Alright, here's just another classic example of "Way Too Much Time!" topic section. And again it seems to be college students that have all this excess idle time. Color me jealous!
So without further ado, here it is... The Doombolt. Not terribly practical, but quite educational. And it looks as though it would be quite an enjoyable way to waste some time. Jealous again!
Okay, maybe not quite infinity, but back to the moon and on to mars. At least that's what President Bush has proposed we do. And I have to say that I'm very much in favor of doing so. There's a lot to be learned for sure, but there would also be a lot of good technological spin-off that would come from the development program. Things that would benefit all of us. This will be a huge undertaking even if it's just to get back to the moon again. But the work required to get to Mars is nothing less than colossal. But an effort worth making.
And now for the sad economic reality. Even if the U.S. Congress were to find the extra $1 billion that President Bush is seeking, would they be willing to give it to NASA? I think the social "do gooders" would surely argue against it. Not that helping the less fortunate is a bad thing, but how much of that money would truely reach those in need? And then there simply would be demands for more without a doubt. And in all fairness, as there will be for the space program also. So my thought are to give it to the cause I find more appealing: space exploration. Maybe if we stopped marching around the world blowing apart and rebuilding countries we'd be able to help both causes. $87 billion for Iraq? How about $43.5 billion for social reforms and space exploration each? Likewise, we are surely spending billions of dollars on Homeland Defense and the War on Terror. Gee, you don't think any of that money is being misappropriated or simply wasted on something that's not going to do a damn bit of good, do you? Nah, me neither. Thus the bottom line is we are simply going in too many directions and spending too much money for this to likely become a reality. Pity.
Well, that's what I call it! I found this image today while researching profanity filters for a webmail system at work. I can't remember exactly what the page was about that I found this on or even how it related to what I was searching for at the time. But it's being used as an avatar by someone who calls themselves Fjori on a site called That Forum.
Now surely some will be offended by such an image. Me, well…I actually laughed when I saw it. Is that disrespectful? Sure is. Is it blasphemous? I'd say so. But what you really have to ask yourself is "Is there not some truth here?" I mean, at least here in the United States one has to admit that Christmas has become largely an orgy of commercialism. Sure it's still about family and friends, but it's also a whole lot about "What'd ya get?" For how many people is it all about the man on the cross? Think about it…
I was sad to hear the news today that Cleveland Brown's great Otto Graham had died yesterday.
Graham played well before my time in 1946-1955, but I remember distinctly writing a book report on a book about his career when I was in about 4th or 5th grade. I don't remember much about that report, but I do remember I pick the book for two reasons. I was a big football fan, as I still am and flipping through the book I learned he was born in Waukegan, Illinois (December. 6, 1921 to be exact). And I remember thinking that was pretty neat because that was the small city near where I grew up, Gurnee, Illinois.
In that book I learned Otto was one of the greatest to every play the game. A man I knew little about until that time, I learned that somebody from a nowhere place like my backyard could achieve greatness.
A new and improved XHTML compliant THRAK homepage has been added to the site. The previous ugly version was under the SFFL site. But being that THRAK is the only active team to maintain a web presence, I felt it was time to bring it "into the fold".