Having a fat day?

The media has spent a lot of time telling people about the obesity problem in this country. Apparently not enough people are paying attention since it seems to be getting worse, particularly among children. The consequences of obesity at any age can be devastating. Or troubling, in a mildly amusing way.

Microsoft is aiming high with its Xbox. And no doubt they'll suceed. Now I'm not blaming Microsoft for obesity problems. More I point this out as an example of our society's hypocrisy. On the one hand we decry the growing obesity problem, on the other we deify technology that keeps us firmly planted on the couch.

Pass the deep fried saturated fat and the DVR remote.

It's just a GAME people...

The Mirky$oft Xbox 360 was released last night. The local newspaper reported that someone paid US$5999 for one on eBay. And it doesn't even have digital output (i.e. won't give you high def on a HDTV among other things).

Let's twist again. Not.

We had some nasty storms come through last night. They spawned a few twisters (tornados) along the way. Thankfully none of them were near here. Still, we had a tornado watch all through the evening. So I sat up late, after my wife and kids had gone to bed, watching the weather forecaster on the television. These guys live for bad weather - you can see the gleam in their eyes. Anyway, tornados are scary. They're so random. I've watched hurricanes and cyclones. Sure, they do more damage in total, but you generally have plenty of warning, many hours, often days. Their paths can be predicted reasonably well. Tornados form and disappear quickly. Their paths seem random. You get warned minutes before they hit. If you get warned. Some poor buggers first realize there's a tornado when their houses explode... Thankfully it's rare for tornados to penetrate far into a city. Mostly it's the outskirts of cities or small rural places that get hit. We have tornado warning sirens here, but I have my doubts that we would hear them above the roar of a thunderstorm. So I sat up and watched the weather forecaster try to conceal his glee. Tornados are scary.

Signs of intelligent life...

Apparently people are smarter than the religious right thinks.

Now I get it!

This was forwarded to me - I have no idea where it originated, but it all makes sense now...

Dilbert's "Salary Theorem" states that "Engineers and scientists can never earn as much as business executives, sales people, accountants and especially liberal arts majors." This theorem can now be supported by a mathematical equation based on the following two well known postulates:

Postulate 1: Knowledge is Power.
Postulate 2: Time is Money.
As every engineer and scientist knows: Power = Work / Time.

Since: Knowledge = Power,
then Knowledge = Work / Time,

and,

Time = Money,
then Knowledge = Work / Money.

Solving for Money, we get:

Money = Work / Knowledge.

Thus, as Knowledge approaches zero, money approaches infinity, regardless of the amount of work done.

Halloween

Okay, so Halloween was a week ago and this is sort of late. Life happens...

We had a blast trick or treating with the kids. My eldest was a witch (a very cute witch) and my youngest a cat (also very cute). The amount of candy they collected was simply astounding. My favorite moment was when my youngest looked in her bucket, which was almost overflowing, turned to me and said "Daddy, I need to stop and eat a bunch of this so I can get more." A week later and her bucket is still a third full, despite the best efforts of my wife and I...

What was he thinking? What is he thinking?

This weekend it was announced that 2000 members of the US military have died in Iraq. It's Vietnam II. What was Dubya thinking? Was he?

With apologies to "The Cranberries"...


Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it's not you, it's not YOUR family.
In your head, in your head they are fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are crying...

In your head, in your head,
Georgie, Georgie, Georgie,
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,
In your head,
Georgie, Georgie, Georgie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, dou, dou, dou, dou, dou...

Another mother's breakin',
Heart is taking over.
When the vi'lence causes silence,
We must be mistaken.

It's the same old theme since President you've been.
In your head, in your head they're still fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are dying...

In your head, in your head,
Georgie, Georgie, Georgie,
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,
In your head,
Georgie, Georgie, Georgie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh,
Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey, oh, ya, ya-a...