Posted by RFTR

I'd like to think I'm enterprising...
Like Dave, the Pew Typology Test has pegged me as an enterpriser:

As in previous studies conducted in 1987, 1994 and 1999, this extremely partisan Republican group's politics are driven by a belief in the free enterprise system and social values that reflect a conservative agenda. Enterprisers are also the strongest backers of an assertive foreign policy, which includes nearly unanimous support for the war in Iraq and strong support for such anti-terrorism efforts as the Patriot Act.

I suppose that's not terribly surprising to any of my regular readers.

Posted by RFTR

Global Warming is fact, right?
Dave Justus direts us to a very interesting post discussing skepticism towards global warming certainty. It's long, but have patience and learn something.

I'm looking at you.

Posted by RFTR

Good Great news!
I just got my grades back, and I passed all of my classes (sorry, not giving you any more information than that, except to say that they were good, too). So what does that mean? I actually get to graduate!

Now I just need that job to come through...

Posted by RFTR

Change is Good
Time for another blogroll update!

Dave Justus, who you may have seen commenting here quite regularly, linked to me quite a while ago. I think the least I can do is finally crosslink to his blog, Justus for All. His posts are always interesting, and he and I seem to agree about 99% of the time. I highly recommend adding him to your daily reading.

Posted by RFTR

Hmmm...
Bill Gates has an opinion:

Microsoft founder Bill Gates sees mobile phones overtaking MP3s as the top choice of portable music players, and views the raging popularity of Apple's iPod player as unsustainable, he told a German newspaper.

Can't Money (or CNN, whomever took the lead on this piece) find somebody to report on technology news who knows something about technology? I mean, come on!

"MP3s" are not portable music players, and therefore cannot be replaced as such. If mobile phones do replace mp3 players as the best technology for music enjoyment, then they will most likely still use mp3-like compression technology, if not mp3s themselves.

Posted by RFTR

Will Bolton be confirmed? II
It's certainly starting to look more likely—and like perhaps David Brooks has an inside source on the Foreign Relations Committee. CNN.com is reporting that:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to send John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to the Senate for a vote, despite stinging criticism from a key Republican on the panel.

Members of the committee, which has a Republican majority, voted 10-8 to send the nomination to the full Senate, but without a recommendation.

They have the option to send a candidate with a positive recommendation, a negative recommendation, or no recommendation at all as they have done.

So, some may wonder why I want Bolton confirmed. Senator George Voinovich summed it up for me in his reason for denying a positive recommendation. Voinovich said:"It is my opinion that John Bolton is the poster child of what someone in the diplomatic corps should not be."

Now, aside from the fact that the colloquialism is "poster child for," not "poster child of," Voinivich has a point. Bolton is absolutely not what you'd expect to find in a successful, well-known diplomat at Foggy Bottom. And you know, sometimes it takes an outsider to point out the failings of an organization. Diplomats are too often valued for their willingness to compromise to keep other nations happy. Sometimes we need to act in our best interest, and Bolton is just the guy to push our side of things when it needs to be pushed.

Posted by RFTR

Will Bolton be confirmed?
David Brooks seems to think so.

Posted by RFTR

This news slump is killing me
There's nothing worth writing about! I'm finally done with my college education, and ready to blog full time again. I finally have enough free time that I sat down for 3 hours this afternoon and caught up on all of the blogs that I've missed the past few days/weeks. And what did I come up with? SQUAT!

How come the news is so bad right now? Any theories?
Maybe my brain's still burnt out and I just can't concentrate long enough to find anything worth saying.

I don't know, but I hope something changes soon. We'll try this again tomorrow.

Posted by RFTR

At least
he can admit it. There's a reason I never took him off my blogroll...

Posted by RFTR

CNN reveals its audience
CNN.com has an article about the recent marriage of Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney, which isn't too surprising in and of itself. However, the headline and the link to the article reveal more than CNN probably intended. The headline reads "Zellweger marries country star," and the link reads "'Bridget Jones' star Renee Zellweger ties the knot."

Here's the thing: Kenny Chesney is a huge name in this country. How hard would it have been to say "Zellweger Chesney tie the knot" and "Zellweger marries Chesney"? Why does this matter?

FOX News headline: "Zellweger, Chesney Tie the Knot." Both of these articles are adapted from the AP source. Fox, however, recognizes that its audience is likely to know who Kenny Chesney is, and if they don't they might be curious enough to read the article and find out. CNN, on the other hand, assumes (and probably safely so) that the majority of its audience doesn't have a clue.

Maybe I'm reading to much into this, but I think there's something there.

Posted by RFTR

It ain't over
The Moors may have been stopped at Tours, but that doesn't mean the Muslim invasion of Western Europe ended there. Andrew Sullivan has the story.

Posted by RFTR

Hey, that's a good point
Dave Justus keyed me in to a piece by Joe Klein about Hillary's prospects in 2008. The column concludes with a point that, for some reason, I've never considered:

There is something fundamentally un-American—and very European—about the Clintons and the Bushes trading the office every eight years, with stale, familiar corps of retainers, supporters and enemies. Bill Clinton was a good President. Hillary Clinton is a good Senator. But enough already. (And that goes for you too, Jeb.)

Everyone always talks about the Bush dynasty if Jeb runs and wins in '08, or even 2012, but this is the first mention I've heard of the fact that if Hillary runs and wins it would mean at least 24 consecutive years of either a Bush or a Clinton in the White House—four years each of Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush, Clinton. In some ways that's almost more disturbing to me than Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush, (Jeb) Bush, and not just for reasons of political alignment. I think I"m more comfortable with one family running one party (and even winning the White House regularly) than I am with the idea of one family running each of both major parties.

Posted by RFTR

Prayers all around
There are a lot of people who need that kind of comfort right now, thanks to this awful development. The front page of CNN.com says:

Two girls, both under 10 and described as best friends, were today found killed in a wooded park near a small Illinois town. The area coroner said Laura Hobbs and Krystal Tobias died from "stab wounds" but were not sexually assaulted.

What could possibly cause someone to stab two little girls to death, aside from abject evil?

Furthermore, what does it say about our society that the death of two pre-pubescent girls has to include the phrase "[they] were not sexually assaulted"? I really wish we could live in a world where that could just be assumed. Sigh. Sometimes the news can really bum you out.

My condolences go out to the families of these two girls, and I pray to God that He helps deliver justice to whomever perpetrated this despicable act.

Posted by RFTR

Be amazed
When science is brought to bear on the theory of global warming. As much as global warming skeptics are condemned as ignorant and stupid (typically ranked at similar levels of the intelligence scale as people who don't believe in evolution), this article helps point out that there are real, scientific reasons not to jumpt to conclusion that the planet is warming in any significant way, that ocean levels will rise substantially, and that, even if all of that is true, there's any thing we can do about it.

Posted by RFTR

Nice thoughts
I'm not sure if they're accurate, but I certainly hope they are.

Posted by RFTR

Ouch
I mean, it's true, but ouch.

Posted by RFTR

Nerd Alert
Sweet.

Although, there was another explanation I came across that I liked a little better: if you have mastered time travel, why would you visit a time travelers convention sponsored by the neophytes who haven't figured it out yet? Wouldn't the real party be thrown by people who've experienced what you have?

Posted by RFTR

A frightening headline
for someone who's about to start commuting, but the article actually has some good news:

In seven of the 13 major cities, the annual delay per rush-hour traveler actually went down slightly: Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, New York, Houston and Philadelphia.

As things stand now, I am most likely going to be commuting into one of those cities. Of course, I'll be commuting by train, and maybe the drive time went down because everyone's on the train instead...

Posted by RFTR

Still Apologizing
I thought my last paper was due today, turns out it's not due until tomorrow, so I'm taking the extra time to make it good. Once this paper's out of the way—and I've slept for a few hours—however, blogging will likely be heavy for about a week and a half. Until then (today and tomorrow), it will be sparse if present at all.

I appreciate your patience.