manufacturing based cities scattered across the state. The city is skewed as there is a lot of military and former military working here and they tend to not be much like the people in San Francisco or Berkley (hard to imagine, I know). It is safe to say that guns, God and pick up trucks tend to be the rule. Of course one could argue that it is up to San Francisco to become more like the rest of the US, that it is the outlier and they are the ones missing out. Oh well. Illustration, here is one of my favorite stories about the USMC protests in Berkeley.

Horrific Bus Accident

I don't know about you but stories like this give me the willies. I can picture it happening, and it is not a pretty site.

iPhone 3G

I would like to get a new iPhone. I didn't try today and I am glad I didn't with all the reported problems. Maybe one day next week I will go get one, but I thought at least I could update my iPod Touch. No go on that to date, I cannot find it on the iTunes store despite it telling me I can buy it. Really frustrating!!

Random and Senseless Cat Video

Another Mortgage Nonstory

This story on CNNMoney.com is supposed to be about how a grandmother's life was destroyed because she couldn't pay here mortgage. I am supposed to feel sorry for her. If you read it you will find out she is an illegal immigrant who got an ARM that she couldn't afford unless her entire family lived with her. When the payments went up she defaulted. The bank should never have loaned her the money, the realtor shouldn't have got her a no doc loan, and she shouldn't have got the house. Now you and I will probably use our tax dollars to bail out the bank.

Aftermath of the Storm

Lake and streams after storm this afternoon.

Army National Guard Issue

While it is honorable for this family to serve, one would have to question the policy that allows 2 sons and a daughter-in-law to be in the same unit, let alone deploy together to Afghanistan. One lucky IED and the family takes a severe loss. See this article for more.

My Two Mazdas

Some photos of my two Mazdas, a 2002 Protege5 and a 2008 Mazdaspeed3.

Mazdaspeed3

In full mid-life crisis mode I bought a Mazdaspeed3 on Saturday. I don't have any pictures or video yet as I have been out of town, so here is a YouTube video of a review from CarReview.com.

Hell May Freeze Over

Not only are the Devil Rays in first place in the AL East, but they have the best record in baseball. The world has turned upside down. See this for more.