Friday, October 31, 2008

Who Edits Wikipedia?

Wikiscanner is a site that allows you to find out who has been editing Wikipedia. For kicks I looked at what people coming from The Washington Post ip addresses are editing. The results page is here. It is kind of interesting. Either people who work for the Post are tasked with going into Wikipedia and fixing spelling errors and so on, or a lot of their employees are doing it just for fun. Of course they could be doing it after work hours, or at home using Post laptops I guess.

It might be they research articles here and while they are there they fix things, such as the spelling of "minuscule" in an article on Anilox.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

2010 Mazdaspeed3

I have a 2009.5 Mazdaspeed3. This site was able to get some photos of the 2010 model undergoing testing in Germany. It looks very different as they have smoothed out the nose, this requires a hood scoop to route the air to the intercooler. I love my car, but I think this one looks better with the scoop. Most amazing is that they say that Mazda is trying to get the weight down 25%. The car already weighs very little considering.

See more at Mazda3revolution.com.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Intellectual Argument

Steve Sailer has at his blog a complete takedown of Paul Krugman's column on why bubbles should not necessarily be followed by downturns. See the post here. One of the comments is classic, though, in discussing the different schools of thought on economics:

"In this particular case, I find it extra amusing that he is attacking Austrians for lacking stringency. Well, they do lack it, but this coming from an ultra-Keynesian?!? They don’t have any coherent model of the business cycle either. The only guys that have coherent models are the neoclassical, and their models are obviously wrong (newkensians have models too, but they are not very good, they get their results by cheating, such as assuming all firms are monopolies, rather than tying actual patterns we observe to their results)."

I love it when you have arguments like that. As someone who has studied history and historiography; schools of thought arguments are very much part and parcel.

Arsenal Choke

Arsenal had a perfect opportunity to move up to at least a tie with Chelsea for second in the Premiership with a 4-2 lead over Tottenham tonight. Unfortunatley they let them back in to draw 4-4. Arsenal now sits at third after Chelsea beat Hull as well. Arsenal needs to beat Stoke next week and then play well against Man U after that. Unfortunately the young team doesn't seem to have a killer instinct this year in the Premiership. They dominate their Champions League opponents, but don't do the same in the UK. Admittedly it had to be one of Aluminia's worst games. We will see.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Obama and the Constitution

In a 2001 radio show Obama said this about the Bill of Rights: "it says what the states can't do to you, it says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf." For someone who claimed to be a Constitutional Law Professor he seems to have little understanding of why the BoR was written. It was put in the Constitution to limit the powers of Government by writing down the rights a person has.

In the Constitution the Preamble, to me, kind of states what the Federal Government must do on your behalf.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Don't Offend the Friends of Obama

If you dare criticize Obama expect government officials to illegally access your information so that it can be provided to the media. Ohio has launched three investigations as to why "Joe the Plumber's" records were accessed by state computers within hours of the last debate. It is bad enough the media will do this, but government officials are not allowed by law. I doubt anybody will be convicted or punished, but it shows how in the tank some people are for the Savior.

See the Columbus Dispatch.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Arsenal Dominate

Arsenal beat Fenerbache 5-2 this afternoon in a day of high scoring Champion League games. Arsenal continues to rack up the goals in the tournament while being inconsistent in the Premiership. All of the Premier teams did well today and the final group will most likely have 50% or more of UK teams.

Monday, October 20, 2008

More Geek Humor

The Big Bang Theory is funny, but inconsistent, as they try and actually like have a plot and all that. The short, geeky bits are hilarious though. Here is the World of Warcraft Scene melding nerds and their alternate realities.

Arsenal Win

Arsenal are in fourth place in the Premiership after beating Everton 3-1 on Saturday. Hull United are in third. It looked bad for Arsenal after Everton went up 1-0 in the first half, but some substitutions later it was 3-1 Arsenal. Of course, Wenger had to put in players he was resting for the Champions League match this week in Turkey. We will see how all that goes.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sparkman High Band at Hoover Invitational Contest

Here is the video of their great performance.

Raiders Win

A struggling team gets a win anyway they can. Relying on Janikowski to make a 57 yd field goal in overtime is not a way to win often but it worked today. It didn't help that the Raiders dropped a pass on 3rd down that would have got them at least another ten yards to make it less nerve wracking, but a win is a win. The Raiders are now 2-4 and are much better then KC, Detroit and Cincinnati.

Hoover Invitational Band Competition

Yesterday Sparkman participated in this. I will post video of their performance alter. Here are some photos from the other competitors.




Thursday, October 16, 2008

Smithereens Behind the Wall of Sleep

Smithereens greatest song. I saw them at the Bayou in 1992, now blown up sadly. Was not on any of their albums after they made it big in 1990+.

Watching Watching The Kings The Beat Goes On

Monday, October 13, 2008

Future Socialism in the US

If this is the kind of idea that the Obama administration is going to throw out you may as well start nationalizing everything. Obama calls for 90-day moratorium on foreclosures. There is certainly no impetus to try and run a business with this kind of governance.

Oh yeah, it makes me feel like an idiot for paying my mortgage every month. One payment and I could have the 50"+ flatscreen I have always wanted.

Comment Spam

If you didn't know I write the DefenseProcurementNews.com site as well, which is about a 100 times more popular then this one. I get significant comment spam there which I have to wade through every day. Most of them are porn or prescription drug related. Today we hit the big time with "pornstar soma" as comment spam melding the two memes.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Price of Gas

I have just spent the last week in Walt Disney World. While there I didn't have internet and tried not to watch the news so for a week I really didn't pay attention to anything. The price of gas during the trip was interesting. When we left HSV it was about $3.60 and that is what we paid on the trip south through Alabama and Florida. When we got to Disney their gas station was bout $3.50. It was $3.35 when we left. On the local news by Thursday they were freaking out about a station charging $2.99. On the way home it varied between $3.60 and $3.09. At home it is now down to $2.91. I guess the economic crisis is good for a few things.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Trip to Disneyworld







We just completed a five day trip to Disneyworld. Hit all four parks with the Magic Kingdom twice. Here are a few selected shots:

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Arsenal - A Tale of Two Teams

Arsenal either loses by one or blows you out. Both losses in the Premiership have been by 1 goal on set plays, but Arsenal has several blowouts. Yesterday they beat Porto 4-0 putting them will in control of Group G. After a few days of agonizing over the size of their defense, they go and control the game and Robin Van Persie and Abedayor get 2 each. Hopefully this team will show up against Bolton.