Apopheniac

New PAC seeks to balance the copyright debate

I read in Wired News this morning of IPAC, a new political action committee which monitors politicians and legislators on copyright and freedom of expression issues and provides a balance for the record and movie industries. I am contributing and encourage other like minded folk to do the same. Think of the impact if folks contributing $5 and $10 could outweigh the copyright bullies and balance the influence in congress.

Check out their website and send them a fiver.

A Thanksgiving to be grateful for.

Here as the clock is about to tick us over into another Thanksgiving and before the feasting and festivities begin I wanted to express my gratitude for all of the blessings in my life. In addition to the ongoing love of Jean and Kirk in my life, this holiday finds closer relationships with many valued family members. Daughter Jessica and her guy Jason are expecting and doing well. The passing of my Mom brought sadness but occasioned increased closeness with brother Bill and sister Pam. We have gotten to spend much enjoyable time and celebration with Jean's brother Matt and his wife Carol. Grandaughter Maryse is in closer contact and she and her husband Robert are expecting. And finally my 34 year friendship with the Freemans proves that dry wit can transend decades and thousands of miles and still flourish. My thanks to you all for flavoring and invigorating my life.

The return of Kirk

Picked Kirk up at the airport last night. He had a nice visit with Maryse and her inlaws. He is now back in Lubbock, much to the relief of those who developed computer problems in his absence.

It was a dark and stormy night.

Well it is cold and rainy with a chance of snow here on the high plains of Texas. Jean has rolled through another birthday and keeps on ticking. Wine isn't the only thing that improves with age.

Kirk is away in Phoenix visiting Maryse and helping a friend of hers with their computer, so Jean and I have the house, and the birththday cake, to ourselves. Exercise will follow.

Election perspective

Several things recently in the press had me wondering about the recent election. First I was listening to Bush and Cheney claiming their mandate. Secondly I was thinking about all of the press about the polarized and evenly divided nation. I decided I wanted an historical perspective so I looked up the numbers from half a century's elections and plugged them into an Excel spreadsheet and graphed them.


The first thing I was striken with was what it took to unseat an incumbent president. The normal re-election margin was wide in the popular vote and runaway in the electoral vote. Watergate and resignation unseated an un-elected Gerald Ford. The hostage crisis and a very popular Ronald Reagan unseated Carter. It took 3rd party candidate Ross Perot getting 19% of the popular vote for Clinton to unseat George Bush. In this light, President Bush's recent win was very narrow for a sitting president.

I was also impressed with how much the electoral college magnifies the margins in most elections, though that doesn't seem to be the case in GW Bush's elections. No one has been that close in memory, so the discussion about the evenly divided country seems to have merit. I don't know how much of a mandate the administration can claim but I think it is a moot point given the Republican gains in the congress.

Snowed all night.

It snowed all night last night but stopped just in time for the drive to work this morning. Fortunately it didn't get very cold and its early in the season so the ground is still warm. That, combined with light traffic made it a pretty easy commute. Communities north of here like Olton and Littlefield got up to a foot of snow and had temperatures as low as 24 so they had a much rougher time of it.

Looks like the election is in its final throws. As of now Bush had enough electoral votes to tie up the election if he holds Ohio through the counting of the provisional ballots. This won't be known for sure for up to 2 weeks so it looks like a likely Bush win that won't be finalized for a while. Now we will hopefully begin the post-election de-polarization and healing. I hope the president, congress and the nation rise to what the times demand.

Snow got to Lubbock

A blanket of wet snow was falling as I drove to work this morning. It was fairly light as I left home but got heavier and heavier as it got later and I got further north. By the time I got to work visibility was getting low and the snow was beginning to stick to the roads and parking lot. I am glad I left 30 minutes early cause it was getting a little dicey as I pulled into the parking lot. We'll see what the day brings in accumulation.

Today my class at work is doing a potluck for lunch. Jean made one of her world class cheesecakes for me to bring.

Here comes November

The wind has come around to out of the north at 20-30 miles/hr. Rain, supposedly turning to snow is coming in from New Mexico and November is here.