Did You Know...

That NEC and Alcatel recently pushed nearly 11 trillion bits per second down a single strand of fiber? That's about the equivalent of 1,900 CD-ROM's every second. Did you also know that every 18 months for the past 20 years or so they have doubled the previous record? Which means that by 2014, if the trend continues, they will be able to send 1.8 quadrillion bits per second down the same strand of fiber? Although recently, they have been tripling capacity nearly every 6 months, so that means that as early as the end of next year they could pass the 1 quadrillion bit per second barrier. The fiber is largely already in place for the most part, so there is not really that much of a huge cost to upgrade infrastucture. Mind boggling really...

What do these advances in technology mean? I don't even think we know or can predict, but they do predict that by 2013 there will be a supercomputer in place that will exceed the computation capability of the human brain. By 2023, the computer most people will be able to buy for $1,000 will exceed the computation capability of the human brain, and by 2049, that same $1,000 computer will exceed the computation capability of the entire human race... Absolutely amazing, and I can't wait!

It is also estimated that 1.5 exabytes of new, unique information will be generated worldwide this year, which is a LOT of information. Just to give you an idea of what an exabyte is, at the end of 1999, the sum of all human-produced information (including all audio, video recordings and text/books) was about 12 exabytes of data.

It will be stunning to see what people will be able to do with that sort of computing power at their command... The even funnier thing is, people that are currently studying technology, whatever they learn this year will be obsolete the year after next. The top ten jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didn't even exist in 2004. So pay attention to what's going on around you kids... :)

Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama

The sad thing is, there are people like this ALL over the country... The even sadder part is, they all have the ability to vote...

5 Books That Can Actually Make You Stupider...

5. "Winning Lotto / Lottery For Everyday Players, 3rd Edition"

The title alone proves the retardedness of everyone who's even touched it three times over...

4. "How to Solve Sudoku: A Step-by-Step Guide (52 Brilliant Ideas)"

People like to believe that they're undiscovered super-geniuses because they can outwit the back page of a daily newspaper, which is why Sudoku are carefully crafted to actually be about as difficult as writing down your credit card number...

3. "More Joy ... : An Advanced Guide to Solo Sex"

The funny thing about this one is, it's actually a sequel...

2. "Supercharging Quantum-Touch"

In reality it's what happens when someone sees a copy of Scientific American in the trash while trying to think up an official sounding name for 'waving your hands mystically and going ooga-booga.'

1. "Much Ado About Nothing: The Restored Klingon Text"

This book is proof that a small but very profitable core of fans will buy absolutely anything connected to their chosen obsession...

Just a paraphrase, full article here: Article...

Brilliance...

How does one man essentially set policy for the United States of America? Not that he sets ALL policy, but he has certainly come a long way in being able to turn the political landscape more to his liking while wielding immense influence... So, who is that man you might ask... Not yet. How did he do it? That is a better question, the answer is simple, he pushed for legislation that would limit free speech and severely limit candidates from being able to raise money among other things... The funny part of it is, there are loopholes in the legislation that allow groups to spend any amount of money they want to smear the candidates they choose as long as they don't tell people who to vote for or against... Pretty clever actually...

Now, who was the legislator who was the one who got the legislation through the Senate, House and signed into law?

John McCain - Campaign Reform Act...

Who is the person who pushed to get it through?

George Soros - Soros' "Reform"...

"...Soros, one of the richest men in the world, backed campaign finance reform with huge cash donations to a wide variety of Washington "reform" special interest groups to accomplish what his funding conduit called an effort "to reduce the corrupting influence of very large donors" and to ban pre-election "issue advocacy" ads by groups like the NRA..."

Soros has given millions to MoveOn.org and other groups, but the latest is the icing on the cake...

"Former presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth joined MoveOn.org, the Service Employees union, VoteVets.org and other groups Feb. 25 in launching a $20 million Iraq/Recession Campaign that will target war hawk Republican presidential candidate John McCain and congressional Republicans."

The loopholes in the law championed by McCain, pushed by Soros, are now being used to setup a group to spend millions to do nothing but SLAM McCain from here until November...

Brilliant!!! On George Soros' part... McCain, not so much...

Not that this has anything to do with it, but I thought this was an interesting take on the failed Clinton campaign that may or may not be over after tonights debate:

The Clintons - Out of touch, out of tune, out of time...

So whether we want him or not, it may soon be President Barack Obama to you...

Spring Cleaning...

Yeah, it's a bit early for it, but hey, I will be outside here in a few weeks until I completely finish the projects I have going on outside, so I decided to reseal the slate today and get it over with. You have to seal the slate every few years, and it's been a few since I put it down, so that's what I did today...

What a chore it is I might add, but it has to be done... :)

It does look good once it's done, for some reason my camera is taking dark pictures, I suppose I should read the manual, but whatever, I probably just need to get another one...

Anyway, yeah, that's about it going on here... Trying to finish a few things inside that Carolyn wants done because in a few weeks, it's outside I go and I won't be back inside doing crap like this until next winter... :)

John McCain's Friends

Blah, Blah, Blah...

That is pretty much what you hear from Obama... Nothing about what he will do, how he will do it, etc... Why am I STILL for Obama you might ask, or not, I don't care! Clinton offers nothing but divisivness, McCain offers nothing more than Clinton, McCain might even be more devisive than Clinton... Obama however offers, I know he says Change and Hope, but he offers ONE thing the others do not. The ability to bring people together! No president can destroy this country in four years! Look at Carter, wow! Did he destroy the country? No! Of the three though, Obama, Clinton and McCain, I STILL choose Obama over the other two...

Blast from the past...

So I've been transferring video from my video camera to the computer - WOW! Tedious to say the least! The files are SO massive as well, that little clip ended up being 124MB! Hopefully I'll figure out a better way to compress them and not lose any quality... I wonder how many of the tapes I have will even get transferred?? No, there isn't too much else going on, just cleaning up outside and getting ready to charge ahead and finish all the chores I stopped working on once it got cold, pics soon... :)

It's Down To Three...

This race to the White House has been something, that is for sure... I think what kills me the most are the people who rant and rave about some of the candidates when they have zero clue about them... "But Matthew, we want a conservative in the White House!"... Okay, who exactly would that be out of the three left?? McCain?? Whatever! I would rather have a Democrat in the White House than a person who claims to be a conservative, yet has proven to be a liberal time and time again... I could go on and on about how McCain has betrayed his party, but I won't, of course some of the people who read my blog may want that, who knows... I would rather have a liberal as President than someone who I KNOW will betray the trust of the conservatives, which is EXACTLY what McCain WILL do... So yeah, I'm for Obama or Hillary OVER McCain... I will for the first time in my voting life, vote for a Democrat over the Republican choice... Wow!

Happy Valentines Day Carolyn!!

I Love You!

Book Clubs...

Does anyone else join book clubs? I love books, I don't read nearly as much as I used to, or rather I don't read books nearly as much as I used to, but mainly because so many of the things I like to research are easier to do online. So anyway, I got something in the mail today to join:

the History Book Club...

Four books for $1 each plus shipping, which was $11.71, so in a few weeks I'll have:

*1776 (which I've heard was pretty good, forget who told me, think it was Titus)

*The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told (looked interesting)

*The Great Warming (actually have been doing research on global warming, so might come in handy :)

*The Dangerous Book For Boys (how to make all sorts of things that appeal to boys, I'm sure Carolyn will be thrilled. Not sure what the book has to do with history, but I'm sure Chance and Tanner will love it!)

So if anyone else wants to join and didn't receive the mass mailing in the mail, let me know and I'll send you the code.

I've always wondered how the various book clubs even stay in business... I RARELY purchase anything beyond the initial offer, because most of the book clubs have the worst databases in the world and usually send me the same offer to join two or three times a year, stunning really! Seems like I have joined the History Book Club in the past, yet it still let me join again, and I've had the same e-mail address for about 8 years and the same address for about 7 years, so yeah, wow!

My Choice...

For President that is... Do I like him? Not really. Will my taxes go up if he becomes President? Probably... At this point though, I would rather see him get it than either Hillary or McCain, period! The thought of either of those two in the White House makes me ill! So unless someone else jumps in the ring, Obama for President 2008!!

How much harm can he do compared to the other two choices?? Some, maybe, but not NEARLY as bad as if Hillary or McCain were to get it...

School Dance...

Well, it's that time of the year again... School functions, field trips, etc... The kids enjoy them, I tolerate them... :)

Taylor and Sarah...

Tanner and his friend...

I'd have posted more pictures, but there weren't that many taken... Of course I was in the food line helping serve everyone because SO many parents volunteer to help out! Whoever was supposed to relieve me never even showed up, of course I could go on and on about that... We brought half the kids in the neighborhood with us because their parents didn't want to take them, so we ended up taking them. So Carolyn had to watch all the kids "stuff" while the kids ran around and participated in all the stuff going on, so yeah, needless to say Carolyn and I are GLAD we are back home now!! The kids have a blast though at things like this, so I suppose it's all worth it in the end...

Survivor...

It's back... Not sure why, but this is the ONLY TV show that we all watch together as a family, and have since 2000 when it started. I don't think we have missed a single episode, although we didn't start watching it until the second season, we did buy the first season on DVD... Anyway, it starts tonight, so everyone is pretty excited about that! Not a whole lot else going on, just waiting on warmer weather to arrive! :)

Chaos...

That would be the Republican party... I don't see how any of these people can beat the Democratic ticket, no matter who is on it. You have McCain saying that he is going to be the nominee, of course Huckabee is winning some of the Southern states and might actually win five or six of them as amazing as that is. Romney, not doing so good. I think the issue is the winner take all states! Why do the Republicans do that? They should do it like the Democrats do, proportional. Whatever, I'm not a party leader. I think the thing that will destroy the Republican party are the one issue, right wing nut jobs. They get all hung up on one issue, and by doing that, the Republican party will essentially have handed it to the Democrats... Of course the results are still not all in, but that's my take on it. I'll bet McCain wins the nomination, wow! Huckabee and Romney are fighting for the same votes essentially, and by doing so, they hand McCain the nomination because of the ridiculous 'winner take all' states... Wow! It is what it is, it will be interesting, that is for sure...

Back To My Obsession...

Not that I am AS obsessed as I was, but I got a reply back from the guy who wrote that book:

St. Thomas Church, Morgantown, Pa: A Parish History 1740-1990

He sent me a few files, I've responded back to him with more data so hope to hear more. Is anyone else interested in this stuff?? I did buy that book off of Ebay a few days ago, but have not received it yet. If anyone is interested in getting updates via e-mail when I find out new things, let me know, I'll put you on the 'list'... :)

It intrigues me to no end for some reason, why? I have no freaking clue... It just does... :)

Not Much Going On Here...

So I saw this article about how they might make an Arrested Development movie:

Jason Bateman Confirms Arrested Development Movie Talks...

Might be pretty good if they keep the same characters... :)

Of course tomorrow is the primary here, along with about 21 other states, hope everyone votes. Remember the discussion on Petra's site about how Obama was a muslim? Well, I e-mailed him to inquire, not expecting to get a response of course... I did though:

"Dear Friend,

Thank you for contacting us about false and slanderous rumors against Senator Obama. Senator Obama is a committed Christian and has never been a member of any other religion. He joined the United Church of Christ nearly 20 years ago and was sworn into the Senate on the Bible.

Please see the Senator's reply below. We encourage you to share it with others who have heard this story. You can also click here to get the facts:

Obama is a committed Christian.

Sincerely,

Obama for America

He went on to say:

"Thank you for inquiring about the false rumor circulating in cyberspace and fanned by the right wing media that I was educated in a madrassa when I was a child living with my mother in Indonesia."

More followed of course, if you want it I'll forward it to you... I'm sure it's his "canned speech" to whoever asks, but hey, I thought I'd ask... :) No, I STILL haven't decided who I will vote for tomorrow... Not that Obama would need my vote here in Georgia, because I think he will take this state on the Democratic side. I'll likely vote for a Republican in the primary though, come the General?? Who knows, I guess it depends on who is there to vote for. I suppose though, as I've stated before, it will come down to voting for who I dislike the least...

Yeah, I'm Watching It...

Why? I have no idea, I didn't have anything else going on... So I thought I'd watch the Super Bowl, here it is half time and I'm wondering why I wasted my time! This game is SO boring you can't make it up! The commercials have been SO stupid, I can't believe they paid $2.7 million for each of the 30 second spots... Wow! I haven't seen a commercial YET that was even mildly entertaining! I don't even like football, so not sure why I'm watching the game. I spoke to my neighbor earlier, he came over to get some beer. I told him I didn't know if I was going to watch the game or not, he told me he was just going to watch it to see the commercials, well, the commercials have ALL sucked thus far! I should go into advertising! We'll see how the rest of the game unfolds. Carolyn and I decided to head downstairs during the half time show, but I suppose we'll head back up once the third quarter starts, why? Who knows! Whatever...

May Not Be For Everyone...

I thought it was pretty funny myself though...

John and Jill were about to go into his apartment, and before he could open his door, Jill said, "Wait a minute, I can tell how a man makes love by how he unlocks his door."

John says, "Well, give me some examples."

Jill proceeds to tell him, "Well, the first way is, if a guy shoves his key into the lock, and opens the door hard, then that means he is a rough lover and that isn't for me."

"The second way is if a man fumbles around and can't seem to find the keyhole, then that means he is inexperienced and that isn't for me either."

Then Jill said, "Honey, how do you unlock your door?"

John proceeds to say, "Well, first, before I do anything else, I lick the lock."

Stimulus...

Pretty accurate I'd say...

So Anyway...

What can you say...