Michael Sheard has passed away

"You have failed me for the last time, Admiral." And with those words from Darth Vader, Admiral Ozzel - Michael Sheard's character in The Empire Strikes Back - went down in history as the first of many victims of Vader's deadly "Force choke".I met Sheard a few times, the most recent being at Star Wars Celebration III in Indianapolis a few months ago. I knew he played Ozzel...

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President Bush speaks about the crisis...

...wow, that had to have been just about the most unconfident motivational speech I've ever hea...

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CONFIRMED: Gas running out all over town

In the last half-hour I've called WFMY News 2 and Fox 8 WGHP, the two stations that give Greensboro the most coverage, about gas shortages that are said to be hitting this area. I received a report earlier today that a lot of the stations were putting bags over their pumps, signifying that they were all empty. One oil distributor that I know of is said to have shut down completely because there's nothing left to deliver. I've heard of at least...

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American anarchy: 6 days and counting?

Parse this as you will. A pretty reliable source has shared with me that figuring in the blow that Katrina dealt to crude refining, and other problems that have hampered domestic production lately... that there is approximately 6 days of reserve gasoline in commercial storage tanks left in the United States.And after that, there's no more juice.Like I said, make of this what you will, but this source has made some pretty accurate prognostications...

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"Perched atop the stack was a bewildered toddler."

The New Orleans Times-Picayune has been forced to relocate their offices because of the flooding, but they're still working to get the news out via blogging. The following is their report from a Wal-Mart that everybody - and I mean everybody was looting from...At the Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, an initial effort to hand out provisions to stranded citizens quickly disintegrated into mass looting. Authorities at the scene said bedlam erupted...

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"Thousands of bodies" in Katrina's wake

Breaking on Free Republic now: word from a rescue worker that they are "thousands" of dead bodies - some hanging from the trees - being recovered in Gulf Port, Mississippi.I didn't see any news footage today of bodies floating anywhere. It almost looks... well, too sanitary a disaster, for lack of a better phrase. It's been something I've wondered about more than once: are we not being shown the full brunt of the devastation?If this report is true,...

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I was thinking the same thing: New Orleans = No Man's Land

Okay, despite my previous history with it, I still watch Free Republic from time to time. When it comes to something happening on the scale of Katrina, it really is one of the best places you can go to for on-the-spot reporting and commentary from some pretty sharp people. Even if its guiding philosophy has gone to pot: it's not a true conservative site anymore, but I digress......

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Fill up now: price gouging has begun

I filled up my car on our way back from the bookstore tonight. It's a Shell station with the cheapest gas I've seen around here: $2.53 per gallon of regular unleaded. There's another station much closer by that had it at $2.69 when we drove past it earlier this evening.On our way back, this same station had regular unleaded posted at $3.09 per gallon. That's a forty-cent jump in less than an hour.I dropped Lisa off at the apartment, then drove...

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Whatever Sudoku is I hope it's not contagious

It must be though, 'cuz I first heard about this in a newspaper two days ago and tonight at Border's bookstore there were maybe three books about Sudoku. And now my friend Chad has picked up on it. It's some kind of numerical logic game from Japan that according to Chad it's pretty addictive. I haven't played yet, haven't even studied up on the rules of the game but I might have to check this o...

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Because we could all use a laugh right now...

Newsmax is reporting that the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky sexcapade is set to be portrayed next month in a new musical debuting on Broadway: "Monica! The Musical!-savoring glory.Clinton Sex Scandal Ready for BroadwayA musical based on the sex scandal that turned Bill Clinton into the first elected president ever impeached is set to debut next month on Broadway."American Idol" veteran Frenchie Davis will play the role of Clinton's White House secretary...

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I've cried every time I watch this man

Harvey Jackson of Biloxi, Mississippi...BBC has the story that's breaking hearts all over the place. Every time I watch Harvey Jackson talk about losing his wife like this I can't help but believe that he doesn't even know he's talking to a reporter, he's that kind of dazed about it. Not that anybody could blame him.But I also like to think there's plenty enough room for...

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Yesterday it looked like the big one had been dodged...

Today, there are reports that hundreds may have been killed in Katrina. No schools operating in New Orleans for at least the next two months. At least two levees have broken alongside Lake Ponchartrain - which is what everyone was really worried about - and the "bowl" of the Big Easy is filling fast.Here's some of the more haunting pictures I've been finding...I spoke prematurely...

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North Carolina is getting a lottery

Breaking now.YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!Finally, we won't be sending millions of more dollars of our money flowing across the border we have with every state around us. It gets to stay here in North Carolina, toward our own education system.I never thought this day would ever come. We are no longer the laughingstock of the southeastern U...

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It could have been a lot worse...

Damage reports still coming in, but looks like New Orleans dodged a bullet bigtime.Here's praying that some steps can now be taken to better prepare that town for when the really big one hit someday. By all accounts it's a great place to visit. Really hoping to go there sometime :-)Anyway, thoughts and prayers going up for the people having to deal with Katrina's aftermath tonig...

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Bush is opening the Strategic Petroleum Reserve... ummmm, why?

Coming down now that Bush is gonna open up the strategic reserve in light of Hurricane Katrina. Which makes NO sense whatsoever. The 'cane knocked out possibly one-quarter of domestic oil refining. Simply putting more crude oil out there isn't going to do any good without the means to "crack" it.This is a political gesture, nothing more. And, it's one that could do potentially far more harm than good down the road, seeing as that's reserve that'll...

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Meteorlogical muscleman

Somebody's noted that Joe Bastardi from AccuWeather has been up for like 40+ hours straight, studying Katrina and warning everybody to get the heck out of Dodge. Now, how does a weatherman keep going like that nonstop?Well, here's what Joe looks like...That is not a Photoshop-fixed image... that's what AccuWeather's Joe Bastardi really looks like! Turns out he's a champion...

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About those refugees in the Superdome...

From Wizbang blog:Riding Out Katrina in the SuperdomeIf you've watched the news, you've seen the long lines of people waiting to get into the Louisiana Superdome to ride out the storm. Nobody knows exactly how it will work, but here is an amalgamation of the most probable estimates I've heard from the "experts" on what these people will probably face.It's a near certainty the electricity will go out about midday Monday. The Dome has backup power...

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I gotta bad feeling about this: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans

It's like an overload of weather pornography. The tube's tuned into the Weather Channel and I'm keeping an eye on the net for stuff as Katrina edges closer to, all the models are now saying New Orleans is looking to get a direct hit. In light of that, a few observations need to be stated now, because they may prove to have a lot of bearing later...First, Governor Blanco of Louisiana practically told everyone that everything was going to be okay...

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Gameboy Advance and Apollo 13

Right now History Channel is showing Apollo 13: one of the best movies ever made in my book. Still remember seeing this at the theater on the Fourth of July in 1995.Watching it now reminds me of some illustration I used to do when I was teaching website design to middle-schoolers. On the first day of each term I started the lessons off with what we can do with computers now, and how far along they've developed in so short a time. Like, in 2002...

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Katrina eying the Big Easy?

From NOAA a little while ago...Remember last season when New Orleans was threatened a few times, and it kept coming up how that town would get destroyed if a major hurricane hit? Right now they're projecting Katrina might be a Category 4 by the time it makes a second landfall.Just wanted to post about this 'cuz I'm fascinated by hurricanes, and this is one I'll be watching...

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What OTHER reason do I have for blogging this early on Saturday morning?

Yup, it's another piece of brilliance from young master Kyle Williams...The problem with trusting too much in reason, I believe, is twofold: First, Christianity is not reasonable. Paul himself declared the things of God to be foolish. To attempt to make the doctrines of Christianity reasonable from a human perspective and seek to "prove" things like creationism, Adam and Eve, and Christ's resurrection have more to do with a man-centered ego-trip...

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Looks like Chavez took Robertson at his word...

Venezuela is suspending permits for foreign missionaries after Pat Robertson called for that country's president's assassination earlier this week.So Pat, which was more worth it: building up the kingdom of God or pushing a pro-American agenda?Who am I kidding? It's pretty obvious which side of things Robertson is really on, unfortunate...

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This one's for Doc: DVD review of Follow Me, Boys!

I'm gonna lay some things to heart with this one. It all started Sunday evening with a movie that until then I’d never really watched before...One of the greatest heroes of all time, for me personally anyways, was Jim Valvano. About two months before he succumbed to bone cancer in 1993 Valvano spoke at the ESPY Awards and said something beautiful..."To me, there are three...

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Is Xbox game a vision of our Shattered Union?

This one got on my short list of upcoming video games to look forward to a few days ago when I first heard about it: Shattered Union from PopTop Software, arriving on the Xbox (and Playstation 2 and PC) on October 4th.It's a turn-based strategy game set in the year 2014, following the break-up of the once-great United States of America. This write-up from Business Week does...

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Brock Peters passes away

Maybe you didn't know the name, but you certainly remember his face... and especially his voice: Brock Peters has passed away at the age of 78.He was the actor who played Tom Robinson in the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird (with Gregory Peck playing defense attorney Atticus Finch). That's gonna be the role he'll be remembered for most, but he did tons of other things...

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How gullible are you?

Take the Gullibility Factor Test and find out. I only missed one question, rating me as a "Free thinker" in the top 5% among people. Admittedly, a few of the answers I gave were just good guesses (like the gas hydrates one, which I'd never heard of before) but otherwise I'm pleased to hear that if this were The Matrix "you would have taken the red pill, completed the combat training, and started fighting (and beating) agents from day one." ...

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Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1629!

A group of historians in Great Britain spent a year living the life of Welsh farmers from the 1620s. They did the same farmwork, wore the same kind of clothing, ate the same food, and practiced the same hygiene as a typical family in Wales would have during the time of the Stuarts. They made a few interesting discoveries along the way that could be applied to our life today. Well worth a re...

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Pat Robertson is a Christian?

On his 700 Club teevee show today he called for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez by the United States government.No further comme...

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New Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire trailer hits the 'net!!!!!

The Beauxbatons carriage. Mad-Eye. Fleur. The Yule Ball. Gillyweed. Ron in a tux. The World Cup attack. Cho. Dragons. Krum. The Goblet of Fire. Fred and George. Durmstrung students. The maze. Dumbledore. Mer-people. Tombstones. Cedric. Harry Potter.Starting with Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling takes everything you know about children's books out into the street and shoots it in the head. Looks like the movies are going to keep pace...

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Happy Birthday to Ray Bradbury!

The author of Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes and a bazillion other good stories hits 85 today and alongside Isaac Asimov probably ranks as the worst ecological disaster of the past hundred years: ever think about how many trees died for the wood pulp to make paper for all this guy's book...

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The News & Record printed my letter to the editor...

You can read it here on the News & Record's website. Since it's something about their blogs, it seems only right to mention it on my own :-) It's evoked quite a lively debate too, from the looks of it. I just posted a response of my own, something that was a little longer than the paper's policy on editorial letters would allow. Ahhh the wonders of electronic publishing...Anyway, I'm proud that they saw it fit for publication. And if anyone...

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Gonzo send-off for the master of the artform

It could only have happened at a funeral for Hunter S. Thompson...About 350 friends of the late writer - including Johnny Depp, who played Thompson in the movie version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - descended on Thompson's ranch at Woody Creek, Colorado to blast the gonzo journalist's cremated remains into the air in a fireworks display.Here's the monument that's been...

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Can I play it on my Atari 2600?

If you've ever wanted to play id Software's original Doom game on your iPod or your digital camera or your calculator or your Kenmore microwave oven (am not sure about that last one though) go to ItPlaysDoom.com and find a port so you can get your Doom fix anywhere and everywhe...

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AMC's month-long James Bond run is good watchin'

AMC channel has been running them in sequential order every weeknight this month and right now they're showing The Man With The Golden Gun (with Christopher Lee as Scaramanga, who also predates Krusty as the the original "man with the superfluous third nipple"), so this has been the perfect time to watch all those James Bond movies that I've never caught before. I'll sadly admit that most 007 flicks have always been just off my radar range (the...

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Favorite post of the week

Of all the posts I made this past week, this one has paws-down gotta be my favorite :-) Guess I'm a sucker for little dogs or something...

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This guy just hit on a surefire way to end ALL Islamic terrorism...

A rabbi in Israel wants to hang bags of pig fat in buses, as a means of deterring suicide bombers. The pig is a ceremoniously "unclean" animal in Islam (as it is in Judaism) but as some radical Muslims are in actual fear of being buried in pig skins and thus avoid the animals entirely, it might be enough to keep any with wrong intentions in mind a good safe distance away.This lends itself toward another idea: serve large amounts of pork rinds on...

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Kyle Williams makes Jerry Falwell look positively mediocre, again...

I guess that's why WorldNetDaily isn't giving Kyle a top-of-the-page link anymore on Saturdays.I do have to wonder why this is, seriously: Kyle Williams (along with Vox Day) is the most original, articulate and beautifully-written columnist that WND has. Lately WND is treating him like a pariah, or a crazy uncle kept down in the basement: they know that we know he's down there, but they don't want to bring him any more attention. Instead they give...

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Hospital MRIs attracting all kinds of trouble (sorta funny NYT article)

This ain't from The Onion folks. I wanna say this is funny but it's not really, but it's still something you have to almost laugh at: New York Times is reporting about the rising frequency of ferrous objects flying through the air toward the super-powerful magnets in hospital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment...M.R.I.'s Strong Magnets Cited in AccidentsBy DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.Published: August 19, 2005The pictures and stories are the stuff...

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Hack your car, get 300 miles per gallon!?

Good ol' American ingenuity never ceases to amaze...The Telegraph in London has a story about people "hacking" their hybrid automobiles (the ones that use alternating gasoline and electricity to power the car). Many are reporting some pretty outrageous mileages...Hot-rod heirs customise cars to give 300mpgBy Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles(Filed: 16/08/2005)Owners of hybrid...

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Nintendo is going to the dogs!

I'd never heard of this at all until I saw a commercial for it earlier tonight. Ever since I've spent a good part of the evening hunting down any bit of info I could find about it. The more and more I'm finding, the more captivated I'm becoming with the idea of this lil' gimmick.Coming out next week for the Nintendo DS (which along with its own price drop might be another...

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82nd Airborne to Iraq isn't passing the smell test?

Something doesn't jibe here...I found on the news tonight that the Pentagon is sending 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg to Iraq. Supposedly to be guard detail over detained insurgents and other prisoners.Why are so many of the 82nd Airborne, a paratrooper division - and one of the most elite units of soldiers in the entire Army - being sent in to do something so relatively, well... un-paratrooperish as transporting prisoners and...

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I posted something to Democratic Underground a little while ago...

Even though it's been about a year since I promised myself I wouldn't become involved in the political discussion forums anymore. Guess you could say that after years of Free Republic and then Liberty Post, I woke up one morning, looked at myself in the mirror and didn't like what I was becoming. Nothing gets resolved in forums like these: they tend to be ugly and they were making me ugly in spirit.So I've been away from them, and a lot happier...

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Look, the guy's still pretty new at this...

Pope Benedict XVI forgot to bless the pilgrims that visited his summer residence this week.Am not Catholic but in a way, that says some good about the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. He sounds pretty humbled by the job he just took, is still "feeling it out", like it's not gotten the best of him. I'm not saying that giving a blessing to a crowd like that is a bad thing, but most people - if given this kind of power and authority - might let it...

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What does this say about the economy?

12,000 people apply for 400 jobs at the new Wal-Mart in Oakland, California.Man, I don't know whether to say that's a sign of a "recession" or a "depression". I ain't never heard of an applicant/position ratio like THAT befo...

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What's next for KWerky Productions?

Forcery, looks like it's going to be broadcast in its entirety on a local television station in the very near future. This station is wanting to have ALL-original programming and they're looking at running films made in this area. For a lot of personal reasons, this station broadcasting my own movie is going to be a real highlight of Forcery's history.But now, KWerky Productions is looking at other projects. Forcery taught us how to make a movie......

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Unclogging the crap from a cranky computer

So last night Lisa and I had dinner at the home of a family from church (this guy makes a pretty mean ravioli) and his wife asked if I could take a look at their computer: seems it was going torturously slow. So after the blackberry cobber dessert I followed 'em upstairs and went to work. It was indeed slow as molasses. Slower even. I spent the next hour and a half working on the thing. And ya know what the real problem was?I downloaded Ad-Aware,...

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How about some wacky North Korean propaganda?

NK News is the only source you need (as if you really needed this sort of thing :-) for all the latest official party announcements from North Korea: enough Kim Jung Il to make you ill. Be sure to check out the Random Insult Generator for a healthy dose of ego-dashing vitriole. Special thanks to Melody Hallman-Daniel for sending in the li...

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Casey Sheehan: He volunteered to serve America, not a President

Ever since coming back a few days ago I've had some mild interest in this Cindy Sheehan thing at President Bush’s "ranch" (I still haven't found anything on what is produced on this ranch). Maybe it's 'cuz it seems so simple a thing for a sitting President of the United States to come out and talk to a regular citizen on his own, without somebody advising him what to say or how to spin it, and he isn't doing that. The harsh truth of the matter...

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Dad said years ago this would happen someday...

Truck drivers across the country saying the CB channels are full of chatter about bringing the big rigs to a halt to protest the rising fuel prices.Dad says that all that would be needed to shut this country down, would be to honk off enough truckers (most of whom are independent contractors) and there would be no more groceries delivered, no more goods coming into the neighborhood stores, no more of a lot of supplies for needed services... well...

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They are SOLDIERS, darnnit... not "TROOPS"!

I'm reading some stuff about this Cindy Sheehan business where Bush is vacationing on his "ranch" (just what does this ranch produce anyway: beef cattle, dairy, ranch dressing...?) and I just have to rant about this...Call them "soldiers". Do NOT call them "troops"! A troop is a unit of soldiers, not the whole mass of soldiers put together. Say you SUPPORT THE SOLDIERS but please in the name of all that's good and holy STOP SAYING "SUPPORT THE...

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Hotel Rwanda will really choke you up

I've been meaning to see this for awhile, and last week it came courtesy of Netflix: Hotel Rwanda. It's a movie that came out about a year ago recounting the real-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, manager of the posh Hotel Milles Collines in Kigali, Rwanda. When the country erupted into civil war in 1994, Rusesabagina saved the lives of more than 1,200 Rwandans by sheltering them in his hotel. It's a POWERFUL film, and quite a sobering one: the...

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I've unplugged from The Matrix Online

After previously extolling the strengths and virtues of this game, I sadly and reluctantly was led to cancel my account with The Matrix Online a short while ago.I really, really hated doing this, because The Matrix Online (a) has one heckuva beautiful graphics engine (b) has the most compelling premise of any online game to date and (c) is intended to give players a real part to play in the ongoing Matrix storyline. It's just simply a gorgeous landscape...

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Price of oil has jumped 300% since Clinton left office

Have read a few places tonight that it was $22.50 per barrel just when George W. Bush was sworn in. It's now $66 a barrel and only going up.Funny thing is, Bush chided Clinton back in 2000 about the escalating price of oil. What does he make of a 300% jump in it on his watch, then?The only reason I'm up right now posting about this is because lately I've been doing a lot of study on petroleum production and possible alternatives to gasoline. I'm...

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Now it IS "The end of the world...": Prophetic article from 1999?

The following item isn't something "new" in the least bit. It was first printed in my old college newspaper more than six years ago. I had no plans to write something that week: the following edition would be my "farewell column" before graduation but my editor told me the morning of deadline day that he had too much empty space on the op-ed page for this week and he needed someone to fill it. Since he'd considered me to be his "wordy wordy monkey"...

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I'm really new to this whole Cindy Sheehan business...

...but it seems to me like it should be a simple enough affair: Bush should look her in the eye and tell her for what reason was it that her son was killed in Iraq.In another time, real men could do that mu...

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After-Action Report: Revenge of the Sith at Atlanta's fabulous Fox Theatre!

The only way this could have been better would be if a good friend had gone with me to this. Otherwise, I can't imagine a finer way to have ended seeing the first-run theatrical release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith than what happened the night before last.This needs a little setup though: Monday afternoon Lisa and I were driving down to Atlanta for something...

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