Missing In Action

Sorry for the lack of posts. I just changed jobs, and it's been a tad hectic.

We had Thanksgiving at our house and the family-folk came over. We're tired.

I PROMISE, I will return. PROMISE.

Oh, I fixed my HDTV. It's a Samsung 32". It's around 5 years old. It kept saying "No unit connected to jacks" even though the source and picture were fine. I switched out component video cables, still the same issue. I could jump up and down in front of the TV and sometimes the message would go away... but only sometimes. I took the TV apart and looked at the circuit board. I re-seated most plugs that I could find. I was just about to put the TV back together when I noticed what looked like a cracked solder joint on the component video inputs.

Couldn't find my soldering iron. Found it. Couldn't find solder. Went to Wally World and got a new setup for $10, with solder. Came home and promptly spent exactly 1 second touching the joint and watching the solder melt and reform. Did another one that looked suspect. You have to be careful with this stuff because you can burn up the circuits if you apply the heat for too long.

I put the TV back together, plugged it all up, and voila, I have no more error message. Yippee!

Elections Results Potpourri

As much as I loved seeing Democrats picking up some steam in the elections, I have no confidence that they will be better leaders than the Republicans. First, the Democrat majority in the House and Senate is extremely weak. Combine that with a Republican president and you don't have much luck ahead with regard to passing laws that are from the left.

Because it will be more difficult to get things done, I think it might actually help to extend right-wing domination of politics. People are already fed up with the government, and another round of big changes could easily happen in 2008 if the Democrats aren't able to get anything done in the next two years.

As voters, we should just continue the high-turnover rate in federal government until somebody actually listens to the will of the people. It's the only way we can actually have a say. At least this way, if they are pork-barreling their way through their term, they will do it in a way that is not against the peoples' will.

I hope Hillary Clinton does NOT run for president. She carries too much baggage. Even people in the middle of the political spectrum see her as a big-time lefty instead of a centrist. That would doom the Democrats to losing the presidency again. I've also heard that some polls have her ahead of Bush in a head-to-head race (something that is impossible), something that is baffling to me. It might say more about how bad Bush is instead of how good Hillary Clinton is.

Mini-rant: I wanted to find out about the state question results for Oklahoma. Went out to CNN and to NewsOK.com and could find NOTHING about the results. Should it be this difficult? I googled too and found nothing.

RIP Basil Poledouris

Basil Poledouris died of cancer two days ago, November 8, 2006.

In case you don't know who this man was, he was a film music composer. His most famous films were Conan The Barbarian and Conan The Destroyer. He also did Robocop, Starship Troopers, Les Miserables, and The Hunt For Red October. His music inspired many, many more action film scores. You can practically hear the Conan theme coming through every track of The Gladiator score from Zimmer/Gerrard.

By Crom, may he rest in blissful peace. In an ancient life he was a composer to powerful kings. But that... is another story...


Basil Poledouris
August 21, 1945 - November 8, 2006

Political Entropy

Ladies and gentlemen: You have just entered the twilight zone.

Last week, I posted a little something about political entropy. It's this thing that happens in politics to those that cast political stones at houses or dishonestly take up causes for political gain. If you missed it, here is an excerpt:

This also comes back to this strange entropy that always seems to happen in politics. If you are on a high horse and make a living by disparaging others OR taking up good causes but for political reasons, you are likely to be dethroned, or dehorsed by the very cause you take up.

Well, lookie here... Reverend Ted Haggard, a political advisor to George Bush, and proponent of the gay marriage ban vote in Colorado, is allegedly having an affair with (music: dun, dun DUN), another man! Haggard resigned his post as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and has temporarily relieved himself of the pulpit in his church in Colorado Springs. According to his temporary replacement, he has already admitted to at least some of the allegations.

Doctor James Dobson, from Focus on the Family, has stuck his neck out in support of Haggard, saying he can't believe that the media believes anything this gay man has to say.

I wonder what skeletons James Dobson has in the closet? You know, Focus on the Family is ALL about the children...