Real clip (or possibly clips) from the Paris Hilton tape

Apparently what was made available on the net, back a ways, was not the real thing. It was nothing like this, which decidely is the real thing: Paris Hilton with her ex-boyfriend, from the real tape. This is decidely NOT work safe. In fact, if you don't like this sort of thing, DON'T LOOK (sadly, we are in permanent blog sweeps mode).

Congressman Mark Foley

Why did Congressman Mark Foley, of Florida, think that flirting with teenage boys, who were pages in the Congress, could be done with impunity? Obviously, since he was forced to resign over this behavior, he could not get away with it. I have to think that he is caught up in being a homosexual pedophile, and is stupid, besides. He must have had some success at this sort of thing, and just now got in trouble (permanently). He ruined an otherwise promising political career and may have jeopardized Republican control of the House.

Running ASP .NET on Windows XP Home

I may upgrade a machine and may put Windows XP Professional on it, but I was looking for a way, without doing that, to do ASP .NET 1.1 development without IIS. I have been impressed by Wikipedia, in some areas, and this is another. Wikipedia has an entry about using the UltiDev Cassini Web Server for running ASP .NET applications. This weekend, I will install and try it out (if I get XP Professional, I may be attempting the hardware upgrade and doing the OS installation, as well).

This guy in Colorado should not have been running loose

In the bad old days, the guy in Colorado would have been locked up for vagrancy. We are too enlightened, these days, to do such as thing, so what do you get? 16 year old girls sexually assaulted (whatever that means) and one dead, besides. The killer got off easy, because he shot himself. The authorities were slow to panic, which caused the whole business to be worse than it might have been if they had gone in, early in the game. MSNBC has the latest scoop. Their TV may suck, but their web site is at least "useful".

This morning, the local Tom Thumb gas station had unleaded regular for $2.049/gal

I am amazed at how quickly the price of gas has dropped. Yesterday morning, when I bought gas, unleaded regular was $2.069/gal and this morning the price was 2 cents less: $2.049/gallon. The price has been really dramatic and percipitous, and is good for everyone. Elsewhere in the Dallas area, people are paying perhaps 15 cents a gallon more, just because of the market that the stations are in.

Football player Terrell Owens attempted suicide

According to KRLD, Cowboys' controversial player, Terrell Owens, attempted suicide by taking 30 pain pills. The original story had been that he had an allergic reaction to the pain medicine. He may have just trashed what is left of his career. Perhaps he already knew something we do not know.

Wargame designing seems to be hazardous to the waistline

I knew John Hill in the early 1970's, in Lafayette, Indiana, when John had a hobby store that specialized in selling wargame-related books, games, and miniatures. I did a small amount of artwork for the original Bar Lev game, from John's then game company, Conflict Games. There is a picture that is quite old now, from 1999, showing Al Nofi, James Dunnigan, John Hill, and Jack Radey. I was struck with the general state of the guys. Al Nofi, late of the Naval War College, was in the best shape of any of them. Through the grapevine, I have understood that John Hill has been working as an intelligence analyst in the DC area for quite a long time. I think that explains his absence from much game design.

I would not vote for the current crop of Democrats

I have voted for a lot of odd presidential candidates, but I draw the line at voting fo r any Democrat, given the current state of the party. I would have voted Democratic in 1968 so I could vote for Bobby Kennedy, but I watched TV when he was assassinated by a Palestinian. I dislike many of the Republicans in Congress, but mostly because they don't seem to stand for principles. The Democrats are even worse. They stand for beating the Republicans, hating President Bush and Vice-President Cheney, and are against anything that they like. I wouldn't trust Nancy Pelosi to wash my car, much less be Speaker of the House.

I continue to see signs that the economy in the Dallas area is better and seems to be improving further

Just based on what I see happening in IT business in the Dallas area, the local economy seems to continue to be better and I can see signs of further improvement. I have a rather narrow perspective, from IT consulting, but this is the best that I have seen since early 2001, when there was an abrupt collapse. I suspect that the collapse had started in 2000, and that we had coasted along on momentum, into 2001. At that point, the situation in Minneapolis was still pretty good, so I starting doing consulting work there, until May 2004. The economy went into a slump in Minneapolis, by the end of 2001, and stayed down, but not at low as Dallas. Dallas was hammered badly by the the collapse of technology and, especially, telecom. I had been back in telecom since early 1998, although I was diversified by late 2000.

JustJared.com has pics of Madonna's bad hair cut and styling

I don't know why Madonna thought this looked good, but we can see the pics at JustJared.com, and we can see her bad hair cut and styling. It starts with the bleach blonde color and then has short, ragged ends. It just does not work out well.

Egotastic says that Scarlett Johansson likes her breasts

Egotastic has a piece and pics about Scarlett Johansson, and says that she likes her breasts (or rather, she is proud of them?).

Lindsey Lohan broke her wrist in a fall at a Fashion Week party in New York

People AOL has a piece about Lindsey Lohan's slip and fall at a Fashion Week party in New York. The pic shows her wrist in a cast.

Peaches doesn't seem to have ballooned up noticeably

With everything that I have heard, I wondered if Peaches Geldof had ballooned up in weight recently, to the point that her older sister has. From this recent picture, which doesn't show much (Hello Magazine), she seems be about where she has been: a little on the pudgy side, but not really too big.

Terry Morrow talks about partying with Paris Hilton

At the 10th anniversary Southpark celebration, Terry Morrow had a chance to party with Paris Hilton, and wrote about the experience:

You know how you get after going to a really good Hollywood party, and you think to yourself on the way home, "I wonder if Paris Hilton's party is still going on?" And before you know it, you end up going there and sitting on the couch, talking to Paris. Well, that's what happened.

Here's what happened. I went to Hollywood for Comedy Central's "South Park" 10th anniversary party. That, alone, would have been enough to make my 48-hour trip fantastic. But, when the party was winding down, Kevin, my buddy from In Touch magazine, asked me if I wanted to go to Paris' house for a party. He didn't know if I could get in -- there was a guest list and security to get by -- but I was willing to try.

We got there, and Kev was able to get into the party instantly. I was not. Well, I wasn't until Kev returned with Paris, and she escorted me in. "Hey sexy, welcome!" she whispered in my ear. She gave me a peck on the cheek.

That's when the surrealism of Hollywood became vivid.

Gas was down to $2.109/gal at Albertson's this noon

When I topped off at Albertson's gas station this noon, the price was down even more, to $2.109/gal for unleaded regular. I got 89 octane gas for $2.209/gal. I understand that in the upper midwest, folks might be paying 40 or 50 cents more per gallon, so that they can appease the radical environmentalists, and subsidize farmers. You may not realize it, but we do not have brown skies in Dallas.

Gas was down to $2.119/gal for regular unleaded

At the Raceway station across from the Credit Union of Texas, on Gross Rd., in Mesquite, TX, the price for regular unleaded was down to $2.119/gallon today at 12:30pm. My wife says it was $2.139/gallon about 9am.

There are some evil people around

While I am not Jewish, my son converted me to being a strong supporter of Israel. The anti-Israel, and in fact, anti-Jewish tide in the Democratic party is very troubling. The American Thinker has an article about what we are looking at.

This post about Heather Mills is still getting a lot of attention

Heather Mills posing for the PETA calendar still has a lot of interest. No Rock & Roll Fun has a post on the story. So when will we see pics on the Internet?

So Heather Mills has a "Heather Mills has a beer-fuelled ball in a grungy bar"

WalrusGumBoot has a post that says Heather Mills has been partying. I guess that she is getting back to her roots. Her older brother Shane performed at the bar, and she enjoyed herself while watching.

Duane Patterson has a piece about John Kerry's positioning himself for a run in 2008

John Kerry is almost laughable, in his ineptness. Now, he is talking "religion", because someone told him that was the way to win. Duane Patterson, at Radio Blogger, has apost on this subject:

"For 12 years I wandered in the wilderness, went through a divorce and struggled with questions about my direction. Then suddenly and movingly, I had a revelation about the connection between the work I was doing as a public servant and my formative teachings. Indeed, the scriptures provided a firmer guide about values applied to life," he said.

Wait a minute. Did he just say he had a reverlation about the connection between his public servant work, or in other words, his politics, and his religious teachings? Is he drafting God into partisan service again in the same speech?

The Scriptures do indeed provide a firmer guide about values applied to life, Senator Kerry, especially life, created by God, in the womb.

Actions speak louder than words, Senator Kerry. You can claim your faith by words, but it's your actions that are going to show whether you believe what you say you believe. And those actions so far show that the 'ism' you most align with isn't Catholicism. It's liberalism.

At least for now, the Albertson's gas station as regular unleaded for $2.169/gallon

With the price of oil fluctuating, we could see a temporary rise in gas prices, but today, the discounted price, with the Albertson's card, is down to $2.169/gallon. Can $2.00 a gallon or less be far off? I am sure that our lefty buddies are angry.

I don't understand the Thai coup

Bangkok Pundit doesn't like the coup and is favorably disposed to the ousted PM. I really can't say that I understand the real motivation behind the coup. Yes, the financial dealings of Thaksim look to be corrupt. He is still popular and if elections were held, he and his party would win (so says the Bangkok Pundit). The BBC has coverage that seems good. Is this a coup driven my Muslims who are opposed to harsh measures in the south, or is it about corruption? There is also the dynamics involved the army and an ousted general.

No child left behind? Its treatment of children in Special Education is misguided

I found out that the No Child Left Behind law, as it is currently being applied to children in Special Education will end up doing more harm than good. Yes, we want to educate children as well as they can be. Does it make sense to force non-verbal children, the mentally-retarded, and the lower-functioning autitistic children to pass the standardized tests? Wikipedia has coverage of the Act and a dialog on both sides.

An interesting piece about Thailand at Western Resistance

I thought that this piece at Western Resistance gave me a better background on what is happening in Thailand. I had wondered about the factor of the Muslim rebellion in the south. They start out with this:

There is currently a coup d'etat taking place in Thailand, and though I had a lot of information gathered on the insurgency in the Muslim south, it seems that the uncertainty which was felt by even the commander of the Southern Army, General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin in how to proceed with peace measures will become more uncertain.

Yesterday, he noted that the insurgents who have been carrying out a sustained campaign of bloodshed since 4 January 2005 in the provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala had links with the island province of Satun and Songkhla province. It was in the southern province of Songkhla in Hatyai, where the bombings took place on Saturday, September 16 (pictured). On the same day, General Sonthi had arranged peace talks with young Muslims at Yala Central Mosque, to discuss how to proceed with peace measures. The insurgents who blew up parts of the commercial center of Hat Yai

In yesterday's Jakarta Post, it was suggested that Saturday's attacks had been a deliberate attempt to sabotage the Thai economy. Three weeks earlier, on Thursday August 31, a series of small bombs went off almost simultaneously in 22 banks in Yala province, apparently to deter people from investing in the South.

The NYT story about the coup in Thailand

Bangkok Pundit pointed out this NYT story about Thailand and the politics behind the coup.

Pajamas Media has good coverage of Thailand and the coup

The Pajamas Media site, which is a news aggegator, has good coverage of the situation in Thailand with the coup.

Bangkok Pundit is "live blogging" the coup

Bangkok Pundit, as well as others, is live blogging the coup in Thailand:

State of Emergency in Bangkok: Coup Rumours

UPDATE: Dr Panitan (From Chula, a security expert) on The NationChannel. His view is that the Army C-in-C (Gen Sondhi ?) seemed to have very few soliders on his side [After he said that we go to back to the guy in the suit for an "official" announcement]

UPDATE: 12:03am The NationChannel was just about to speak to Gen. Panlop, but then he didn't talk to them saying that he didn't know what was happening and hung up.

UPDATE 12:01am Military at the NationChannel and said that there to look after them - I guess this has to be true as The Nation is analysing the situation

UPDATE: 11:55pm Kitty reports by email that BBC and CNN are blocked.

UPDATE: 11:50pm Thai TV (NationChannel) is back and no more music. Are things back to normal?

COMMENT: Thoughts, possible coup and Thaksin's side fought back seems to be the word.

The coup in Thailand seems to be more than a rumour

Yahoo Finance says that stock prices are falling after a rumoured military coup in Thailand. That seems to be more than a rumour: there is an AP story to that effect, and says the the PM was at the UN at the time of the coup. There is at least on picture of an APC rolling.

I like being around people who are trying to improve themselves

I like being in a positive environment filled with people who are working to improve themselves. That is one of the things I like about Weight Watchers. I chuckle when I see sayings written or spoken that I have heard "In The Business". That is the other environment where I have been exposed to a great deal of exposure to good ideas, promoting positive attitudes, and general "self improvement". I sometimes think that the critics of such things (and there are many) are generally negative people who are self-indulgent, pursuing some "other agenda".

Money management

When I was regularly attending business meetings in various locations in the southeast, I heard a successful businessman speak about money management. This speech was set up so that he could specifically talk to that subject, as it is generally a big issue to people, especially "ordinary people". Some of the principles are pretty simple and possibly obvious:

1. If you don't know how much money you have, you shouldn't be spending money
2. Put aside money to cover your fixed expenses and living expenses
3. Plan for big acquistions and use cash if possible
4. Credit is acceptable for funding business costs if you have a good cash flow
5. Save money for yourself up front, before paying your creditors, if you have a surplus
6. If you don't have a surplus, look at your expenditures and cut what you are spending for non-critical items
7. If you can't even cover expenses, cutting expenditures is critical. You can't be spending money on cable TV and eating out at restaurants, when you can't make your house payment

Paris Hilton seems not adverse to showing off a lot of skin

I appreciate that Paris Hilton is willing to show off her bod, which is her one decent asset (sure to be squandered). I say, let us peek while she still is worth seeing. "Paris Zone" has plenty of pics.

Razib has a post about the spread of Islam: "Gods of the Sword"

Razib, writing at Gene Expression, has a post called "Gods of the Sword" about the spread of Islam:

Over at my other blog I have a long post Spread by the sword, which analyzes the perception that Islam is a religion of the sword. I was influenced by some of Robert Pape's insights to offer two parameters which I think are important

1) The spread of Islam was often accompained by herrenvolk. In the early centuries Islam and Arab rule were coterminus. The Ummayyads were the "Arab Kingdom." Later the Turks took up Islam as their national ideology, and in places like the Balkans and India to be Turkic and Islamic was synonymous (many South Asian Muslims are "Khans" after all). In contrast, both Buddhism and Christianity tended to spread via elite co-option. Kings and nobles converted to the new religion and over time. This leads me to my suggestion that one reason the historical memory of Islam as a religion of the sword is going to be inevitable when the herrenvolk are expelled, in places like the Balkans, Spain and India non-Muslim elites returned to power and of course the memory of Islamic rule grates. In contrast in places like Japan or England the fall of the Christianizing dynasty was irrelevant because the whole elite had converted (I did think of a major example of where Buddhism was more like Islam in the way it spread, see the other post for details).

His first post, "Spread by the Sword", is at his Science Blogs blog:

recently read the remarks of the Pope. Everyone is focusing on the aggressive tone taken toward Islam. Muslims are reacting in a typically bestial manner. But it seems to me that Benedict is being disingenuous in pretending as if Christianity was spread purely through moral suasion. I have already noted the vandalism and violence sanctioned by Christian Emperors, starting with Theodosius, against pagans their sacred temples late in the 4th century. The conversion of figures like Clovis or Vladimir meant that their peoples entered the faith by fiat, certainly this was not the case where Christianity percolated amongst the masses of its own accord. The forced conversion of the Saxons during the later part of Charlemagne's reign, or the brutality of anti-pagan marcher lords like the Teutonic Knights, is indisputable (see The Barbarian Conversion). Of course, Islam also has the character of fiat. Forced conversions were well known in the history of Islam, and the debased and subject status of the dhimmi resulted in the slow by inexorable transformation of formerly Christian or Zoroastrian lands into Muslim ones. With Buddhism, another transnational faith, there were periods of tension, as when the first Tibetan kings chose between the indigenous Bon and the newly introduced Buddhist faith, or when barbarian warlords promoted Buddhism in north China in the 5th century, or the introduction of the faith during the 6th and 7th century to Japan.

Smutrangers has the other Lindsey Lohan shot, probably a fake, but amusing

Smutrangers has the other Lindsey Lohan shot, but this one is probably a Photoshop job. Still, you can see that she is nice, and it would fit.

A purported authentic Lindsey Lohan shot

"El Show De NinjaGuyDan" has a shot that purports to be authentic of Lindsey Lohan, minus pants. Maybe this is for real, as djBenzi has a larger version of the shot.

Lots of Paris Hilton skin

"faithinsound" has a post with a Paris Hilton pic in a bikini, talking on a phone. I didn't recognize here, as she looks better than I expected.

Gas prices keep going down: $2.249/gallon

Today, the price for unleaded regular at the Tom Thumb gas station in Mesquite, on Cartwright at Pioneer, was $2.249/gallon. That general level was not unusual, as the "Storm" station on Gross Rd in Mesquite was $2.259/gallon.

Media Gab Community has lots of Lindsey Lohan cleavage

Just to lower the level of discussion further, here is a link to the MediaGab Community page for Lindsey Lohan. The page has lots of pics with cleavage.

Drunk man, who says he knows Osama Bin Laden tries to open plane door

Karol, at Alarming News points out this post on Gates of Vienna, about the drunk Muslim man who tried to open the door on a plane in flight:

One of the tenets of Islam is that a follower of the prophet is not permitted alcoholic beverages. The behavior of Mr. Moustafa Moufaden on a plane flight from Shanghai to London tells us why this restriction might be a good idea.

According to Monday’s Richmond and Twickenham Times, Mr. Moufaden may have overindulged in adult beverages while on the flight:

A Brentford man who went berserk on a plane, shouting that he knew Osama Bin Laden, had to be restrained with hand and leg cuffs.

The drunken rampage began after Virgin Airline crew refused to let 36-year-old Moustafa Moufaden buy more alcohol.

Clayton Cramer writes about Kimveer Gill

Clayton Cramer has a post about the shooter in Montreal, Kimveer Gill:

The young man who went on the shooting rampage at Dawson College yesterday left a web page (apparently taken down already, but the cached version is here) that was about as clear as could be about the extent of his mental problems. He was into Goth, and the page contains references to paranoia, depression, and feeling nothing. Like a lot of his generation, he has filled in various "scoring" surveys, and included the results that supposedly match those surveys on his website.

Kimveer Gill was both a disturbed young man and a calculated killer who committed an act of terrorism unrelated to anyone else, except for those similar to the Columbine killers.

MOSNEWS.COM says that Sacha Baron Cohen has caused a diplomatic flap

MOSNEWS.COM has a photo of Sacha Baron Cohen, a British comedian, and the story about him. He apparently offended the President of Kazakhstan with his movie about the Borat character's adventures in the US.

Nosy Snoop says that Paul McCartney is upping his offer to Heather to settle

The Nosy Snoop says that Paul McCartney is so desperate to keep Heather Mills from talking about his activities during their marriage, that he has increased his settlement offer to her to keep quiet about their marriage for the rest of her life. I suspect that he has not offered enough, yet. I am sure that she has a price, and that $72 million won't get the job done. She seems to be holding out for the $250M figure that has been bandied about.

A terrorist attack in Montreal

It may not have anything to do with Arab terrorists, but the guy who shot people at Dawson College in Montreal staged a terrorist attack, nonetheless. The guy was dressed in black and had a Mowhawk haircut, and was described as being pale. Canada.com has the story as currently publicly known. USA Today also has a good story with a map. There is more at FlyerTalk.com.

Our leftist buddies and "Peak Oil"

I was able to find a copy of the story about the Saudi business executive who says that only 18% of the world's oil reserves have been tapped. Our lefty buddies have been hyping the story about "Peak Oil", and that we have used more than is left. This is another case where our leftist buddies have been repeating a story continuously, hoping that everyone will start to believe what they say.

Jessica Simpson pics

The Celeb Sex blog asks the question "is the divorced Jessica Simpson just getting hotter?" They have pics in this post. Also, do you like Jessica's "look" in this pic?

Melinda Duckett killed herself

Given that Melinda Duckett killed herself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, she looks like a prime suspect behind the disappearance of her two-year old son. "Hot on the trail" has the story. I was interested to see that despite her name, and her son's name, she and her son appear to be Oriental. You can't just say Asian, as that could include India, Pakistan, Malaysia and so on. "She killed herself in a Mitsubishi Eclipse" that was sitting in her grandparents' driveway.

Gas keeps getting less expensive

Good things are happening at the gas pump. Market forces are driving down gas prices. Reportedly, in Iowa, the price of unleaded regular has fallen to $2.05/gal at some stations. At my local Tom Thumb gas station, the discounted price is down to $2.309/gal for unleaded regular. I am sure that our lefty buddies are looking for ways to drive the price back up.

The Leftist Jihadis

On September 11, 2006, we face not only the Islamic jihadis but a new secular group of leftist "jihadis" who don't believe in our present system and the values of the majority of Americans. Many are not credible, such as Cindy Sheehan, but the MoveOn.org crowd and the not totally unrelated Daily Kos crowd are more prominent and drive much of the ongoing political discussion, if only by their dominence over the Democratic Party principals. They have fellow travellers overseas, such as the guy who produced the movie that revolves around the assasination of President Bush. The leftist jihadis don't disapprove of such a thing. So far, they have failed in any attempt. It would not surprise me if there have been attempts, but they have not been publicized. Publicity would only encourage more of the same, as that is part of the leftist jihadi mindset: they want to be recognized. Their origins date back into the 1960's. When I was in Ann Arbor in 1965 to 1968, there was the Voice Political Party and the misnamed "SNCC" (pronounced snick). SNCC was not non-violent, at least that was the appearance.

Duane Patterson, at Radio Blogger, says that we should not support Lincoln Chafee's re-election

Duane Patterson, Hugh Hewitt's producer, writes at Radio Blogger. Much of what he does is post transcripts from the show, but he also comments, when he sees something worth discussing. He has a post about Lincoln Chafee, and argues that we should not support him:

In Friday's edition of the Washington Post, we learn the the United States Senate has postponed a confirmation vote on the nomination of recess appointee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.

Last year, you might recall, Rhode Island's Chafee, in a rare moment of lucidity, voted in favor of confirmation, but the whole process was wrecked by Ohio Senator George Voinovich, who was so passionate in his disapproval of Bolton that he actually cried over the vote.

President Bush recess appointed Bolton after that session of Congress ended, and Bolton has been fabulous, just as most of us knew he'd be. Voinovich, in the year since Bolton's appointment, has completely reversed himself, and is eager to vote to confirm him formally. That vote was to have taken place this week, but hit another snag. At least that's what the Post reported in the first paragraph. I didn't even have to read further to see who the snag was, because I already knew it was Lincoln Chafee. But I read ahead to see if I was wrong. I wasn't.

Weight Watchers status: 9 September 2006

When I weighed in today, I was down 3.6 lbs for the week, for a total of 37.6 lbs in 29 weeks. I can't explain what I did differently. I just stayed on program and ate what I liked, but within the over daily and weekly points budget.

Dishonesty in the media about children and sex

What I have written about lately regarding children and stories about sex has struck me that the media has been dishonest, and in many ways, has been shielding parents from knowing what actually is happening. When there is some sexual preditor loose in a neighborhood, parents need to know that the preditor is going after young girls or boys. There seems to be a desire at least here in Dallas to obscure the facts about this type of incident. Especially where the preditor is a homosexual pedophile, that has escaped notice in the main news outlets. Eventually, the story comes out, but not when the information is needed most.

I would also like to know when there is really forcible sex happening and when there was not, such as the story from Milwaukee about the 11-year old girl. I understand that legally, that she cannot give consent to sexual activity, but it was not forcible in this case, and that should have been more prominently notes. It was a strange and bad situation, but was not some gang rape situation where there was force involved, despite the headline.

Jessica Simpson pics (apparently for real)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

MSNBC plays this story as a gang-rape of an 11 year old girl

The headline on the MSNBC story implies that an 11 year old girl was gang-raped by 20 boys. The reality is somewhat different. Yes, 11 year old girls are not legally recognized as being able to have consensual sex, so technically, she was "assaulted". That is not what really happened, however. This 11-year old was lusting after this 16-year old girl who dressed like a boy. They were at this house in Milwaukee, were there were many boys and a man. The 11 year old picked out boys that she would perform oral sex upon. Presumably, she did that with the man, as well. The 16-year old girl instructed the 11-year old what to do. That is not a real gang-rape, even though it is illegal, given the current age of consent.

My latest game: guessing how many pounds overweight people are

I have found my self speculating how many pounds overweight people are, here at work. Sadly, the majority of people are at least somewhat overweight, and all too many are greatly overweight. I am still overweight, being about 23 pounds above what I would like to weigh. I had been at that weight in early 2000, before I really started to slide. There were many pressures to eat foods that were high in carbohydrates. The final straw was when my brother and sister-in-law visited in September 2000, and my wife demanded that I eat spaghetti. It was all down hill after that.

I get aggravated when critical information is omitted from the news

I suppose it is an effort to be politically sensitive, but the KRLD website omits the critical information about this psychiatrist who lost his license and is going to jail. KRLD mentioned "three juvenile patients". Was he molesting girls? No, he was molesting young boys. The Psychwatch blog has the scoop in an old post.

Now that we are finally seeing rising wages, there is fear that the Fed will stomp it out

The dazed maniacs on Wall Street are finally becoming aware of what is happening in the world with rising wages (which I have seen for a few months, being personally a beneficiary of the trend), they are afraid that the Fed will try and stomp it out by going back to raising interest rates. Of course, all along, there have been complaints about not seeing rising wages. Now, it is something to be feared (supposedly).

Do you think it's possible?

The Astute Bloggers: is it really possible that they might get Osama?

Presumably, this is a fake (but who knows?)

There is this pic of Britney Spears sans clothes, and I would have imagined that it was fake, but now, who knows? Britney Spears naked pic This is linked to from Gagici.com.

Bill Ford is out as CEO, and I say "good riddance"

Bill Ford has just about run Ford into the ground, in the last five years, and now he is out. I say "good riddance", but it was not soon enough. The basic problem is that they stopped building cars and trucks that people wanted to buy, largely. There are a few bright spots, but some of the big problems are the Ford Five Hundred and the new Explorer. I finally saw a new Explorer over the weekend, and I see why they haven't sold. By cutting prices low enough, they can sell just about anything (consider the Contour, after all, and the oval-windowed Taurus). The new guy doesn't know about cars, anymore than I do, but perhaps he can hire people who do know cars, and who can put band-aids on the current lineup.

Gas is now $2.329 per gallon at Tom Thumb

Regular unleaded has hit another low, as of today. At our Tom Thumb gas station, the discounted price is now $2.329/gallon for unleaded regular.

The hot news for the day: the oil find in the Gulf

Look for our lefty friends to pull out the stops to try and block exploitation of what looks like a big oil find in the Gulf. There are many versions of the story, but the one I just read is from KHOU in Houston. It continues to illustrate the leftist silliness about the total supply of oil, and the "peak oil" concept.

"Peace Talks" are Under Way?

At least that is how The Daily Mail describes talks between Heather Mills and Paul McCartney. Her agent set up the meeting, and supposedly the aim is to make things better for their daughter.

More gas prices

I was amazed to see this morning, that the "Storm" gas station at Gross Road and LBJ in Mesquite, Texas had unleaded regular for $2.379/gallon. That is the lowest that I have seen in a long time. I wouldn't be surprised to see others that are even lower. I hope this continues, as it is a big relief for everyone.

Razib points out one point of Arab superiority: Shakira and Salma Hayek

Razib has a post with pics of Shakira and Salma Hayek. He also links to a video of Shakira dancing at the MTV awards:

Shakira is a bad influence on brown chix.

Gas prices are amazing

I couldn't believe that this morning, everyone has low prices on gas. I bought 89 octane unleaded at Albertson's gas station, and paid $2.529/gal. Unleaded regular was $2.429/gal. The price just keeps heading lower, and this is Labor Day weekend!

Paul Yates

I finally read the story of Paula Yates and Bob Geldoff. By the mid-1990's, Paul seems to have gotten bored with Bob Geldoff. He had become afluent and more conservative in his lifestyle. Given her apparent meaningless life, she was looking for thrills and extreme pleasures. In the pursuit of those aims, she hooked up with Australian Michael Hutchens, from INXS (I suppose, in excess, which fits).

Michael Hutchens apparently filled Paula's desires, and she said that he died while playing sex games, hanging while asphyxiating. It worked too well and he died in the process. That deal has surfaced in the last 6 months, in the news, where young men were found hung. They were unintentional suicides, as they had been trying the near asphyxiation stunt to get higher sexual pleasure. In any case, after Michael Hutchens' death, Paula was having to resort to increasingly large doses of heroin to kill the pain of living. That was ultimately too effective, and in 2000 she died of a heroin overdose.

Paula apparently had goofy ideas about naming children, as even her daughter by Michael Hutchens got stuck with a rock-star child type name: Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchens. Her three daughters by Bob Geldoff have equally odd names: Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom, and Little Pixie. Peaches seems bound for an end like her mother's. Another example of meaningless lives lived to no useful end.

Weight Watchers update: 2 September 2006

I weighed in today at Weight Watchers and I was down another 0.4 lbs for a total of 34 lbs in 28 weeks. I would like to be losing weight faster, but I am grateful for forward progress, at this point. I would like to be down another 25 lbs, before I am done. Needless to say, I have lost a LOT of inches.

$2.419 a gallon for unleaded regular

The lowest price I saw today was $2.419 at the Valero station on Town East Blvd near Motley. The Albertson's convenience store also had gas listed at $2.419 a gallon, so perhaps there was another 3 cent a gallon discount on top of that! Gas in Mesquite, TX, is way below what I heard was the average for the state of Texas on Friday.

Nortel is selling their UMTS access business

Since "Ericsson is the only company making money on UMTS", Nortel has signed an MOU to sell their UMTS access business to Alcatel, who only had about 3% of the market. This would give Alcatel a market share of about 12% (I hear). The deal would include the OAM for UMTS access, as well. Nortel will retain the UMTS core network portion of the business.

$2.589/gallon for 89 octane gas: "Ain't it great"

I was amazed, this morning, when I bought gas and found that the price per gallon for 89 octane gas had dropped to $2.589/gallon at our friendly neighborhood Tom Thumb gas station (with the discount).