The Exercise of Vital Powers

I’d sue, but the only have $45 left in their operating account.

Like UV rays and diesel exhaust fumes, working the graveyard shift will soon be listed as a “probable” cause of cancer.

It is a surprising step validating a concept once considered wacky. And it is based on research that finds higher rates of breast and prostate cancer among women and men whose work day starts after dark.

Next month, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer arm of the World Health Organization, will add overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen.(source)

THe GOP’s chances of getting the majority back has just gone up:
Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, the Senates No. 2 Republican, plans to resign his seat before the end of the year, congressional and White House officials said Monday.

Random thought as I was reading Greenspan’s book. Smith’s fundamental insight was that economic growth occurs with division of labor. Because I’m out there making his email work, some engineer is making sure that fresh water is pumped to my house so I don’t spend 4 hours a day lugging water from a stream allowing me to play with virtualization technology to make email work better.

But how much can division of labor can the human mind support? Is there a limit to the complexity we can comprehend, beyond which division of labor ceases to have economic benefit? As we know more and more about less and less we eventually will know everything about nothing.

So I go to the mailbox today, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a letter from Speaker Nancy Pelosi! She says that with my help they’ll “keep fighting to force Republicans in the House to abandon support for George W. Bush’s failed policies…”.

Sign me up! I’m all about forcing House Republicans to abandon Bush’s support for No Child Left Behind, Medicare Part D, earmark abuse and run-away government spending. I find it curious however that Speaker Pelosi would want to help House Republicans abandon the very mistakes that helped her get where she is today.

Perhaps she realizes that its easier to be in the minority and whine and complain than actually build coalitions to get legislation passed.

I still think its a trick.

My friend Joe has an interesting bit of history on waterboarding:

In decisions in 1922 and 1926, the Mississippi Supreme Court — which from the time and place you would not expect to release a black criminals convicted of murdering a white man lightly — reversed the conviction of the man when it had been obtained by the “water cure” (today known as waterboarding)

My opinion on waterboarding is the same as Sen. McCain and the President’s.

Wait, you say that the President and McCain are on different sides of the issue. Well, they probably are.

I agree with McCain that waterboarding is torture and should be illegal. I agree with the Administration that it can be a useful interrogation technique in determining what a terrorist may be plotting.

Where I disagree with most politicians is in their chicken-shit attitude towards taking a stand. I think that the practice should be outlawed. I also think that if a forward commander, or a CIA agent truly feels the nation is in danger (ie the ticking-bomb scenario) then they should use whatever means necessary. If the circumstances are so dire that is requires the use of torture, then the circumstances are so extraordinary that the person should either appeal to the President for a pardon, or commit the crime anyway and defend their actions at a later time.

If the person willing to conduct the torture isn’t willing to risk time in prison, then the circumstances are not extraordinary enough to justify torture. And if a President isn’t willing to take political fallback to pardon someone who _was_ defending this country, then they are not qualified to be President.

Minus the voice recognition, this was exactly the system I wanted to build back in 2001-2002, but the hardware wasn’t yet available. It does a much better job in the UserInterface department than MythTV (my current PVR solution). Plus it includes a built in Asterisk PBX for VOIP phones, lighting control and manages IP cameras for security purposes. I really like how the media can follow the remote control around the house.

Pretty neat, and something I’ll definitely play with. Biggest problem is that the cost of some of the equipment used in the Demo. The remotes are $150, the 1″ PC that attaches to the back of the LCD/Plasma TV is $899.

On the first day on January,
Eighteen ninety-two,
They opened Ellis Island and they let
The people through.
And the first to cross the treshold
Of that isle of hope and tears,
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was all of fifteen years.

Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it’s not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you’ll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.

In a little bag she carried
All her past and history,
And her dreams for the future
In the land of liberty.
And courage is the passport
When your old world disappears
But there’s no future in the past
When you’re fifteen years

Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it’s not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you’ll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.

When they closed down Ellis Island
In nineteen fourty-three,
Seventeen million people
Had come there for sanctuary.
And in Springtime when I came here
And I stepped onto it’s piers,
I thought of how it must have been
When you’re fifteen years.

Isle of hope, isle of tears,
Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it’s not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you’ll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.

Is this one