A few items that caught my interest this week---starting with what's her name---ou know----McCain's running mate---well it seems she's stated she wants to have creationism taught in public schools---this is really, really what we need as a competitive creative society---a giant leap backward to the good old days of the dark ages. I'm sure she believes witch trials need a second look in 2009 as well...At least we have a real choice in voting this time and if the republicans are in power in 2009 we deserve what we get....this time.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/mccains-vp-want.html
Also for all you self-righteous gym workout rats out there looks like all your health bull----has worn out your joints ahead of time---making those who work out at 50 the new 70 year old---read this and weep......

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1050713/Regular-gym-visits-wear-hips-middle-age.html

A personal favorite is the recent recall of a million vehicles by GM for windshield wipers that can---are you ready for this----catch on fire----Please bear in mind this is the supposed company which, if ou listen to their ads, will save our society by producing the Chevy VOLT Electric Car...yet we have alittle problem with a million firestarter windshield wipers???

Weeks have been slipping by.

Have you ever experienced this?

A complete week that was filled to bursting with activity, in which one is so busy that you can not even remember what actually has occurred or what you somehow managed to accomplish. When you finally do receive a moment to stop and think you have no memory of the week at all.... it is life slipping away unnoticed. At 56 i cannot afford this---i cannot allow myself to randomly awaken from a week long coma--with no memory...i hate this.

Watches are explanations of people things to me. I am very attentive to the watches worn by characters in life and on film....It is a very rain man, Otaku part of my personality....The owner's conceptionalization of time...their acceptance of technology---or not---their vision of their personality--- are all displayed by the watch on the wrist...an interesting question is always "do you wear your watch when you sleep?" The watch is the piece of personal technology we 'operate' constantly. I just purchased a new watch---not a terribly expensive--but a watch to be worn as a memento...a marker, a reminder. Some get tattooed for this purpose---i buy watches.... The watch i chose may appear to be a let-down...no Omega Speedmaster, nor Rolex Submariner, but I like it, a black face Seiko chronograph the SNAB73-5. Everything a speedmaster has and more at one quarter of the price....
http://www.amazon.com/Seiko-Mens-Watches-Chronograph-SNAB73/dp/B0016CUCKO/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I37LFR2NBFR136&colid=1DRH6GFA2D2YJ

Give a few bucks to the panhandler on the corner, plant something just to see it grow, tell anyone you appreciate them, register to vote, watch good science fiction movies, organize your closet..and take care of yourself

This weekend I've been listening to Randy Newman pretty much nonstop---his best of CD---cause there are days when you just feel like Randy Newman's music in the background.... his style and his one of a kind voice just fits the day you're in---what a great lyric writer, although some folks are just too thick to get his stuff----but as he wrote in the song sail away:

"In America ya just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day it's great to be an American".
I'm instituting a new blog sub-section listing individuals who i believe rightly should burn in hell,I have a small problem tho. Since i can't advise that i really believe in hell, in the biblical sense that is....perhaps i can modify my position to suggest that the individuals i remark on within this category should be stranded in some type of hell like a young republican headquarters matrix simulation for all eternity....Mark David Chapman was in the news this week....up for parole...which he was denied. (thank you thank you thank you parole board for the denial) He killed John Lennon. May you burn in hell. You little shit.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/20/lennon.chapman.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

I practiced gliding today on my segway---I've been outta town and today was my first day riding in more than two weeks--so i am out there in public practicing again. Version 2.0 of the personal segway training program required me to ride around the block...so off i went...in the training turtle mode which was totally fine by me---i'm a turtle kinda guy. The first thing I noticed is that our public sidewalks SUCK. No wonder no one actually walks anywhere... I did great if i say so myself.---no one screamed GEEK at me or threw anything out of their SUV---but from what i understand it is somewhat to be expected from our current American society.....if it happens I'll live.... everyone who has spoken to me while I've been practicing out in front of the house has been supportive of the concept and thinks the HT is very cool....i am planning on remaining in the turtle training speed,it may just stay there...5mph for right now is plenty. Either that or i am truly such a strange old dude---

Sometimes i remember weird things from my past and focus on them..... I traveled an incredible amount overseas for about 10 years. Occasionally in conversation something about monkeys will come up at work or someone will send around one of those really suck things around on the computer featuring supposed cute monkeys----monkeys....and then i remember monkeys...how i hated monkeys....how dangerous monkeys were....what little bastards they are----how they throw shit at you...god I hate monkeys! When i attempt to tell my fellow Americans the truth about how disgusting and hateful monkeys truly are-------they stare at me, and make tut-tut-tut noises like i just ordered dolphin for dinner. Americans believe that all monkeys are like the ones they've seen on TV---cute little things that love hanging out with humans---blahblahblah---the average unassuming American loves monkeys---only because they've never really been around a shitty monkey----Personal vindication appears however in the form of a blog entry on how westerners can pre-identify a possible monkey attack when they are traveling where monkeys live.....and basically this guy hates monkeys at my level....take a quick read...the attack process is much like humans actually...monkeys suck!

http://www.slate.com/id/2176419/

The Chinese as a culture can be well---not such good guys...we all know this--look at the entire walmart culture that exists because of their slave like labor process....the Chinese are literally killing their environment and ours in their process of industrialization and last be not least lets talk about---Tibet---yes I'm one of those free Tibet people. I enjoy the concept of having a Dali Lama living high up in the mountains in Tibet just because he's just a pretty cool human and he covers a very important base for the human species if we really are an advanced species we should have a guy like this....so the Chinese definitely deserve hammering on many specific issues...I have recently reevaluated my overall standard position on China and their government...to an item by item posture rather than a broad overall concept since a culture and or government that sentences Airline executives to death cannot be truly be all that bad......can they?

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-08/24/content_6965604.htm

Just a few items on my way out:

I had the new record MPG commuting last week--36 miles at 56.9 miles per gallon in the Prius i can just about see and touch 60 miles per gallon--i hope this recent drop in gas prices fools no one...try to be smart and sell that suv now. Later today i off to buy my first real blank canvas---to try and do art for our living room--alittle scared about it but hey it's just art the idea is to be free right? Tell somebody you work with how you appreciate them....give money to the homeless guy...it works better than capitalistic charities...listen to a variety of music you've never listened to before...read...write your thoughts down in a notebook...pay attention to the power of attraction in the universe---vote democratic.

One of the best of the under appreciated top five films on my list is the movie I.Q.

.......http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_(film) What could possibly be better in a film ---Einstein--Godel--auto mechanics-- 50's clothes, cars, Meg Ryan---love and Princeton NJ photographed beautifully representing the early 50's. Einstein passed away in 1955---i was 3 years old...but Princeton NJ is one of my favorite places---compared to where i grew up it was the coolest, cleanest place in the world---the home of the institute of advanced study to this day makes you feel as if you could bump into Einstein on a street corner. My personal link to Einstein (you know that 6 degree of separation thing) is very weird. My father worked construction in a town called Princeton Junction New Jersey--on the far side of the town of Princeton proper. He worked out of there for years...and i can remember him saying that when he would drive through town commuting to work in the mornings--- around 1950---and Albert Einstein would be walking from his house to the institute of advanced study. In true New Jersey style my father would berate, curse and put the evil eye on Einstein because local drivers, in route to work would all stop asking Dr. Einstein if he needed a ride for the chance that they could say that they gave Einstein a lift---he would refuse everyone---he loved walking---this of course backed up traffic---and brilliant scientist---Einstein or not this was a major New Jersey social crime to my father who therefore ranked Einstein at the "dumbass" level for the rest of his life....at any rate.... the movie is simply excellent...you need to see this. I prefer thinking of Einstein through this movie...it's not accurate in many ways--for example Godel is played by a fat guy, lou jacobi-- (godel starved himself to death actually) but this is the way i want to think of Einstein.....right or wrong.

I love the fact that the world is so truly strangely wonderful---Brian May, guitarist of Queen--one of my all time favorite bands ...just received his doctorate, not an honorary degree mind you but a real true earned by hard, hard work doctorate in astrophysics.

http://www.livescience.com/space/080801-brian-may-doctorate.html

Dr. May stopped working on his advanced degrees when his musical career took off and delayed his work during years of recording, touring, and being a world class guitar hero.... The original founder of what eventually became Queen he advertised for bandmates while an undergraduate. Dr.May returned to his studies when Queen was destroyed by the death of Freddie Mecury. Congratulations Dr. May---you earned it the hard way-you own the sky.

Back from a week of business travel---the meeting i attended could have been a script written by the guys who wrote--- The Ballad of Ricky Bobby---but not funny---just stupid---you've read my previous raps on how i despise air travel and the stupidity of the standard business trip so consider it written...no sense repeating myself on how i loath business/air travel. As with all things however there are little ironies....

business travel gives one time to read...and during this recent trip i just burned through an excellent SF novel--- "When Gravity Fails" by George Alec Effinger. Set 120 years from now in a children of men style future--the novel is centered in the red light district of an arab nation, a cyberpunk style detective story...very very cool premise...and a smooth engaging read. There are three books in this series and on my arrival home i immediately ordered the other two. Unfortunately Mr.Effinger died young and finished only 3 books in this series...they are excellent. I definately recommend these to enjoy and rest your brain.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Gravity-Fails-George-Effinger/dp/0765313588/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218902463&sr=1-1

The Kitchen remodel is ongoing and the hobbit hole remains in an uproar---i'm doing the best i can to zen through it---whle i work on finding out where to register to vote (gotta do this, I have not voted in years but i damn sure am gonna this time)---- working on my art bookmarks----i brought back some of those little-long holiday inn notepads to turn into art bookmarks---hey it may work it may not---catching up on my sleep--and most of my other projects are on hold till the remod is done which is a bugger. Be well--write--do art--question everything---vote for obama---save gasoline (it is going back up don't trust em') compute---read---and be nice.

My segway i2 is in and I've got to say it is completely exceeds my expectations.....
It took four days to get here by fed-ex on a round about trip---which sort of upset me until it arrived Friday...
once i got it i understood why it circumvented the earth by big trucks prior to arriving---
The i2 commuter model i purchased is way bigger and way heavier that i expected or could visualize off the Internet....right now i am really glad i did not get the off road model, the X2------ if the commuter model is this big and this heavy i can't imagine what the off road segway model is like---it must be the monster truck of geekdom because----
It's not that the i2 is huge, overall it is about the size of a small human---but it is definitely a piece of machinery----not some inadequate production concept or lightweight breakable thing that gives the overall impression of being fragile---my i2 commuter is as much a mechanical object as is a motorcycle---and the segway just feels really sturdy----really solid.
It did take me a full day ---- to put it together--- the dealer normally does this for you but i didn't want to take two days to go to northern new mexico to pick mine up and then have to take it apart to get it into my prius to get it home, the downside of living in southern new mexico---so i had the dealer ship it to me boxed from the factory....
Assembly was not that hard but i was trying very hard to be careful and to prevent a standard consumer screw-up kind of thing---you know stripping bolts, parts left over---the industrial accident in the home power tool thing..........
...the crate was short a couple of accessory items i purchased through the dealer and am hoping they are in route separately and if not i have to contact the dealer and see what is going on.....but those items were purchased additionally through the dealer, other than that segway sends everything including the tools you need to do the job of putting the i2 together.....
So assembly took place in my living room while the kitchen construction guys were hauling cabinets though my living room nerd assembly area ---the i2 version segway seems to weigh about 120 pounds all together with batteries. .... and i am moving it in & out of the way of these guys every two minutes which does not help the manufacturing process---you know----- but----I manage to finish assembly---- read all the manuals, 3 of them, watch the dvd that came with it and charged it for the required 12 hours before using.....

So that was all for the first day...
Next morning first thing i pull it out to our side driveway/courtyard area where privacy fencing can hide embarrassment or injuries............and
IT IS JUST UNBELIEVABLE !!!!!!!
It took me all of about 10 minutes to get comfortable getting on/off----rotating in place, going forward/ backward---turning---and stopping where i want to....
This was in the learner's mode---no more than 4 mph------the regular setting is 12.5 mph with a range of 20 miles-----the learner's mode is where i am going to stay for awhile---my goals are up and down the driveway and maybe travel the neighborhood sidewalk some----because-----
The only comparison to Riding this thing is what wearing one of those science fiction power suits must be like---riding on it----you think something and it seems to happen---the machine picks up on incredibly subtle body movements and intentions and makes that movement happen---which is where i am sure people get in over their heads with it-----too much forward lean/intention and off you go like a rocket----if you panic and do great big body balance stop intentions you are definitely screwed----the design goal seemed to be to give small body movements and intentions and let the machine do the rest, and you absolutely must let it do the balancing for you-----This is incredibly different from our normal lives of movement through 3 dimensions--- If you've seen any of those segway crash video's on you tube they are completely the result of no brain power involved in what is going on at the moment or panic----I just wish segway offered a big mechanical arm option --------so i could pick up and crush stuff with my intentions to the huge mechanical arm---- now that would be the ultimate accessory---gliding movement and crushing stuff-----but forgive me i digress------ I've taken things slow to develop expertise on riding so that i can replace using a vehicle around town....and because to me leaping out into traffic with it without educating myself properly is sooooo redneck......a "heeey watch this---" kinda thing...
Anyway after ten minutes of riding i was hooked----i will never be without one----NEVER-----soon George Bush--Dick Cheney and their lapdog demons within the evil oil companies will get nothing from me-----i am anime, astro, electric transport boy----( with no weird helmet either ) and am never going back.....expanding my training program over the next few days led to riding up and down the sidewalk out in front of my house at which point i began to specialize in disrupting traffic--- everyone, everyone seems astounded at the segway---nearly crashing due to gawking while driving by me, the local motorcycle dealer, pulled over and parked to question me intently about my nerd Hog...i love this thing....