All appears to have gone well with this current upgrade cycle. I still have not gotten to the display issues in Internet Explorer, but I will, someday.

In other news, my host has increased my storage capacity by a factor of five and bandwidth by three. Considering the fact that I was not close to hitting either (especially in bandwidth), it does not matter a whole hell of a lot. For those of you reading this and checking the time, yes it is almost New Years, but I suppose it is not the end of the world to take this year off, I suppose I will make up for it next year. Anyways, here's a good New Years Resolution: Update the blog more often.

-Trevor

Happy 2007 Everybody! I know it is not quite there yet, but I have a fantastic gif that I craftily modified to indicate that 2006 is almost no more. I will particularly amazed if I will be up during that time, but what are you going to do...

-Trevor

Tonight I will be upgrading the software for my blog to a newer version, so sorry for an inconvenience I cause. This should hopefully give a performance gain as well as "enhance security" from hackers, though I do not think this site is generally popular enough to warrant someone defacing the site, I guess I may never know. I will also soon be removing my original gallery and using only "Gallery 2". I am much happier with the look and feel, not to mention there are numerous database problems with the first which I don't think I will be able to fix. I will try to port over some of my favorite photos, but I do not think I can find a way to easily automatically transfer the photos, I will just transfer some until I am sick of doing it manually.

-Trevor

I don't know why I always start my first posts after a long silence by apologizing, so this time I will not. In any case soon after arriving in Minnesota, it was clear that I would have to go back to Arizona with my parents (It was not really a hard decision). Here is a small diary of the trip so far (Pictures are located in Gallery 2):

Day 1:

We left around 3 am in the morning. I was pretty tired, I had about two hours of sleep, NaLeah, Becky, and Devin seemed especially talkative (or it could have been me as well). The drive was fairly eventless, which I guess in this case is a good thing. Actually, when in Iowa for my first time, we got gas just out of Des Moines and found a pretty cool covered bridge (who knew that Iowa had something worth looking at ). We made it to Liberal, Kansas. We finished the evening with frozen dinners, not perfect, but better than nothing I suppose.

Day 2 (Christmas Eve):

I was pretty disappointed that there was not more snow in Minnesota when I was up, so I was pretty surprised that there was snow on the side of the roads outside of Dalhart, TX! A couple days prior, there was a storm that closed a portion of I-40 (the same storm system that closed Denver), but I thought that it would have melted pretty quick. However, I was amazed by the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. It was so white, it looked just like snow, but warm. We even saw people sledding in the sand. This really was pretty neat, I got my white Christmas. After getting into Tucson, we had a nice dinner and then went to bed early.

Day 3 (Christmas, it generally happens the day after Christmas Eve):

Since most things are closed on Christmas, we needed to do something that tends to be open all the time, free trails, thus the Saguaro National Park fit the bill nicely. We got some pretty good hiking in that day. After about three hours, we were pretty tired and so went home and made dinner.

I almost forgot to mention that we stopped at Winterhaven, a subdivision in Tucson that has been well lit during the holidays for the last 56 years. It was pretty amazing, unfortunately, I forgot my camera. We were actually quite surprised about the turnout, there were police controlling traffic in the area and the only way into the neighborhood was by foot. Some of the displays were absolutely amazing. If in Tucson around the holidays, I highly recommend anyone to check it out.

Day 4:

All of us were pretty tired from walking on Christmas, so we thought we would take it a bit easier today. Since Mom had not seen San Xavier yet (Dad and I saw it when looking for housing a couple of summers ago), we decided that it would be good to see it. They are still working on the renovations that they had been when I first saw it and could not really notice much difference, but I suppose these things take time. The Mission is worth a visit if you are in Tucson. While peaceful, I cannot say that it was a spiritual experience, though I do not know if I have had a spiritual experience in my life, so I cannot put down San Xavier for that. I was sort of disappointed by the gift shop though. I was really hoping for some hand-crafted Native American crafts, but the gifts tended to be the standard issue t-shirt and coffee mug memorabilia that people purchase and soon after sell at garage sales. In the end, I picked up a prayer candle that seems to be pretty popular amongst the practicing Catholics down here, thus I can at least pretend to be one.

Before my parents left, Dad was pretty excited about the prospects of finding some fresh pecans. South of Tucson, there are some Pecan groves that stretch for miles and is one of the greenest places in the desert...in the summer. Over Thanksgiving, I went with a friend to a cabin in Madera Canyon for his Families Thanksgiving dinner and the trees had nice and green leaves. However, the leaves have since fallen leaving miles of leafless trees. Well, in any case, we went to the pecan's store and picked up some fresh pecans at reasonable prices, and I even bought myself some Pecan tea. It is actually pretty good, made by Arbuckle's right in Tucson.

After our journey South of Tucson, we decided that it was time to get some authentic Mexican food; Taco Bell was definitely out, especially when in the Southwest. What better place than Pico de Gallo! After a recent waitress change, Mary's Lucky Dollar just is not as good as it used to be and I did not think my parents were ready for the outdoor El Guero Canelo yet, so Pico de Gallo it was. The food is always good and we got some tacos with corn tortillas. By the end of this, we were all tired and went home and watched some Heroes.

---
Well, I will catch everyone up later, it is getting a tad late and should be getting to bed.

-Trevor

I uploaded some more photos to my new gallery. This includes my most recent drive back down to Arizona with my parents. You may or may not find them interesting.

-Trevor

Once upon a time, I thought I would never find another show that would be nearly as absorbing as the comedy that was Seinfeld (not counting the series finale that was shameful...). Then I found Heroes. While it is certainly not a comedy by any stretch of the imagination, it certainly does have it's charm and now I am quite thoroughly hooked. If I wanted to sound any cornier, I would say it really "rocked my world."

Unfortunately for me, this series just started so I cannot obsessively watch as much of the show as I want and I now just have to wait like all the other chumps who are normally the early adopters of the shows. However, so I do not suffer the pain of watching a show all by myself, I urge you all to try to get into the Heroes bandwagon as well.

The basic story line is that a group of people around the world are discovering that they have unique abilities and unfortunately, there are some who have foresight of this, thus creating a possibility for conflict. I certainly do not want to give any spoilers, but you should watch, otherwise, who can I talk to for support.

For those who have watched the show, there is a wiki set up for the show here: Heroes Wiki. There are also multiple legal avenues of catching up on the show, first check out NBC's Heroes website (Commercials ) or there is also a Heroes marathon on January 1st.

My sister found this video on YouTube. I found the story was pretty interesting. It was a school project and looking at the views and the positive reviews, I would give it an A .

Well, now that I have a couple moments, I thought I would update this blog to inform the world what I have been up to. Not a whole lot in fact, but after finishing up my finals, I decided that since my parents were driving down over Christmas, it would be a good idea to fly up and surprise my family. And surprise I did; I believe the first words from my dad were, "What the hell are you doing here?" It was classic and made the trip worth while. Well, I have been hanging out at home for a while getting up to date with my family, but other than that not much has been going on. I'm heading back out on Friday evening or Saturday, weather dependent.

The Spring is looking to be a bit of more of the same for right now in terms of school. Still have some classes, but the end is near. I'll see if I am happy with the classes I have by the Spring, but I may still have one or more classes left in the Fall before I really hit on working on my dissertation papers.

-Trevor

Well I suppose it has been a very long time since I have posted something on this site. I have no excuse other than I've been busy. Well, my Thanksgiving was good, I went to a friend's family for Thanksgiving and then I helped co-host a party that last Saturday. We had an excellent turnout (~40 people) so it was pretty cool. Well, I'm going to sign off for a bit, but hope everyone is doing well.

-Trevor

Sigh. . I was wrong, there is no ban, I was duped my false news, but at least the source that I got it from was legit, so they got duped too. I guess Australians across the US should be rejoicing.

-Trevor

Evidently Sony does not have much faith in it's customers. Sony has effectively shut down Lik-Sang, an electronics company based out of Hong Kong that specializes in exporting games and hardware that is hard to find in Europe and the United States. They claimed they were protecting consumers from possibly inferior quality. Now I know that is absolute bullshit, because the only people who buy from sites like Lik-Sang know what they are doing and don't have to worry about incorrect voltage on their electronics and whatnot. My experience with the company was very enjoyable.

It is just another case of using government regulations to product/price discriminate (nothing inherently wrong with the idea of price discrimination as long as long as a company does not need to hide behind the government to do it). I don't know, but from the relatively small sales of companies such as this, the ill will towards Sony seems to outweigh the potential benefits of these types of actions. While the general attitude of buyers of Playstations will likely not care about a story like this, I still have to wonder if stories like this will eventually catch up to Sony. Their public image has certainly had some mud thrown on it recently. The sad thing is, this really will not stop the game enthusiasts who used the site to buy imports and limited edition games and hardware, but rather will be replaced by companies in China and other countries which will have less of a public avenue to do business with .

-Trevor

During game two of the World Series last night, it appeared that Kenny Rogers had some sort of dirt on his hand during the first inning, but by the second inning, it was no longer there. There was some early speculation that it was pine tar (an illegal substance to use for pitching), thus Rogers was violating the rules of Baseball. However, none of the coaching staff and the umpires made much of deal out of this incident, as it clearly did not improve his performance. What makes me angry is that fact that reporters are making too much out of this deal. They seem intent on tarnishing what otherwise is promising to be a very exciting series in which the Tigers were not really in the picture to do much this season. I have decided that reporters would rather see ratings through writing about a scandal than trying to draw readers through quality writing. Since I do not expect this article to draw additional writers to this site, I exempt myself, however if this is the first time you came here to read this rant, I apologize, since this article is clearly not written with elegance. I am hoping that this does not devolve into a fiasco, baseball has had enough scandals recently and am hoping to see the continued resurgence of fan support.

Go Baseball! As a side note, the Lasorda commercials in which he is trying to convince baseball fans of all teams to keep up their baseball spirit and watch the world series is pretty cool, though I wish they would allow us non cable fans to enjoy the divisonal series

-Trevor

Genre: History Non-Fiction
Author: Jim Powell
Released: 2003
Notable Works: Wilson's War

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The St. John's Guesthouse is nearing completion. At six weeks late though, it is amazing that some parts of the building are as complete as the pictures on the guesthouse's website indicates. The interiors do seem to be keeping to the "Breuer" style which I think is good to keep a consistent style in the university/abbey. In any case, an informed source told me about a potential debacle of having a window in a woman's handicap stall in a bathroom (though it has a temporary drape up to preserve a little dignity)! Well, I guess architects can't be expected to realize where windows shouldn't be when their customer spends millions on a building. Regardless, I think their is a particular novelty at staying at the guesthouse, though since it is booked into 2008, I should make my reservation now.

-Trevor

I am just checking to see if anyone has been having issues with timely access to my website? I have noticed my performance become worse and worse over the last month and a half and am essentially fed up with performance of my host's server , thus am contemplating switching hosts if anyone else is experiencing a slow connection. Please post comments to let me know.

-Trevor

Update: My site appears to work relatively well late at night (1-2 am Arizona time), which leads me to think that another site on the server that my site is on is particularly resource intensive. I do not think my site is due to my site statistics . This item of note will be brought up with startlogic soon since my current contract with them is due around January.

I recently found a bizarre news story on how the United States has banned Vegemite (as pictured to the right). This is an absolutely strange story in which I am utterly confused why it was banned. According to the article, the United States has a ban on adding folate (folic acid) to all products except for breads and cereals. Evidently Vegemite has folate and thus cannot be bought. However, I have read reports of people buying it in the US this year, so I am fairly concerned about the legitimacy of the article. Thus in order to try to clarify this strange story, I emailed the Department of Agriculture on the ban this evening. I will keep everyone posted on what I find. I am also going to check out some stores around Tucson to see if I can find Vegemite (there is a large Australian population in Tucson). While it does not seem very appetizing, I am more concerned about the United States strange rulings and bureaucracy. For having no signs of negative health benefits (and plenty of good ones), I am concerned when the United States makes limits on individuals' choices, though this could merely be a hoax in which I which case I will be thoroughly embarrassed.

Regardless of the outcome, I have my doubts that I will become an activist on this subject, though I suppose stranger things have happened.

-Trevor

According to this article EA is planning on introducing dynamic advertising into their online video games. One of the games that is being considered is Battlefield 2142 (as pictured on the right). This game is a futuristic action game that pits the European Union against the Russians over North Africa due to an oncoming ice age. It is hard to imagine advertising in a game such as this, and a poster gave this humorous anecdote:

The year is 2142, cyborgs are taking over the world. The shattered caracasses of hyperscrapers lie horizontally amongst the rubble.

BUY A SOFA NOW, DON'T PAY UNTIL 2007!
CHILDREN ARE STARVING IN AFRICA, DONATE NOW!
VOTE BUSH!

Your eyes pass these abstract words, plastered on the billboard. Perhaps your mind is playing tricks on you....

Sighing, your concentration sharpens enough to wonder why this billboard is pristine and perfectly maintained whilst structures around it are in smouldering ruins. Could this be a trap? The hairs on the back of your neck prickle and you bring the IR scope of your plasma rifle closer to your eye.

Perhaps the heiroglyphs on the billboard are a code, instructions for planetary domination that you must decipher at all costs. The enemy is using this against you, It's the one rational explanation for the preservation of this object.

With an odd, jerking movement - unnatural in the smooth 60 frames a second of your eyepieces HUD-enhanced view of the world, a detpack appears magically in your hand. There's a "whoosh" noise as your rifle is dematerialised into your infinity belt storage device, where you keep your wrench, handguns and 8 heavy weapons and ammo crates.

Setting the timer for 90 seconds you place it at the base of the billboard and run behind cover. There's an almighty explosion as 30microgrammes of dark matter reacts with the antimatter fuse and obliterates everything in a deci-click radius.

Job done, you brush the dust off your stator shields and sprint away from the rubble before the enemy can pinpoint your location. Something catches your eye in the dissipating dustcloud though, the billboard, unharmed, floating mid-air in the middle of a crater bigger than a harvesting pool. Enemy technology is immune to dark matter reactive bombs! Nothing the alliance has can touch it, surely our nation will fall. Determined not to lose sight of your objective - the Royal Flag of Team OMGWTFBBQ - you run on towards the glowing haze of the enemy compound in the distance.

Lesser men may have given up in desperation, but you come away from this experienced ready for the next hurdle the enemy puts in your path. (Oh, and also, you think that maybe a new sofa would look good back at the barracks rec. room. Odd that. Very odd.....)

While not surprised that advertising is creeping into games, this is after all a capitalist society, I guess it is still a hard pill to swallow as I grew up without having to be force fed advertising as well. Even with people feeling unhappy with the advertising, I doubt that there will be an organized effort to boycott games/companies that use this technology.

-Trevor

I thought people may or may not be amazed by this photo. If you know where it is, you may be in awe as I was with nostalgia, but if you don't instantly recognize it, you will not care one iota. FYI, it is dated 1991.

As an interesting side note, Microsoft's mapping site is a vast improvement over Google Maps, at least in terms of images. In certain areas like Tucson, you get a "bird's eye view" which gets some very high quality shots of the city. I can even see my house with pretty good clarity, I may post it later. Further, in areas where satelite imagery is not as clear as others, it automatically switches to aerial photographs which as you can see, are pretty decent.

-Trevor

Genre: Crime / Drama
Rating: R
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, & Kristen Dalton
Released: 2006

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It's so amazing, my first ever Wikipedia post. It is on the dissolved Armstrong County, SD. Why do ask, did I write a seemingly pointless article on a dissolved county? Well it boils down to my graduate research and while checking the dataset I am using for accuracy, I came across an unusual county. I have been using Wikipedia to cross reference some census data and noticed that Armstrong County did not have a Wikipedia entry . I decided I always wanted to contribute a bit, and this was my chance . Let me know what you think. I didn't add the map due to the possibility that it wouldn't qualify under fair use.

Oh by the way, checking for data integrity sucks. Especially when you have to determine how some data points were combined for a single data point.

-Trevor

I am hoping I can try to get back to a "normal" (what's normal in grad school) after my exam in econometrics today. This exam was historically known to be a rather difficult exam requiring us to apply techniques very quickly, and this year turned out to be no different. I think the exam went ok, there certainly wasn't the pressure of the prelims, but I spent this last week going over past exams and rewriting my notes a couple of times so I can now recite the log likelihood of the heckman self selection model amongst many others. I find it interesting, though not really a criticism, that our exams require vast memorization, yet the professors use notes . Though at some level, it helps give an incentive to get a deeper understanding of the concepts I guess.

I remember in undergrad, my econometrics professor said, "If you want to know the proofs, goto grad school, because I am not going to show it here and I don't want to relearn them." Though that certainly wasn't the only reason I am going, I can certainly see myself in that position in a few years.

Well, in any case, a few friends and I are going to see The Departed tomorrow. I've heard great things about it and am certain Scorsese can do at least as well as the Aviator (not to mention Raging Bull, Casino, and Goodfellas).

-Trevor

In an Indian village, a headmaster was quite pleased after he was able to get nearly 40 students (ages 6 to 11) off of alcohol. The village evidently has a free supply of locally made alcohol and is socially acceptable to drink. However, the headmaster wanted to see the kids improve due to some pretty bad results, so using various incentives, was able to sober up the kids. An interesting story, as this is not a problem I would expect to see in such large quantities, but I guess there is a first time for everything.

-Trevor

Quote of the Day:

If no one can do it, no one can!
-Dina Shatnawi

Note: She wanted me to write a disclaimer that this was said while studying for an econometrics exam, so you shouldn't judge her too harshly.

My sister let me know that Zoey has recently passed away after what appears to be a rather long battle with a tumor and a swollen liver. Over the summer when I was home, she had been very sick, but had a rather miraculous recovery at the time. However, illness and age got to her and she passed away.

Pets always have an amazing way attaching themselves to people, and even though she has been under the care of my sister recently, it is still very sad to see her pass.

-Trevor

This week will be marked forever in infamy for thousands of baseball fans across the country, mainly Minnesota fans, who had to suffer through three humiliating games to watch the Twins get swept by the mediocre Athletics. It is a sad time for all fans of this glorious sport, but there is still some rejoicing in the thought that the Twins overcame improbable odds in order to make the playoffs in the first place, which we cannot overlook.

Well, I will hold out hope that we will resign Hunter, he's a good team leader who helps out the team statistically wise and with positive team chemistry. My playoff hopes now revolve Detroit beating the Yankees, so let's all cheer for an early Yankees exit in the playoffs!

In the world of fantasy baseball, my playoffs actually turned out pretty well, considering I won, Yeah!. Hopefully I will be able to take this team to victory next year, though I noticed a general nonenthusiasm this year while playing, which may explain why a team which I barely managed actually won. Who knows.

-Trevor

There was an interesting article in the Star Tribune today about a retired College Chancellor who had what was diagnosed as Transient Global Amnesia in which a person can become confused for short periods of time about certain events, but are generally able to function normally otherwise. Luckily for the man, it was not as serious as an onset of Alzheimers.

-Trevor

So what does my sister do when she has time on her hands? She does makeovers of people/objects in photos. In this particular case, she took a clay head that I have and took a photo of for my photo class in high school about 9 years ago (damn I'm getting old ). In any case, here are the results, but the head looks to be dressing in drag, and from what I can tell, it hasn't had any life altering events since this photo was taken, other than making the move to Tucson with me.

-Trevor

One of my friends sent me this link to some humorous islamic related t-shirts which bring up a little social commentary on national policy. As you can see from the picture, it is trying to dispense of stereotypes our lovely liberal (CNN) and conservative (Fox News) media channels love to slam down our throats. Hopefully it has a positive effect.

-Trevor

Back in January of this year, my aunt was in an unfortunate accident in which a Minnesota teacher was killed. While driving, she was blinded by fog lights of an oncoming truck and did not see a stop sign. She hit the car which led to a clot being formed which later killed the driver, Tom Keating. However, a judge recently charged her for careless driving and sentenced her originally to 30 days in jail, revoked her license, and 240 hours of community service. I am absolutely shocked that it was not made clear that this was an accident and should be no fault (or maybe the driver of the truck). This will not soothe the pains of a tragic death and it is not a fitting judgement as there was no intent or carelessness in my aunt's actions. After the accident, my aunt was outwardly more injured than Keating, who was able to walk around. Only after going to the hospital in an ambulance for a routine check that he started going into cardiac arrest due to a blood clot. My aunt was transported to the hospital via another ambulance and was absolutely devastated when she found out that he had passed away. Furthermore, I read the community forums on the St. Cloud Times and the comments of people who were not involved were absolutely callous. Here is my recommendation for everyone when reading news of a tragedies, do not be so quick to judge the merits of a person based off a quick blot in a newspaper, life is not so simple as that.

-Trevor

I heard about this on Leno last night and found an article on this as well. Apparently, a thief or thieves stole some food from a school in a village in India. After not being able to find the culprit, village leaders told villagers that in order to clear themselves from guilt, they would have to dip their hands in boiling oil. 50 villagers refused and were then accused of theft! Crazy stuff.

-Trevor

Artist: The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Album: Thank God for Mental Illness
Genre: Indie Rock
Year Released: 1996

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After watching this trailer for "Jesus Camp", I was absolutely stunned. Watch it and click "more" below, I'll have more to say after the jump.

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A busdriver in St. Paul was driving up a hill when due to the lack of gas, the engine cut off along with the power brakes, leading the bus to begin rolling backwards and hitting a guardrail just before rolling onto I-94. While luckily no one was hurt, Louis Mariucci, a principal for the school the bus was contracted enlightened us by mentioning there are procedures to make sure that busses do not run out of fuel. What he didn't mention was that this procedure is called, looking at the fuel gauge and filling up when almost out of gas.

-Trevor

Last night I went to the Brian Jonestown Massacre concert at Plush. It was a pretty cool concert and lasted a hell of a long time. My friends and I got there right around 11 and by 1:30 they were still going strong, which is cool that they played so long, but unfortantely I needed to get up for class, but I definitely got my money's worth. They played some stuff I didn't recognize as I haven't had a chance to totally check out their band, but they played some of my favorites from what I have heard, which was very nice.

Like going to all concerts, there are always people who go to these things which cannot be labelled as anything other than strange. There was a guy who looked to be no taller than 5'3 who was trying to grind with different women throughout the show. Rather than being completely disgusting, I really felt sorry for the guy because he was looking pretty desperate and didn't seem to realize he was the object of ridicule. It didn't help that one woman, who spent part of the show trying to show her "seductive" side (or the lack thereof) to other guys, was essentially egging the guy on all night. It seemed like some perverted mating ritual that one would see on a PBS nature show.

Besides the "side show", I was very glad I had a chance to get out and see the band play live. If any of my readers see that they are playing in a local club, I would highly recommend it. I will leave you with a joke by Anton, but I warn you that it is not recommended for children:

What is the difference between Michael Jackson and Pimples?

- Pimples don't "come" on your face until you are at least 13.

-Trevor

Here's a tip to all the poor graduate and medical students if you are a couple bucks short for that lap dance, don't pay for it with stolen body parts, or you may be sitting in jail for a while. Police discovered after a call that an exotic dancer had a preserved hand along with three human skulls in her apartment. After an investigation, it was discovered that a medical student stole a hand from a cadaver and gave it to the dancer. The dancer enjoyed it so much, her and her friends began to call it "Teddy". Now the graduated medical student could face up to 10 years in prison.

While I will admit that this is a very disturbing article, it probably doesn't deserve a sentence of 10 years, public humiliation would be more appropriate.

-Trevor

So what do you do when you can't sleep at 1 am in the morning? Well you see what celebrity you look like. As you can see in this wonderful image, I look an awful lot like Adam Brody. For those who don't know who he is, and I was definitely one of them, he has starred on such great shows such as, American Pie 2 as "High School Guy", The Sausage Factory, Gilmore Girls, and most recently, the OC. On the plus side of looking like a no talent actor, he was voted by People to be one of the hottest bachelors, thus I guess I know that I must be really really good looking . Furthermore, I see that I sort of look like John Candy and Demi Moore and a member of 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. I don't know if that bodes well for me. At least I have Di Caprio and Ford helping what otherwise would be a doomed life full of hate and misery.

-Trevor

Genre: Documentary
Rating: R
Starring: Anton Newcombe, Courtney Taylor-Taylor
Released: 2004

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Bert has recently been suspended another three games for his unfortunate use of the word, "fuck" twice during a pregame show he did not know was live. You can watch the clip below. The Star Tribune article mentions that he will not be fired, however, I think that the additional three games is too high. For a slip up that was an accident, there should be no penalty. There was no intentional harm done and besides, I would rather have my kids watch a man swear than see someone being shot, but I guess a kid who swears is worse than a kid who kills. As a side note, here are some other "off-color" commentary from Blyleven that I thought you may enjoy:

* In April 2002, Minneapolis City Council member Joe Biernat was indicted for accepting free plumbing work on his house in exchange for lucrative city contracts. The day after the indictment was made public, City Council President Paul Ostrow was a guest in the Twins' broadcast booth, explaining a plan for a new Twins stadium. At the end of the interview, Blyleven asked Ostrow "So do you know any good plumbers?" After an uncomfortable pause, Ostrow replied "I'm not going there."

* During a 2006 broadcast, a conversation with a guest morphed from George Brett to singing in the shower. Blyleven mentioned that he had showered with Brett, and the guest expressed surprise. Blyleven exclaimed "Well, there were other guys there! ... Although they did say not to bend over."

* During the same broadcast, Blyleven asked guest Ace Young (of American Idol fame) if he "got lucky" with show host Paula Abdul

* Later in the season, Blyleven and Bremer were discussing Pee Wee Herman when Blyleven remarked "I wouldn't want to be in a movie theater with him!"

* On August 15, 2006, the Twins were facing the Cleveland Indians. Shin-Soo Choo pinch hit in the ninth inning. When Bremer said Choo's full name, Blyleven responded by saying "Bless you."

* During the pregame show on September 3, 2006, Blyleven twice used the "f word" while he was live on air. Under the impression he was being taped, Blyleven wanted to retape a segment when he swore and quickly realized he was live. In the first inning of the game, he apologized. Blyleven was suspended by the network for five telecasts.

* Later in the same broadcast, the Twins were facing New York Yankees reliever Mike Myers. Blyleven introduced Myers and commented on his unorthodox submarine delivery by saying: "Myers at six-foot-three, but he throws like a midget."

Source: Wikipedia

-Trevor

Sorry about not posting the photos earlier, but I got them on my gallery now click the title or the link here. I got back on Monday night pretty late and needed to finish up some work. We hung around my friend's place on Monday for the most part, which was good because I really don't get to lounge around much on my vacations. Of course I paid for it by the lack of sleep on Monday night, but that's the fun of vacations. Overall, this was a fantastic trip, I highly recommend Los Angeles to anyone who has a chance to go, it is a unique experience.

-Trevor

Does this photo look good? Not so much, however, does this photo suggest that the US congress needs to ban killing horses for human consumption? Not so much either. Ask most Americans and they will tell you that eating horse is so pass?, however, others in the rest of the world think of horse as a delicacy. The question is why is it that horses need to be saved any more than any other animal? Are they endangered? No. Is there evidence of intelligence greater than other edible animals? No. What is it that sets horses apart from Buffalo, Ostriches, and Turtles? Cultural perceptions. When will the United States learn about the dangers of stuffing all of our cultural beliefs down others and worry about real issues? Probably never.

I think this is a case where it isn't worth the legislation. Sure horses are dying, but can't we just make sure they die humanely? Besides, the legislators really need to worry about other things than this. What about trying to worry about our international policy, becoming fiscally responsible? Oh, I guess that can be put on the back burner while we save all of the little ponies who just want to run in circles for all of the gambling addicts amongst us .

-Trevor

The vacation is coming to a close and with that what's sure to be an all-nighter with some game theory homework, but instead of worrying too much, my friend and I headed out to Venice Beach today and walked around taking in the sights and sounds. There was definitely plenty of that to be had. The weather was absolutely awesome, very mild with plenty of sun.

We found an awesome hat shop off of the strip of shops that line the beach and I picked up a new cap as shown below on a not so great picture of me. Some interesting people around, but not too many people who were too strange. One of the good quotes came from a drunk, "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Help me get drunk...". After the beach, we grabbed some pizza and then headed back and watched Digg (a documentary on the band, The Brian Jamestown Massacre). I'll post a review later this week. My flight leaves in about 17 hours from this post. I think I'll definitely miss Los Angeles, it has a very unique character that you can't get anywhere else. Before I reminiscence too early, I still have a whole new day before I need to take off.

-Trevor

Took another easy day today, just sort of bummed around, but isn't that what LA's for? We stopped in for lunch at the In-N-Out Burger after hanging out in the morning listening to some baseball games online and bullshitting a bit. That place was so crowded it took 10 minutes just to get a parking spot. It wasn't bad, but it seemed way too busy considering the quality and the price ($3.50 for a cheesburger and shake). However, the atmosphere definitely had that intangible California feel that I haven't gotten anywhere else. We also went down Hollywod Bouelevard and checked out Graumann's Chinese Theater amongst other touristy things on the block. There were so many people out, it was pretty crazy. A guy stopped my friend and was amazed at his red hair. The guy was black and exclaimed to us how his son had red hair and that he is always amazed about how people get red hair (Normally it doesn't matter about race, but this is a special circumstance). He then asked what we were up to and suggested that he show us around town. The man was drunk and since mother always said we shouldn't talk to strangers, politely declined. We finished the night over in a bar off of Sunset Strip, it had some fairly authentic Mexican food and good, but at about twice the Tucson price, but it's LA and what can you do?

One of the things that I noticed is that the homeless situation is a lot different in LA than in Tucson. There was a homeless couple sleeping right on the sidewalk. While the relative amounts of homeless seem similar, homeless in LA seem to be in a worse state, or maybe I just haven't been around enough in Tucson, but I don't know. It seems weird considering how progressive Californians often promote themselves as, or at least how the media portrays them as. That last sentence was overly harsh and judgemental about the people who live in LA, so I will work on meeting more people here before I become too prejudiced . Overall, the different types of people and styles in LA is absolutely amazing. You will see people in the cutting edge of fashion to those who are clearly stuck in some point in time to everything in between. While driving to the In-N-Out burger we saw a "macho" looking guy strutting around in stilts. Crazily enough, I think I was the only person gawking at him like he was fucking crazy. I am probably the one who sticks out like a sore thumb.

Another thing that I noticed is how quiet it is. I imagined LA as a loud place where no one ever slept, but it seems that in the day people are definitely out, but it is actually very quiet at my friend's place at night. Unlike Tucson, I don't have to worry about fighter jets or med helicopters waking me up in the middle of the night.

Tomorrow (later today), we are headed off to Venice Beach. My friend tells me that I will see stuff there that will stick with me for a while. We will see if I will suffer some culture shock

-Trevor

P.S. My friend's internet connection is slow, so I'll post the pictures on my site probably on Tuesday after classes.

For those who aren't in the know, I flew to LA this weekend to visit an old friend. We took it easy the first day we grabbed some breakfast at the House of Pies, a variation of a Perkins/Denny's, but I hear their pies are good. Afterwards we bummed around in the afternoon and stopped in a record shop, Amoeba. Finally we checked out the Dodgers Game versus Colorado. The Dodgers won 5-3 which was pretty cool. 49,000 people made it to the game. Here are a couple pictures I took today. You can see the Hollywood sign from my friend's apartment, pretty cool.

-Trevor

I don't know if you remember a while back when I found some people who were using my Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper picture when I had reviewed it a while back (Check out my original rant about bandwidth piracy here.) Well, partially because I am an ass, I edited the image to have a Mountain Dew can there instead. Well I found this site that is using that image, shown above. Should I be mean and change the photo again? I was thinking that I could be very graphic or write something like, this photo has been stolen. What do you think? Also be aware that this myspace page is poorly designed, not saying that I am a good designer.

-Trevor

Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Katie Holmes, William H. Macy, Robert Duvall
Released: 2005

Read more!

I had a chance to go hiking at the Saguaro National Park yesterday. A buddy and I originally planned on hiking a bit by Mount Lemmon, but some impending rain up in the mountains deterred us for now and we decided to go hiking on lower and flatter ground to try to avoid the monsoon rains. We started off by going to a very good/cheap restaurant off of Broadway/Wilmot. I got 2 eggs, 4 pancakes, and 2 slices of bacono for $2.25 and were pretty good as well, the quality was similar to a Perkins, but with only maple syrup as a choice for the pancakes. I can probably thank the snowbirds for the restaurants in Tucson that carry this style of food.

Once we got started the weather cooperated very nicely, though you can see that it was getting fairly overcast by the time we left. It was a tad warm, but there was actually a pretty nice breeze that kept us cool and we had brought along enough water in case there was a problem, such as getting lost/hurt. We didn't come along any rattlesnakes which is generally a good thing, I've been hiking for a year and haven't gotten bit yet, a positive sign.

I uploaded some photos to my test gallery that I am slowly trying to get to look like the rest of the site, but it works well for the moment in order to view the pictures. Anyways, it was a very good hike and got some great nature shots. These are also some of my first pictures I took with my new Sony H2. They turned out pretty good, but a couple of them turned out a bit dark, which is due to me trying to playing with the settings. The overall quality of the pictures is much higher than my old Canon and thus am pleased, but I will miss the ability to keep the camera in my pocket. My new camera fits, but leaves a rather unsightly bulge, though that may just attract some ladies .

-Trevor

I was killing some time this evening to see how I ranked on keywords. Looking for my last name I found our coat of arms as displayed above. According to the link, it is a derivation of the name Kohler which means "Coal Burner". Interesting, though hard to confirm.

-Trevor

Got my new camera and shoes in the mail yesterday and today, respectively. They are both pretty cool and the shoes are even more comfortable than expected, so it was a risk that definitely paid off. They are lighter than my pair of Converse, but seem sturdily constructed by Chinese children, so they should last hopefully a couple of years. I haven't had too much of a chance to really get some good pics on my camera, just checking out the features, but it can take a non-blurry shot of my ceiling fan. Well, I should get going, sort of late, but I will try to get a couple shots up that I took with my camera.

-Trevor

It is truly a sad time, for Chief the Rat had to be put down. Jenny and Greg originally bought him in our Junior year and I don't think it would have been the same without him running around our apartment peeing on the carpet. Jenny mentioned that he had recently stopped drinking and eating and has begun to have tremors. Not a very good sign for a rat. He will be sorely missed.

I thought very hard about the title of this post. Other options included "Poor Management Decisions" or "Companies that deny themselves future revenue over trivial matters". Hopefully I have sparked your interest now. Let me begin my story...

It all began on a relatively quiet night in the city of Tucson, Arizona. A couple of graduate students had decided to meet a local establishment located near campus, called Frog & Firkin. We have been there before as well as many other of my friends down here and enjoyed the assortment of foods offered. On this particular night, possibly due to the start of the school year, the restaurant was particularly busy. While waiting for a table, I began to feel a bit ill due to not having much to eat and made a decision that I needed to eat something sooner than later and by waiting, it would not be a good thing. I proceeded next door to a specialty pizza parlor and purchased a slice of pizza due to my foreknowledge of quick service and reasonable prices.

During that time, a table opened up, so not thinking much of it, I brought the slice of pizza and went to sit down with my friends. Given that the pizza was relatively small and I had not eaten much during the day, I had still planned on buying a small sandwich and a beer or two. Clearly this was a mistake in my part as the greeter/bouncer who had not said anything upon me walking into the outside patio where the table was, soon claimed that I can't eat food at Frog & Firkin that was not purchased at the restaurant. I generally understand that this is a good policy to follow, but rather than listening to my friends who came to my defence at an nonstandard circumstance and asking to be flexible, he decided that it would be much more appropriate to not serve us at all. I even tried to soothe his concerns by stating what I was planning on ordering. He then proceeded to yell that we shouldn't bring food in.

So of course we left and had an enjoyable time next door, where there was a much more positive atmosphere. I was left puzzling at this and wondering why it was such a problem about bringing in the pizza when it was very clear that we were going to spend a relatively large amount at the restaurant that would dwarf the amount that I spent on one slice of pizza. This of course doesn't include the fact that they are losing out on multiple repeat customers. Now, I'm not a management major or have worked at a management position, but this does not seem to be a recipe for a long term business strategy. Whatever happened to the saying that the customer is always right? I decided to leave this a review so I give Frog & Firkins a 0 Galaxy rating out of 5. For the absolutely awful service I experienced, I would no longer recommend this restaurant to anyone, not even if you were starving, for they have no sympathy whatsoever.

As a side note and piece of advice to all my readers, if your computer fails and wish me to look at it, feel free to ask me and I will be more than willing to help. However, if you wish me to look at it quickly and we come up with a mutual time that works well, SHOW UP! The one thing that really bothers me is to feel used and worse when I feel used and disrespected. I am willing to help, but if you don't have courtesy to call that you will not be able to come, that is disrepectful. This is of course in reference to a certain person that will out of some politeness remain nameless, but you know who you are . Well, I guess it happens, but doesn't always leave me with much faith in humanity. As Mike Straka of Foxnews would say, "Grrr".

-Trevor

Well, it's official, my website is now running b2evolution 1.8.1 RC1. This is a good thing! I ran into relatively few problems with upgrading other than the time it took to rewrite the skin.

There are a few changes now, it will now be necessary to moderate your comments in order to minimize problems with comment spam. I'm going to look at the ability to disable this feature for "trusted" users, I'll see what I can do.

With this new version, there are a couple of new plugins which I was able to implement pretty easily, as you can see below:

I'll work on my gallery next , I found a pretty cool skin for that which I think I should be able to better merge it with my blog, so it looks like a more seamless transition. Let me know what you think.

-Trevor

Update:

Screw it, posts will automatically go through for now. That was more problematic than it was worth. You may also be aware that there is not a subscription option in order to receive an e-mail whenever there is a post. You will likely have to create a username for this to work correctly.

My new skin is just about complete. It should fix many of the problems currently plaguing this blog, including links in my posts which aren't really visible as links. However, IE still doesn't want to display as nice as I like so I really do recommend you don't use IE for anything but necessity as it is really a crappy browser. Firefox is a lot easier to have things format the way I expect them to, the differences between how Firefox and IE display code from someone like me is amazing. I suppose since there are so many ways of writing code to do the same thing that I am clearly missing somethhing, but regardless, go get Firefox or possibly Opera, though I am not sure how well it works in Opera or Safari for that matter. If you read this and shortly after my site isn't working or it isn't working while trying to read this, though I don't know quite how that would happen, be patient, all will be well.

-Trevor

Update: Well I believe my skin updating is complete for the moment. I think it is actually a cleaner skin that is easier to read. One thing that changed is the way b2evolution handles the date in the locale options so after I upgrade I will not be able to display the long date format as currently. This is frustrating to say the least as that is a very visible part of my skin.

In the future, and I know I always have high hopes for updating, I may try to tweak the skin here and there to try to update the look a bit.

Well my current pair of shoes are just about done given the fact that my soles are just about to fall out. So I recently picked up this pair as seen here:

You can see the link to amazon here: link

My camera also came to a premature end due to some Tucsonian dust that got inside the lens, leaving nice spots on all of my pictures. Deciding then that it was time for an upgrade, I splurged a bit for a camera that should last a few more years until the end of grad school:

You can check out the review here.

My progress on the upgrade is progressing nicely. My testblog is getting closer to production status, which is a good thing. All that I really need to do now is modify the CSS file, something that shouldn't take too long, God willing. My biggest concern now is being able to import my posts correctly. When that happens, my main site will likely be offline for a bit.

In a weird most likely unrelated development, my gallery appears to have developed a quirk of not being able to view the full size images. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, but given that I slated my gallery for an upgrade as well, this is not too bad. We'll see what happens.

-Trevor

You may or may not see the fact that the Test Blog is getting closer to production status. I've been working with a couple new plugins to give the blog a bit more "snazz". It should be done within the week.

-Trevor

I've got a testblog that I will be transforming to make it a finished product and then move it to the "main" site. Check out the photo slideshow in the post. Damn that's cool if I don't say so myself. Rumors are that there is a newer version of the blog software set to come out in a couple days and before they release it and I have to try to rewrite the skin for the new version all over again I am going to reeducate myself on PHP a bit in the mean time. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

Well it has been a long time since I posted, but I decided that it is about time I spend some time working out some of the kinks that have plagued it for awhile. I am going to upgrade the blog engine. I may have to rewrite the code for the "skin" so it may have a different look for awhile, I haven't had too much time to look at it for a bit. I'll keep everyone posted.

I got back from Michigan on Sunday night. It was a pretty cool trip and relaxing as well. I will try to get pictures up soon, but knowing how often I have updated this site lately, it may not happen too soon. We stayed in the Western half of the Upper Peninsula. The weather was great and cooperated with us the whole time. I highly recommend the trip to anybody.

-Trevor

Well I'm off to Michigan for a couple of days. It should be nice and relaxing with not too many others around to bother us too much . In good news, I passed my preliminary exams, though I mentioned that in an e-mail to most if not all of my readers. I also enjoyed the Pearl Jam/Tom Petty concert this Monday. Hope everyone is doing well. I'll post if I get a chance while in Michigan.

-Trevor

Since my contract has been expired for nearly a year now, I thought it was about time to start looking for a new phone. I ultimately decided to go for the Motorola PEBL. Looks to have some good reviews and the RAZR is just too popular in the econ department in Arizona for me to comfortably get one myself. Things have been going well in general in Minnesota so far. A lot of R&R.

-Trevor

I made it back on Friday night. For those who care, I made it up to Liberal, Kansas after a fun twelve hour journey. I was also able to enjoy a dust storm through Texas and of course yesterday, it rained all the way from Sioux Falls, SD to my parents. I ended up making good time and with the weather, decided I would like to make the trip in two days rather than three.

-Trevor

With tomorrow supposed to be the hottest day in Tucson so far this year, it is clear that I won't be missing the heat. This is crazy stuff. I'll be heading out in just over eight hours now. All I have left is just pack my clothes and finish my directions so I don't get lost in the middle of nowhere.

-Trevor

In about 16 hours from this post, I will be loading up my car for a journey that I took just less than a year ago. I'm definitely excited to be heading back to the land of 10,000 lakes after living for a year in the land of no natural lakes . Anyways, the drive should be good, I'm heading through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and finally Minnesota. Hopefully the weather stays nice as it currently looks as if the highs in Minnesota should be only slightly higher than Arizona's lows right now, but everyone knows it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Well I have to go pack and get some errands run, but I am hoping to see you all soon.

-Trevor

This is hot off the presses. I just finished up my first prelim exam. I think it was ok, but I want to refrain from making any predictions until I find out my results in around three weeks. I am definitely nervous, but am very glad that it is out of the way. This has definitely been one of the most stressful times in my school career. It has basically killed my appetite and along with my poor habit of not eating while studying, I have noticed that I am now about my weight I was coming into undergrad, and for those not in the know, that is not a good thing. Luckily for me and my short and long run health, I will be home soon which should help me gain some weight back, especially when I start running again.

In other news, after my exam I called my sister and had talked with my niece and my heart absolutely sunk when she told me that she had her best birthday party ever. Not about the best birthday without me, but rather the fact that I completely forgot about her birthday. I felt like one of the worst people on Earth when I can't even remember my friends and families' birthdays.

Well, I have my quantitative exam next Monday so in just about 7 days from this post, I will hopefully be done for a couple months. Wish me well. Thanks to everyone who has supported me since a time further than I can remember. I feel horrible that I have basically been ignoring everyone these past few months. Take care and hopefully I will see everyone soon.

-Trevor

Well, my first prelim is on this Monday and am definitely worried about it. I have been studying a lot and realize I still need to do some power studying before Sunday night. Two eight hour exams in a week will be tough and needing a thorough understanding of six graduate classes. However, as I have seen those who have passed the exam, it is clear that this task is doable, but I am nervous regardless. You may not hear from me for the next few days, but I will try to get a post up on June 12th or 13th before I head to Minnesota on the 14th.

-Trevor

Wondering what they have in common? Not much except I have had experiences with both in the last day. After getting my rear bike tire replaced, I have again had the chance to enjoy biking. However, after an uneventful bike ride back from campus yesterday, I took a couple hour nap and after waking decided I would watch a movie while looking at some notes (this is my downtime). Shortly after starting the movie, I hear this loud hissing sound and am sort of worried because my couch is near my furnace area and at first thought about my gas line. But I quickly realized it was coming from my bike. I looked and saw the stem of my inner tube had ripped partially off, leaving my back wheel quite flat. It will be cheap to replace and considering the tube was used, that stuff happens, but I will have to admit it was a fairly random occurence.

In other news, I was in the bathroom for a "bigger purpose" (It may be better not to ask why I am referring it as this), and all of a sudden I saw a cockroach come in under the door in the bathroom. This wasn't just any cockroach, it was about the size of my big toe and scared the shit out of me (not literally of course). It scurried under a pair of shorts I had on the ground and gave me time to finish up at which point I turned Macgyver. Using a toilet plunger and a Tucson yellow pages I was able to direct the cockroach to the hallway and after a near miss with the phonebook, the cockroach was running for it's life. My second shot was sure and so the bug never made it to the dining room. Usually I am not too bad with bugs, but the crickets and the cockroaches down here are absolutely massive and I don't do too well with large bugs, thus the rather embarrassing moment. Oh well, I guess that's life.

-Trevor

This is of course referring to my life outside of studying right now. Life down here has been pretty much staying on the side of boring, but do not pity me too much. I am breaking the repetition by watching a movie while redoing some old homeworks and whatnot. In order to break the cycle of silent studying, my friends and I collected a rather nice playlist of 80's music to keep ourselves occupied today along with some early 90's classics.

-Trevor

A couple buddies and I decided to go up to Mt. Lemmon yesterday. The night before we went out drinking and one of them had a bit too much to drink. as when we finally made it up to the top, he told us to pull over because he wasn't feeling too well. You may not be able to tell from the writing, but this was actually quite funny considering the fact that we spent $5 for a permit just to watch him puke out remnants of a cereal bar. Personally, I would much rather puke at home than travelling an hour, but to each their own. So as you can imagine we turned around and came right back, but I made it to a minor league baseball game though, which was pretty exciting, Tucson ended up beating the Nashville Sounds (Brewers AAA affiliate).

-Trevor

Schools have been reporting lower test scores after the SAT had added a writing section to the exam. The test comes in only at 3 hours and 45 minutes. Clearly these kids do not know what it will be like to have two eight hour exams within a week. Someone should tell these kids to suck it up and just do it. For crying out loud these kids are 16-18 years old and they can't sit in place for a couple of hours and fill in bubbles? Do they want us to start changing their diapers too?

-Trevor

My finals are done, thus I now only have my Preliminary exams on June 5th and 12th. It has been a pretty hectic few weeks of studying, but I see in my near future a good hike and actually eating decent meals, or at least until I start cramming for prelims starting in a couple weeks (The first couple will likely be some casual studying at best until I start to worry). But on a positive note, I can almost see the the end of prelims and thus my journey back to Minnesota for awhile, a healthy trip back to cooler weather and signs of water.

Sorry for not getting out too much in the way of posts recently, but I will try to be a bit more active in posting soon and hopefully more than just political ranting.

-Trevor

Hello World! I certainly haven't posted for awhile and I will not guarantee I will post again soon. I had my first final Friday and two more coming up this week, so I have been occupying myself. I also have prelims in about a month, so the Economics department certainly enjoys keeping me busy. I'll try to get some stuff in, but I know you all probably do not enjoy reading about my exciting life studying, but I'll try to get something in every so often. By the way, the new Pearl Jam album is pretty cool.

-Trevor

While Mark Dayton's place in the Senate was not strong by 2001, his actions afterwards did nothing to prove he was a worthwhile successor to Rod Grams. I particularly loved when he closed his Washington office during the anthrax scare, though no other senator closed office. Clearly any terrorist will choose the weakest senators to kill first (just like wolves attacking sheep). In any case, he isn't planning for reelection maybe we can get another senator to complement Norm Coleman.

-Trevor

There is some good news in the world, unfortunately it will not bring my wheel back. A couple days ago, one of my colleagues noticed a scene outside of McClelland (the building the department is housed in). He noticed that a man was being arrested after being caught stealing two bikes from the same rack where my wheel was stolen. That of course does not necessarily imply that he was the same man, but is kind of a neat to see that the likely thief will at least get a record (though little will come out of a bike theft, but anyways...). On another note, all of my midterms are complete and now I only have finals left and of course, the prelim exams.

-Trevor

Like most things, there is an end. I'm referring to my school year and there is only another 58 days until my final preliminary exam (51 until the first). I am nervous, but definitely excited to finally be done after a very busy year. However, this means I will be very busy and thus may ignore you more than I am currently, so please do not take offense. Shortly thereafter I will be heading back to Minnesota for a period, depending on whether I passed the exams the first time. If all goes well and I pass the first time around, I will be around Minnesota until mid-August, otherwise I will leave around early July.

-Trevor

While not exactly Salem, this story seems like a story of an overly zealous response to a possibly tragic event. For those who haven't been keeping tabs and I will admit I haven't paid much attention to this story, a woman at a party (who was black) was allegedly raped by white men from the Duke Lacrosse team. The school decided they would pull a guilty until proven innocent stance by dismantling the team and basically forcing the coach to resign in disgrace. All the white guys on the team had to give DNA samples and even after there was no evidence that their DNA matched those found at the crime scene, the prosecutor decided that he will proceed with the case after all.

If the woman was truly raped I really do hope that those responsible will be prosecuted to the fullest extent, but this seems to have more of the makings of a "race-related" travesty than a true investigation. I love how they mention how three white guys raped a black woman. Why is it that if white guys rape white women that those stories do not make national news? If we are all equal, a raper should be indifferent between raping a white, asian, hispanic, black, or the occasional green woman. While I do not believe this is the intent of the woman, this case seems to show that there seems to be highlighting some reverse-racism. I always wonder why if a person of one racial group or gender hurts someone of another group, it makes the crime magically worse. I always thought the constitution said that each person was equal under the law, but what is a law without its exceptions?

I feel sorry for this poor woman who has to go through this tragic ordeal. However, I also feel bad for the Lacrosse team and all of Durham because this did not need to become a national spectacle that it has become annd I am certain that the majority of the Lacrosse team (if not all) were not responsible of the actions of the rapists. All of these people have a permanent smear on their lives that will be hard to erase.

-Trevor

I always enjoy my Minnesota news fix, thus when I find an article about Minnesota with this level of media bias that you all know I love, I really get a "Warm Fuzzy". According to this article some Minnesota lakes are becoming increasingly polluted with phosphorus (from fertilizer) and thus are being clogged with algae and other plants and are no longer as clear as they had been. On a side note, my experience with "Arguing Creatively to Save the Planet" has kept me in touch in how arguments may be formed to help the cause of always unbiased environmentalists.

According to the article the reason for the pollution: Agriculture (oh and some houses, but we don't see that right away). Just wait one second, agriculture is making lakes green only now after a couple hundred years of agriculture in Minnesota? Let's analyze this story a bit further... So where are most of these lakes located? Twin Cities suburbs. What is unique about suburbs? Maybe suburbians like green grass. What do they do to get green grass? They use fertilizer, and lots of it (when compared to per acre usage of farmers). But of course the article lists the top two reasons as related to agriculture and that is complete crap. So while it is not implicitly bad that people want green lawns, however, they have to be aware that their actions have consequences and must be willing to accept them. This article is not properly informing readers of the consequences and even steers away from what some of the solutions may be. The end is insightful, but still the article left me thinking that it is giving farmers an almost no ability to defennd themselves.

These articles are sometimes the scariest as they seem to be preaching a universal message that a healthy environment is good (which it is). The bad part is that it usually implicates the wrong group. So sure, we can stop fertilizing our crops, but as long as we have clear lakes (which isn't necessarily going to happen if farmers stop fertilizing), why should we care if the price of corn and soy beans jump due to a decrease in supply? There seems to be a clear causality in this case, over-fertilization of grass, but of course I have been known to be wrong before.

-Trevor

Baseball's first week is always exciting. I finally get to see all of my favorite players again in action. Unfortunately, the Twins seem to be undecided if they want to actually hit the ball. Clearly the Tigers are happy to get rid of Rondell White because their offence is certainly not any worse because of the loss of him. Look at Christ Shelton above. I am almost certain few outside of Detroit have heard of him, but is currently the league leader in BA, 3B, and HR. Not too bad. To be fair, Rondell White raised his average up yesterday to a cool 0.105, up from 0.063, thus if he can keep it up, his batting average will soon be respectable. That goes for Morneau and Batista, both hitting under 0.200. Anyways, it is certainly surprising to see Detroit and Milwaukee both be the last undefeated teams in MLB, but I will certainly take that any day over seeing large market teams such as the Yankees or Red Sox dominate. I just hope that either Minnesota or Seattle will finally decide to produce some offense this year.

-Trevor

I was working on game theory at my department last night and after walking out I noticed something odd about my bike. Some bastards decided that they were going to permanently borrow my rear wheel. I guess I should be glad that they didn't take the frame, but I shouldn't have to be glad that they didn't rob me blind like the low life scum that they are. There is little resell value in rear bike wheels in Tucson, thus I see little incentive to take it for money. So I think the Jewel lyrics are appropriate: Who will save your soul if you won't save your own.

-Trevor

After reading this article, I laughed. I thought I was done laughing, and then I laughed some more. I'll start you off with a quote in reference to an evangelical group that met in San Francisco: "they're loud, they're obnoxious, they're disgusting and they should get out of San Francisco." - Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.

Now I'll have you read this paragraph from the referenced news article:

City leaders prepared for the battle earlier this week, when the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning the "act of provocation" by an "anti-gay," "anti-choice" organization that aimed to "negatively influence the politics of America's most tolerant and progressive city."

I could almost end the post there, but I am wondering where the city leaders get the nerve to call themselves the most tolerant city. Now I certainly dislike evangelical sects with the best of them, however, no government has the right to officially condemn a religion (think Bill of Rights). The thought that officials can say these same statements on the same subject is absurd and I can't believe that they can get away with this bs. I never understand how a group that supports some groups from being persecuted can easily condemn other groups. Besides, San Francisco is now just asking for trouble as they are almost inviting real hate groups such as the KKK and neo-nazis to rally in San Francisco for the national attention.

-Trevor

Genre: Drama / Musical / Romance
Rating: PG
Starring: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley, & Paul Blackthorne
Released: 2001

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Genre: Drama / Romance
Rating: R
Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Penelope Cruz, & Jason Lee
Released: 2001

Read more!

Macalester Students in Minnesota have recently been protesting Coca-Cola over the death of union workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia. They recently voted to ban all Coke products on campus, following the lead of Carleton, University of Michigan, and NYU. They claim that Coke is working to disrupt unionized workers in Colombia.

Never of course do they consider the possibility that in addition to being extremely dangerous in Colombia, there are other elements in Colombia that do not want organized labor. Pleas of mercy from Coke fall on deaf ears of those who's main argument follows like this: Multinational Company implies evil practices. Never mind the fact that union officials from all over the world have claimed that these proposed boycotts are unsubstantiated. These protests are being sponsored by an organization called, Killer Coke (clearly an unbiased source).

I particularly enjoy the quote by a student at Macalester: "People tend to feel helpless when confronting these multinationals," Forman said. "But the truth is that they need us, we don't need them. ...No union leaders have been assassinated in Colombia since this campaign began. That to me is proof we are having an impact."

Let us take this logic to another subject to show the absurdity. Everyday since I have been born, the sun has set after I have woken up, thus this is proof that the sun setting is dependent on me waking up. I wonder if I can take advantage of this power over the sun. I will now call myself, Apollo Kollmann.

Anyways, I do not think these protestors have fully thought about the conclusions if they preceed in banning Coca-Cola to the fullest extent that they wish. Thousands of union workers are directly and indirectly employed by Coca-Cola in the United States, none who would have jobs if Coca-Cola products were truly banned (Click here for a list of products produced by Coke). Some of these union jobs were even created by Cesar Chavez (think California grapes). I can't believe he wouldn't turn in his grave if he heard that left protestors cost his union workers jobs.

-Trevor

I have yet to read the DaVinci code, but I am yet undecided on whether or not it is worth my time to read after viewing the trailer (Just look at the graphic nature of the movie). The trailer contained action cliche after cliche (sorry for the non-accented e), and Ian McKellen reminded me too much of Gandalf to be anything but humorous. While the book was definitely popular, a recent trip to a forum discussing the Name of the Rose indicated that those who read both found the DaVinci Code much too simplistic in comparison. So I don't know, I shouldn't make these snap judgements, so I think I will sleep on my decision to read the book, and then to make the decision to see the movie.

-Trevor

You poor fools. I laugh at all of you who will lose one hour of sleep tonight due to Daylight Savings time. Even Indiana has fallen this year to accepting this practice (Thus making Arizona and Hawaii the last of the enlightened states). Of course I don't make this argument in the Fall, but whatever. Actually I was thinking of proposing a new system to help all of the sleep deprived. Instead of "Spring Forward, Fall Back", I was thinking it should be, "Spring Back, Fall Back". This would be adopting a policy similar to what the French do when fighting in a war.

-Trevor

I have yet to see the construction of the new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, however, people are already starting to grumble about it costing too much money ($125 million) and will be too difficult to maintain financially afloat. While these are potentially real problems, I just have to wonder why no one brings these questions to the table before the construction process is nearly complete. I don't know, but I guess these things need not be considered in the world of art.

In any case, the overall design looks like it could add to the respectable Minneapolis skyline and thus should put all the patrons in awe before seeing a play. I am looking forward to having a chance to go see it when I make it back to Minnesota in June (the theater opens in June as well), thus I will be able to see it in all of its glory.

-Trevor

So one of my friends down here went to the Papa John's in our student center to get some buffalo wings. The student working told him that he can get five wings for $3.75 or individually for $0.50. So like everyone of Indian descent, he can do math pretty quick in his head and noticed a bit of a price discrepency. So my friend asked if he could get five wings individually, the woman said, "That'll be $3.75". Then he asked, "Could I get four instead?" The woman replied, "That will be $2.00"

Hmm. Let's think about that for a second. Why does the fifth wing cost $1.75? Sometimes it is just better to not ask questions, but we have decided to go back and see if we can go back and buy four wings and then after paying go right back and try to buy another individual wing and see what price they will charge. Now I'm not a management major, but that makes absolutely no sense.

-Trevor

The Vikings decided to finally end the soap opera and trade Culpepper to Miami for the the 51st pick in the draft (so basically shit). I do not know, but I think they are too confident in Johnson's ability to lead the team. Not that they he was a horrible quarterback, but I currently have zero confidence in the ability of the Vikings to sucessfully convert to a west coast offense with a new coach. We will see of course in time how the gamble pays off, but I think Miami got a great deal in the end. To say that Dante would never recover and be a quality quarterback again is crud.

-Trevor

So I realized I just can't get enough of Brokeback Mountain for I keep on writing about it, but this is just so damned frustrating. The woman who originally wrote the novel that the movie is based on has decided to inform us that those who vote on best picture are too conservative and don't pay attention to the real world. I'm going to say this once, movies are not good because they are controversial. They are good because they have a combination of story, directing, and acting (Controversial films can contain all three elements and thus be a good movie). I am sorry, but Brokeback Mountain was horribly directed. It was so fucking boring I couldn't finish it. And this is someone who loves Once Upon a Time in America. If I get bored with a movie, it's not good, period. Controversy has nothing to with quality for if it was, surely next year I should create a movie about a tortured priest who is torn between his vow of chasity and his love of fucking his bastard son in the ass. That should surely make headlines and if the Academy Awards doesn't give me a best picture I will compare it to the screwjob they gave Brokeback Mountain.

Oh and by the way, we already know that the the Academy Awards does not always make the right choice, here are a few obvious mistakes:

In 2002 both the Hours and the Pianist got beat by Chicago
In 2000 Almost Famous got screwed and not even nominated for best picture and we got to see a sleeper of a film, Gladiator.
In 1998, Saving Private Ryan was shafted by Shakespeare in Love
In 1997, any movie would have been better than Titanic
In 1995 Apollo 13 was blown out of the water from a mediocre Braveheart
and the list goes on.

Annie Proulx, I personally do not have anything against homosexuals, however your movie is not about homosexuality, it is merely for shock value. You are merely a Howard Stern of the novel, all shock and no substance. All the movie does it take an image that society has a preconceived notion about and you twist on that for shock. And the day that Howard Stern wins an award for his wholesome portrayal of women is the day I decide to become a cowboy and eat some pudding.

-Trevor

This is always good news to hear, Pearl Jam's single "World Wide Suicide" has done very well on the billboard charts. This is good for a plethora of reasons, the one I care about the most is the ability for bands such as Pearl Jam to distribute their material without a major label. Of course the need for music publishers will never disappear, but maybe we would get less Christina Aguilera's, Britney Spears, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, (Need I go on?) if bands can begin to sucessfully market themselves. Of course if alternative methods never emerge, no major distributors could hurt choice, but I'm certain that there will be new distribution channels on the internet to help get good names out in the world so we get have a litte more choice on who we want to listen to.

-Trevor

Well it is currently spring break in the land of no rain, except a day in which I want to go to a baseball game. While the game wasn't rain delayed, it did feature unusually cool weather and the potential for rain. Not that rain is not needed, however, why did it have to wait until I had time off until shitty weather came in. Well I guess it has left me more opportunities to play catch-up. Pathetically enough, I am the only one in the department now, just like I was the last one in the department last night and the night before. However, I'll show them, I will (If I wasn't using both hands to type, I would be shaking a fist). Actually the weather should be getting nicer and I will catch a game later this week.

In other news, I decided to pick up the Name of the Rose again by Umberto Eco. I found an absolutely terrific line that I would like to share here:

"I had heard tales of Brother Paolo Zoppo, who in the forest of Rieti lived as a hermit and boasted of having received directly from the Holy Spirit the revelation that the carnal act was not a sin--so he seduced his victims, whom he called sisters, forcing them to submit to the lash on their naked flesh, making five genuflections on the ground in the form of a cross, before he presented them to God and claimed from them what he called the kiss of peace (Ed. Note: The Kiss of Peace is often referred to as the Sign of Peace in mass)."

So in the last year, I have discovered three pickup lines that I think could produce interesting results:

(1) Hey, God has given me the command to give you the kiss of peace.
(2) I wish I was a derivative so I could be tangent to all of your curves.
(3) I must be your indicator function because you have turned me on.

So I imagine one of two things happening after saying one of these lines to a woman
(1) I get slapped
(2) I get slapped and then hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit

Well, that's enough fun for one day, back to the grind. By the way, I'll have my rough draft of my research paper done in about 2 weeks, at which point I'll post it on my website. Besides not paying attention to the man behind the curtain, don't criticize the fact that my rough draft most likely will not utilize two-stage least squares for my regression results.

-Trevor

St. Cloud police have recently raided a party and cited 54 for underage possession of alcohol. Considering this is minimally a $100 fine, they netted a good amount. If the police can keep it up, they will net another $2 million for the city. If we extend this a little, if the city enacts a prohibition, I know of a great way in which the police can make a lot of money, ahem, I mean protect the citizens.

-Trevor

Don't you love playing with kites, having them soar for hours up in the breezy blue sky? Well those in Pakistan enjoy it as well, just with a twist. Evidently they also enjoy lacing the kite string with glass in order to slash other kites in competition during the annual Basant Festival. It also killed 19 people last year in Lahore, Pakistan. In order to prevent these fatalities, police have arrested 1400 people violating the ban on flying kites. I never associated kites with killing, but that was before I read about a girl getting her neck slashed from glass on a stray kite while riding with her father on a motorcycle.

-Trevor

The Navy is to retire all remaining F-14 Tomcats from service. They are to be replaced with the F/A-18 Super Hornet. It is sad to see such a popular plane no longer being in service in the United States with the exception of air shows, but I guess if popularity was enough to win battles, the Spirit of St. Louis would have won WW2 without the U.S. having to fire a single shot.

-Trevor

I was saddened to see that Puckett had passed away after his stroke in Arizona. It is really too bad that he was so young and died without being able to erase his tarnished image, but half that is probably overblown media coverage and whatnot. Well, I thought I would do him some justice by posting Puckett in a little better light than what I had in the last post. Kirby Puckett was definitely my favorite players growing up as a kid right along with Ozzie Smith. Both of them of course were honored by having two of my hamsters named after them, and as the joke goes, You know you are a Minnesotan if one of your pets are named Kirby.

-Trevor

This morning Kirby Puckett suffered a stroke at his home in Scottsdale, AZ. It is sort of sad considering the man is only around 45. However one look at the picture above and we see that he has not kept himself up very well. If this stroke was not too bad, I hope this be a sign to him that people need to keep at least a minimum level of health.

-Trevor

According to a new study (and what isn't studied nowadays), Obese and skinny men are more likely to die from a car crash than those who are moderately overweight. They cited possible reasons is that the overweight men have a "cushioning" effect, but the health problems of obesity outweigh the "cushioning" that occurs during the crash. They could not find any statistical difference among women, citing the possibility of a different shape (maybe the breasts were the "cushioning" effect). In any case, knowing I will likely die in a crash, I should stop wearing my seatbelt and speed at very high rates for I might as well get some fun while I am alive.

-Trevor

For those who are about to read this article, I foreworn you that the government is watching you, yes, YOU. In order to protect yourself, please don your tinfoil hat, for THEY will control you otherwise. How, do you ask? These tiny RFID chips pictured above. And the government is not the least of your worries, for as the non-believers as you are, we will soon be fighting for our lives against the Antichrist. I'm assuming you wonder how I am aware of this wonderful information? Katherine Albrecht in her new book, The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance has informed us that these are the sign of the apocalypse, and the world will soon be over. As you can see, non-christians should not worry for only Christians will face the wrath of the Antichrist. Sleep tight and do let secularism bite. Oh, and one more thing, barcodes are bad too.

-Trevor

Back in 1996, the Keech family lost their 2 1/2 year old son after 11 surgeries. After families and friends helped to pay for their expenses while struggling to save the life of their child, they have started a foundation to help families, who have taken off time to help their children, pay their mortgages. They recently helped their 500th family. This is stuff that is always great to see, local involvement of people helping other people.

-Trevor

So I hit a new record of unique visitors in February with 1150, up from a previous high of 690 unique visitors set in January. I find it interesting that such a large number of people are finding my site since the number coming from obvious spam sites seems to be down, which seemed to be a large source of traffic in the early days of my website, not to mention that the appeal of my blog seems to be fairly local as most people can get the news I rant about at any dime a dozen news aggregator such as CNN. My current theory is Google Images is driving a large number of unique visitors to my site. This makes me slightly unhappy that I am only getting hits from that, but I guess I will live. I did get excited when the article on India drew an actual discussion in my comments section, which was pretty cool. I always do find it interesting what people search to get here and this last month yogurt was the number one search term to get here. Steven Mattics is also a huge draw and I find that interesting since I mentioned him only once when I made a crack about American Express. Oh well.

-Trevor

Well, I had my first midterm today in Game Theory. I am always surprised by the ability of my professors to make difficult exams, but I think it turned out ok. So now I just have three midterms, three finals, and one paper before my two prelim exams in June.

-Trevor

So I was over at some friends the other night and they were giving me a hard time because of my tan line from always wearing socks and shoes with shorts and they told me I should take a look for sandals. Of course when it comes to clothes I am notoriously cheap, so does anyone have any recommendations that does not include flip flops (I have to think about ankle support because I am such a loser ). I've been eyeing these Dr. Martens 8B70, they look to be good, but I'm always looking for an "upgrade". By the way, Payless' poor shoe selection does not offer any deals in my opinion.

-Trevor

MSNBC and Newsweek have a nice article on India and it's rising status in the world. It is worth the 20 minutes or so to get through the six pages.

-Trevor

This is old news, but still funny. For the superbowl, Norman Frey filled a balloon with Acetylene gas (used for welding) in order to give a big bang. Well as you can see in the picture, it did just that. The blast broke his eardrums and he is now facing jail time for posession of an incendiary device. I just don't know why he didn't fill his house up with oxygen and then light a cigarette.

-Trevor

I just wanted to post this link to the Patriot Guard. This is the group that tries to prevent those such as Fred Phelps from ruining the funerals for the fallen soldiers and trying to put the blame on those who have not done anything to deserve this hate. Fred Phelps even made his way to Minnesota yesterday, but the Patriot Guard was there to help those in the funeral maintain a level of privacy. It is really too bad that this stuff has to happen.

-Trevor

I barely know where to begin. Evidently there are groups out now going to fallen soldiers' funerals and protesting by saying that God has killed these soldiers because the United States supports homosexuals. Regardless of anyone's stance on homosexuality this is one of the most hate filled actions since the holocaust. Not only are they harassing those who have fought to protect their beliefs they are also promoting what is clearly a message of hate at a group that does little of the damage to families that critics have claimed. I usually have a dislike towards legislation trying to prevent freedom of speech, but this is certainly not freedom of speech and I hope proposed legislation to prevent this type of harassment will help. These memorials while outside are not public events in the usual sense of the word and should have privacy as to not have to hear this bullshit.

I really do not think the protestors truly believe in the message as this group led by Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church have a website www.godhatesfags.com. And I thought Pat Robertson was bad.

-Trevor

I am finally getting into some research. It looks like for now I am making a move into some economic history. I'll be examining the effects of New Deal spending on infant mortality rates. This should be a good topic and I am able to take advantage of the fantastic and fantasically large dataset that my advisor, Professor Fishback has been collecting for the last eight years. Now my chore is to learn how to use Stata and to hone my econometric skills because all women like guys who have skills and what better line to hook a girl than, "Did you know that the AAA actually increased infant mortality rates among farmers?"

-Trevor

I was watching the news last night when I realized just how much Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of his friend will affect the current state of the United States. So much so that I realized I need to inform you about the latest news and breaking news from the world of Trevor.

Last night after coming home from a hard night of studying, I walked towards my fridge and took out some sliced turkey, iceberg lettuce, pepper jack cheese, and mustard. I was planning on making a sandwich and a great sandwich it was going to be. I decided I would spice up the sandwich a bit by toasting the bread, but not too much because I don't like bread when it starts to become black from too much heat. After taking the first bite, I decided that it was a good sandwich (almost as great as the sandwich of '05) and that I will have to try toasting the sandwich more often. But my mouth was getting so dry, I needed something to drink quick, so I grabbed a cool and refreshing Mountain Dew. That really hit the spot. But after so much caffeine I become dehydrated due to having to urinate so often. At least I do not have any prostate problems, so it leaves without any pain. Now that itch though... I wonder if it wasn't covered for 23 3/4 hours a day, maybe it would stop itching and pussing. That puss always tastes kind of funky. That could explain my bad breath...

Too much detailed information about something you didn't care about or need to know about? I thought so.

-Trevor

Usually I do not like to fuel gossip of actors and actresses, but I'll make an exception for this case as it deals with the always volatile topic, religion. According to the taxes filed by Mel Gibson (why do people bother to look at these in the first place?), Mel has put $5 million into a foundation that supports the Holy Family Catholic Church. This church is a splinter christian group which does not recognize Vatican II. While I have seen indications of those who do not enjoy the teachings of the second Vatican council, this is one of the highest profile members who claim to be Catholic and who has rejected their teachings.

I always wondered what has gotten into people like Gibson and others such as Tom Cruise (who was once going to be Jesuit Priest and look at what the hell he believes now). These weird splinter religious groups are rather exclusive and secretive and do seem to have elements of cults.

However, if you read the related article, do be certain to be wary of the author's implications that Gibson does not believe in the holocaust, it is a bit of a stretch and he also focuses way too long on the fact that the church is situated next to a barbecue restaraunt. It weakens the overall credibility of the article in my opinion, but still interesting.

-Trevor

Note: Vern, thanks for the link

According to the BBC, the number of Suicide Club suicides are on the rise in Japan. Apparently these kids over in Japan meet up in chatrooms and websites to try to meet up and commit suicide together. After reading this article I am really torn between thinking the government should try to censor these websites as they promote a rather heinous act and thinking that these people can do whatever they damn please for they are destroying the ultimate gift, their life.

I am of the opinion that those who are suicidal need to be supported by family and friends as that condition is not permanent and after help can lead very happy and productive lives. I feel though that these group suicides may be of another nature entirely as they seem to embrace death in itself while I believe those who are suicidal just have no more love for life. This could suggest that tactics used to help those who are suicidal may not be effective in this case, as it may reflect a culture which has become increasingly apathetic towards the intrinsic value of life.

This is definitely crazy stuff as it almost falls along cult status.

-Trevor

Todd Holes was recently arrested for selling stolen books to the U of A bookstore belonging to students from the university and has now also been charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Todd is not a student of U of A, but that doesn't mean that he has not been inspired by many of the boys and girls who go to college to learn new skills to enhance their careers, or in his case goes to a college to try to enrich his skills at stealing students' books and then selling the stolen property. Unfortunately he was doing this while on drugs.

For those who are looking to copy-cat Mr. Holes, be sure to sell the books away from the area you bought, possibly ebay (I hear a lot of those books are stolen). You may even consider trying to commit harder crimes such as grand theft, bank robberies, or even money laundering. Don't forget to use drugs which will impair your judgement, it will enhance the challenge and make you a better career criminal in the long run, just look at Tony Montana is Scarface, he got high in his own supply.

In any case, there might be a moral of the story here, but I can't quite think of what it is.

-Trevor

There has been a lot of news recently about the protests in the Middle East over that controversial comic of Mohammed that was originially published in Denmark and has sparked riots and deaths. I will admit to not having a lot of knowledge in the subject which may mean maybe I should not comment so I would rather leave this comment in the form of a question. I will pose my thoughts on the title question on the third paragraph.

From what I have gathered, Islam prohibits the depiction of prophets as a way to stop idolatry (the worshipping of statues, items, etc.) This is not controversial as Christianity has had that problem throughout the years as well. However, people are preaching that the author and editors of the comic were insensitive to Muslim beliefs. I believe this is all PC BS because what about some religious groups not being sensitive to Christians or Jews, or Hindis by forcing their belief structures on those who are not Islam? At some level we disrespect other religions when we follow our own belief structure so why is there a requirement to be sensitive to some other religions? Those who are Christians commit sacriliege towards those of Jewish faith when they depict God in paintings and eat pork, but I have not seen them protesting and burning embassies. Similarly we do not see backlash from Hindi due to consumption of beef. To even make an even more absurd example, when have Mormons killed others for drinking coffee? So for this reason I wonder why we cannot do some things that may be construed as a sin in some religions, but we get a free pass on others. Who makes these decisions anyways? What I am trying to get across is that we all believe in different things and we all have different beliefs about some details of what is or is not a sin, but we really have no basis for demanding that others follow most of our religious beliefs, since it is mostly faith based to begin with.

Now getting to the main question of this post... Talking with a friend who is Muslim, she was telling me that one of the main reasons of not depicting the prophets and mainly Mohammed is that it takes emphasis from God (Allah). Their rioting over this comic seems to be doing just that, placing a large amount of emphasis on a prophet, with some claiming that they will kill and kidnap Danes, etc., all because a non-Muslim drew a picture of a prophet. While I see why there is some emphasis on Mohammed (as he founded Islam), it seems like they do not care whether we depict Jesus (a prophet in Islam) which is clearly a sin according to Islamic Law (but not according to Christianity or agnostics, atheists, etc.) I gather from my interpretation is that they are committing a sin by focusing their lives towards a prophet due to their rioting over an image of a prophet and I think this constitutes idolatry. Why? Because had no one made a fuss over this comic, it could easily have passed out of sight of the world and no one would have been worse off, however, now it is the center of attention taking away from the works of God and His children, which is effectively placing barriers to God and those who worship Him.

This is where I find the double standard of organized religion. On one hand, the majority of religions (includes both Christianity and Islam) preach tolerance of others, however, religion also does an excellent job of stratifying the human race. These stratifications are the basis for many forms of hatred that hurt everyone and every religion has a populace that is guilty of enhancing mistrust of those outside of their religion. The rioters are performing hate crimes that hurt more than just the people of Denmark, they hurt other Muslims who become targets due to misunderstandings and preconceptions, and they hurt themselves because they close themselves off towards freedom of expression and religion.

So in conclusion, I would like to add that the Muslim leaders who wish to kill Danes should have pursued an alternative path to try to stop what they believed was wrong. If they truly cared about humanity, they would have suggested that there was a democratic method in which to inform the editors of the newspaper which published the article (as the paper is not representative necessarily of the ideals of the populace) that they were unhappy with the depiction of a prophet in a comic and would wish to see a change in what they publish. This can be achieved by informing the public of their belief and letting the public decide what they want. In this way we would all become closer to the image of God by utilizing our knowledge to make positive choices that push humanity forward.

-Trevor

Well it's official, approximately 23 years ago this minute, my mother gave birth to this author.

Astrology tells us that there is a relation to those who have been born the same day, so clearly I thought I could discover who I am by listing every great person who was born today. Well... I couldn't really find anyone except for:
Tallulah Belle Willis, 3rd daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore
Cody Newton Gifford, son of Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford
Pamela Cossey, England, model/sister of transsexual Tula
Henry Heimlich, doctor/inventor, Heimlich maneuver
and around 10 cricket players...

So I guess I cannot claim greatness this way... So I can use the scapegoat routine by questioning my parents for their poor timing on unprotected sex (couldn't you have done it the day before so I could have been born on Groundhog's Day?) Now I'm grouped with people who were born to crazy women, those related to transexuals (not there is anything wrong with that), those who discover ways to french kiss those who are suffocating on food and are unable to resist (not a group to be associated with), and cricket players, what's up with that?

Not to give up my case I decided to look at historical events, they must have altered the alignment of the stars to help make me a better person...

1998: U.S. military plane clips cable car lines in northern Italy, kills 20
1993: Cincinnati Red owner Marge Schott suspended for 1 year due to racist comments
1993: Federal trial of 4 police officers charged with civil rights violations in videotaped beating of Rodney King begins in Los Angeles California
1982: John Sharples of England finishes disco dancing 371 hours
1979: Minnesota Twins trade Rod Carew to California for 4 players
1972: U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1962: President Kennedy bans all trade with Cuba except for food and drugs
1945: Walt Disney's "3 Caballeros" released
1919: League of Nations 1st meeting (Paris)
1887: To avoid disputed national elections, Congress creates Electoral Count Act

Damn, that didn't work, well, I guess it's official, the stars have it out for all born on the day after February 2nd, the day of great rejoicing for those hoping to soon see the end of winter, but wait, if winter ends too soon (Phil did see his shadow though yesterday), it is just going to get too damn hot in Tucson, fuck that, I'll take crazy women and cricket players over that anyday, so I guess I should thank my parents (and maybe for shopping at Walmart in 1982-83 [I don't think there was one in the area at the time, but you get the gist] .)

That was certainly a divergence of talking about my 23rd birthday, hmm. Well thanks to all who have read this entire post because I spent way too much time on it. And for all those who have had their birthdays in July-January, I have completed ignored my Bebo warnings that yours were coming up, so here's a big Happy Birthday. Now only if someone would give me a wang machine pictured below...(Warning: Using the crank when inserted may be hazardous for long term health)

Not had enough yet? Well for "shits and giggles", I decided to check out my horoscope, and here is some of the BS they fed me...
"How are your past experiences influencing your life right now, for good or ill? It's time to take a long, clear-headed look at how old patterns may be inhibiting you in the present. Learn from these events."
It is supposed to be my horoscope, but asks me a question, do the stars not know? I must think hard on this as I reflect if I should devote my life to those who can read the future from the relative position of Orion's Belt to Uranus and everything inbetween.

-Trevor

Well it looks like the military has some new non-lethal tools in which to utilize in Iraq. Well all the insurgants should be scared when marines start using Long Range Acoustic Devices, Lazzer Dazzlers, or Active Denial Tecnology against them. Wondering what the hell they do? Well the first uses an "annoying" sound to persuade people to leave, the second attempts to find lasers from a sniper, and the last microwaves 1/64" under the skin. I really do hope these help our soldiers, but could we not come up with better names? Don't we have crack marketing teams to help give our soldiers a little pride in their tools they use in addition to guns and missiles (which we can always rename to Active Life Suppressors). On a side note, I hope they can do a better job to conceal their DirecTV satelite dish, that will certainly be a giveaway to terrorists to use ear plugs and don some lead suits.

In other military related news, Britain will shortly launch the HMS Daring which along with carrying lots of firepower, also will feature Ipod plugins, internet access, and 5.1 surround sound in their hotel facilities (aka Living Quarters). Well, I am shocked that this is how the British military has to recruit for their navy makes me wonder if these amenities are popping up in their American counterparts (in addition to Active Denial Technology).

-Trevor

Three Women in MA backed by a pro abortion group are suing Wal-Mart over not stocking "Morning After" pills. These pills can be used for up to five days after conception by basically flushing out the egg before it has a chance of implanting itself on the uterus. Walmart has stated that this is merely a business decision and directs patients on locations such as CVS which carries the pill. The women claim that MA law requires that pharmacies stock all "popular" drug.

I find that this is being turned into a political/law drama which should not be the case. No company should be forced to carry some product out of "public necessity" when there are competitors who will. If you disagree with either of the business/moral decisions of Wal-Mart it is really simple, do not shop there. If enough people believe the way you do, Wal-Mart will respond or disappear like Woolworths. What is unfortunate about this fiasco is that hospitals are required in MA to carry this pill is available for those who are in need of this pill (which there are legitimate cases such as rape victims and others).

This is just a drop in a torrent of anti Walmart news recently. With groups such as Walmart Watch out preaching about the evils of Walmart, it is hard to see that Walmart has any redeeming qualities. In reality, Walmart is merely a reflection of American's values and right now this is an individualistic view which chooses individual happiness over social welfare. This is not inherently good or bad, but Walmart's customers for whatever reason have made a choice that by buying from Walmart they are increasing their purchasing power (due to lower prices) at the expense of others (due to a supposed depression of wages). There are costs involved at both outcomes and there are always "losers." Cases can always be made where Walmart has made the local communities better or worse off.

However, this does not say that Americans are worse off because Walmart spends billions among thousands of suppliers across the United States which also opens these suppliers to markets such as China which Walmart has had tremendous success breaching in recent years (see above picture).

There are many new small busineses that popup everyday and properly structured and managed, they even have a chance to compete with the "big boys", granted we do not see such bullshit as mergers aimed at eliminating competition and artifical barrieres to markets (I always love the taglines such as offering more choices from mergers, but I always wondered how one can have more choices with less...). These are all part of a very dynamic market that is constantly changing, often for the better. Walmart is merely redefining the retail market and change has brought upon much of our dominance over the rest of the world in terms of economic output. I recall the candle industry pressuring for laws against the lightbulb and just think what that could have done to the country had laws against innovation gone into effect (As we can see in the DMCA, there can be too much of a good thing).

Going back to the women, I challenge you to support those who believe in the way you do and if no company does, start a company which encompasses the values you represent. If enough people follow your cause, it will be successful. For if Walmart is really supressing the values of the American public, it will turn out to be like Woolworths which did not change to the changing values of the American public.

-Trevor

Alito was confirmed and voted as Justice on the Supreme Court on Tuesday. Today he has shown that he will not side only with conservative justices by refusing to allow Missouri to execute death-row inmate Michael Taylor. This is probably a good thing for everyone, but conspiracy theorists of course could claim that he is merely doing this as a ploy and then he will show us all the pure evil he has in his dark dark heart. Anyways, it is finally good that the whole thing is done with for now so now the senate can get going on some new issues.

This also marks the new category, Politics. I seem to be on a whole political kick right now (I think it stems from my study group not talking about politics and I need some form of release and force it on all of my readers), and while I'm in this kick, I thought this should fall under a Politics category as it is not really news, it's politics, which is all opinion anyways...not really, as this could lead down a path of moral relativism, a path that that is almost as dark and twisted as sewing drugs in a dog's body to smuggle heroin across the border...

-Trevor

I got back from studying last night just in time to catch the last half of the State of the Union address. While these things are relatively ceremonial (an outline of the speech was posted a day before the actual address), it is a good show of how divided the political spectrum is nowadays. I would like to mention one thing during that speech that made me fairly angry. Bush made a comment that we need to reform social security. While making headlines for a while last year, both parties eventually agreed to pass the bill onto people who will actually be alive when the shit begins to hit the fan. However, the Democrats started to hoot and holler like a bunch of idiot children after Bush said his reforms failed to pass. I guess they enjoy the fact that they have pulled a fast one on the American public and can sit back with their Senate pensions as we all try to scrape along trying to pay high social security taxes (predicted to be around 60% of the government budget by 2030).

The Republicans are definitely not without their faults, one thing I would like to mention is that Bush is pushing for line-item vetoes, something the Republicans opposed Clinton using. This has great potential for getting rid of crap that goes through Congress, such as those small million dollar projects that are often attached to bills of a totally different nature.

I would like to end the comment by saying one thing, opposition can be good to spur debate Democrats, but dammit, don't feed me the bullshit that Republicans are wrong but not give me why or what would youv do to change. That goes for Senator Murtha, who they pulled from the depths of the senate floor for us all to hear his Marlo Brando impression about pulling out of Iraq.

-Trevor

I was going through my website considering whether or not I want to fix that bug in IE with my banner not always displaying when I noticed that after posting a comment, it seems to incorrectly redirect to http://index.php, but I am not exactly sure where the error is occuring and how long it has been happening, but I have a feeling that this occured right around the time I upgraded in September to b2evo 0.9.1. In any case, I'll try to take a look at it if I finish up a referee report I'm working on for on of my classes and can figure out how to calculate p-values in Matlab without any precanned routines. But in the mean time, the comments are being left.

-Trevor

I got this joke from Jenny, a joke and even adaptable if you are a Democrat:

A man from New York died and went to heaven. As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him. He asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on Earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie the hands on your clock will move."

"Oh," said the man, "whose clock is that?"

"That's Mother Teresa's. The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie."

"Incredible," said the man. "And whose clock is that one?"

St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock. The hands have moved twice, telling us that Abe told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's Senator Clinton's clock?" asked the man.

"Hilary's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - A Colombian man accidentally shot his nephew to death while trying to cure his hiccups by pointing a revolver at him to scare him, police in the Caribbean port city of Barranquilla said on Tuesday.

After shooting 21-year-old university student David Galvan in the neck, his uncle, Rafael Vargas, 35, was so distraught he turned the gun on himself and committed suicide, police said.

The incident took place on Sunday night while the two were having drinks with neighbors.

Galvan started to hiccup and Vargas, who works as a security guard, said he would use the home remedy for hiccups of scaring him. He pulled out his gun, pointed it at Galvan and it accidentally went off, witnesses told local television.

"They were drinking but they were aware of what was going on," one witness said.

It's funny how some things seem like such a good idea when you are drunk . . .

John Kerry and another Senator from MA, who has killed more people with his car than the women who visit abortion clinics (or so Democrats claim), have decided to join forces to attempt to filibuster the vote for Alito over concerns about Roe vs. Wade. This comes after some Democrats have voiced their support to vote Alito, claiming while they have concerns over his views, they are not so radical as to force an extreme measure such as the filibuster.

Now I will go on the record and state that while pro-life, I do respect women's right to choose, I do not respect the choice that women make to murder their unborn children. While there exist legitimate reasons to have an abortion (often to be judged on a case by case basis), having sex for merely pleaure is not an excuse if there is an unwanted pregnancy. With so many legitimate alternatives available today to have these "unwanted" children grow up healthy, abortions cannot be considered anything short of cruel, for the children do not have a choice whether they would like to grow up in this world.

So I think John Kerry and Kennedy need to get off their high horse, but who knows, if Roe vs. Wade was overturned, maybe there may be a few little Kerry's and Kennedy's running around, that in itself may justify keeping abortions legal.

-Trevor

For only $4 million they can add an "o" so the students will no longer have to go to colege.

-Trevor

The MPAA was caught making illegal copies of the movie "This Film is Not Yet Rated," a movie which looks into how the MPAA rates the movie industry. They claimed they made the copies becausee it had implications for their employees. I would like to see that defense work for anyone else who makes copies of movies. While it is not clear whether or not this copy was a digital copy, but if it was, they were also violating the DMCA. Considering that all movies have implications in my life, I do believe that the MPAA has given me free reign to copy all the movies I want.

-Trevor

Disney has announced a deal to purchase Pixar for $7.4 billion. This deal seals what has had been a very rocky relationship between the companies, peaking in 2004 when Jobs and ex-CEO Michael Eisner broke off talks to extend the distribution of Pixar's films. This deal makes Steve Jobs the single largest shareholder of Disney and boardmember.

I find this deal to be alarming in the sense that this another case of overpriced mergers. This all stems from Disney's fears that it will not be able to independently produce quality movies. Their fears were slightly justified with the release of Chicken Little that had not performed as well as the Pixar releases. This definitely affects the direction in which Disney goes in the next years as Steve Jobs is definitely without his opinions.

If I was Steve Jobs, who's ultimate loyalties should be towards Apple, I would be slightly concerned that this deal with Disney could negatively affect the appeal of Apple if the prospects of Disney do not improve after this deal. Steve Jobs should know better than many, the ability of the media to negatively affect a company once there is sign of decay.

Ultimately I think this was a poor decision by Disney who spent too much money for what ultimately is for personnel as the technology is standardized and Disney controls the distribution. Disney would have been better off by creating large incentives to steal some of the best creative talent from Pixar because $7.4 billion can purchase considerable loyalty. Well that's all folks.

-Trevor

And I said "What about Breakfast at Trevor's?"
They said, "I think I remember where that is."
And as I recall, I think we all kinda liked it
And I said, "Well, that's the one thing we've got"

I don't know what exactly prompted my memories of a unremarkable song, but in any case, had some breakfast at my place on Sunday. Had some pancakes and omelettes. I'll get some pictures up later, this is of course just so everyone can see I actually have a semblance of a social life.

-Trevor

After a couple months of personal agony and struggle, Alex Rodriguez has decided to play in the World Baseball Classic for the United States. I really would not have had a problem with that, except that he is playing because of the "position" he has in baseball, an overpaid third baseman (well he didn't say the thing about the overpaid, but he did about the position). Anyways, I guess he is comfortable with it, but after mentioning he wanted to play for the Dominican Republic, but then said he didn't want to tear anyone's loyalties, but I have a feeling that like his agent Scott Boras, ARod has no loyalties except to dollar bills spilling into his pockets.

In other news, the United States has finally allowed Cuba's team into the WBC. Talk about making ourselves look like fools. They even brought up concerns about spies coming from the United States. Maybe we should so they can see that they live 80 miles away from a country that actually produces. In any case, to guarantee that Cuba will not profit from this, Cuba will donate all their profits to Hurrican Katrina victims. This is almost as bad as Venezuela donating fuel oil to households in New England. I guess when the government decided to get involved in baseball this summer with the whole steroids scandal, it decided that it needs to get involved in something as trivial as nine guys playing ball in a field.

-Trevor

Two University of Michigan graduates have recently been crowned the kings of Beer Pong. While they got to play in Las Vegas, the grand prize was only $5000, which probably comes out to around two years (everyday) of the "special" at Sals which allowed us entry to play beer pong. Considering that it was only once a week, we could play for around 13 years. Anyways, there is a growing concern that this promotes binge drinking. Other than a rather unfortunate decision when some of guys once decided to play with whiskey, I have never seen anyone become to drunk, certainly no more than they would have gotten from a house party. In any case, an interesting article. For those who don't know the rules, they explain fairly well in the article.

-Trevor

The Free Wheelchair Mission in California has just donated it's 100,000th free wheelchair. As you can see in the picture they are crafted from various standardized parts in China and shipped over here to be assembled. While it is very noble, I think it is sad that they could not find a better seat to use than a $6 plastic chair (that's the price in Tucson), and white at that. I would think they would at least paint it black. I guess having a wheelchair is certainly better than not, especially if you cannot walk, but I would definitely go for black. At least it probably is light weight unlike some montrosities they used to have

-Trevor

Here is the latest and greatest addition to Apple's always elegant designed computers. Under normal circumstances (being a poor grad student), I would not dream of buying a Mac, but the eventual potential to dual boot with Windows (Currently XP is not supported since the Mac does not use BIOS), this could be a hot commodity. The price is a bit of a deterrant, starting at $2000, but you get what you pay for. Overall I am happy with my Dell, especially considering that I payed half the price.

-Trevor

Has it been a year of reading my rants and daily life? Time flies when you're having fun. A lot has changed in my life in the last year, arguably more than it has ever changed before. It may also be useful to note what else has happened on January 18th, just so we can all see the great importance this day has played throughout history:

336 - Saint Mark elected Pope
532 - Nika Uprising in Constantinople fails, 30-40,000 die
1644 - Pilgrims in Boston see first UFO in the U.S.
1862 - Confederacy of Arizona forms
1871 - 2nd German Empire proclaimed by Wilhelm and Bismarck
1919 - WW1 Peace Conference Opens near Versailles
1943 - Uprising in Warsaw Ghetto
1945 - Warsaw freed by Soviets
1964 - Plans for the WTC announced
1991 - Iraq launches SCUD missiles towards Israel
1996 - Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson in NY

(Source: Brainhistory.com)

Some Quick Facts: There have been 277 posts (not including what I'm currently watching, listening, reading) making an average of 0.75 posts/day. Not too bad considering I only posted four times in April and eight in May. This just goes to show it pays to check out my site on a daily basis...

33 posts were made from 6:01 am to 12:00 pm
142 posts were made from 12:01 pm to 10:00 pm
102 posts were made from 10:01 pm to 6:00 am

So this isn't so bad as Charlie had suggested early in the year, however, I the number of afternoon posts have jumped significantly since his post in July (or so). Well I'm looking forward to another great year.

-Trevor

Mars has recently been contracted to rebuild New Orleans out of chocolate that will melt in your mouth, not in a hurricane. However, critics are arguing that there is not enough coconut filling to satisfy everyone... Anyways, out of all the things that have recently come out of Ray Nagin's mouth since hurricane Katrina, this should probably have been low on the priority list of what should be complained about. Yes, it was supposedly a mandate from God that New Orleans was meant to be a black city, but at some point, can't we find something else to report news on. I think that Nagin had good intentions, but remember that is what the road to hell is paved on. His imagined conversations with MLK Jr., brought up some great points, but overall, I think he needs to be reminded that since we have decided for better or worse that we are rebuilding New Orleans in the same spot that he should focus on being mayor not giving the national news fodder.

-Trevor

Top Search Terms for hemeac.com since February 2005. The software used to track statistics for my site also gathers the keywords used when coming from my website from a search engine. Here are the results: It just goes to show that you can be really led in the wrong direction when searching online.

-Trevor

Genre: Historical Fiction
Author: George MacDonald Fraser
Released: 1969
Notable Works: Royal Flash

Read more!

Does Joe Perry Eat Pudding? That was a growing question evidently now that he has recently been seen with a cowboy hat. Evidently not, according to news in which after finding out about rumors of him trying out the new chic gay cowboy thing, he has ditched the hat. Qu? Lastima. I guess after taking over the color purple (not the movie), the triangle, rainbows, the steel industry, it has come now that if you wear a cowboy hat, you must be gay, kind of sad considering a couple of months ago, the cowboy hat was a symbol of heterosexuals. Personally I think there shouldn't be a connotation for wearing a hat. However this brings back an e-mail I got in undergraduate from a campus group which stated that if you wore blue jeans on a specific day that you would be supporting gay rights and if you didn't, you were basically a homophobe. The whole for or against attitude seems to be as prevalent as it has been, but I guess it is hard to see shades of grey. Thanks for the post Vern.

-Trevor

Style: American Buffet
Location: Central Tucson
Approximate Price: $10.95
Date Visited: January 13, 2005
Comparable Alternatives: Bonanza, Golden Corral

Read more!

For whatever reason some images were broken in my gallery, almost seemed to have reverted to a previous backup, but in any case, I'll have it fixed sooner or later.

-Trevor

Sabotaging my own pictures, here's what I changed it to. I can say I did pretty fucking good for a 15 minute hack job. However, it will/would be priceless to see there faces when they see their pictures have been sabotaged. The moral of the story is, ask permission before hotlinking my photos because I have no life and therefore will FIND out. If the picture is the same, hit ctrl F5 to clear the cache for my website. Remember to check the links from the previous post to see the changes as well

-Trevor

Original:

Sabotaged:

27 Year Old Kelly who is married to Dave in PA has decided to leech a photo that I grabbed off the Dr. Pepper website back when I reviewed the sweet drink. More of a screen grab in which I cropped out only what I wanted, but regardless, they are using potentially large amounts of my precious bandwidth, not really, but that sounds a lot cooler. Anyways, I'm wondering if I should be an ass and tell them to take the image off their website or at least host it themselves. It is from Blogspot where I am not certain they can host pictures, but I'm not sure if I should care. Suggestions are welcome.

-Trevor

Update: Further I found about anthonyutter419 from xanga.com who is also using the same picture on his main page. In addition he has a midi file that is just plain annoying and some interesting photos of I believe himself that you should check out here.

I seem to think that these people are unable to host images and thus steal the bandwidth from others, so considering that I am paying for it and they not, I guess I could/should disable hotlinking to my images.

-Trevor

Pat Robertson has apologized to Sharon's son for saying that it was God's punishment to Sharon for dividing the Gaza Strip. Interestingly enough, it was the same day that Israel said that they would not allow deal with Robertson in a new Christian center that is expected to bring $1.5 billion (yes a "b") annually in revenue (click here for link). Crazy, but if Pat Robertson has stated that was God's doing in the first place, why should he apologize for saying what God did, unless he really does not have a direct link to God and is a national scam artist. All I will say is that Robertson has shown that he is as spineless as all the other televangelists and other screwballs on television. If Robertson truly believes in his cause, he should not let something as trivial as money get in his way of enlightening the world for God would not let a true prophet's message be left unheard. Tsk Tsk Robertson, I shake my head in your general direction.

-Trevor

Well it's official, the spring semester has returned, but not with a vengeance. In any case, it is good to be back and I even get a free lunch at the Marriott tomorrow, that alones makes the nearly $20,000 in loans I borrowed worth it. Some guys and I had originally planned on hitting the beaches down in Mexico this weekend, but the warm weather we have had has finally gone away and I can't imagine enjoying freezing by the ocean. In any case we have a long weekend coming up that I am pretty excited about, because after two days of class, it is hard not to enjoy a long weekend.

-Trevor

A woman who appears to do some sort of graphic design (I didn't look too closely) was recently asked to remove this picture from her work due to the potential that it could cause discomfort to those with eating disorders. I am wondering how far this will eventually spread. Will naturalists (PC for nudists) eventually be able to get billboards to feature nude models since the "clothes" they are often wearing are offensive to those who have an aversion to clothes. I'm not stating that being a naturalist is a disorder, but rather it is a sad state of affairs with the whole Politcal Correctness movement.

-Trevor

Genre: Fantasy
Author: J.K. Rowling
Released: 2005
Notable Works: Harry Potter Series

Read more!

"No dude, independent films are those black and white hippie movies. They're always about gay cowboys eating pudding."

-Cartman

I know Brokeback Mountain has been "out" for a while, but for crying out loud, why is there such a fuss about two cowboys who are gay. Is that the final "gay invasion" of everything pure to the United States culture? The irony is that South Park predicted that this would be a hit indie film, of course they were eating pudding.

However, both conservatives and liberals are making too much of this film. For the religious conservatives, if being gay is a sin, why should you care if they will burn in hell for all eternity, as long as you have your eternal salvation, so just go away. As for the liberals, this movie is not helping anyone and is as easily as offensive as Farenheit 911 and Bowling for Columbine. These types of movies do nothing to produce acceptance and only further divides. It is only good for its shock factor and that has destroyed for me an merits it may actually have had for a movie.

I have come to discover that I hold a dislike towards these movies which sole purpose is to deliver a political message (ie. The Life of David Gale, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Dammit when I am watching a movie, I don't need to indoctrinated when I watch a movie, I can come up with my own opinions.

-Trevor

I uploaded a bunch more pictures for your viewing pleasure. I also have reorganized my folder layout to hopefully make more sense.

-Trevor

Went Hiking on Friday in Pima Canyon Again. It was a great hike, but damn I realized that studying for a semester without getting much exercise kills the body. When I first got there, I saw a woman with a white skirt and high heels standing around and definitely looked out of place. I guess she was a reporter and asked me if I was going to go hiking. I was thinking this was a really stupid question since the only thing to do on a hiking trail is to go hiking (I think I also looked the part). I was torn between being nice and telling her I was scoping out a good place to bury a body. I settled for "I think so", but I was nice and answered her other questions. My guess was she and her cameraman (taking nature shots) were gathering an informal report on who was hiking on the trail. After that, my hike was very relaxing. I met a lot of snowbirds along the way (people who live in the south during the winter, as the "natives" call them). I went hiking for around five hours and by the time I was back in my car, I was so tired I didn't want to wait out for another hour to get shots of the sunset, so that will have to wait for another day. In any case, click the link to check out the pictures.

-Trevor

I got back on Wednesday afternoon and the first thing I noticed, I could see the sun. I never realized how bad not seeing the sun for two weeks was until I was in Arizona for five months and saw the sun everyday. It also helps when it is nice and warm during the day. We had left on Wednesday morning around 4:30 am in case of freezing rain, but there wasn't so we stopped at a Denny's in Bloomington and my parents and I shared a meal. My dad and I both got a little ill from the meal, which made for a slightly uncomfortable flight, but must not have been food poisoning because I felt ok once I got off the flight. Everything seems to be going good except there appears to be a clog in the drainage system which does not look pretty and so I had to call the landlord. Hopefully it can get cleaned up today. Well, I'm off to do a little hiking. Take it easy everybody.

-Trevor

Hey Everyone,

I am back to Arizona after 2 1/2 weeks in the not-quite-frigid North. It was a lot of fun and sometimes relaxing, but I'm glad to be starting the semester next week. As it stands now, it looks like I will be back in late June or early July. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and I'm sorry to all those I didn't see before going back. I'll post a couple more pictures in the next couple of days.

-Trevor