PETF*

I had a little trouble getting to work this morning, protestors were all around the office (and other offices in Yakima). It was really strange; they were protesting file deletion.
They were protesting file deletion as if files were living things. I know we "create" them, but they are not biological entities! The leader appeared to be this former PETA sheep:
It appears that People for the Ethical Treatment of Files (PETF) is a spinoff of PETA. This woman is even advocating that everyone buy larger hardrives so as to have more space for the ever increasing number files on any computer.
I must take a strong stand against PETF. Not only is their cause ridiculous on all levels, but I suspect that my new nemesis is somehow behind the group. He will stop at nothing to see everyone's resumes, old reports, music, etc. and use it to create incriminating evidence. For instance, if you once wrote a story about the end of the world and ninjas, he might come after you for plotting against the U.S.A. So remember folks, don't be afraid to delete your files!

[Edited to Add] I have been declared a renowned propagandist for my efforts to expand the daring. My new nemesis was chosen based upon comments by Andy the Fearless and the acclaimed author of Ninja's of the Apocalypse on this blog entry.

*This blog entry is NOT worth the paper... er... ummm... is NOT worth the cost of a blogspot account. I am not liable for any actions you take or any actions taken against you.

Fun = Adrenaline Rush

Thanks to a recent Nissan commercial (I am thanking a car commercial?!), I have discovered what is missing in my life. As my friends may or may not realize, I enjoy activites that give me an adrenaline rush. For example, I enjoy mountain biking, kayaking, running, and hiking. I have also been rock climbing, whitewater rafting, and backpacking on multple occasions.

On to an activity that combines kayaking, rappelling, and faith in god into one!

Pretty Lanscape:

Preparation:

Go Time:
Did I peak your interest? If your response is "Hell Yeah" then you might be interested in this video clip of the whole thing.

Pat's Random Wanderings*

Saturday, I went for another bike ride. Again I followed the irrigation canal, but in a different direction this time. I saw many strange and interesting sites. (Discovery Channel execs, if you are reading this, I want a camera crew to follow me on my wanderings. It would make a great show, trust me.)

Nothing more than a dormant apple orchard, you say? Well given a night time, overcast, and breezy perspective, I think this place could be quite chilling. Possible a good place for a Halloween Haunted "house" setup. Or could it be the hunting grounds of a Wendigo?

Another picture of the same orchard, this one shows the path I rode into it on.

Could this be the remains of a Wendigo's meal? Or just some hunter's prize? From the Washington State Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, I gather that deer and elk seasons are closed. So what are these antlers doing hanging on a fence? I say a Wendigo is about! ;)

After coming across the antlers, I approached this area. The area appears to be somewhat densely wooded, prime Wendigo hunting grounds! I had an immediate feeling of being watched, so I pedaled as if the hounds of hell were behind me. And I was greatly relieved to see the scene below without an encounter.
Ah, I see the light ahead! Not much further and I can escape (I pray) the Wendigo habitat.

This home appears to have been abandoned. Notice the swingset covered by branches (just left of the center, it is red). Could the Wendigo have gotten this family? Did they flee from Yakima in fear of the Wendigo? I have noticed nearly all the homes along the canal have large dogs. Do these dogs keep the Wendigo at bay? Only further study will tell.

Here the canal begins to meander like the Missouri River. Here there is a chainlink fence to keep people away from the canal or is it to keep something in? The fence appears mangled. Does this mean that the citizens of Yakima tried to keep the Wendigo isolated and it managed to escape? The evidence is mounting.

This picture is taken as I leave the canal behind and it runs into a pipe. The bridge to this manor is over the canal. Who lives here though? Someone wealthy enough to protect themselves from the Wendigo? Or protect the Wendigo from the citizens of Yakima? Or the Wendigo itself? Also where does this pipe lead? A wendigo layer?

Also, on my wanderings on Saturday I found this interesting looking house:
Definetly different looking for a house. Looks more like a commercial building to me.

This was a neat looking yard that I happened upon. It has a stone fence encompassing it. I circled in red a fountain that is spurting water up and through the arch is a pool of sorts.

Could it be? Are the old legends true? It is... the one coffe shack that couldn't stay in business in Yakima! What a find this is... Economists will be all over this soon to see how it was unable to stay open in a vibrant coffee sipping community like Yakima.

On this adventure, we travelled along a canal in Yakima, WA through possible wendigo hunting grounds. We discovered some evidence that supports the theory and, thankfully, we did not encounter the wendigo itself. Until next time, wander randomly!

*Hopefully coming to a TV network near you soon. ;)

When a vidder gets bored...

Well, I was bored last night and it continued into this morning, so I decided to play around with the imaging software that came with my cheap (<$30) Lexmark printer. Well, I need images to use the software, so I decided to use images from tv shows, games, and my friends.

I have to admit that the software is pretty sweet for being free (bundled with my printer). I espeacially loved using the smart select tool, this allowed me to easily cut characters, etc. from larger images and place them on the base image seen here.

Images used were:

1. Andy's House
2. Philip J. Fry from Futurama and his Scooty Puff Sr.
3. Ragnar from the PC game Rune
4. The PHB from Dilbert
5. Philip K. Dick
6. a nerd
7. Destructuring Cutler
8. Serenity
9. And myself!

Go ahead find them all (not difficult except for maybe my pic)

A simple ride through town?

Well, it was nice today (50s maybe?) so I decided to go for a bike ride through western Yakima. Before today I had found very few (try 1) good bike paths in town. But today I "pedaled" across an interesting sortof path!
It is, I assume, in actuallity an access road for the irrigation canal seen alongside. But it made for an enjoyable ride.

As a friend mentioned earlier, we are fans of Malcolm In the Middle. In season 6 two characters, Otto and Gretchen, were written off the show. They ran a Dude Ranch called "The Grotto." Well, good news (sortof)! I have discovered the new home of "The Grotto*," it is in Yakima! ;)


*According to freedictionary.com, a grotto is

1. A small cave or cavern.
2. An artificial structure or excavation made to resemble a cave or cavern.

Military Area?

It is hard to read, but the sign in the above image reads: Military Area. This image is from I-82 about 20 miles north Yakima. What goes on in this "area", you ask? I don't know. The Yakima Training Center exit is 15 miles down the road from it (5 miles north of Yakima).

I think it will be fun to let everyone comment on their "idea" of what goes on here. ;)

[Edited to add] The image came from SRweb

It is probably a back exit/entrance to the training center, but where is the fun in the truth?

Coffee, Coffee Everywhere!

I can't speak for the rest of Washington state ( but I would bet that this applies to it), but Yakima has more than it's fair share of coffee shops and coffee stands. A quick search yields 52 results! In 2000, the population of Yakima was 71,845.
Using conservative values:

1. Assume 10% of the citizens of Yakima purchase coffee or espresso drinks at these shops (approximately 7,185 Yakima citizens).
   
2. 7,185 customers / 52 "dealers" ~ 140 customers per shop/stand.
   
3. Let's assume the shops/stands make $2/day*person, 5 days per week. 140*2*5*52=$72,800/yr*shop or all coffee shops = $3.8 million!
4. After the 8.2% sales tax in Yakima: $3.5 million/yr profit for the coffee shops & stands
   

I enjoy a cup of coffee or a latte as much as the next Cutler, but this seems absurd for a city of Yakima's size. I actually hope that I estimated something wrong and over inflated the amount spent by Yakima citizens on coffee. Sadly, I doubt it, because of the large number of coffee shops around town.

Below is a Google Earth image showing many of the coffee shops (but not all)![Edited to add] The Safeway locations are displayed because each Safeway contains a Starbucks stand!

More Dark Age Ahead (4)

The higher education chapter discusses how American Universities have gone from educating to credentialing. I feel there is some truth to this, but I also feel that some professors/departments/universities continue to place a higher value on educating than credentials, for example the civil engineering department at SDSMT.

The more successful credentialing became as a growth industry, the more it dominated education, from the viewpoints of both teachers and students. Teachers could not help despairingof classes whose memebers seem less interested in learning than in doing the minimum work required to get by and get out. Enthuastic students could not help despairing of institutions that seemed to think of them as raw material to process as efficiently as possible rather than as human beings with burning questions and confusions about the world and doubts about why they were sinking time and money into this prelude to their working lives.Students who are passionate about learning, or could become so, do exist.

Faculty memebers who love their subject passionately and are eager to teach what they knowand to plumb its depths further also exist. But institutions devoted to respecting and fulfilling these needs as their first purposes have become rare, under pressure of different necessities...

A vigorous culture capable of making corrective, stabilizing changes depends heavily on its educated people, and especially upon there critical capacities and depth of understanding.

I believe that (but am not certain) that many larger colleges have become impersonal in comparison to small colleges. This is due to credentialing or professors caring more about their research than their students. The problem is that the research is useless without new minds to continue expanding it into the future.

I realize that the financial aid and admissions offices at any college are impersonal and good at losing student scholarship and refund checks. But besides these offices, I can only name two departments from my alma mater that are more interested in credentialing than educating. Professors in my department (CEE) did a fantastic job in putting aside their research to help a student with an assigned problem or setting up review sessions for the FE Exam. Heck, most of the professors and graduating seniors gather for a barbeque (hosted by the department) at one professor's home at the end of every spring semester!

Now I expect much feedback, so comment away! The next chapter in Dark Age Ahead is titled, Science Abandoned.

Entertainment This Morning (ETM) 999,999 1/2*

Today I saw Eight Below, a Disney movie starring a sled dog team. While on an expedition in Antartica, a NSF team is forced to leave the dogs behind due to a sudden storm. The movie follows the dogs survival in the harsh environment for over 6 months. The movie also follows the NSF guide, who considers the dogs his friends/family, as he tries to get back to Antartica to rescue them.

I thought 8 Below was a great movie, but anyone who doesn't value their dog more than any politician or consider their dog a friend may not enjoy or understand the movie as much as me. I only wish that the movie was made for an older target audience; I feel that the movie could have been much better if it's rating had been PG-13.

Overall, I would have to give the movie 8 out of 10 dogs:











*ETM is a copyrighted trademark of Arnold "Always Right" Lund Movie Review'dustries LTD

AFL

Just a short rant tonight, I promise.

I was in Best Buy earlier today perusing the pc games section and I made a startling discovery. EA Sports is known for making many sports games, including Madden Football and NCAA Football every year, but today I saw an EA Sports Arena Football game!

Now don't start thinking that the Arena League is the remnants of the botched XFL, because the Arena League has been around for 20 years! It is a smaller venue than the NFL, but it keeps fans entertained without trying to compete with the NFL. The AFL runs from late Jan. to either late spring or early summer. Still curious about the AFL? Check this site out for the rules.

Entertainment This Morning (ETM) 999,999 3/8 (1)

I just rented the movie Flightplan from my local Blockbuster Video store. It stars Jodie Foster as a hysterical mother searching for her missing daughter aboard a trans-Atlantic flight. This a a great thriller plane flick without the collateral damage of Red Eye (another great film). I was on the edge of my seat for most of the movie... even though there were a few spots that seemed to drag on.

The movie even garnered good marks from Yahoo Movies; earning an average of a B- from both the critics and users.

Overall, I give it an A380 sized ovation!

(1) ETM is a copyrighted trademark of Arnold "Always Right" Lund Movie Review'dustries LTD

Great Library of (currently) Yakima

Many people believe that the Library of Alexandria was the greatest library in the world. Well, I feel my personal library is nearing the same greatness ;) The greatness of my personal library, includes digital and hardcopy media, like Gaelic Storm CDs and mp3s, Katharine Kerr novels, Civil Engineering textbooks, The complete and Original Twilight Zone series in vcd formatted mpegs, many other CDs, mp3s, DVDs, videos, books, and the prize selection: a collection of short stories from the early years of the soon to be great writer Arnold "don't mess with it" Lund.

A few brief rants that I thought of at work today:

• Mothers, fathers, secretaries, etc. all have a day of their own, but engineers have an entire week! I think I deserve to have National Engineers Week off as a paid holiday ;)

The remaining thoughts come from the Newsbriefs in the February 2006 edition of Civil Engineering.

• China has began construction of another large dam. It is on the Jinsha River, costing $8.3 billion. It is expected to genrate 12.6GW. If you haven't heard of it yet, checkout the Three Gorges Dam.
• Saudi Arabia had a $57 billion surplus in 2005 and plans to build a $26.6 billion dollar city. Hey, I think they should help bail the U.S. out of trouble.
• Kuwait is considering plans for the world's tallest building. The Kuwaiti Tower would be 1,001m tall and could take 25 years to complete.
• Sewage Causing Abnormalities In Fish. Male fish with female characteristics have been discovered in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Los Angelas and Orange Counties, raising concerns that treated sewage released into the ocean contains hormone-altering compounds that are deforming marine life. Here is a similar article.
  

Dark Age Ahead Tidbits 3

Not TV or illicit drugs, but the automobile has been the chief destroyer of American communities. Highways and roads obliterate the places they are supposed to serve... Along came sterile housing tracts set in isolating culs-de-sac...

Maybe it is my career speaking, but I do not agree with this assessment. I can see claiming the automobile (through dependance on foriegn oil) is destroying the economy and environment, but American communities?! If nothing else, the automobile, highways, and culs-de-sac have improved communites.

• Automobiles allow communities to continue to grow both in population and culture. Without automobiles, young adults would not go off to college and entertainment venues would have the always have the same acts. The automobile has allowed communities to gain knowledge and culture from other communities. The automobile has helped communities improve.
  
• Highways provide the necessary connection between communities for the above to work. This reminds me of a SDDOT commercial: [camera view of inside a car] A family is driving somewhere (possibly on vacation) and the ride appears rough (everyone is bumping around inside the car). A comment is made about not knowing where they are. [camera pans out] The car is traveling across an empty pasture/grassland, nothing but rolling hills in sight. A narrator breaks in with a comment about the necessarity of roads and the function of SDDOT.
• Culs-de-sac separate neighborhoods from busy roads, highways, and commercial/industrial zones.
  

Dark Age Ahead Tidbits 2

I am about to get into the real "meat and potatoes" of the book. Jane Jacobs has chosen 5 pillars of our culture that we depend on to stand firm; she will discuss the signs of their decay. To end out the book, she will discuss suggestions to reverse the deterioration of the 5 pillars.

5 Pillars of (Our) Culture

1. Community and family
2. Higher education
3. Effective practice of science and science-based technology
4. Taxes and government powers (directly in touch with needs and possibilites)
5. Self-policing by the learned professions

• Failings, such as racism, profligate, environmnetal destruction, crime, voters' distrust of politicians (thus low voter turnout), and the enlarging gap between rich and poor (attrition of the middle class), are symptoms of the breakdown of the 5 pillars.

[My opinion] The lack of science and engineering majors in U.S. universities and the increase in Law students does not bode well for the future. Taxes and government powers? I believe that the Bush Administration and Congress have began (or concluded) the deterioration (Patriot Act) of this pillar.

Future Posts to Come: More Dark Age Tidbits, the Search for Atlantis, A Library Greater than Alexandria's... and much, much more!

Dark Age Ahead Tidbits

As I promised this post contains a few tidbits from the book, Dark Age Ahead. Ideas from the book are in normal text; my comments are bulletted.

The Ainu are a caucasian people that inhabitted Japan before the current Japanese; they now occupy "isolated reservations" on the northern most isalnd (of Japan), Hokkaido.

• The caucasian point may be debatable.

How do areas, like Mesopotamia, lose a lead, in terms of civilization, over Europe? According to Jared Diamond, the lead was lost through environmental ignorance.

• Beginning to sound familiar, huh?

In ancient times, much of the Fertile Crescent and Eastern Mediterranean were covered by forests. But to obtain more farmland and more timber. The forests were cut faster than they could regenerate. The valleys began to accumulate silt, intensified irrigation built up salt accumulations in the soil, and over grazing by goats prevented new plant life. The damage became irreversible by 400 B.C. The Ottoman Turks finished off the last forests in Jordan during railroad construction prior to WWI. Most of the wetlands in southern Iraq fell to a drainage scheme by Saddam Hussein, leaving another barren, salt encrusted desert.

• Wetlands in Iraq?, SoDamnInsane?

Mission Statement

With the help of the PHB, I have come up with a mission statement suitable to The Daring.

Actually, this may apply to all bloggers ;)

It is our business to authoritatively disseminate world-class information, seamlessly establish value-subtracted knowledge, and perform synergistic blog colloboration in order to contaminate the world wide web with our ramblings.

Dark Ages and the Bermuda Triangle

While browsing the local Borders Bookstore, I discovered a book that seems to have a similar theory as me: Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs. I purchased it and will relay any interesting tidbits I encounter to the few, the proud, the readers of my blog.

Also on my radar right now is the website http://www.bermudatriangle.org... it isn't a great site but it got me thinking. My favorite theory is explained in the following quote:

An explanation for some of the disappearances focuses on the presence of vast fields of methane hydrates on the continental shelves. A paper was published in 1981 by the United States Geological Survey about the appearance of hydrates in the Blake Ridge area, off the southeastern United States coast. Periodic methane eruptionsregions of frothy water that are no longer capable of providing adequate buoyancy for ships. If this were the case, such an area forming around a ship could cause it to sink very rapidly and without warning. Laboratory experiments have proven that bubbles can, indeed, sink a scale model ship by decreasing the density of the water. This effect, however, may not scale up to actual size of the ships due to the physics involved. may produce

Some writers have suggested that methane hydrate is suddenly released in the form of giant gas bubbles, with diameters comparable to that of the ships purportedly sunk by them (see Bermuda Triangle mystery solved? It's a load of gas), though physical feasibility of this has been challenged, as even if release of large bubbles was possible, they would collapse and break up into smaller ones as they would be rising up towards the surface. However this could still reduce buoyancy to a dangerously low level, possibly sinking the ships.

Hypothetically, methane gas might also be involved in airplane crashes, as it is not as dense as air and thus would not generate as much lift required to keep the airplane flying. Furthermore, methane may interfere with functions of an altimeter in an airplane, which determines the altitude by measuring the density of the surrounding air: since methane is less dense, the altimeter would indicate that the airplane is climbing, which may cause the pilot to fly the airplane lower, crashing it. Another possibility is that methane in the engines disrupts the mix of fuel and air, possibly stopping combustion and stalling the engines. All of these effects of methane have been shown experimentally.

NEWSFLASH: Random typing can actually form a readable post!

Not much for today. Check out my profile, I decided to answer a random question. As for the few, the proud, THE DARING, one more soldier has been recruited to my blogging "navy." I really should create a mission statement for THE DARING, maybe a future blog entry? A note to THE FOOLHARDY, I want you to start a blog.

On the subject of sports fans, There were four of us at the local sports bar this last year not cheering for the Seahawks. I, obviously was cheering for the Panthers, there were two Vikings fans, and one lucky fellow was a Steeler fan. On to next year, when Drew Carter will attempt to become the #2 reciever for the Panthers, because Keary Colbert has been a disappointment.

Down Came A Seahawk.

I thought I was done with my super bowl ranting, but thanks to an idea being planted in my head by a friend I decided to vid the super bowl. I chose the song Down Came A Blackbird by Lila McCann for obvious reasons that are apparent from the title I have given to the vid: Down Came A Seahawk.

I have to admit, this vid is not complete (and will probably never be so) I did nearly 2 minutes of the song and covered all the plays that I felt were important to the vid.

Another interesting tidbit, Lila McCann is a Washington state native... and most probably a seahawk fan :)

Enjoy.

PROOF?!

As many of my college friends can attest, on many occasions I have joked about the reason that Fidel Castro is still in command in Cuba. He has found the Fountain of Youth! My joking claimed that in actuality the fountain didn't make a person younger, just immortal. Castro will continue to age but will not perish . Part of my joke was that Castro chose being a dictator of a small island nation over a professional baseball career becasue he had made this discovery.

Well, maybe my joking was not too far from the truth*! While aimlessly browsing the Cuban country side with my trusty Google Earth application, I discovered a (secret?) compound. I immediately saved the image, before I lost the spot. The area circled in red is what I believe is THE FOUNTAIN. Also, notice the large number of flash tanks guarding it, as well as, the planes (yellow circle), helicopter (green circle), and possibly an anti-aircraft gun (blue circle). This heavy defense only supports my claim! Until next time, I will continue my endless searching of the globe for ancient artifacts. Maybe someday I will find the lost city of Atlantis?


*This blog entry was written entirely as a joke. I am not liable for any bodily harm you may incur from an attempt on the Fountain of Youth.

Quit Whining Seahawk Fans!

I am fed up with Seahawk fans whining about a couple of plays in Super Bowl XL. (Btw, I am NOT a Seahawk fan, but sadly I am living in Wshington) Luckily, I recorded the Super Bowl and am able to illustrate the two plays for eveyone.
The first play is the offensive pass interference call against Daryll Jackson. It was a good (but too rare) call. Recievers get away with pushing off too often and I for one (of only a few in Washington) agree with the call. Take a look. Here is a quote from Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQB), a column on NFL.com:

On the offensive pass interference nullifying Seattle's first touchdown, Darrell Jackson pushed off with the ball in the air and gained advantage by doing so. Had the physics of the play been exactly the same, except Jackson a defender, television announcers would have been screaming, "Interference!" It's true, as some said, that Michael Irvin often got away with push-offs -- but he shouldn't have.

The other play is the Ben Roethlisberger TD run. The ball broke the plane as he dove through the air; he pulled the ball back as he hit the ground. From the highlights, it can be seen he is carrying the ball in his right hand. I marked up a jpeg to illustrate the ball and plane.
Again, TMQB agrees with my conclusion:

And when Roethlisberger dove for Pittsburgh's first touchdown, at game speed I thought, "He didn't make it." But replays showed the tip of the ball above the goal line, and Rule 3, Section 38 reads, "A touchdown is the situation is which any part of the ball, legally in possession of a player inbounds, in on, above, or behind an opponent's goal line."

Not only does TMQB agree with my conclusions, but he offers a no-call penalty that went to support the Seahawks:

...the no-call of a block in the back by Seattle during Kelly Herndon's record interception return.

The above image shows Big Ben getting blocked in the back, so the two contreversial TD plays are proven to be good calls and the interception return (and thus great field position) that led to Seattle's lone TD should not have been.

Take that you whining Seahawk fans! (Now I duck, cover, and hide until this post is forgotten lol)

Actually, both teams played a good game. I really enjoined watching this Super Bowl... almost as much as the Carolina/New England Super Bowl.

"Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them."---George Santayana

I am a believer in the old adage that history repeats itself. I am not saying that exact historical events are duplicated, but that similarities can be found between different historical events decades apart.

For example, Napoleon's European conquest has been compared to Hitler's conquest, right up to their common folly: attacking Russia with the Russian Winter approaching. I can imagine that Hitler thought that his troops must have better winter survival supplies than Napoleon (and I am sure they did) but Russia is known for harsh winters. Winter survival will never be a "sure thing", no matter how well prepared a person is for it.

Here is an article on a handful of American and Irish historical events that "repeat." I can even add at least one more event to it: the Easter Rising. I know, the Easter Rising participants weren't slaughtered in the same manner. Heck, not even all of the leaders were executed. But the importance of the event is still justified. I could have compared the events in the article to the Easter Rising as easily as i caompared it to the Alamo. A point on the Alamo, the soldiers under Colonel William Barret Travis did not surrender; they fought to the last man.

I must enter a little humor into this blog entry, thanks to the great writing of Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

A couple of months ago I jotted down a few thoughts about the apaculypse after watching a couple of shows on the history channel (one about the apaoculypse and the other about Roman society). I am not sure how much of this is my thoughts or from the show, but it makes for some interesting conversations.

One show attempted to say that certain predicted events from the bible had already occurred. Well, in the case of history repeating itself maybe these events have happened multiple times? I don't know, but for the sake of conversation (and maybe debate) let's take a look.

Many groups and organizations feel that the American society contains too much violence and sex (thanks in part to the entertainment industry), be it from television programs, movies, or video games. Well, the Roman Empire was the same. Roman citizens watched the gladiator combats at The Coliseum (and many smaller arenas) like Americans go to the latest action flick or watch the latest reality TV program (god forbid). I know someone on the Histroy Channel show made the statement that the gladiator games/fights were the Roman equivalent of reality TV. The History Channel show also claimed that the Roman society was very open to sex. I don't remember exactly what was stated but here is an article that discusses it.

In the latter years of the Roman Empire (I am not really considering the move to Constantinople), Rome was fighting back Germanic tribes. I can imagine a line being drawn from here to the current war on terroism. I admit this conclusion is a bit shaky. The Germanic tribes managed to sack Rome (multiple times). September 11 can be related to the sacking of Rome. True NYC did not fall, but it was attacked. An even shakier comparison(and I realize that it screws with the timeline): Roman expansion and the invasion of Iraq.

This all leads to a conclusion/comparison that could cause a great deal of debate: The Dark Ages were a period of time after the fall of the Roman Empire, could this period be considered an apoculypse? And if so, what will compare to it today? Nuclear War? Will the U.S. fall? I pray not.

How will the world respond to a second dark age? Who will save the world?

Again, these are just thoughts that occurred to me after watching a couple of programs on the history channel. Now let the hordes of enraged internet bums attack my blog with their comments ;)

The climate has even been known to repeat itself, but will it be able to continue?

Life's Lessons from Gaelic Storm ;)

Saying that Gaelic Storm is my favorite band is an understatement. On the other hand, I am far from their biggest fan; I would call their fan following cult-like. GS fans bring the cult-fav term from science fiction television shows to irish/celtic music.

Well, their DVD, Live In Chicago, was released last week and I have been relentlessly watching it since. The music is great, the band members have great... er... define stage presence. The band uses a wide variety of instruments a list can be seen below with a few pics from the DVD. The first image shows the band playing (nothing special going on). The next two show the three original/band forming memebers "leaning back." Man, that is impressive!

Pat Murphy (Spoons,Accordion,Harmonica)
Steve Wehmeyer (Bodhran,Didjeridoo)
Steve Twigger (Guitar,Mandolin)
Ellery Klein (fiddle)
Pete Purvis (Various bagpipes and whistles)
(including electric bagpipes)
Ryan Lacey (Percussion)

The band even tries to teach people through their music. For instance, "Courtin' In The Kitchen" warns young men to be careful when courtin' in the kitchen. If the lass comes down in "nothing but her nighty" and "slyly hints of marriage" then runoff immediately because if you are caught by her father she will say you were robbing the place and raping her. You will get 6 months hard for courtin' in the kitchen. ;)

The band also warns people about the strength of the hard cider and murphy's millenium brew in the songs Johnny Jump Up and Johnny Tarr, respectively.

Anyone who has seen my Farscape vids knows how large of a fan I am... the vast majority of my vids are songs by GS!

(strangely, I do not drink and yet I love this kind of music)