jakeinhartsel

Denver the Space Center

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:56:22 GMT

"A proposal to create a Denver commission to study visitors from outer space will go before voters this summer after supporters gathered the required signatures to get it on the ballot."

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13900666

Well I guess this finally dispels the myth that Denver is a backwater city. Eat your hearts out you Californicores! I predict that Denver will now be the Portal City for whole galaxy! I plan to put a fancy Spa down in the meadow and I will import hookers from planets far and near, as well as large insects for the visitors to feast on, and hire Democrats and Republicans for mortal combat for the visitors' entertainment.

For a small fee I will provide mail order autographed pictures of Cling On Celebrities to you auslanders. Provocative Poses, of course, will be extra.

Thanksgiving, Bah Humbug

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:10:06 GMT

Well today is Thanksgiving, the day that we celebrate the fact that the Indians saved the Whites lives by sharing their food with the whites and showing the whites how to raise various crops.

The whites graciously responded by killing the Indians in the name of the Greatest Fraud of All Times GOD!

Revenge of the Priests

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:31:04 GMT

What Happened to the Middle East?

Going back a few thousands of years, the middle east, including Persia was the intellectual center of the Western World. Even the Greeks owed most of their early knowledge to this area of the World. The Greek Pythagoreans got most of their mathematical knowledge from Babylonia, including the fabled Pythagorean Theorem. Nearly 6,000 years before Cristobol Colon “proved” the the world was round, a man in Egypt had determined the roundness of the Earth and calculated its circumference quite accurately. More accurately than the estimates used by Chris several thousands of years later for his trip.

So what happened?

During the period that Sumeria, Babylon and the Persian Empires flourished Religion and Science existed side by side without much too much interference between the two. But then Religion was less dogmatic and less authoritarian than it later became.

Judaism began somewhere around 1500 BC or so, but did not have much of a following until around 200 BC. Judaism may or may not be the first of the Authoritarian Religions, but it certainly was one. So, IMO, somewhere around 200 BC when Judaism became the dominate Religion in the Middle East, it was able to suppress all learning which was not in accord with the Jewish Doctrine. In other words the primary source of all knowledge became the Religious establishment not the scholars!

Thus the learning of ages, past and future, was destroyed by Jehovah, Rabis, Priests, Ayatollahs and of course the Pope.

Oboma

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:20:45 GMT

Oboma is well meaning, sincerely interested in his fellow human beings, and almost completely useless as a President. He is not a leader! He is not capable of confronting anyone. He seeks to lead by persuasion, rather than by doing. He lacks the courage to challenge the Republicans and as a result the Republicans are and will continue to run roughshod over him. I am beginning to think that Oboma is nothing more than Jimmy Carter with a different ethnicity.

Many people voted for him because he favoured liberal causes and in particular "Socialized Medicine." Instead of pushing Socialized medicine he has backed off. He is not pushing his ideas, but he is instead trying to defend them. In doing this, he appears to be admitting that his ideas are flawed, or at least that is how it appears to me. My prediction is that due primarily to Oboma's lack of leadership, the United States will end up with a health care system that is even more flawed than than the present system and will make even more money for the Insurance Companies, Drug Companies and the medical Establishment all at the expense of the vast majority of Americans. All this at the expense of the common people of the United States, those very people that put Oboma in office.

The war in Afghanistan will likely end up another Vietnam. Even though it was started by the Republicans it will go down in the minds of the citizenry as a failure of the Democrats. This largely because the generals appear to be able to push Oboma into what ever they want. IMO the only intelligent course of action at this point, is a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan.

I am very sorry that I voted for Oboma and, although I hope that I am wrong, I believe that he has and will set back progressive liberal causes for decades to come.

Jake

Balls cried the Queen

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:36:27 GMT

If we could just transplant Bush's Balls into Oboma's scrotum, then maybe we could accomplish something positive!

Recommendations for Linux Please

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:05:24 GMT

I have been running Kubuntu 9.04 and am not particularly happy with it.

I have been happy with earlier versions, but I find this version to be erratic, although i suppose it could be my laptop. But for now I would like to try another version to try. Preferably one that doesn't "upgrade" to a new version frequently.

Thanks,

jake

Obama's Speech

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:24:24 GMT

I was very disappointed in the much heralded speech. His approach seems to be, that if he kisses enough Asses in congress he will eventually be able to get something through the system. But we don't need something, we need a medical system that works! And I doubt that the patch work that he is suggesting will even come close to working. The problems with the Current Patient-Insurer-Doctor-Hospital-Pharmaceutical System are many.

Preexisting conditions. The Obama plan will not change any of that. By forcing the private insurance companies to take preexisting conditions, it will only cause premiums to go up. Think of how many people are out there without insurance with aids, MS, bad hearts, bad livers and so on. If these people want treatment, they should get treatment, but to putting them in to the private insurance system will cause premiums to go to out of sight! So such cases must be handled by the government, period.

And of course supposedly illegal immigrants will not be covered. So what are we going to do? Just watch them die. Well the republicans might like doing that, but I suspect it will bother the rest of us. Too many people in the medical food chain are making too large a profit! Doctors, Hospitals and insurance companies. Profits must be regulated as they are in most Public Utility Systems, and the health care system is a public utility. You are forced to go to them, try removing your wife's appendix and see what happens!

The insurance companies provide little or no value added, but yet add considerable cost to the chain. Their CEOs get millions of dollars in bonuses and in at least one case Billions! Doctors make way too much money, again because they have a monopoly. The cry is always they went to school for xx years.. BFD. College professors go to school for many years, even the lowly computer programmer, goes to school and then has a long learning process after. But doctors have such responsibility! Well how about the computer programmer that wrote the code that fires the ballistic missiles, or wrote the code that controls the train that you are riding in or controls the electric grid or the programmer that wrote the code controlling the MRI machine, that you are about to take a ride through. And of course then there is the Air Force Pilot who is flying the airplane over your house with an Atomic Bomb in its belly and even the truck driver with a load of hot asphalt that is rapidly closing on your car from behind.

And the Hospitals which used to be non-profit, mostly run by the Catholics, people got well in them very nicely, thank you. Now you pay over a thousand dollars a day for an uncomfortable bed, an unresponsive nurse and inedible food. Million Dollar bonuses are not uncommon for hospital CEOs.

The single payer system works in Europe and provides the Europeans with better medical care at a lower cost than what we have in the US of A, so what the Hell is there to think about?

Jake, Citizen of the Formerly Late Great US of A

Who has got their flu shot?

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:23:03 GMT

I got one, it was at Ft. Leonard Wood in 1954 It must have been one hell'uv a shot as first I got sicker than hell, but since that time i have had the flu no more than a couple of times.

But I am waiting for the Kangaroo flu to come around, maybe it will give me some energy.

Jake

Obama

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:59:31 GMT

IMO, Obama has rolled over so many times that he no longer knows which way is up.

jake

Freedom of Speech - An Academic Question

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:54:57 GMT

Are Posts or other writings that suggest some amount of violence towards the US Government considered free speech?

Is the US still a Democracy?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:42:44 GMT

Certainly the Government's overall structure lends itself to democracy, but is the system actually democratic?

IMO opinion a country can only be Democratic if it has an Intelligent, Interested, Informed and Empowered Populous as well as having a government whose structure lends itself to Democracy.

Intelligent? Certainly the US population is intelligent.

Interested? This is more difficult but I would say the the populous is still interested in the Government, but are they interested enough. In speaking to the various people that I know I find that their knowledge of what the government is doing is fairly shallow. Mostly just a high level overview with a bit more detail where it specifically effects them as individuals.

Informed? As noted in the last item the general populous is only superficially informed. They seem to have very little in depth knowledge or interest.

Empowered? This IMO is the critical area where the populous can not meet its responsibilities. To be empowered you must have the ear of those that are doing the business of government. So does the general populous have the ear of Congress? No I think Not. A congressman can spend a half hour or so with a lobbyist and go away with from tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, which to the Congressman, when used for advertising, represents hundreds to hundreds of thousands of potential votes. While the individual represents only a single vote. So who has the congressman's ear, certainly not the individual voter. The same arguments apply to the President.

So is the US a Democracy? The answer is that it may be in form, but for all practical purposes it is not. So what is it? I would say that it is. for all practical purposes, an Oligarchy.

So what is being done about it? As best I can see nothing. Obama promised to eliminate the lobbyists and has he done anything? No, but it really isn't in his power, it is in the power of Congress. So why did he make the promise? Simple he thought it might help him be elected, the promises and the actions are rarely, if ever, connected.

The Solution? Difficult, very difficult. Maybe a few good leaders that could fire up the people to where they might demand changes. It would take many, many people because of the small voice each of us as individuals have.

Perhaps God doesn't want us to Find out!

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:17:13 GMT

Giant Particle Collider Struggles

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/science/earth/04collide.html?_r=1&hp

Maybe God doesn't want us to know that the Earth is setting on the back of Atlas, who is of course standing on the Tortoise.

Jake

Why in the F*ck to women revile in misery

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:03:47 GMT

I am at the age where the people i know die at a pretty high rate.

The last couple of days news of friends dieing have been coming left and right.

And the first thing that happens my wife gets on the GD telephone and calls everyone she knows. And i am sure every one of them calls every damned woman she knows.

When and if i find out I am dieing no one including my wife will b e told. I would like to do one thing, just one, in my GD life peacefully.

Jake

Mac Nuts or just plain Nuts

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:18:07 GMT

For you Mac nuts out there

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=adf_1245828170

A needed Constitutional Amendment

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:10:41 GMT

It would seem to me that pre-election promises, if broken should be impeachable offenses.

After all those promises as well as past performance are all people have to determine who to vote for one candidate or another.

Only two times in my life have I have voted for a major party candidate and then that candidate had actually won the election. In both cases I was very disappointed in the candidates, performance in office. Nixon and Obama were the candidates.

Why are candidates allowed to say one thing and do another? Why have we no remedy for such malfeasance, except to wait six years, to vote against them, and then they may not run again.

It would be nice if once before I die, I could not be ashamed the government! Of course this statement begs the question, is there a country where I could live and not be ashamed of the government? I don't know thr answer to that question, but I suspect that there may not be such a country.

Perhaps we have all been screwed by the dangling dong of evolution.

E-Mail Surveillance Renews Concerns in Congress

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:26:57 GMT

How do you spell Big Brother again?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/us/17nsa.html?_r=1&hp

This is the same congress that recently gave the NSA more powers to monitor American Citizens in America. I wonder how many members of Congress or the Executive have actually read the Bill of Rights or at have read it recently.

Good Night Mr Orwell, where ever You Are.

Jake

Writer's Block: You're a Winner!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:11:26 GMT

I won a rifle, An AR-15 never been fired a couple of years ago. I fired it 4 or f times and found it not particularly fun to shoot so i sold it for $950, which was pretty good since I had bought $10 worth of tickets.

My wife about 10 years ago won a drawing at an Italian restaurant for a trip for two to Italy and fortunately she opted to take me along.

jake

News in the US of A

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:17:28 GMT

I have been following the accident, Air France from Brazil to Paris.

As a Pilot and as someone that has been in both places, i am generally interested in these sorts of things.

I also regularly read several US papers on the Net as well as various Spanish papers on the net. I find that the news from The Spanish Papers is much more current than from those in the US. In general i find this true even for news originating from the US.

I wonder why we, the US, are so slow getting the news out.

Jake

Barcelona - Man U

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:23:42 GMT

This is primarily for Edexter who I believe is in the land of Bitter Beer and Steak & Kidney Pie.

Are you going to watch the big game this evening, i would guess that Barcelona will chew Man U up and spit them out.

But it should be a good game, particularly since Manchester has been watching how the Spanish play football and have learned a thing or two. If we lived closer together I would bet a pint or two with you.

Jake

DreamWidth

Mon, 18 May 2009 21:39:04 GMT

I have an invitecode for dream width if anyone would like it.

Jake

Cross Post Test

Thu, 14 May 2009 17:05:00 GMT

This a test, only a test, do not pass go, do not collect $200

First Bloom

Mon, 11 May 2009 22:13:43 GMT

Up where I live it get warm late and flowers don't begin to show their petals until May. This one of the first I have found these season. The bloom is shown larger than life and is only about the size of a nickel. It is found on small cacti about 2 inches in diameter

I used to every Saturday...

Sat, 09 May 2009 14:56:14 GMT

Every Saturday morning g i used to watch the Smurfs on TV. Now the Smurfs are gone!

Three New York Bars and One Far from New York

Tue, 05 May 2009 15:05:36 GMT

A small bar in midtown, on 52nd Street called Eleanora´s. I don´t remember the cross avenue, but probably 7th. It was closed the last time I saw it which was in the late 80´s or early 90´s. I spent a lot of time there in the 80´s when I was trying to sell data networks to the financial industry.

Elenora´s, was small had very good food and was a typical NY neighbor hood bar. It also was not far from CBS and was frequented by many entertainment personalities. Most notable to me was Robert Duvall who often visited the bar when he was in NYC. Duvall drank at the bar with who ever happened to be there and was friendly. Hal Holbrook was often also in there, but was aloof and always, when I was there sat a big round table with his entourage. I never spoke to him. There were others whose names escape my faulty memory. I would guess I was in there three or four times a month for several years, I lived in Texas, but spent a couple of weeks is NY every month.

The piano bar in the Parker Meridian hotel. A black lady by the name of Dotty Stallworth used to play the piano there. I often was there to hear her music. Dottie kept a camera at her piano to get pictures of notable persons. One day she asked me to take a picture of her with a black gentleman and his wife which I did. The man asked me to join his group, which I did and had a very pleasant conversation. After he and his wife left I asked Dotty who that was, and she said Julian Bond. I often went out to after hours Jazz places with Dotty, and I learned much about jazz from her.

The next NY bar was not overly notable, but it leads into the the final bar. That bar was "Harry´s New York Bar," which was, I believe in the Lexinton Hotel. The only thing notable that happened their was they had a drink naming contest for a concoction which had frangilica and vodka and something else in it. I won the contest with the name, "The Blond Italian." I wonder if it made the cut and is still around. Not likely.

It turns out there there is another, "Harry´s New York Bar" and that is in Paris. Right off the Rue du Opera and across from Tiffanys. The only thing notable about the bar was that it was dark as many New York bars are and it had a pair of Jack Dempsey´s boxing gloves hanging from the ceilings.

An Amerian that I was working with in Paris was in there and decided to go into Tifanys and buy his wife a pair of ear rings. The clerk asked him how much he wanted to spend and he said about $150. The clerk said that he believed that he had come in to the wrong store.

A couple more Great Bars - California This time

Mon, 04 May 2009 22:31:59 GMT

In LA the Cockatoo, I think it was on Imperial. Great happy hour if you were a regular they would bring you out a plate some sort of hot food. Often grilled Italian sausages or some such. Last time I was there was maybe 10 years ago. When I got ready to leave the bartender said just a minute, I will call the security guard to escort you to your car. Guess the neighborhood had gone downhill a bit.

Then in Palo Alto there was Big Al´s, it was on El Camino Real (Hwy 1?). Had Dixiland and pizzas. Now that was a very long time ago so it has surely gone the way of old bars.