A bit of sports news this morning….

Despite all the fanfare before the NBA season, it looks like Lebron James may only be a prince. Carmelo Anthony (who spent a year at Syracuse University) has been quietly helping the Denver Nuggets to a 11-6 record, compared to James’ Cleveland Cavaliers 4-14. And the two met again last night, this time in Denver, and Anthony again got the best of James with Denver winning. Anthony had a productive game, and his hot streak in the 4th quarter helped seal the win for Denver.

James may have a more polished game, but as the season wears on, Anthony will get more and more attention, especially if the Nuggets keep their winning record. James could do everything right every night, but if the Cavaliers only win once every ten games, no one will really care. Currently, James is always the optimist, saying Cleveland will get better, but how long til the honeymoon is over?

Posted on 3 December 2003

Lots of little things this morning….

First, Reason has an interesting article on the apparent policy flip-flops of the Republican and Democratic parties, especially concerning massive Federal spending (Republicans) and opposition to the Medicare expansion (Democrats).

The Post-Gazette‘s Tony Norman writes about the real problem with talk radio these days.

World Rally Championship news: Ford has confirmed that they will run a full programme next season. This was up in the air due to increased costs thanks to two new rallies (Japan and Mexico). This also provides a bit more fuel to speculation that Colin McRae will find himself behind the wheel of a Impreza at Subaru next season. Subaru had been keeping things close to the vest since news of Richard Burns illness broke, probably in hopes that they could land Markko Martin should the Ford rally programme fold. But now with Martin back behind the wheel of a Focus, and precious few good drivers left without factory drives (Harri Rovanpera tops that list), McRae is looking like a quite catch for Subaru.

And finally, Salon‘s King Kaufman has an interview with the Tuesday Morning Quarterback, Gregg Easterbrook.

Posted on 2 December 2003

You turn your back for one minute and the boy sneaks out….

Thanks to Pat for that one….

Posted on 26 November 2003

I came across this interesting discussion on Plastic about an apparently anti-Islamic episode of the B.C. comic strip. I don’t have much time for the argument at hand, mostly because I don’t care, but I was appalled that the supposedly intelligent Plastic readership thought that a crescent moon on an outhouse door was anti-Islamic. Hello? Has anyone _used_ an outhouse? The crescent moon is a very traditional symbol on the door, and was (is) generally cut into the door to allow light into the outhouse. Don’t believe me?

Google Images search on “outhouse”

Note the overwhelming numbers of moons and suns cut into the doors.

Yeesh.

Posted on 23 November 2003

Who knew that Ludwig Wittgenstein was a composer? I’d love to hear this piece, even though it’s only 30 seconds long. I’d venture to say that Wittgenstein was one of the brightest people of the 20th century. Certainly there were specialists who achieved greatness in their fields, but examine the variety of things that he achieved during his life:

* As an engineer, he worked on an early iteration of the jet engine, as well as developing a patented propeller system.
* He was granted his PhD from Cambridge based upon his journal kept during his time as soldier during World War I.
* Taught primary school in Norway.
* Designed a built a house in Vienna, Austria for his sister.
* Taught philosophy at Trinity College.

Most of us would be ecstatic to achieve one of those things.

Posted on 20 November 2003

As you may have heard, the Massachusetts Supreme Court has decided that barring the marriage of same-sex couples is a violation of the state constitution. I would have to have to agree, and here’s why.

It’s a matter of process. The state does not have laws barring the expression of homosexuality. If the 14th amendment does provide equal protection, then it follows that same-sex marriages cannot be unlawful. It’s really that simple. The folks fighting against homosexual marriage need to fight for laws banning homosexual practices.

Now, much has been said about how the children of homosexual parents are not raised “properly” and that this becomes a burden on the state in the end (and there are statistics that support this). But this is a dangerous road to travel if you believe in personal freedoms/limited governments. Statistics also show that children born out of wedlock don’t do very well. And statistics also show that certain family environments will produce healthier, more well-adjusted kids. Following the logic that anti-gay marriage folks use, the government should really be more interested in who is getting married and who is having kids because of the strain that certain situations put on the system. Perhaps the best choice might be to have more stringent licensing system for marriage — you and your partner have to show that you are competent enough to marry and have children. Then anyone could get married, as long as they passed the test.

It is interesting that the dissenting judges in the decision mention this sort of thing (that same-sex partners may be just as good as traditional partners), but they ask that the world of science be given time to prove this is the case. The dissenting opinion is decidely limp — they are trying hard not to claim that they believe that homosexuality (and marriage, by extension) is immoral. Instead, they veil their opinion behind the claim of looking out for the best interests of the state.

Another interesting line from the dissenting opinion:

Today, the court has transformed its role as protector of individual rights into the role of creator of rights, and I respectfully dissent.

The court is protecting individual rights in this decision. There is no law banning homosexuality, and therefore a homosexual should have the same rights as every other person. This case is all about protecting individual rights.

Posted on 19 November 2003

Perhaps I’ve watched one too many X-Files, but I know I saw a black helicopter circling East Liberty tonight. I was riding home in the dark (since I went to the gym) along Penn Avenue when I heard the familiar whump whump whump of a helicopter overhead. I craned my neck to look at it, and sure enough it was there, quite high in the sky, and with just the minimal amount of running lights. I thought nothing of it, but by the time I was on Penn Circle, it was still circling high above the city. And as I started up Stanton Avenue, it was _still_ there.

They are watching you.

Posted on 17 November 2003

The World Rally Championship got stunning news today from Richard Burns — he will miss the 2004 season due to a brain tumor. While Burns is expected to recover fully pending medical treatment, his doctors advised him to sit out the 2004 campaign. This leaves Subaru without their second driver next year, perhaps opening a door for Colin McRae to stay another year in the WRC since he lost his drive with Citroen. On such short notice, the only other potential driver who could take Burns spot is Toshiro Arai, who spent half of the 2001 season with the Subaru WRC team (where he notched a fourth place in Greece).

Posted on 17 November 2003

Slate has an interesting article this morning about the dilemma of being a rich liberal. Good stuff.

Posted on 17 November 2003

so move along. This space has been pretty quiet lately, due to the combination of doing more construction than programming at work (we’re still at least 3-4 days away from starting to power up servers or even the network) and my involvement in the local gym’s bouldering competition. But I will pass along some news about the boy.

Soon after we got back from Bishop, Seb entered the “grab everything within reach and put it in his mouth” stage. This lasted about a week or so, and now he’s combining that action with a strong desire to go and get stuff out of reach to put into his mouth. Since the whole crawlng thing is still theory to him, this causes much distress. Thankfully, his exer-saucer provides an array of stuff to grab, while giving him the ability to move around.

Posted on 16 November 2003