For those of you out there that actually read this site I’d like to offer an explanation as to why the site has been down for almsot a week (ack!). It seems zebulon died a firey death after being up almost a year. I ended up going to pick him up and then brought him to our new NOC. All seems to be running smoothly now.
CNN is running a story about a federal judge who could very well make the death penalty illegal. Now, as many law savvy people know, this decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court (as our legal system works mainly on “case law”). I, personally, believe in the death penalty, but only under certain circumstances (ie. the suspect admits to the offense, or DNA evidence unquestionably links the suspect to the offense). I’m going to be watching this story closely (as should everyone else).
Exams are over! All hail the summertime! I have a busy summer schedule planned: work, beer, work, office hours, beer, work, vacation + beer, and some family/girlfriend time as well. (Did I mention beer?) Seriously, the summertime for college students is a time to lay back and enjoy life. I’ll be enjoying life at the disc golf course, with my girlfriend, and possibly a trip to Cali to see my coworkers.
Until recently I hadn’t given much though to the Israeli/Palestinian struggle. I was content to play the part of Ignorant American (as many others have been as well). However, today I found an astonishing article outlining what I believe to be the reason the Palestinians (and Arabs in general) are upset at Americans as well as Israelis about the Palestinian struggle. Read on for more …
The article I’m talking about can be found here.
The article goes over the monetary aid given to Israel by the US since it’s creation.
… Israel received $62.5 billion in foreign aid from fiscal year 1949 through fiscal year 1996 … in precisely the same 1949-1996 time frame, the total of U.S. foreign aid to all of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined was $62,497,800,000 … with a combined population of 486 million, all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean together had received $38,254,400,000. This amounted to $79 per person … The per capita U.S. foreign aid to Israel’s 5.8 million people during the same period was $10,775.48. This meant that for every dollar the U.S. spent on an African, it spent $250.65 on an Israeli, and for every dollar it spent on someone from the Western Hemisphere outside the United States, it spent $214 on an Israeli.”
As an American tax payer (yes I pay taxes – lots of taxes) I’m outraged. I can easily see that Israeli citizens live rather decently, as outlined in the article.
“Israel’s 1995 per capita gross domestic product was $15,800. That put it below Britain at $19,500 and Italy at $18,700 and just above Ireland at $15,400 and Spain at $14,300.”
I did some digging and found the average per capita income in Kenya is roughly $350.00. Is something drastically wrong here? I would say so. I may not agree with how some of the fanatics try to reason with the US and its allies (ie. bombs), but I can definately see why they’re a little pissed about the subject. I recommend contacting your congressman (or woman) and complaining about how much money we give this already rich country.
I try to not be the type of geek that looks down on non-techie people. I try very hard. However, sometimes when I’m asked for my input (ie. “How do we do X?”) and I give an answer I’m constantly questioned about the validity of my answer. Read on for more …
In the end I’m forced to spend time either a.) explaining the answer in detail or b.) forwarding all of the research that I did earlier to find the answer on to the individual so they too can find the answer (which kindof invalidates having me in the first place).
My question is why people do that. Why do people question people they recognize to be experts? Human nature? Curiosity? Who knows.
What I do know is that I don’t question my dad’s authority when it comes to building houses, afterall he has 30 years of experience in that field. I also don’t question my mother who cuts my hair, again she has 30 years of experience in the field. But, I admit, I do sometimes question their actions in their fields of expertise. So I guess I’m not better than the non-techies at times …
This site is probably the best site I’ve been to in a long time. It has the same sticky web appeal that hotornot.com had/has. As a web developer I find this kind of stickiness amazing since web surfers are so finicky these days. The best part is seeing that 38% of the people coming to the site would rather see Bradd Pitt and Jennifer Aniston go at it than see God’s face.
It appears my favorite TV Show has been cancelled. Looking back at the last year it doesn’t really surprise me – it only contained half the heart and humor that it once possessed.
I’ve read some great articles on Fool.com today. The first is an article about investing with under $1000.00. The other, which was of great interest to me, was how to get out of credit card debt. Thanks to the early years of college I’ve got some debt laying around that I need to get rid of. I’m taking some of these tips to heart and hopefully I can rid myself of credit cards for life (they should raise the minimum age from 18 to 45 in my opinion).
My cat has an inept ability to time his potty breaks with me entering the room. It seems like his way of saying hello is to take a nice big crap as soon as I sit at my computer (about 10 feet from the litter box). I recently ran accross this comic strip, which explains the cat mentality I think.
I’ve recently become addicted to the show The Osbournes, which CNN has recently written a story about. The show features Ozzy, his wife, and two if his three children in everday life. The show is hysterical and I highly recommend setting aside some time to watch it.