Monday - 4 September 2000
Sunny Weather. And the living is easy. Ho hum. Another day in paradise. Warm temps continue. It is a little overcast today so I probably won't go the the beach. But maybe next week. Of course, you folks living around 40 degrees North may want to move South where we are (20 degrees above the equator). :>
Today's post looks a little different (okay, very different) in format because I forgot to copy the new week up to the net from work. So I had to download last week's post and chop and channel it for today. Tomorrow, once I'm at work, I can redo this page and have it look like it's supposed to [no snide comments from the peanut gallery please - Ed.].
Fooling with Mother Nature. I'm not a expert on global warming, but this is the first experiment I've heard of to try to reduce the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere by binding it into the oceans (see their web site here).
Some people believe that as the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere goes up, so does the temperature. So, as a way of reducing this gas in the atmosphere, researchers off of the coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i will pump carbon dioxide into the ocean at a depth of 2,600 feet.
The flow rates will be varied over the testing period to observe the effect of increasing the concentration in the ocean. They believe that other than turning the water slightly more acidic, for about a 24 hour period, there should be no major effects. In total, about 40 to 60 metric tons of liquid carbon dioxide will be pumped into the water.
The project is a joint venture of Hawai'i Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, the US Department of Energy, Japan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Norwegian Research Council, Natural Resources Canada and a private company called ABB Corporate Research.
Merger Rumblings. The morning paper is reporting the AOL-Time Warner mega merger may be in trouble based on possible antitrust violations. I for one, would not be disappointed if the merger did not take place. I use Time-Warner's Road Runner Internet service. If AOL were to take over, one wonder's if we would be locked into using AOL software to access the 'net.
Even though today is a Federal and State holiday, I still have to read 20 pages for tomorrow's class so I am out of here - Aloha!
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Tuesday - 5 September 2000
Yeah, Big Time. Sorry, I could not resist. George Dubyah is starting to crack under the strain of running for President. One wonders how he would refer to others should he actually be elected. Do we really need another YAY (Yet Another Yahoo) in office? Do we really need someone who we must continually issue apologies to foreign nations?
Liquid Sunshine The other form of sunshine is falling today. But not to worry. This too shall pass.
Oh! The Humanity! You know it's a slow news day when the Los Angeles Times has a headline story about celebrity publicists who are outraged, outraged I say, that their clients may have to walk by themselves from their limousines to the auditorium where the TV Emmys will be handed out. It seems the Emmy organizers are trying to reduce the gridlock caused by so many people being on the red carpet. So they had the gall to want just the stars to be there, not their publicists, or various hanger-ons. Where will this end? Shocking. Just shocking.
This Day in History. On a much more serious note. "On Sept. 5, 1972, Arab guerrillas attacked the Israeli delegation at the Munich Olympic games; 11 Israelis, five guerrillas and a police officer were killed in the siege." (See the front page story from the New York Times here.)
***** Noon Update *****
I'm not sure what taking quotes out of context, or making a parody of the remarks of someone tells you about a person running for President, but I guess it must mean something. You decide. Warning: There is some strong language here. I guess that's they way he actually speaks so I have left it as is. So, without further comment, here's a few attributed to George Dubyah:
Technology and the Internet:"Liberals did not invent compassionate conservatism, any more than they invented the Internet, because they are not conservatives, but they did invent all the filth on the Internet, especially Al Gore."
The Role of Government
"Liberals invented big government, which is government that is big. Big governments don't create wealth. Wealth is created by my father's friends. But government can create an environment where people like me can get richer by hitting up my dad's friends for money. My dad's friends are compassionate conservatives, and they know how to use their prosperity for a purpose."
Reducing Regulation
"We'll be prosperous if we reduce the regulations that strangle enterprise. These are what I like to call "enterprise-strangling regulations." I will do for America what I did in Texas: fight for non-enterprise-strangling regulations."
Judicial Reform
"I will fight for meaningful, real tort reform, except when it comes to websites that make fun of me, and then I'll sue their liberal pants off for threatening the purpose of prosperity and the conservatism of compassion."
Prosperity with a purpose: "...prosperity must have a purpose. The purpose of prosperity is to make sure prosperity has a purpose, and my purpose is to make sure it does."
Compassionate Conservatism:
"Purposeful prosperity -- that is prosperity with a purpose -- must be earned. To earn it, we need compassionate conservatism. By this I mean conservatism that is also compassionate."
The Old Politics
"Compassionate conservatives like me are compassionate, but we are also conservatives, unlike liberals, who are liberals. Liberals promise prosperity without purpose. That is something I will never promise because I am not a liberal."
Statement regarding coverage in the National Media:
"I'm sick and tired of playing this bullshit game. Practically every single one of you is a card carrying Democrat. No matter how much money I have, there's no way I can spend enough money on ads to compete with your biased, party-line reporting. Screw you and screw America! I'm not gonna waste another second of my life pandering to a bunch of morons. No one gives a flying fuck about the issues - and even if they did, you assholes would never tell them the truth. You can all go fuck yourselves!"
On the Constitution
"The flag is the emblem of our country and trivializing the Constitution is a small price to pay in order to protect it!"
On NAFTA, which deals with trade between nations
"I support free trade. I want our farmers to be able to sell their crops tariff-free throughout America!"
Misc. Stuff:
"What I'm against is quotas. I'm against hard quotas, quotas that basically delineate based upon whatever. However they delineate, quotas, I think, vulcanize society."
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Hump Day Wednesday - 6 September 2000
Microsoft at 25. Microsoft reached a milestone that few businesses ever reach. Twenty-five years of being in business. I think Dan Gillmore has an even-handed look at where MS has been, is now, and where it should go. So if you have a few minutes, read his thoughts here.
Polymer LEDs. Philips Research recently announced the successful creation of a flexible membrane embedded with polymer, rather than silicon, LEDs. Quoting from the press release (see it here):
Researchers at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, have succeeded in making a 64-by-64-pixel display in which each pixel is driven by a thin-film transistor based on a polymer semiconductor (active-matrix display). This is an important step towards the realization of low-cost, all-polymer, flexible displays.
I have a 15 minute presentation to put together for class on Saturday so I need to get going on that. - Aloha!
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Thursday - 7 September 2000
The Mole. No, not the new TV show about figuring out who, among your fellow game players, is a mole planted by the producers. Rather, the undercover state troopers in Philadelphia who infiltrated the protester organizations during the Republican convention there this Summer.
The Los Angeles Times (see the story here) reports that four days prior to the convention, state police, posing as demonstrators, began collecting information about the real protestors. This occurred even as the police Commissioner was denying any infiltration at all.
Shades of Gray. The New York Times points out that while the resolution of digital cameras has been going up, the dynamic range, that is the number of gradations between black and white has been stable. Until now, that is (see the article here).
Columbia University researchers combine new hardware and software to increase the current dynamic range of 8-bits (256 levels of brightness) to 12-bits (4,098 levels) using among other things, masking techniques.
I have a whole bunch of reading to do so I am out of here - Aloha!
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Aloha Friday - 8 September 2000
It's Friday!
OHA Fallout. Some of the effects of the US Supreme Court ruling that having only people of Hawai'ians ancestry eligible to vote for trustees in the Office of Hawai'ian Affairs (OHA) is unconstitutional (see my comments on this here) will be seen today when at least some, if not all of the trustees resign. Those that do not resign will most likely be removed by the state courts. Thus, leaving Hawai'ians without any representation, much less some with Hawai'ian blood.
The Governor will then have the power to appoint new trustees to fill out the balance of the term. The small problem with this is that the Governor is party to a lawsuit brought by OHA. The basis of which is how much the State must pay in back rental costs. These costs have been estimated into the hundreds of millions of dollars. So there is at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.
One of the other effects is that a non-Hawai'ian is running for trustee. And even though he says he has the best interests of all Hawai'ians at heart, his main platform seems to be the abolishment of OHA. It also appears that he wishes to repeat the actions of his ancestors, who literally stole the land from Hawai'ians. And then say he is doing it for our own good (since we obviously are too stupid to care for our own). We do live in interesting times.
Speaking of Money. The local economy is definetly picking up. The economic forecast for this year indicates $180 million USD more in tax collections than last year. And the projections for the next five years is for 5 percent growth per year. This is a welcome break from the last 10 years or so. In the past, we've had to make cuts in our budget. Perhaps now, we can begin to fill in some of the holes in the net of public services.
Highway Robbery. Gas prices here have gone through the roof. A gallon of premium unleaded is going for $2.06/gallon (about 54 cents/litre). I don't know what it is where you live, but this is pretty high to me. Especially since you realize that most driving here is to and from work. It's not like we do a lot of discretionary driving. I mean, we live on an island. And it's only about 50 mile long. So it's not like we drive to Haleakala crater for some weekend skiing or something.
I'm still working on the presentation for tomorrow so I am out of here. Have a great weekend everyone! - Aloha!
© 2000 Daniel K. Seto. All rights reserved.