Posted inCurrent affairs Entertainment

Obama needs to channel his warrior “Avatar”

Fresh off of seeing Avatar last night in mind-blowing 3-D, I'm hoping that President Obama will rock my psyche in a different -- but related -- way next Wednesday when he gives his first State of the Union address. Fight for what you believe and take on the freakin' bad guys! This is one of the Avatar good guys, Jake. He was a crippled paraplegic soldier who regained his kick-ass capabilities when his mind was melded with the artificially created body of a Na'vi lookalike. The Na'vi are the indigenous people of Pandora. Slender. Graceful. Intelligent. Attuned to nature. Spiritual.…
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Fabulous fantasy feature set for the Apple tablet

Beautiful! Mark Morford nails his lust list of desirable features for the long-rumored and apparently about-to-be-announced Apple tablet. Bring it on!Here's some of Morford's entirely reasonable wishes (he's speaking directly to the tablet). On the topic of health and happiness, it would be tremendously helpful if I could, say, hold a given food item in front of your gleaming screen and have you instantly reveal, via an intricate array of special sensors, the exact nutrient value, fat quotient, caloric assessment, global carbon footprint, potential colonic damage and overall dietary necessity of said comestible, along with exactly how amped or sluggish,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Raising Oregon taxes will be good for our state

A couple of new polls suggest that Oregonians are about to raise state taxes on high income citizens and some corporations by passing Measures 66 and 67. Support for the measures may be slipping, though.I hope they pass. Oregon is a low tax state, as I noted several years ago. This recent cartoon from the Eugene Register-Guard demolishes the ridiculous anti-tax argument that people and businesses will shun Oregon if state taxes are hiked slightly.William Yaeger, an Oregon State University economist, did a fine job of pointing out the benefits to the state's economy of passing Measures 66 and 67…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

My “I don’t care” mood should worry Obama

I don't care. That's my core reaction to Republican Scott Brown's win over incompetent campaigner Martha Coakley yesterday.People like me should make Obama and the Democratic leadership very, very worried. I was a hugely enthusiastic Obama supporter in 2008. Gave lots of money. Responded regularly to the frequent emails that came from the slick Obama online cyberspace machine.Now, I take a glance at whatever is sent to me by the group that has inherited Obama's email address list, yawn, and press the delete button. A few times in 2009 I sent in a contribution to support health care reform efforts.…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Ukraine’s Yulia Tymoshenko: a hot national leader

I don't usually pay much attention to politics in Ukraine. But when I saw a photo of the country's prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, for some (obvious) reason I became enthralled with her.She's in a runoff to be the next Ukrainian president. I'll be rooting for her. All I need to do is glance at her opponent to tell that Yulia is hugely hotter more qualified.  In contrast with our own female politician hot babe, Sarah Palin, Tymoshenko actually has some brains and competence. Wikipedia tells me that she graduated with an honors degree in economics and was president of United Energy…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Oregon Measures 66 & 67 elicit anti-tax lies

My wife and I have happily mailed in our "yes" votes on Measures 66 and 67. I love to pay taxes. They're the largest contributions to the general good of society (Oregon, United States, world) that we make each year.These tax measures would slightly increase the amount of money high income Oregonians, and some corporations, pay. If they pass, Oregon still will have one of the most favorable tax burden on businesses. Currently, even with the new taxes, we're #14 among the 50 states. Download State business tax climateSo it's ridiculous for the No on 66/67 crowd to claim that…
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Posted inSustainability

Oregon’s wise land use fights global warming

In some ways my wife and I are good examples of how to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas pollution: we own two hybrid cars, and I ride a 45 mpg scooter as often as possible.But we also live in a rural area about six miles from the Salem city limits. So we do a lot of driving back and forth to town. More driving means more greenhouse gas emissions.Yesterday Laurel and I attended a 1000 Friends of Oregon lunch meeting where this environmental organization's 2010 legislative agenda was discussed. I learned about a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Task Force established in 2009…
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Posted inSustainability

Oregon coyote derby senseless and wrong

If you're offended by a southeastern Oregon coyote derby that offers a prize for bringing in the most sets of ears, you've got good reasons to be.  Coyotes are pack-oriented wild dogs who are part of the balance of nature. They control rodents, which are a nuisance. My wife and I wish there were more coyotes in our neighborhood.Killing coyotes doesn't reduce their numbers; it increases them. When coyotes are killed, more coyotes breed and have larger litters. Coyotes also fill vacated habitat from surrounding areas.Yet Jamie and Angel Roscoe are promoting their coyote derby in Klamath, Lake, Harney, and…
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Posted inHome life

My Ten Commandments of Napping

As the adage goes, "write what you know." I shall obey, because I know a lot about napping. Not academic knowledge -- first-hand, eyes-shut, direct experience. In fact, I just had a nap. That refreshment, combined with a cup of coffee, has stimulated me to share some of the napping wisdom that I've gained over many years.For I am not new to napping. In 1977, a few years out of graduate school, I began my second "real" job with the State Health Planning agency here in Salem, Oregon.I had a private office, being a manager. One of my first executive…
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Posted inScience Sustainability

Cold weather and global warming: perfectly compatible

Last month I heard a conservative radio talk show host proclaim, "Hah! It's snowing in Arizona. Guess this will make John McCain change his mind about global warming." Idiocy must be contagious, because yesterday I heard something similar (on CNN, I believe). The weather person was saying that it was unusually cold in the central and eastern parts of the United States.The anchor responded with something like "Well, that's interesting, since the Copenhagen conference on global warming happened not long ago." Before he could expand upon this illogical train of thought, the weather expert interrupted to save him from further…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Rudy Giuliani forgets 9/11

Unbelievable: Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City on September 11, 2001, forgets the attacks. Rudy Giuliani claimed Friday that were “no domestic attacks” during George W. Bush’s presidency....“We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We’ve had one under Obama,” he said, forgetting not only Sept. 11  but also the anthrax mailings to congressional offices and media outlets.Giuliani should be ashamed of his idiocy. And apologize to the relatives of those who died on 9/11, which he has forgotten.
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Posted inWeb/Tech

Nuvi 285W replaces Nuvi 350 as my GPS friend

Yeah, I'm fickle. If something more desirable comes along, I'll break up in an instant with an attractive piece of technology even if I've had great times with it. So goodbye venerable Nuvi 350, who's been a part of my life since November 2006. Thanks to an after-Christmas Amazon sale, I'm now in an increasingly intimate relationship with a younger Nuvi, the 285W.Lots of people, including me, love the Nuvi 350 -- as evidenced by 3,140 mostly glowing reviews on Amazon.My only significant gripe with the 350 was how she mispronounced basic names, like "drive." We live on Lake Drive,…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Money market account redemption hysteria

A friend recently emailed me some links that warn of impending financial disaster. He noted that I don't often write about economics, which is true. So I took a look at a couple of the sky is falling posts and will report on my impression of them. Which is, in a word, yawn. I don't feel a pressing need to invest in an umbrella to protect against sky pieces.My first stop was "Is the US Goverment Preparing the Lifeboats for the Next Financial Disaster?" I guess this title is supposed to be critical of the (misspelled) government. But isn't it…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Dick Cheney is a liar (as if that’s news)

Not only a liar, a pants on fire liar. That's how the independent fact-checking PolitiFact rated Cheney's claim that President Obama won't admit the nation is at war against terrorists. I wish Cheney would go back to doing stupid things while hunting, like shooting a friend, instead of shooting his mouth off with completely erroneous idiocies.
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Posted inScience Web/Tech

I don’t feel oppressed by technology

I love gadgets. They make me happy. Amazon just sent me a snazzier Garmin Nuvi. Trying it out while driving around yesterday, I had a great time. Really. I'm a believer that money spent on technological innovations actually can buy happiness, especially if what I've bought is made by Apple. So I found quite a bit to disagree with in a recent New Scientist article by Yair Amichai-Hamburger, "Free yourself from oppression by technology." (Yes, that's a real name; he's director of an Internet Psychology research center in Israel.)Such as...The other factor is relatedness: our need to feel close to other…
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Posted inWriting/Weblogs

I win my own 2009 blog post awards!

This is why I love to blog. Winning awards is so much fun! Sure, I've awarded them to myself, but isn't this what blogging is all about, self-absorption?Appropriately, I'll answer my own question. Yes, Brian, you're right. As always.So after browsing through my 2009 blog creations, I declare the following winners. I've included excerpts from my prose to justify, if only to me, why these posts are champions.Best Human-Related Question"A rose cleavage tattoo: to stare or not to stare?"Given a choice between being helped by a busty young thing with a rose tattoo showing in her cleavage, and -- gosh,…
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Posted inHome life

Hope our Samsung nano-particle washer doesn’t kill us

Oh, she's beautiful. But there are reports she could be deadly. Still, we've brought this high-tech Samsung washer into our laundry room, along with her non-malevolent dryer sister. Our nine-year old Maytag washer stopped working about a week ago. This kicked off an intense washing machine research effort, led by Laurel.She's the designated washer in our household, elevated to that position by virtue of (1) my incompetence in choosing the correct settings for washing and drying various types of clothes, and the related (2), Laurel's emphatic "just let me do it" when I offer to wash something that she values.So…
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Posted inCurrent affairs

Airport screening is scarier than a terrorist attack

Ah, deja vu all over again. There's an attempted terrorist attack on an airplane. Whatever method was used, the not-so-brilliant authorities figure will be used again. So innocent passengers have to suffer through screening procedures aimed at preventing an attack that has already happened.Because the latest attack happened near the end of a flight, now passengers on international flights have to stay in their seats for the last hour.Idiotic. Irritating. Insane. You can bet that if the attack had occurred in the first hour of a flight, that's when the non-geniuses in charge of airplane security would have ordered people…
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Posted inHome life

Here’s our disastrous 2009 Christmas letter

It's December 25. A perfect time to share our 2009 Christmas letter, the theme of which this year is disasters.Download 2009 Christmas Letter (its a PDF file)Actually, I always title our letter "Holiday Greetings." Laurel and I are, after all, politically correct Prius-driving latte-sipping progressive-voting vegetarian denizens of considerably godless Oregon, so the Christ part of Christmas is irrelevant to us.I do, though, worship the Great God Google. As noted on the blog post where my collected Christmas letters are located, I suffered a cyberspace shock five years ago when my "Christmas letter" Google search ranking dropped markedly after I…
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Posted inSalem

Marion County to vote on enlarging county commission

Today's Salem Statesman Journal reported that voters in my county, Marion, will have a chance to vastly improve our Board of Commissioners setup. Download County Commissioners articleMarion County voters in May will be asked if they want to increase the number of county commissioners to five from the current three and make the seats geographically based.The Marion County Clerk's office confirmed that the group "Have A Voice Everyone" collected enough valid signatures — 5,828 — to get the initiative, Measure 24-292, on the May 18 ballot.This is a great idea. Marion is the only county of its size in Oregon…
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