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I've been diving in the San Diego area a few years shy of two decades. In that time I've dove the cove, shores, Marine Room, Scripps Canyon and many others in the La Jolla area from boat or shore swim…

Amazon recently competed their Alexa/Echo integration with SmartThings after previously integrating a number of other home automation hubs like Wink and Hue. I jumped on it as soon as it was available…

SmartThings does a lot of things well, but their main failing has been support for larger screens. If you have a tablet, you can run the phone interface, but it doesn't take advantage of the larger fo…

I've been using home automation as type of morning wake-up alarm for several years, but always found the scheduling to be cumbersome. In most home automation systems you need to rely on motion detecti…

One of the great things about SmartThings is how easy it is to develop for and how active the development community is. Users can create SmartApps for specific scenarios, and then use those SmartApps …

Xipiter has a great write-up on how they hacked the MiCasaVerde Vera quickly and easily : The device has embedded SSH private keys on THE IMMUTABLE sections of the firmware image so we know that all t…

As I've been moving all of my home automation projects over to the SmartThings environment, I'm expanding my number of devices and scenarios in order to take full advantage of the easy monitoring and …

As I've switched my home automation from Vera to SmartThings I've also been expanding my network of z-wave devices at home. Since SmartThings does such a great job with different notification options …

Having lived in the US for over a decade there are quite a few cost of living differences I notice when I return to visit Canada. One of the more obvious differences between the two counties is the tr…

I've been playing around with the Hyperlapse app from Instagram and took it on a walk down the pier at Imperial Beach: This was hand-held and I didn't make any efforts to keep the camera steady during…

BBC News has a very interesting story about the ongoing territory disputes China and its neighbors are involved in. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes travels to the disputed area on a Filipino fishing boat to ge…

I was lucky to join in on a quick flight over San Diego county. We flew west to the ocean, roughly following HW 8, then north along the coast to Carlsbad before heading east to Escondido and then sout…

We have driven through Northern California on road trips before, but have never made the trek to what is known as the Lost Coast. The Lost Coast is a remote area of Northern California which has staye…

We hadn't planned the timing of our visit to Monument Valley, but it turned out to be a perfect day. As the sun went down the valley turned a gentle pink and the full moon rose between the two mittens…

Using logic with MiCasaVerde's Vera home automation products can be very frustrating. Thankfully, the PLEG plugin is here to help, here is an example.

I recently had a chance to catch up on some of my backlog of podcasts, including some of Dan Carlin's Common Sense and Hardcore History . The most recent episode of Common Sense is named " Show 275 - …

Adobe recently released Lightroom Mobile , their tablet integration efforts for Lightroom desktops. In order to try the software for 30 days you need to be running Lightroom 5, going beyond that will …

I've been going through my backlog of photos and gradually tagging, editing, and posting them. The most recently completed batch is from our south west trip a couple of years back: Photos of Bryce Can…

I finally got around to listening to Dan Carlin's podcast titled Common Sense #270 - Poking the Bear which was published last week. It gets off to a slow start, but I think he does a great job of port…

Photos and description of visiting the abandoned Rockefeller house on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy.

Tijuana, Ensenada, Rosarito, Puerto Nuevo, Guadalupe Valley. Just a few of the Baja, Mexico destinations which used to be easy and popular day trips from San Diego. In the space of a few years major c…

The town of Marigot on the French side of St Martin has an old fort named Fort Louis above it. Though not large, and mostly collapsed, the fort has a commanding view of the area and is worth the short…

Princess Juliana International Airport SXM (aka Sint Maarten International Airport) has a runway which approaches over the ocean. The end of the runway is several feet from a short and steep beach, Ma…

We have been here for less than a day but I thought I would write some first impressions to look back and likely see how wrong I was. Like most nations in the area, development has been a it ramshackl…

I've enjoyed touring Scottish distilleries as well as wineries around the world, but had never visited any American distilleries. We thought that this needed to change and found ourselves in Kentucky …

[caption id="attachment_1880" align="aligncenter" width="695"] Bourbon Family Tree from GQ[/caption] Compared to something like the number of Scotch producers , there are relatively few producers of b…

Last weekend we went to Two Harbors on the isthmus of Catalina Island with the PowerScuba group. We had gorgeous weather and the diving was great. More photos can be found here: More photos of diving …

My review of the DiveRite 16lb QB system as a ditch-able weight system for a scuba diving with a backplate harness (or any 2" webbing harness system).

One of the more frustrating aspects of building z-wave scenes in VERA I've found over the years is when multiple points of automation are touching the same switches or sensors. Thankfully there is usually a way to workaround it by using apps like VERA Countdown timer.

Last fall we took a road trip through some of the South West - I've finally got around to posting photos from the first part of that trip to Zion National Park. We were very lucky with the timing as s…

Anna and I met up with family members to celebrate my Grandmother's 90th birthday. It was great to see everyone and enjoy the city. We were expecting rain, but instead had some gorgeous clouds and sun…

A month back I finally got around to getting back in the water for some diving. I had just splurged on a large purchase - the Nauticam underwater housing for my Olympus OMD EM5 camera. I just had the …

I planted an eversweet pomegranate tree about a year ago in a very hot and sunny part of the yard. It seemed to enjoy it and the still small tree has produced 5 fruit this year. They are quite unique,…

I've been using Gallery (aka Menalto) for almost a decade, starting with Gallery1, now up to Gallery3 in the current release. In the early days the work-flow for adding and providing meta data about p…

I had a rough time trying to get my gallery2 install imported and moved to the gallery3 platform. The g2 import process stalled out a lot and crashed & burned hard when faced with different folder names for the redirects (/gallery became /photos). After a lot of fighting with the g2import module &…

This 39 minute video is giving me some itchy travel feet: Temporary Story from Vadim Sahakian on Vimeo . The idea was to road trip from Alaska to Los Angeles, explore Southern and Central Africa, and …

National Geographic has a great article on the discovery and further research related to our cousins the Denisovans . Everyone knows about the Neandarthals, and at this point I think most people know …

It has been interesting to watch the ongoing strife and turmoil that has been shaking Turkey. We were there for two weeks in March & April and had a chance to speak with a number of people in differen…

I've been using a combination of scripts to do local backups on my Amazon EC2 micro instance I use to serve this website - AutoMySQL Backup and some cron jobs which ran rsync for various paths on a ro…

Some good friends of ours recently had their first child and posted photos on Facebook. When viewing that post on the desktop version of Facebook it had a little ad which suggested giving a gift to th…

iTunes and Amazon MP3 have been dominating music sales for years now, but there is plenty of evidence that providers have wildly different strategies when it comes to pricing. This is made all the mor…

How I'm using CrashPlan & Synology to make sure my data is safe

I came across a video on Vimeo which contained some lovely images of London in 1927 using an early prototype of color video. I was interested to know more and found that the video only covered a small…

Photos of Scotland We spent a little less than week in Scotland in the summer of 2012 as an "add-on" from a another trip to London and Scandinavia. I wasn't terribly well planned but was very enjoyabl…

This American Life in coordination with Planet Money created a show which dives deep into structural issues related to employment which have been dogging the US (and frankly other wealthy western nati…

A 'Whom Do You Hang With?' Map Of America http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/04/16/177512687/a-whom-do-you-hang-with-map-of-america

Per the UT : "Ordinary skin cells have been directly converted into the myelinating cells destroyed in multiple sclerosis, according to two new papers in Nature Biotechnology. This has huge potential …

‘If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon’ washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog…

Pergamon instagram.com/p/Xt3hf_oWzt/

Succulent bloom instagr.am/p/W7VQdFoWz4/

L.A. in 2013 (as imagined in 1988) flip.it/kzMTB

Crows know how to have fun in the snow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwjTO0oF800

An interesting read on the Syrian reactor bombing by Israel in 2007: commentarymagazine.com/article/bombin…

Pine beetle attacks alter climate over Canadian forests flip.it/DMtdY

Info graphic at the WSJ is hilarious. Look at the income numbers and faces. How will they survive on so little? online.wsj.com/article/SB1000…

American Single-Malt Whiskeys Serve Notice flip.it/j5BCS

Via @nprnews : Beijing's 'Airpocalypse' Spurs Pollution Controls, Public Pressure n.pr/RRgkBf

We don’t have a spending problem, we have a military spending problem wapo.st/RCHGLn

An interesting take on crime and the possible links to lead poisoning - America's Real Criminal Element, Lead motherjones.com/environment/20…

The End of the University as We Know It - Nathan Harden - The American Interest Magazine shar.es/hFtP4 via @ShareThis

The landline in your house? The government needs a warrant to tap it. The letters in your mailbox? The government needs a warrant to read 'em. It's like the Framers said: probable cause is required. Y…

Why 2012 was the best year ever » The Spectator specc.ie/SWGguC

Westy 12! Merry Christmas to me! instagr.am/p/TKJfAdoW7i/

NYC Blacked Out and Abandoned: Sandy's Wake Creates Historic Photo Opp | Raw File | Wired.com wired.com/rawfile/2012/1…

Wage gap, not a skills gap nytimes.com/2012/11/25/mag…

Truth is stranger than fiction some times. Exhibit 1 -Timothy Dexter. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_D…

The NYT review of Guy Fieri's new restaurant is hilarious nytimes.com/2012/11/14/din…

Cheer Up, GOP: We Just Re-elected a Republican President slate.com/articles/news_…

I think some people have amnesia. I've heard several times over the last few months that several politicians (namely Ryan & crew) are espousing a return - or more accurately an acceleration - of suppl…

Romney used the tax-exempt status of the Mormon Church according to a 2007 filing to defer taxes for 15+years. Classy! bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-2…

Shell's gas pump entertainment system wasn't too happy about the content it was forced to play. I don't blame it. http://t.co/sosBIwPZ

I've been quite lazy about processing photos I've taken and am months behind. I've just finished going through and posting photos from the Copenhagen and Helsingborg legs of our European trip in July …

Great story on InBev and its push for cost (and quality) cuts in the products they take over businessweek.com/articles/2012-…

Second New World Viking site found in Canada flpbd.it/djgvk

I've been using Windows Media Center for years. I run WMC on my desktop computer to a projector and speakers. We don't have a TV, so this is how I get my fix of Netflix, DVDs, and loads of downloaded …

Apple has been in the news a lot lately, mostly reactions from the NYT report on factory working conditions . Some of those facts have been disputed by a BSR open letter . But it still leaves the conc…

Wired has a great story on Urban eXperiment in Paris titled The New French Hacker-Artist Underground . I've heard little bits about Untergunther through other stories via Urban Exploration, but Jon La…

The Examiner notes that this is the year work starts on a large number of changes to 25th street in Golden Hill , San Diego. I am looking forward to seeing the changes when completed, it will give the…

The Verge has a great writeup on SOPA/PIPA if you are not familiar with it: What is SOPA and how does it work? The Stop Online Piracy Act explained

This is a bit mind blowing. The US debt is a bad situation. Japan after fighting its slump for decades is even worse. Both of them are not critical yet, but very well could be if China and others deci…

I've seen many others attempt to link our current situation with the 30's but I think this article does one of the better jobs at making that argument: The Book of Jobs by Joseph E. Stiglitz in Vanity…

I've been catching up on a lot of reading with my kindle and the lovely instapaper.com . I found this article particularly good. Not only because it outlines how technology will change how we view cri…

I can't put it much better than the article, Marine reserve sets new standard for recovery : No-fishing reserves can restore marine ecosystems better than previously thought and can turn a heavily deg…

Stone Brewing's Escondido location is one our favorite places to spend an afternoon. Located in a business park wasteland, the gardens and open air bistro are unexpected and delightful. However, the h…

Given the continued coverage of crimes it is sometimes easy to forget we are very lucky. As reported this morning, murder and other crime continues to drop in California and around the world. In fact,…

This video is six months old, which is ages World of Warcraft's RMT (Real Money Transactions) economy, but it still contains a lot of great information on the game market economics. For those of you n…

I've been catching up on a lot of reading with instapaper and our kindle. Here are some of the more interesting economics reads I've had in the last few months: Business Is Booming - America's leading…

I intended to do a write-up about my experience becoming a US Citizen last year. However, as is frequently the case, if I don't start on a post right away it never happens. Fortunately, Dafna Linzer w…

Photos of Idyllwild Thanks to the generosity of friends of friends we spent a lazy weekend in Idyllwild a few weeks back. The weather and location was lovely, as you can see from the photos.

SD Urban linked over to a story at SD Uptown News about the “Restoring the Magic” trolley project concept . It seems like a great idea - bring back the old school trolley cars, run them downtown for a…

Too much money, too much downtime. That sums up my experience with my web hosting company over the last couple years. My shared hosting account costs about $120/year, and sure didn't feel like I was g…

During our weekend in Brussels we missed out on some sites like Cantillon Brewery, but we managed to hit Bier Circus before it closed Saturday night. The food was pretty good, but it was the beer sele…

Photos of Brussels, Belgium We stayed in Brussels over the weekend, in the north part of downtown, off Koningsstraat. I say that because I think it has a lot of impact on our impressions of the city. …

2010.10 Photos of Bruges, Belgium I wasn't quite sure what to expect of Brugge/Bruges/Bruge. It looked like a gorgeous little town, but very heavily touristed. I have a low tolerance for wandering thr…

2010.10 Photos of Paris, France Like any large city, Paris changes a bit with every visit. The bicycle is back, mostly in the form of Vélib' . Wifi in the parks is pretty cool (though frustrating to t…

The first round of SSH clients for the iPhone presented some problems when connecting to Amazon Web Services EC2 Linux server instances. EC2 instances require a private certificate key file to be used…

Stuff breaks. Usually when I'm nowhere near a computer. These 4 apps help keep me sane: 1. Jaadu Remote Desktop ( app store link ) . Pricey, but the best RDP client of the bunch. This plus the built i…

Photos of hiking Sturtevant falls, Angeles National Forest A month back we did a new (to us) hike to Sturtevant falls in Angeles National Forest. The trail head is at Chantry Flat, off Santa Anita Ave…

Photos of Scuba diving Los Cabos (Cabo San Lucas) During our visit to the tip of Baja we enjoyed two days worth of diving. The first day of diving we stuck to relatively easy local sites. The first di…

Now that jailbreaking is painless again , I've started to explore some of the jailbreak specific apps. The nicest surprise I've found so far is LockInfo. It has a number of plugins that show appointme…

Photos of Punta Perfecta and Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur This was our first trip to Baja south of Bahia de los Angeles . I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Cabo area. It attracts a spring…

Photos of Yukon and Alaska I've finally gotten around to posting photos from our trip through Haines, Skagway, and Whitehorse in June/July. It was unseasonably cold, even for the north, but that didn'…

My 3mm Henderson InstaDry gloves are mostly ratty fingerless gloves at this point. After a particularly cold dive (50 F) I decided it was time to join the warm hands crowd and get some drygloves. Most…

11 PM on the ferry from Haines to Skagway.

Photos of pelagic invertebrates at the Yukon Last weekend I did two dives on the Yukon with Pete, Paul, and Matt. I wasn't expecting much, as the water can be green and brown this time of year. We wer…

Photos of Avalon's Underwater Dive Park Adam, Paul, Pete and I took the Dana Point ferry over to Avalon for a day of diving. It started overcast and turned into a lovely sunny day. I need to take more…

I just finished listening to a short from Radiolab called Killing Babies, Saving the World . The subject follows a lot of discussions I've had with friends over the years about the differences in logi…

Photos of our trip to Washington, DC I took the opportunity to visit a good friend and explore our nation's capitol for the first time in late April. We missed the cherry blossoms, but new spring grow…

We had a conversation with a neighbor today about the republican party punishing members that reminded me of this article by Krugman: The Bankruptcy Boys Voters may say that they oppose big government…

Photos of Yountville and Napa Valley Anna and I had a lovely visit to Napa Valley in late March. It rained for a good part of the visit, but spring was definitely in full swing. I especially enjoyed o…

I'm slacking on posting - these photos were taken almost a month ago. If you haven't experienced it, a trip out to the desert during the spring blooms is well worth it.

Photos of the Cedar Creek Falls hike Your knees take a beating on the way there, your thighs on the climb back, but the Cedar Creek Falls hike (aka Devil's Punchbowl) is lush and gorgeous this time of…

The Atlantic has a an interesting article posted called How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America . Don Peck has taken an in depth look at the mental and cultural changes that are likely for those …

Korea and wedding photos We had a more slow paced visit to Korea. The highlight was experiencing a Korean Wedding - congratulations to Kerey and Bora. Otherwise, lots of visiting, tea, and people watc…

- They serve half decent tea through the flight - The seatback entertainment systems are usually top of the line - The food is much more interesting - Warmed or cold towels/towelettes before/after mea…

- Stray fluffy cats bounding through the snow in park surounding the Temple of Heaven - A "Star-Rated Toilet" - The giant bag of mandarin oranges I was given for my 10 yuan bill (about $1.40). - Reali…

Weather, roads, and miscommunication seemed to conspire against us visiting any section of the great walls. The morning before our flight to Korea we finally managed to visit Juyong pass. The wall at …

All the roads to different great walls were closed again today. It is clear they aren't equipped to handle this level of snow and cold - every bit of snow we have seen removed has been completely by h…

It was clear, sunny, and brutal with the wind chill. The snow yesterday meant blocked roads today, and no trip to the wall. The snowfall yesterday was the most Beijing had seen in 60 years. After a br…

It was a snowy day in Beijing. The markets and streets were still busy. We hit up the antiques area and ran unto some tough bargainers. Then it was on to the Temple of Heaven for a walk around. The pa…

We fought off the urge to sleep and continued our very long day exploring our new hood and eating ducks in Beijing. Lots of bling. Today we are braving the snow to wander around town. It is nice to se…

Maybe I'll see it in a couple weeks... Learn more here: SharkSavers.org And here: WildAid.org

I was literally pounding my steering wheel while listening to the KPBS Editors round table butcher coverage of the Marine Life Protection Act this morning. They did minimal research (at best), but wer…

Photos of the wildfires from the air Flying back from Calgary today we passed by the wildfires north of LA. The plume of smoke was visible from far off, and the fires seem quite close to populated are…

Like many divers I used to store my dive gear in a large plastic bin. The bins are cheap and keep any salt water out of the car trunk. Eventually I dropped my bin the wrong way and cracked it one too …

2009.08.06 Diving Yukon and Ruby E Heather, David, and I had some great dives on the Yukon and Ruby E at the start of the month. Visibility was the best I had seen on the Yukon and it was a lot of fun…

If you want to see some crazies, take 10 minutes and watch this: ‘Birthers’ bring down Republican base

Anna and I were down near the border for some shopping and had a hankering for tacos. I used yelp on my phone to see what looked interesting near by. Surrounded by mall land I wasn't optimistic. One t…

This free game for the iPhone is very simple, but a lot of fun. Graphics and game-play are a throwback to the tons of quarters you blew in an arcade long ago (and Geometry Wars) . It is the perfect di…

Photos of Seoul, Korea 2009.05.01-10 Seoul, Korea - Kerey and friends hosted us in Seoul for a bit over a week. I really enjoyed the city. In many ways it reminded me of the rest of Asia - white block…

We had to put fang down yesterday; his kidney finally gave out. He was the only cat I'd met that enjoyed sass - talking back after being told no. He will be missed, the house feels very empty.

Over the last few years I have been traveling with my ultralight laptop . I've always enjoyed having a movie available, or leeching off random wifi to stay in contact and look up information while tra…

I'm not much of a steak guy these days. In fact I am usually more likely to order veggie than meat. We spent the night in Chicago yesterday and decided to head out for a good steak in a city that know…

Photos of Busan and Gimhae, Korea Colan and I rode the high speed KTX down to Busan to visit Mike in Gimhae and explore Busan. Much of the country seems to look the same due to identical apartment bui…

(View more photos of Danyang, Korea) May 4th, 2009 - Bora and Kerey took us on a day trip to Danyang, in Chungcheongbuk-do. The trip consisted of a 3 hour train ride to the South East, and then a taxi…

We are staying in Gimhae, a suburb of Busan. The KTX bullet train to Busan was fast and easy. The bus to Gimhae was not. On the plus side we started to learn a little Hangeul. Our conversations on the…

I've been in Seoul for three days. Kerey has been a great guide so far, I feel like we have explored a good chunk of the city. First impressions of Seoul - Parts are much like the rest of Asia, quick …

I'm on my way to LAX to catch a red eye to Seoul. So far, so good. There are not many things I enjoy more than Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner. "We are now arriving at Irvine. Irvine; jewel of suburbia"

The LA Times has some good coverage of the large debate around the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative . They even get a quote from the Avalon institution known as Dr Bill: But Bill Bushing, a marin…

There were about ten bright boats anchored just outside of the marine preserve, about a mile from where we were. They are there for the same reason we were - the squid run. Lisa, Mani, and I went for …

Planet Money has a great segment called Get Tougher, Please . Give it a listen. Economist Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute argues the financial reforms are way too wimpy - we need to get tough on …

The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s ho…

NPR/PRI has some great stories on the return of Keynes theories, and possibly the very first test of them. This American Life: 373: The New Boss - Stories about what happens when someone new takes ove…

I've been meaning to write a post about this, but Caroline Baum has written many of the same points I had in a piece for Bloomberg called "Economic Cures Are Like Booze for an Alcoholic" . "...the U.S…

Photos of diving Islas Coronados with the sea lions Adam and I headed out with Waterhorse to visit the Coronado Islands just off Tijuana's coast. The ride back was a bit rough, but overall it was a re…

David A. Rosenberg from Merrill Lynch has released an 11 page document called "Some inconvenient truths" . It is worth a read for its frank discussion of our current economic condition. Depressions ar…

The UT has some positive words (in fact, it sounds a little like a press release) about a fish farm proposal from Hubbs-SeaWorld. The fish farm would be located off Mission Beach and would grow stripe…

I finally got around to posting some photos from a few weeks back: Photos of tide pooling at Point Loma Photos of diving La Jolla Shores (Jan 3rd & 14th)

" Just one day after George W. Bush left office, an NSA whistleblower has revealed that the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program targeted U.S. journalists, and vacuumed in all d…

Photos of Diving the Elly and Ellen Oil Rigs On Saturday I headed out on the Sea Bass to dive some oil rigs just off the coast of LA. The first dive was on the Elly oil rig. Visibility was a solid 50 …

Wingsuit base jumping .

During my chores today I finally caught up with This American Life podcasts. I just finished listening to episode 304: Heretics . I come from a bit of a charismatic background, so the story had a big …

The above video isn't the best quality (it is taken with my digital camera and dive light), but it does illustrate just how much life is on the old Ingraham Street Bridge. The site consists of rubble …

Since moving to a dry suit I had to switch from my lovely Mares Superchannels to a fin with a much larger foot pocket - drysuit boots are much larger than wetsuit boots. After trying several without s…

San Diego county will be home for more artificial reefs. We already have several - The ships to reefs projects (Yukon, Ruby E, etc), and others like the old Ingraham Bridge debris. The newest reef (th…

I popped into the newly opened Halcyon Tea in South Park yesterday evening. The shop is located just a couple doors up from what used to be Santos, and a short block from Grant's Marketplace. They hav…

I've been really enjoying the music in Fallout3 . A bit of an eclectic mix - Ink Spots, Bing, Ella, etc . I've got some serious earworm going on with some of the tracks. The only thing that can cure t…

Photos of diving Catalina Island Anna, Pete, Paul, and myself had a great time on Catalina Island last weekend. We started in Avalon, had a nice night in the Aurora Hotel, and then took a taxi van ove…

The Boston Globe has an interesting piece on what a sustained economic downturn (like the great depression(s)) would look like in modern times : We are separated from the 1930s by decades of profound …

The Big Picture has some excellent photos on the California wildfires that are burning up north. We were in a bit of a news blackout while enjoying Two Harbors on Catalina Island, but couldn't miss th…

I found this to be a very interesting behind the scenes read: The End of Wall Street's Boom His dinner companion in Las Vegas ran a fund of about $15 billion and managed C.D.O.’s backed by the BBB tra…

Divebums is a local website that shows weekly photos taken by divers in Southern California (hopefully a great field ID section soon). Each year John puts out a fantastic calendar made up of photos fr…

Though I've lived in the US for 7 years, it feels a little odd to be working today. Today is Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth (Veterans Day in the US). Many in Canada attend ceremonies today to see…

It seems the question I asked early in the year has been soundly answered, for now. Deflation is the name of the current game, not inflation. Money supply has been demolished through credit collapse a…

The LA Times reports " Tensions between McCain and Palin camps come to light ". Might be interesting, let's take a look: "...aides to John McCain disclosed new details about her expensive wardrobe pur…

Best of luck, Obama. You are going to need it to deal with the mess that has been left for you. Marketplace has some ideas on what will happen on the economic side when Obama comes into office. Horizo…

Photos of diving Scripps Canyon There was some epic visibility last week that I just caught the end of on Saturday, during a Scripps Canyon dive. The shallows were quite nice, but a little bit of a de…

I hope it is a wet winter for California. From KPBS: The Department of Water Resources announced it will deliver just 15 percent of the amount that local water agencies throughout California request e…

A study tracking salmon in the Fraser and Columbia rivers has determined that dams are not the main cause of Salmon collapse . "dam modifications to assist migrating salmon have led to much-improved s…

Photos of diving San Clemente Island Adam and I headed out with a charter group on the Horizon for a one day one night diving trip to San Clemente. We used Horizon Charters for the trip and had a pret…

Photos of diving Point Loma kelp and the Ruby E Adam and I headed out with Waterhorse charters to dive the kelp beds off Point Loma. The Humboldt is a pretty nice boat - lots of room and very speedy. …

Quoth the UT : "Mayor Jerry Sanders warned of deep, imminent budget cuts and water rationing across San Diego yesterday, while also stressing the importance of a new City Hall and an expanded conventi…

I have not yet listened to Another Frightening Show About the Economy from This American Life . Since it is from the guys that brought us The Giant Pool of Money (the excellent show about the housing …

I've been diving a 5mm wetsuit with a 3/5 hooded vest for a year in San Diego. Most people dive 7mm+ and think I'm nuts. I started to agree with them. I momentarily considered moving to a thicker wets…

Photos of diving the lobster shack at the Coronados Islands Mani, Adam and I headed out to the Coronados last Sunday to dive at the lobster shack. It has been a while since I was out there, so I was h…

Schwarzenegger has eliminated funding for a statewide beach monitoring program . In other words, swim at your own risk in IB and Mission Bay, and avoid the ocean after rainfall. High-Speed Rail Benefi…

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency. You ha…

Quoth the AP : Wall Street rallied in a stunning late-session turnaround Thursday, shooting higher and hurtling the Dow Jones industrials up 400 points following a report that the federal government m…

There seems to be some new photography options around the corner. Two in particular have me interested: Micro Four Thirds The 4/3m format uses SLR sized sensors, but no mirror , much like the Sigma DP…

Credit where credit is due. In 2006 President Bush turned the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands into Papah?naumoku?kea Marine National Monument, which formed the largest marine wildlife reserve in the wor…

KPBS has posted a nice audio slide show of the UVeta project in Baja Sur . Water in Baja Sur's remote areas is frequently from open wells, where the chance of contamination is high. Florence Cassassuc…

Last night a generous coworker gave us tickets to the opening night preview of Spring Awakening at the newly renovated Balboa Theatre . The theatre has been in a state of neglect for a very long time …

Photos for 2008.07.23 Diving Tyee Beach, Nanaimo, BC Randi and I both wanted to go diving on Vancouver Island, even though we weren't going to be there long. We had arranged to go out on a boat dive w…

A Scripps researcher has a paper out called Ecological extinction and evolution in the brave new ocean . The findings are not for the faint: Human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the…

I'm so woefully behind on writing I'll just post photos for now. Photos for 2008.07.17-27 Central BC and Vancouver Island Photos for 2008.07.18-20 Memorial and Reunion, Horsefly

Photos of diving the Yukon and Lazy Days wrecks This is a much delayed dive report. On the 4th of July Adam and I headed out on our first trip with the Marissa to the Yukon and the Lazy Days wrecks. I…

Photos of diving the Eureka oil rig Off shore oil rigs stretch from Long Beach to Santa Maria on the coast of California. Some are decommissioned , but most are still in active operation. These rigs a…

Oso has a great round-up for free online resources that you can use to help learn another language .

Photos of Pete & Paul's wedding After being together for 19 years, two very dear friends of ours finally got married yesterday. You can read a bit about them in this UT article . We wish them all the …

In May Boston.com started a section on their site called The Big Picture . It is a blog style page with large sized AP photos of the news, rather than the postage stamp photos you get at most news sit…

I finally got around to listening to episode 355 of This American Life . The subject of this episode is the housing crisis. Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg have done a fantastic job diving into the de…

Some people ( like the US House ) seem to not understand how oil prices are calculated. Luckily, Marketplace has a great introduction to the subject called " Who's getting fat on higher oil prices? " …

Photos of diving Scripps Canyon It almost didn't happen due to low turnout on the boat, but we managed to head up the coast with DCI to Scripps Canyon. I've gotta say, the boat is a lot nicer than doi…

Photos of the diving the HMS Yukon Last Sunday I headed out for back to back dives on the Yukon. Conditions were OK, considering the very green water these days. I'm patiently waiting for the nice blu…

TIME has a great story up by John Cloud called Shark Frenzy in Solana Beach . It has some great quotes: The media was fascinated because shark attacks are sickeningly grisly and cosmically rare. Your …

A triathlete in training swimming with 10 others at Fletcher Cove was bitten once on the legs by a shark, and died from blood loss this morning . My heart goes out to relatives and friends. Hopefully …

I had heard about Sharkwater on the film festival circuit for a year, but wasn't ever in a place where it was showing. It came out on dvd last week and I finally watched it last night. Sharkwater is r…

Photos of diving hiking Two Harbors, Catalina Island Two weekends ago (man am I slacking on posts) Anna and I went to Two Harbors with the dive group again. It was a gorgeous 3 day weekend - Flat wate…

I've been working my way though the many wonderful talks at TED and was happy to see a new one pop up with Gore showing his new slide show: New thinking on the climate crisis . Do yourself a favor, an…

Graffiti found by our friend, Mandi, while walking the Via dell' Amore (Path of Love) between Riomaggiore and Manarola in Italy (Cinque Terre): It makes me wonder if there is also a padlock on the gua…

Photos of diving La Jolla Canyon Better late than never. Adam, Mani, and had a lovely Sunday morning dive on the 6th. Visibility in La Jolla Canyon was 20 feet or more, making it very bright compared …

When I first heard about it, the Sigma DP1 sounded like the perfect package. A full size sensor, 28mm fixed lens and SLR controls. It was exactly what I wanted. A year passed from the initial announce…

Photos of diving Avalon's Underwater Park Last Friday I headed out to Avalon for the day with Anna, Mani, Adam and Randi. Anna played aunt and watched Carson while we did a few dives. Visibility wasn'…

Voice of San Diego has a good article on the increasingly skinny grey whales that migrate down the Pacific coast to Baja. It is thought that warmer waters have allowed for more fish migration and grea…

I had a gorgeous dive last night - lots of bioluminescence, some octopus, and tons of small critters out. There were only a few squid around, but apparently enough to fish for, as there were about 6 s…

Secretary Paulson played the morality card two days ago when speaking about home owners that were in over their heads: Homeowners who can afford their payments and don't have to move, can choose to st…

Just in case I didn't already think Nixon and Kissinger were complete mental bastards: The Nukes of October: Richard Nixon's Secret Plan to Bring Peace to Vietnam Nixon decided to try something new: t…

During a night dive last week we noticed a number of brightly lit boats off shore and guessed they were fishing for squid. That's exactly what they are according to the UT: The mystery lights belong t…

Some bright folks have dumped and upgraded the firmware for the Canon A570 IS, A610, A620, A630, A640, A700, A710 IS, S2 IS, S3 IS, SD500 and G7. They unlocked raw mode, high speed shutter speeds, liv…

The Online Photographer has signs that the long promised Sigma DP-1 is nearing release - Amazon has a pre-order page and a release date of March 25th. I'm happy with my DX-1G (GX100) for now, but I'll…

I have really enjoyed our visit to the big island. We spent a bit over a week on the Kailua-Kona side, getting our fill of sand and sun. We have a bit under a week on the Hilo side, and have enjoyed s…

Photos of squid at La Jolla We headed into the water at sunset and swam out to the canyon. Dead squid were scattered about the edge of the canyon like confetti after a parade. I was worried we had mis…

Housing seems to be reaching a tipping point in perceptions anyway; it is tough to see when it will play out. With money falling from the sky , the govt (via Fannie May) willing to take on loans up to…

Like Canada, Colorado and Wyoming have a massive fight on their hands with mountain pine beetle outbreaks due to drought and warm winters . Every large, mature lodgepole pine forest in Colorado and so…

The Kansas City Star has an intriguing story about 'supernote' counterfeit bills found around the world . These are fakes that are next to perfect, using the same paper, inks, and high quality printin…

Photos of diving Scripps Canyon I finally convinced myself I would use scuba equipment enough to own full gear (I already have a computer, suit, etc). My visa limping, I'm now the owner of an aqualung…

The LA Times exposes some of the craziness that is going on with auto financing these days in New cars that are fully loaded — with debt When Jennifer and Bobby Post traded in their 2001 Chevy Suburba…

Wired has a really interesting story called Clive Thompson on How the Next Victim of Climate Change Will Be Our Minds People are feeling displaced. They're suffering symptoms eerily similar to those o…

Other than a few hours on the 29th involving a raccoon and a border agent, I had a great holiday. We slacked at home for a few days, visited family and friends, and took a road trip to Arizona. I'll b…

While suing a guy for illegal downloads, they also are trying to push that the CD's he owns and ripped to MP3 for personal use are also illegal: In legal documents in its federal case against a Scotts…

It is a little counterintuitive to open the windows in order to warm the house up, but strange are the ways of living in a 100 year old house with no heat. It was very cool last night (not far from fr…

The CS Monitor has a great 3 part series on the explosive growth of the Pentecostal movement in Latin America . The first two parts, dealing mostly with Guatemala and Brazil are posted and have been q…

(part of my notes from a few weeks ago) For my flight out of Williams Lake there is the same number of airport security people as there are passengers. Bored out of their minds, they took the opportun…

This makes my blood boil: Bush to outline 5-year rate freeze plan "...sources, who are familiar with details of the trade group's pitch, said the plan envisions covering subprime loans taken out betwe…

Since the death of my Fuji F810, I've been looking at a way to get some decent underwater photos. Kitting out my Canon 350D/Rebel for underwater use would cost a huge stack of cash - $1200 for a housi…

Photos of Scuba diving Islas Coronado, Baja I had a great time scuba diving at the Lobster Shack on Islas Coronado on Saturday. The Coronado Islands are a group of four islands in the municipality of …

The Guardian has good news on the fascinating Untergunther group in Paris : Four members of an underground "cultural guerrilla" movement known as the Untergunther, whose purpose is to restore France's…

- The string of events the past few weeks in Baja seems to have attracted a lot of country wide attention . - News bits like this don't seem to help the situation: Kidnapped Spanish tourist found blin…

Wired has a great story about $1000 genetic tests: Reading your genomic profile — learning your predispositions for various diseases, odd traits, and a talent or two — is something like going to a pha…

I somehow ended up talking about the hedonic treadmill with a friend last night. Shortly after that I ended up reading Pursuing Happiness from Heifer's World Ark : Could it be that our biggest social …

I have to admit, I was skeptical the first time I read SurferMags story, "I'll Never Go to Baja Again" aka Carjacked in Baja. Three surfers losing everything in Baja to a group of professional and hea…

Photos of Diving and snorkeling near Two Harbors, Santa Catalina Island, California Continued from Two Harbors, Catalina Island We arrived at Two Harbors in the morning, and got in the water as quickl…

Photos of Two Harbors, Santa Catalina Island, California Anna and I took a three day weekend to head out to Two Harbors on Santa Catalina Island. I have been meaning to get out there for a long time, …

Photos of New Orleans, LA My first morning in New Orleans I rolled into ACME company for a oyster po boy for breakfast. Oysters for breakfast sound a little odd? They are surprisingly good fried with …

Jim Kunstler's latest post is typically inflammatory, but definitely makes for some good reading : The price of oil is up 53 percent over a year ago, creeping up now toward the mid-$90-range. The news…

Photos of the Qualcomm evacuation for the San Diego fires This morning I bought a bunch of supplies and brought them down to Qualcomm Stadium, where there are a lot of evacuees. It was a long (2.5 hou…

As anyone who has driven through OC to the California central coast knows, there are lot of offshore oil rigs out there. The UT has a great article on the debate over what to do about the California o…

I went on a dive to the Yukon and the Ruby E this weekend. Two guys on the same dive boat were visiting San Diego and decided to go diving. Nice enough guys, but I noticed the following as everyone wa…

My new wet suit works great, but I need more lead on my weight belt. I had 10 lbs, but was still too buoyant. The snorkel/free dive was well worth the surge today. There were more fish in the water th…

Today I did my first all digital purchase of music. I know, I'm behind the times, and a picky old man. Though itunes is a slick store, I've never bought anything from them. I really didn't see the poi…

Sessions Fest was great. I was too lazy to bring my camera this year. You will just have to trust me; the event and people were a beautiful thing. What can be better than an IPA, BBQ, and great music …

The WSJ has an overview of Greenspan's new book. Currently making headlines is his criticism of Bush & the Republicans: Mr. Greenspan, who calls himself a "lifelong libertarian Republican," writes tha…

Our old neighborhood has some great old victorian houses. It is also endowed with a lot of old trees. Right next to us are (were) two 100 year old Canary Island Date Palms. One is about 75 feet tall, …

It is that time of year again. Who doesn't love some free music in the park? Crazy people, that's who. This year, Sessions Fest is September 15th from noon until 10 PM. Food will be available from Inf…

I am finally a permanent permanent resident of the US. Confused? I was just a conditional permanent (haha) resident because Anna and I had not been married for two years before we applied for my resid…

The Wall Street Journal has a great travel article called On the Silk Road Again . They purchase a Chinese-made compact car, the Chery A1 (which will be exported to the US via Chrysler), for $7000 and…

When I first moved near down town, I had no access to recycling. This was a pain in the ass, as I would always end up dragging it to someone else's bin, or to a center somewhere. But most people in th…

The LA times has a story on the latest attempt to root out corruption in the Baja police force : They're installing cameras to catch extortion attempts, publicizing that people can pay tickets with cr…

Looking over my fifteen postings, this is fast becoming the economics and scuba blog. This post won't change that average. I completed my advanced PADI course this weekend. It focused on peak performa…

Ars Technica has a interesting writeup on a study of the life cycle of alternative energy sources, and their total environmental impact. The article is called The 'greenness' of alternative energy sou…

8 hours and 11 minutes, per day. That's how much TV the average American watches . My mind = blown. That's a second job! Link via Gadling

Harvard Magazine has a good article up online called Debtor Nation . The four pages give an overview of the current situation with the US economy and currency and its dependence on debt. The global im…

I did a 45 minute dive at the La Jolla Cove kelp beds this morning with a buddy. Visibility was only 5-10 feet. But the surface temp was 74, and the coldest water we hit was 64 degrees. We saw a lot o…

This is hardly surprising: Two Chinese officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning, for the first time, that Beijing may use its $1,330bn (£658bn) of forei…

Hillary, check your head. " Mrs Clinton proposed expansion of the groups among measures to tackle weaknesses in the mortgage market and ­support homeowners. She vowed to clamp down on “unfair lending …

I finally got around to doing a couple dives at La Jolla Cove this morning with a friend. We got in the water a bit after nine, and the visibility had already started to go, but it was still a great d…

RollingStone has a great article called Ethanol Scam: Ethanol Hurts the Environment And Is One of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles . If you aren't familiar with the subject, this article is a g…

It has been pretty good snorkeling in La Jolla this summer. A few weeks back I snorkeled goldfish point, and got to see a young sea lion up close in the water. It zoomed around me a few times, checked…

For all you folks out there still bound to Windows XP for work and games, there is a number of ways to make look less ugly. You can install some 3rd party themes, or an explorer replacement, but they …

A few Sundays back I became PADI certified for open water. This means I can dive on my own without a dive master there. It is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but just never got around to …

Reading the bottle of Dr Bronner's Soap I've always got a wiff of crazy mixed with peppermint. But the soap was damned good, so I didn't really pay much attention. Someone else figured there was a sto…

A tad on the dramatic side, but still a good read: UT story on Scott Cassell and the Humboldt squid . "After hearing the red demon legend, Cassell researched Humboldt squid for two years before he beg…

Photos of Normandy, France April 2-4, 2007 If you ever rent a car from a Paris airport (CDG in my case), make sure you book it from the net first. I spent a while talking up all the counter people up …

While I love the photos from my Canon Rebel XT, I hate its size. The Rebel is actually one of the smallest SLR cameras out there, but it is still something you have to bring a bag for, or sling it ove…

Photos of Paris, France. March 31 - April 2, 2007 If I were to pick a city to move to in Europe, Paris would probably be at the top of the list. The city has the same exciting energy that New York has…

Photo album of the Catacombs of Paris April 1, 2007 Ever since reading about the dark world beneath the city of lights in Infiltration some years ago, they have been digging away at the back of my hea…

I've linked to the Microsoft Photosynth project before , but this tech demo of Seadragon and Photosynth at TED is worth another link. As Blaise Aguera y Arcas says, they are creating a three dimension…

NPR has an interesting story about trying to find the biggest greenhouse gas producer in the US . Canada makes that easy, they have a reporting system. But there is no mandatory reporting system in th…

Google Transit has been around for a little bit, but it just got a nice update . Reno and San Diego are the newest cities on board. Nice!

The WP has a great story on researching human's altruistic nature called If It Feels Good to Be Good, It Might Be Only Natural . When we give, it activates a primitive part of the brain that usually l…

Photo album of Pisa, Italy March 30, 2007 Our travel plans hadn't included Pisa at all. Three and a half weeks only takes you so many places. But our travel ended up taking us through the city on our …

Photo album of Florence/Firenze, Italy. March 28-30, 2007 Florence is an amazing city. Of course the art collection is the main draw, but the city itself is also wonderful. The view from Piazzale Mich…

How's your day going? Need a downer? Though not really news, this article sums up the situation quickly: " Our oceans are turning into plastic...are we? A vast swath of the Pacific, twice the size of …

March 24-27, 2007 I'm not equipped to write much about Rome that hasn't already been said. It is a gorgeous place, and well worth a visit. Go grab a cone of chestnuts and gawk at the city. Photo album…

Photo album of St Josep Market, Barcelona, Spain Photo album of Gaudí's Barcelona, Spain Photo album of Barcelona, Spain March 22-24, 2007 Early in the morning we pile into the car and head north from…

Perhaps it is a simple case of too many projects and not enough after work energy. Spring weather? Netflix and documentary overdose? Maybe. Maybe I'm just lazy. Either way, I've been taking a bit of a…

March 21, 2007 Photos of Morella, Spain After visiting Peñíscola , we headed inland on some secondary roads to Morella. The winding roads brought us high into the hills. It was 15C on the coast, but 4…

March 20 & 21, 2007 Photos of Peñíscola, Spain After our mountain drive we headed up the coast for Peñíscola. Yes, Colan has run through every possible combination of joke on that one. We probably sho…

March 20th, 2007 Photos of CV-20 to Montanejos, Spain We all wanted to see some of the coast from Valencia to Barcelona, and the only way to do that was to rent a car. Herz was nearby, and we picked u…

March 16th to 20th, 2007 We came out of the dry plains surrounding Madrid to gentile hills and fertile valleys. It felt a lot like California, actually. The crops are varied, but much like the rest of…

Sorry, I've been slacking on updates. We are back and full into work again. So much for afterglow. I've been going through photos getting them organized - hope to have an album or two up each week. I'…

I think we picked the perfect time to visit. It has been mostly sunny, with a few rain patches. The fruit trees are blooming, and everything is green. We spent our last two days in Rome exploring more…

March 25th, Rome I get the impression a lot of things in Rome will just take time. We waited for bags at the airport for a about 40 minutes. Our "checking-in" took about 40 minutes as well. It must be…

After a nice drive up the coast and doing some close examinations of the airport construction, we are finally in Barcelona. We should be here for a few days before heading over to Rome. Will try to po…

A few days in Spain and I've already hit my meat and starch wall. I've been snarfing down the oranges from the hotel lobby, but I finally went to a supermercado last night and picked up a bunch of fru…

March 16th, Alaris train There are plenty of people on the street at six in the morning in Madrid. But they aren't early risers, they just haven't gone to bed yet. There is still a bit of a party atmo…

March 15th, Madrid So much for plans. I took my chemical help on take-off from Miami, but I think I only slept 3 of the 8 hours on the flight. Not exactly the sleep I was wanting for a full day in Mad…

March 15th, LAX I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. They are prowling now, Starbucks in hand. Circling Anna's empty chair, probing for weakness. I preempt the question with a second propped b…

I'm just going to rip the text of this WP story : Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson and other conservative Christian leaders are calling for the National Association of Evangelicals to silen…

As my previous post stated, we are all causing massive changes to the earth by producing green house gasses and eradicating carbon absorbers. Skeptics, Grist has done a great job rounding up the usual…

"Most Americans believe global warming is real but a moderate and distant risk. While they strongly support policies like investing in renewable energy, higher fuel economy standards and international…

I was a big fan of Danger Doom, the very strange combination of MF Doom , Danger Mouse , and Cartoon Network's Adult Swim . So I was pleasantly surprised to find Occult Hymn . Adult Swim digitally rel…

( All photos for this post can be found here ) Anna and I met some of her college friends in Yosemite for a long weekend over MLK day. We traveled through the valley in the dark and arrived Friday nig…

Most folks have heard about the Aqua Teen Hunger force ads (up for weeks in 12 other cities) causing a terrorist scare in Boston by now. I know if I was going to plant a bomb it would look like a Lite…

While in Canada I had a friend pick up a new purchase for me. I'd been wanting to buy a laptop for a long time, but never was satisfied with the combinations available out there. My prospects were the…

I've owned a few routers in my day, but have never really been happy with any of them. Coming from a tech background they always seemed to be dumbed down and complicated in the worst ways. All that ha…

First up, some interesting newsy links: -- Blood Oil - This is a really great story on a very bad situation, highly recommended. "Could a bunch of Nigerian militants in speedboats bring about a U.S. r…

All photos for this post can be found here ) Anna and I flew into San Jose on boxing day (Dec 26th) and home from Portland on New Years day. In between those dates we had a nice little drive up the co…

A little late, but that's about par. Click the read more linky if you are interested in our digital cheese.

Anna and I traveled to frosty Canada late Nov and early Dec. Anna managed to survive -45C with a wind chill, and apparently my blood hasn't quite thinned to SoCal levels. The visit north was really gr…

I have much to write about, photos to post, but no time to do it. I hope to have the time and motivation during the holidays - stay tuned.

( All photos for this post can be found here ) It was a good thing Anna and I carved pumpkins on Sunday, traffic coming home for Halloween on Tuesday was horrible. When we finally got home we had just…

( All photos for this post can be found here ) Scott, Sophie, and the rest of the Cat Dirt Records folks put on another great party last Saturday night - The Golden Hill Block Party featuring ¡Society…

Last weekend Anna and I headed out a bit past Alpine on the 8 freeway to try to get a look at the meteor shower. Just outside of Alpine the change was fast and dramatic. It was probably a combination …

Perhaps you are familiar with the voting machines that you will be soon using. Maybe you have heard they might have flaws. If you follow the news, maybe you have even heard the ridiculous specifics. T…

It's that time of year again, folks. Take a break from axing the rising undead and enjoy the The Golden Hill Block Party. Saturday October 28th on 21st Street between B and C streets, 5 PM to midnight…

Last Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving . I couldn't put up with the torturous IM's from up north about turkey dinner and stuffing, so I had a mini-thanksgiving dinner. No one had thawed turkeys in stor…

" The field of scientific research in the DPRK successfully conducted an underground nuclear test under secure conditions on October 9, 2006, at a stirring time when all the people of the country are …

Adobe updated Lightroom to beta 4 a week back. I've been playing with it a bit so far, and they have definitely made some improvements. Since purchasing Pixmantec (and RawShooter code) , Adobe has som…

Kurt Andersen has written a great piece over at NY Magazine. Titled “ The End of the World As They Know It ”, it dives into culture and attitudes obsessed with apocalypse. Five years after Islamic apo…

I've been curious to try out some other lenses and different ranges for my Rebel Xt. The problem is that unless you have a friend that owns one of these, its unlikely a store is going to let you wande…

I'm not sure if reading about other's travels is a cure for itchy feet, or the cause. Either way, here are four: One of my favorite travelers: Michael Palin tags along with a photographer friend acros…

It has only been relatively recently that I've taken a serious interest in photography. That interest have almost exclusively been through (relatively budget) digital SLRs, so I've never had the chanc…

The NYTimes has a good article about California's push to produce 25% carbon dioxide by 2020 . They are attacking the problem several different ways: - No longer buying dirty electricity - all those c…

I've finally got around to fixing the caption structure on most of my gallery , and cleaning up a lot of the albums. With the help of the Map Module , I've also tagged a lot of them with GPS data. The…

One of the things I love about California is that you can grow pretty much anything here. I don’t own a patch of dirt, but I’ve got a patio with potted fig, mandarin, lemon, and avocado trees. The yie…

(All photos for this post can be found here: 2006.09.01 Barona Powwow) A few weeks ago Anna and I started hearing some ads on KPBS for the Barona Powwow . The event is free (including free camping), s…

The NY times has put up a pretty good travel article about Tijuana. As expected, it focuses mostly on the newer art spots and trendy eateries. But it also goes a little further to talk about the city …

Hot on the heels of the release of other SLR's, Cannon seems to be pulling out all the stops on the new Rebel. The new camera is known as the Rebel XTi/400D , and will go on sale in September for $800…

As I said last year , I'm taking a year off from Burning Man. I was getting too jaded, bitching about the work of getting there, rather than being giddy about the sights to come. It turns out I have o…

(All photos for this post can be found here: 2006.07.14-17 Baja and Bahia de los Angeles) To follow along: My Bahia de los Angeles google map July 14-17, 2006 Anna and I had wanted to visit the Sea of…

2006.07.29 Snorkeling La Jolla Shores 2006.08.12 Snorkeling La Jolla Cove I'm still getting the hang of my F810 & housing for photos. I'm not completely satisfied, but have really appreciated RAW on t…

It is almost that time of year again, The GreenBuilt Tour 2006 is set for September 16-17. The tour features 14 sites of varying shades of green. Some sites are almost self contained and built green f…

Anna and I have had a late start to our summer snorkeling, but are trying to make up for that now. Part of the reason for the late start was that last year was depressing. The red tide made for horrib…

David discovered the burn of Br Bronners , and I've finally found a hookup on Blenheim's Ginger Ale in San Diego. Turns out, it was right under my nose. Grant's Marketplace in Southpark has a great se…

We had a lot of fun at the Golden Hill Block Party last year . It will be back October 28th, and we can't wait. Luckily, there is another event from the same folks to tide us over - Session Fest! It w…

This article at the NYTimes was a really good read: So Big and Healthy Grandpa Wouldn’t Even Know You . This will probably be behind a pay wall soon, so I'll snip some of the text: Over the past 100 y…

I'm a fan of autostitch , and use it quite a lot to make panoramic shots. Microsoft Labs has hit on a great idea that takes this to a new level: Photosynth . Of course, the name tells you nothing. The…

I've been a fan of Bourdain's travel shows for a while. Always up for anything, and ready to explore the worlds outside resorts and english menus. He was in Beirut for two days, filming on Lebanon. Th…

Unsatisfied with a dearth of town & area maps for the Bahia de los Angeles, I've made my own. Like lazy water, I took the path of least resistance and did it all in Google Earth. Please let me know if…

Just before the release of Intel's Core Duo desktop chips, AMD slashed its prices on its dual core cpus to stay competitive. I had been eyeing Intel's new chips, but couldn't justify the required full…

The war in Lebanon is such a waste, on so many levels. One understands that Israel believes that they are at war with terrorists. But it seems to be obvious to everyone else that they are laying waste…

Anna and I are back from Baja, and back into the work grind. We had a good time at Bahia de los Angeles , and I hope to write a bit about it soon. I had mixed success gathering information for our tri…

Congratulations to Dan and Dorene on their wedding last weekend. I was lucky enough to be part of ceremony, and I’m pretty sure I did a decent job of standing there while not looking too dumb. Have fu…

I don't like gambling. I don't drink much. I'm asthmatic. Needless to say, Vegas casinos are not my favorite place. But here we were, trudging through the maze of slot machines and tchotchke vendors t…

(Mekong photos can be found here ) May 6th, 2006 I didn't have high hopes for our Mekong Delta tour. It had all the hallmarks of an uncomfortable experience - package tour, arranged through our hotel,…

(Saigon photos can be found here ) May 4, 5, 7-9, 2006 After some fun donating blood (still waiting for Anna to write about that) at the children’s hospital, we were running a bit late. Han the Man go…

The USA is facing higher bills, and potential shortfalls for our energy use. Bush has committed a lot of our tax dollars towards 'alternative' energy sources - mostly coal [stop-gap and dirty], hydrog…

I've been slowing down on travel writing in order to get photos posted. The last of my Cambodia photos are up: Banteay Srey and Banteay Samre Tonle Sap Lake: Random Cambodia: Saigon, Cholon (Saigon's …

Interesting.. recent research suggests that the rhythm method might kill more embryos than other methods of contraception. Eggs released outside of the "fertile week" are obviously less likely to come…

While restocking at Trader Joes the other day, I was surprised to find an ingredient I haven't had in 15 years - fiddleheads . Sauteed with a bit of butter and lemon, they are one of my favorite green…

(All photos for this entry can be found here ) May 2nd, 2006 We got up early to brave the crowds at the Angkor Wat sunrise. It was pretty amazing, even if it was a bit hard to move. After the sun came…

(All photos for this entry can be found here ) (Monday May 1st, 2006) After dropping $40 each on three-day passes to the temples, we headed to the biggest, Angkor Wat. Since we started late we were as…

I'll be posting some more writing and photos from our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam. Expect my slacker work ethic to dictate a slow speed. (Sunday, April 30th) Thanks to Paul performing cabbie duties, …

The last spot we traveled to before heading home was Halong Bay , part of the Gulf of Tonkin. A green ocean spotted with tall limestone islands, Halong Bay is an amazing destination. We did a two day …

Only have time for a quick post before the tour bus gets here... We had wanted to try out Bia Hoi (fresh beer) in Saigon, but didn't get around to finding a watering hole near our hotel. When went loo…

We arrived in Ha Noi around 10 PM last night. Our singing cabbie with a musical horn provided us with an adrenaline filled drive from the airport. Once the traffic opens up, everyone takes the opportu…

Rule number one for air travel - check your flight before you leave for the airport. Of course, it helps if the airline actually lists that sort of information on the internet, or has an easy to call …

Anna here, posting while Chris is nursing a cold. Today I spent some time on my own in Saigon -- getting lost and taking cyclos to get back on track. It takes a lot of my energy to strategize how I'm …

Anna and I did a day trip to the Mekong Delta , visiting three different provinces. I was a bit worried going in for a repeat of our Cambodia boat experience, but it was very different. Tourists were …

Donating blood was an interesting experience, but I'll leave that for Anna to write about. Directly after that it was off to the airport and a quick flight to HCMC aka Saigon. The difference between S…

This morning's trip to Tonle Sap lake was a bit of a mixed bag, but interesting. It was a long and bumpy ride out to the lake this time of year, as the water will soon consume the pitted road we trave…

(Photos for this entry can be found here ) We finished up our temple tour with a long ride out to Banteay Srei , and a stop at Banteay Samre on the way back. Banteay Srei was worth the long drive. The…

Man, it's hot. It is only 97F/36C, but the humidity means my body can't cool down. Add in some tropical sun, and you have to pack around a lot of water to stay upright. Siem Reap is an interesting pla…

As this post shows up, Anna and I will be sitting on a train, headed to LAX. After we arrive and get settled, we will spend 18 hours smashed together in a plane, plus some downtime between flights (LA…

Anna and I are leaving out of LAX this Friday (actually 1am Saturday) for SE Asia. We usually take Amtrak up the coast (3 hours) to Union Station in downtown LA. From there we had to take three differ…

(Must. Stop. Buying) Hand grip I guess I'm not the neck strap type. I found the strap was always in the way with my holding style, and I didn't like the way the camera hung on the strap anyway. That l…

A bit late, oh well. A few weeks back Anna and I took my parents to see Desert View Tower in Jacumba . Having never been myself, we didn't really know what to expect. I loved it. The tower and the spr…

Billed as The March for Dignity, Respect and Hope , Sunday's march was huge. It depends on who you ask, but the range seems to be 50-100k people. As expected, there were a lot of separate agendas on d…

Anna and I have received several invitations to parties with free booze and food. Phone calls, emails, coupons, and trinkets in the mail. We are being courted. The gravy train that was so enviable the…

With my new toys , I've been producing a lot more photos. This isn't a problem at home - I've got plenty of storage & backup space, desktop hard drives are huge and cheap. But they don't help me much …

I upgraded to Gallery 2.1 R2 and implemented the RSS feeds. The old feed address (http://www.chrisnelson.ca/photos/rss.php) should work by forwarding to the new feed (http://chrisnelson.ca/photos/main…

( photos can be found here ) As mentioned before , I ordered a new camera & lens. I wanted something of decent optical quality, small (in relative terms), cheap (again, relative), and flexible. I thin…

Holy crap: Andrea Suastegui had been suffering flulike symptoms Saturday when she and her husband drove to the Frutería El Palsa Market on 25th Street near Broadway and purchased prescription medicine…

If you have used your debit card at OfficeMax, you might want to check on your bank statement . NJ police have arrested 14 people in connection with stolen data & fake debit cards. The crime spree for…

FedEx should be picking up our package to the San Francisco Consulate General of Vietnam in a couple hours. Unlike Cambodia , there is no mechanism to get a travel visa on arrival (airport visa). Viet…

After much deliberation , I made the leap. My starter kit is a Cannon Rebel XT (350D) with the 17-85 USM IS lens, a Sandisk 2 GB II card, and a UV filter for protection. I wanted to buy at a local sho…

Anna and I snuck a burrito in and watched Dave Chappelle's Block Party last night at the decotastic Pacific Gaslamp . Unless you reaaaally hate rap, I can't recommend the movie enough. It is not reall…

(Until I have the RSS feed fixed for gallery2, I'll post links on the front page) Photos of San Onofre beach and sunset. A few weekends back Anna and I drove up to San Onofre beach to hike under the f…

After a few hours hiking around Mission Trails Park , Anna and I were famished. Since we were already in La Mesa, we decided to check out a recommendation from a coworker. We arrived at Fix Me A Plate…

Following the meme of my previous post, we can probably add another spot to the 'dramatically changed by tourism' list. New Qinghai-Tibet railway : "Traveling overland through snow-capped mountains an…

It looks like Anna and I will be visiting Siem Reap (Angkor, Cambodia) and Vietnam in early May. Initially we were going to do a tour to Angkor, then just travel on our own through Vietnam. However th…

You are reading this on my new host. It gives me a lot more room to play around with - I was limited to 500mb and 5gb/month on my old host. Gallery 2 is working at the moment, but stuff like the RSS f…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Anna was in Austin last week for business, I tagged along for the weekend to check out the city. I have heard a lot about Austin, but this was my first tim…

Time was running out on my 1&1 hosting, so I took advantage of a good deal from dreamhost . Since I'm moving hosts, I figured I would do some infrastructure changes around here as well. 1) Migrate fro…

This whole cartoon thing is rediculous . Michael Standaert has the right idea : Why does the Danish Prime Minister even need to be involved in this situation or apologize for this? What I don't unders…

Last year there was some debate over the possibility of two-tier internet , as a number of different ISPs wanted to charge sites for performance. This was more than a foolish money grab. It was the fi…

One thing I neglected to mention in my Oh Canada post about Harper, was his plans for Arctic defense . This would include three heavy-duty, armed icebreakers as well as a new port for them near Iqualu…

So Bush has finally admitted the US is addicted to cheap oil. He made some statements in his address to the nation: - Coal. $281 million to develop clean coal technologies "to generate electricity whi…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Saturday night rolled around, and I headed south into Barrio Logan to check out Jimmy & Co (aka Bologna Ponies ) play. After their burlesque show appearanc…

Interesting things are happening up north . Harper & the conservatives ousted the liberals from power. Harper is now the PM, and Martin has stepped down. I thought Martin was doing a decent job, but h…

While I love my Fuji F810 , it has always suffered from a lack of filters. But this certainly isn't the fault of the camera, no one expects that out of a pocketable point and shoot. Maybe its better t…

Kung Food is back. Sort of. Its not the same people, but its the same location, and the same name. They have split into two parts, a pseudo drive-through, and a cafe. The cafe serves mostly prepared f…

About damned time: Mayor Jerry Sanders on Wednesday asked all City Council-appointed trustees of the city's troubled pension system to step down . They were put there by crooks , and are still running…

District 8 doesn't have great choices. The campaigns have been short on facts, and heavy on mud-slinging. Both candidates have plenty of mud to sling at each other. VoteNoneOfTheAbove.info is starting…

Ever wonder if you are allowed to take photos of something? Wonder no more. Andrew Kantor has a guide up on his website , and a new article at USAToday . Good info, I recommend everyone take a look. L…

Tom is on a roll; another interesting These Days on KPBS. The topic for this segment is consumerism and the holidays . His guests were Kalle Lasn of Adbusters , the always entertaining Rev Billy Talen…

Anna and I drove from La Jolla to Mission Beach yesterday to run some errands. A lot of people, but the sights were pretty impressive. The waves were breaking far off the coast, and were huge. Even th…

(This is an older post that I never got around to publishing) I certainly can't fault Jim Kunstler's view of recent development in Calgary - "..archetypal city of immense glass boxes in a sterilized c…

On These Days this morning they hosted someone from the NewTithing Group to talk about a new study. The group has just completed a study on quarter of a million individual tax returns . They looked at…

I've already wrote a bit on my experiences with US immigration and visas . But, since I have two friends going through the permanent residency process, I figured there would be some other people out t…

Random music reviews and links: Me and This Army from Panzah Zandahz , a Radiohead mashup. Decent mix, but I'm suffering from a bit of Radiohead burnout at the moment. Maybe it is a case of Cold(over)…

I've been throwing a lot of hours around at work this past month, as well as a lot of travel. Once my work day goes over 10 hours, my brain goes to mush and everything else gets ignored. As David said…

Well, San Diego and the rest of CA has voted. They didn't vote yes on the bad ones, but the didn't vote yes on the good ones (79, 80) either. San Diego was a bit disappointing, as we were hoping for F…

This article in the UT is worth a read: Condo conversions in county cooling off . They claim there is a glut of conversions on the market, but that everything will be peachy in 18 months. Really thoug…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) (The following is information I've picked up from various sources, so feel free to set me straight) Dia de los Muertos is one of the more famous and widely…

Some folks claim to have found a Bosnian stairs-like pyramid , about 12,000 years old. Photos of the research here . Scientific sleuth cracks code to $54,000 treasure Ants in the Amazon rain forest la…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Pete, Paul, Mark, Anna and I wandered down to 21st street on Saturday night to check out the Golden Hill Block Party . It featured The Adored , Fifty on th…

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but finally got around to it after reading at Boing Boing that the Long Now project unveiled their prototype, the Orrery clock . Jacob Appelbaum has s…

The quality at BBC dropped a notch on this story of an American tourist in North Korea : "To be honest, I was surprised with how friendly and warm-hearted they [North Korea assigned tour guides] were.…

Califone opened the concert up and had some help from I&W on a song. I like some of their stuff, but they usually go weird-experimental-jazzy half way through it. It throws me off. Still worth lisenin…

I just picked up tickets for Anna and I to see Iron & Wine and Calexico tomorrow night at the new House of Blues in downtown San Diego. Should be a good show, I'm a big fan of Calexico. I expect a lot…

I learned here that Ninjalicious, the guy behind infiltration.org, has released a book: Access All Areas - A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration . However, I also learned this bit of sad news…

Beets and I don't get along. I find them too sweet, too chalky, and they have a strange aftertaste. Anna and I had two weeks of beets from our Be Wise Ranch farm share , with no idea what to do with t…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Last week Anna and I checked out Tower After Hours at Balboa Park's Museum of Man. The event focuses on the art, food, drinks, culture, music, and dancing …

The grand North Park Theatre has been restored, and is opening as the Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre . It is now the home of Lyric Opera San Diego. - There are only two public restrooms in …

This Times article is interesting - Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible . They haven't gone crazy and renounced the virgin birth or anything like that, but they have said that "We s…

By now most people know that Harriet Miers has been nominated to the supreme court by Bush. Harriet Miers thinks Bush is the most brilliant man she has ever met. There are two possibilities: 1) She is…

(Former hostage) Smith has received $70,000 in rewards and has been bombarded with offers for books, movies and speaking engagements. Her ordeal has been held up as an example of the redemptive power …

Looks like Rita did a number on the Gulf oil : Hurricane Rita has caused more damage to oil rigs than any other storm in history and will force companies to delay drilling for oil in the US and as far…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Anna and I wandered around Adams Avenue Street Fair Saturday night. It was a good mix, as usual. The jazz stage was nice, but I was disappointed in the lat…

Image from signonsandiego.com Did anyone else happen to catch the DARPA rocket last night ? I was headed to P.B. to do some fish tacos on the beach with Bart and gang when I saw it from the freeway. T…

The ridiculously expensive converted condos a block away from us have apparently not been able to sell many units by using the sign flipper guys, or draping a giant banner on the front of the building…

Wow. I haven't seen a thunder and lightning show like this since Canada. It never storms like this here. Hope the roof holds; always a concern when the house is nearing a century old.

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Sept 5, 2005 - From Reno we hit Sacramento, then Anna and I booked it down the 99 to get to Kings Highway and Sequoia National Park. We stopped along the w…

- This really sucks - Million Solar Roofs Bill Dies in California Assembly - This bill had bi-partisan support until Assembly Democrats added union-sponsored amendments, including a provision that req…

(All photos and movies for this entry are posted here ) As I'm sure you have gathered, Anna and I are back in town. But are still somewhat recovering from our trip up to Burning Man, the Bristlecone F…

This seems well done: The LifeStraw can give a person clean water for a year and uses no energy except suction from the user. It filters up to 15 microns and also treats water with iodine impregnated …

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) On our drive up highway 395 to Burning Man we decided to stop off at the Ancient Bristlecone Forrest. We had wanted to visit the Inyo park last year, but r…

Unfortunately, this photoshop from Boing Boing sums it all up: --- On a supposed to be funny note, I saw over at San Diego Blog that San Diego has its very own satirical news site, browntide.com . Thi…

We are all packed up and hitting the long road up to Burning Man from San Diego. The plan is to do the 395 route, a bit longer, but much more scenic, and arrive in Reno tonight. A quick shopping trip …

My New Orleans photos The Asian tsunami was horrible and devastating. I watched with the rest of the world, and was saddened by the loss. But I also had no context for it. I've never been to Asia. I d…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Anna and I finally made it out to La Jolla Shores and Cove this weekend for some snorkeling. Water clarity wasn't great, but it sure beats red tide. We wen…

New York Trip Part 2 ( Part 1 ) (Photos for this entry can be found here ) (Five months later, I have finally gotten around to writing about the rest of my NYC trip) March 27, 2005 - After seeing ASSS…

As Oso mentioned in a comment bellow, Kamp Kanuckistan (representing the "stateless state" of the Free United Cartel of Kanuckistan) will be at 5:20 on Fetish at Burning Man this year, and will featur…

Better extremely late than never, right? I finally finished adding comments to all of my photos from three weeks in Peru last December. I also put up some random photos of last Sunday . Update: I have…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) My newest sister , Kim, has been taking wine classes at MiraCosta College. Wines of the world, California wines, you name it wines. Each semester they have…

Some interesting news: World's largest solar installation to use Stirling engine technology . 20-year purchase agreement between Southern California Edison and Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. will resul…

I saw some of these in Peru, interesting that they are just now starting to figure them out - Cryptic string-based communication system used by ancient Incan administrators may at last be unravelling …

Back in June, Anna and I went to the main San Diego INS/USCIS office in Chula Vista to be interviewed for my residency application. We weren't sure what to expect. Would they separate us and interroga…

In my last Burning Man post I found the Thermokraken grant page online and was excited that the Kraken might be coming back to Burning Man this year. I emailed the Therm guys to ask what the outcome w…

I'm not a fan of pork in bills, but it looks like one good thing for San Diego made it into the Transportation Bill - 11 million to take the trolley up to the UTC/UCSD area . I'm sure it is going to b…

Last night Anna, Pete, Paul, and myself drove up the coast highway looking for the red tide glow. We saw a bit at Torrey Pines but wanted a stronger glow, so we kept heading north. We were almost to S…

The golden spike was driven in to the playa of Black Rock City on Wednesday. You can see some photos and a write-up from the DPW crew right here . From there they start to map out the streets and grid…

(I'm back in town and my skin is slowly hydrating. I always forget how dry Calgary & BC can be) First, a little background as to why I was talking to homeland security in Canada - Calgary has a full s…

This post should show up as I am in the air. As Anna marked on her calendar, we will be "Visiting Far Away Canada" for the next two weeks. Our first stop is in Calgary , then on to Williams Lake to me…

I've finally gotten around to messing with my htaccess file and added the following: # Error pages ErrorDocument 404 /404.php # Redirect Redirect /blog/blog.html http://www.chrisnelson.ca/ Redirect /b…

About a month ago a coworker told Anna and I about their enrollment in a CSA program at Be Wise Ranch . She loved it, so Anna and I decided to give it a go. What the hell am I talking about? From here…

Skippy has a very snazzy WordPress Database Backup plugin. I just loaded it up on mine and it works fine (1&1 hosting). This is really nice for me. Previously I had to login to my hosting account, go …

Human footprints discovered beside an ancient Mexican lake have been dated to 40,000 years ago . Hopefully this will finally make people take a closer look at the Clovis and pre-Clovis viewpoints . Oh…

Saudi officials saying that the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will be unable to meet projected western demand in 10 to 15 years . This is a bit of a surprise, considering how optim…

On the 1st Anna, Rodene, Bean, and myself went to a night game at Petco Park. ( Photos here ) I've lived near downtown for almost 3 years, but this was my first time at a game. Not much of a ball fan …

I was curious about getting a Super Tangent (Apple Shuffle rip-off) as an el cheapo USB mp3 player. But no one seemed to be selling them on eBay anymore. In the search for the product under a differen…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Friday afternoon I had my right eye touched up with Wavefront LASIK . I had previously had both eyes done last Oct. While my left eye was better than 20/20…

Last night Anna and I went to watch The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill at the La Paloma theatre in Encinitas. Great movie, great theatre. We snuck some spring rolls from Siamese Basil into the show, b…

I posted photos of our visit Big Dog Ranch in Milpitas . The home, farm and vineyard of Mark (Anna's brother), Sandy (sister in law), and Max (nephew). They were great hosts for our trip to Sacramento…

I've been meaning to write on San Diego and housing, but so many other people already are: The Professor Piggington's Econo-Almanac deals with the San Diego market and has some really good analysis wi…

Great urban exploration site: Russian photos and text of abandoned soviet infrastructure Long-Lost Da Vinci Masterpiece Found Behind Palazzo Walls "A high-tech art sleuth finds a hollow space behind a…

Most of these are older links, but I just haven't had the time to post them. In case you missed it: A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has …

I've been recording some shows from This American Life. Why? Well, I seem to always forget to tune in on a Sunday, and streaming is just a pain in the ass. When I'm not using the audio on my computer,…

I've been MIA for a while. Lots of commitments at home and work have me just vegging when I finally get some spare time. Also, GTA: San Andreas is addictive. I love exploring the game world. Yesterday…

Prefab and you don't want to do much work? Target might have something for you . Actually, it looks like the work (done by Christopher C Deam ) might just be a " modern trailer park ". Somehow I think…

Exploration: The photos are older (2002), but the subject is quite fascinating - Jason Levine explores the high line . I had never heard of the high line , but I don't live in NYC. The high line is an…

Well... I've finally moved over to wordpress . Please let me know if anything is broke. The new site feeds are atom: http://www.chrisnelson.ca/feed/atom/, or RSS: http://www.chrisnelson.ca/feed/. You …

>New CDs Coldplay\X&Y - Seems decent enough, but to my ear they are still following their pop pattern. While it is worth listening to, it is nothing new. Foo Fighters\In Your Honor - This is a curious…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Linda Vista Shopping Center was one of the first shopping centers in the US designed as a unique space , separate from the streets and the houses. Built in…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Last Saturday night Anna and I went to check out this year's Fern Street Circus performance at Balboa Park. FSC is our very own Goldenhill circus recreatio…

(All photos for this are posted here ) On Friday of our Central Coast vacation we went to explore Poly Canyon . Poly Canyon is a nice outdoor area behind the California Polytechnic State University ca…

(All photos for this are posted here ) Anna and I took a mini vacation two weeks ago to the central coast. We rented a convertible for the trip and couldn't have picked a better time to do it - the we…

(All photos for this are posted here ) Friday, May 13th. Anna and I went to see John Prine at Spreckels Theatre . I wasn't very familiar with his music, but Anna convinced me I would like him. She was…

I've been messing with WordPress to see if I can transfer most of my site (html pages, blogger generated, and gallery) into it. One of the things to check on was the WP import for blogger. It works fi…

Anna and I are taking a long weekend and going to head up the coast in a convertible to SLO. The coast is fun by itself, but we will also be going to check out the Pasa Robles Wine Fest . We went in 2…

Burning Man Prep Last year we used a shade structure from form and reform . It held up well, and it was nice to use extra tarps off the main structure. The disadvantage is that you have 4 supports aro…

I love the internet. I wrote a post back in Feb about my astonishment at the popularity surge of moleskine notebooks. The meandering post was me being harsh on the mythical/fashionable status that the…

I finally got around to exploring the site that had the moss graffiti information, storiesfromspace.co.uk. It is a really fascinating bit of work. The Ideas Factory contains some projects to have peop…

(Photos from this entry can be found here: Chicano Park 35 years, Tijuana Bullfight .) First things first. Two weeks ago Anna and I went to the shindig for 35 years of Chicano Park. It was as we expec…

I need to get off my ass and post some photos of the Chicano Park 35 years celebration. There we talked to some guys that told us about the TJ bullfight season opener, featuring a young, but very famo…

I received my WP-FX701 yesterday. Stumbling through the manual's pictures (it is in Japanese) I managed to figure most of it out, but found an Olympus manual that helped for the other parts. So far I …

I just bought the WP-FX701 for my Fuji F810: It is not available in the US, so I had to buy it through Yuzo in Japan . The case and the camera have received good fan reviews from places like Digital D…

Gorgeous weekend. Nice and sunny. I've been thinking more and more about the PSP. If the keyboard turns out to be legit, and Sony lets people hack it , the PSP could be amazing. Surf the net, message,…

I am trying to enjoy the new Doves album. At this point it is more of an attempt to drown out the constant vocalizations of a coworker. This guy does nothing but talk all day. It doesn't even matter i…

My sister in law opened up yesterday's paper and said "Someone Pope'ed all over the paper". I laughed and am going to hell . A whitey like me doesn't have much ceremony in life, so it is good to live …

New York Trip Part 1 ( Part 2 ) Photos for this trip can be found here . March 26th We took a red eye from San Diego Friday night and didn't get much sleep for our arrival at 6am to New York. The midd…

I'm sick of this Terri Schiavo crap. People have spent massive amounts of time and money to "save" the life of a single person who is missing most of their brain and will never recover. What if instea…

I posted a few wildflower photos from our trip out to Borrego Springs on Sunday. >>> {Denzel 10:20:17 PM} Thank you for contacting Dell Consumer Customer Care Chat. My name is Shouvik, but you can cal…

I was so excited. My birthday was coming up and I was lusting after a new LCD monitor. The Dell 2005FPW went on sale for $487, and I jumped. Now I'm sad. My monitor arrived today, and it has a giant c…

My poor old nokia 8265 has given its all. It has performed well for 2 years, but is at the end of its life. The zero and end buttons work about 20% of the time. But more frustrating, it randomly drops…

Busy busy. Intoxicated with the smell of rosemary and pink jasmine, we purchased a crap load of plants this weekend. Some were gifts, the rest are going in the garden and the back porch. I stumbled my…

I posted my photos of Chicago , but have not commented on any of them. At this rate I'm wondering when I am going to get around to commenting the Peru photos.

I'm back from Chicago. Had a good time there, I like the city. I did alright with my first taste of cold in quite a few years. Living with the wind in my face for years in Alberta meant that Chicago w…

Tom's Hardware has an interesting guide up; Build Your Own XGA Projector . For around 300 bucks you can get a 15" LCD, tear it apart, and put it on a used overhead projector. Tempting, but I worry abo…

Wow. This is really eerie. This picture is the last of a set pulled off a memory card of some people that died in the tsunami wave. Click here to read the story, click on the gallery link at the botto…

Looking at my visited countries map: It would seem I need to get my ass off this continent for my next travels. However with Chicago, NYC, and Williams Lake lined up, I don't see that happening soon. …

Anna, Pete, Paul, and I splurged and went to Brockton Villa for breakfast on Sunday. Coast toast is damned good (imagine French toast souffle). It was funny, I had never seen the cliffs of the cove lo…

Another rain storm last night and this morning. I saw a ford explorer slam into the center concrete barrier near old town on the 5 south. It crashed into the wall right beside me and sprayed my car wi…

Ah, firefox has hit the big time. Why? It has a bug that IE doesn't. It has to do with IDN names mimicking real domains, IE hasn't implemented this yet. They use the international characters to make i…

Chicago's new Millennium Park has a giant reflective bean-like sculpture. It reflects the city skyline and people around the structure. What would I love to do? Take photos of it. Apparently, that mig…

Remember how the US was outraged over the oil for food scandal with the UN and Iraq? Well.. Turns out the US and UN condoned Iraq oil smuggling to Turkey and Jordan . "How is it that you stand on a mo…

Coming to you live from 32.717625,-117.143281 I brought my eyes in yesterday for their 3-month-post-zap-checkup. Everything seems OK so far. Right eye is around 20, left is closer to 15. Would be nice…

I get digitally fingerprinted at the "Application Support Center" today as part of the change of status paperwork. Seventy five bucks. Someone has to be making money off this. Bit strange really. I me…

A lot of people died, but it is good to see around 60% of Iraq has an ink stained finger . Though it looks like turnout in the predominantly Sunni areas is low . Finally killed all the bugs left in th…

Damn. It is an absolutely gorgeous day out. Everything is green and blooming. The ocean is that fantastic blue-green. And I am inside ripping out network cable. My comp day better be this nice.

I went to update my transactions today in Quicken and received the following message: "As of April 19th, 2005, in accordance with the Quicken sunset policy , Online services... Will no longer be avail…

Anna and I saw Finding Neverland at Hazard 7 last night. It was my first time back to Hazard since Madstone died off. They seem to be keeping most of the good things about Madstone, but I wonder if th…

Wow. 6-8 foot waves today , with some 10-15 on the reefs. That just doesn't happen very often in San Diego. I'm going to head down to the cove at lunch to check it out. If it looks as good as it sound…

The INS, sorry, USCIS, accepted our paperwork and our money. So I guess that's a good thing. I have a fancy employment card, a travel document on the way (4-6 weeks), digital fingerprinting at the end…

I thought I would write a little bit on some of the hiking/travel gear I love, since it is part of year-end sales right now. --- Mountainsmith Ghost Pack - 3000ci (49L), full suspension, weighs 2 lbs.…

Today is INS day for us. Happy bureaucracy everyone! I woke up at about 4am this morning. Picked up the cat off the bed, and put him outside. Anna said "What are you doing?" I replied, "He wants avoca…

Ah hah! Finally managed to get the Cuzco Xmas vids published . I had to upload them to an empty, accessible directory, then set Gallery loose on them via URL add photos method. I assume this doesn't u…

Thank you for contacting 1&1 Unfortunately that setting is not available for override or editing via the php.ini file. If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us. LOOK YOU JERK, I…

I finally got around to upgrading gallery. They added some stuff which freaked a bit on my config, but I eventually got it all going. They added RSS feeds , but I'm not sure how useful that will be. I…

Update: link to the full " hit-squads " article.

More rain in San Diego.. Feels very strange to have a week of rain. The Pentagon is debating whether to set up elite hit-squads to target leaders of the Iraq insurgency in a new strategy based on tact…

Posted photos of Peru , will be some time before I can comment on them all though. Why? The pile of work waiting for me when returning from vacation is a bit harsher than usual this time. We start to …

We spent new years in the car driving from LAX to a party with Amado and Elaine. Arrived home on the train and have been taking it easy.

Just checking in.. we are in Lima now, and fly out tomorrow to LA, then train back to San Diego on new years day.

Photos for this entry: Christmas celebrations in Cuzco and Sacsayhuaman Wow. What an interesting day. We woke up to construction and fireworks at about 6 am. OK, the fireworks, I get. Construction on …

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) The fireworks for Christmas eve started at around 6am today. The bastards. Little kids running around with fistfuls of gunpowder in paper; every mother's d…

(All photos for this entry are posted here ) Anna and I took the bus to Pisaq today. 2 soles. Hell of a deal, that's around 60 cents. The bus ride back was quite the experience though. The bus for Cuz…

04.12.21-22 Photos of Machu Picchu, Peru 04.12.17-22 Photos of hiking the Inka Trail to Machu Picchu We finished the trail on Dec 20, and I hiked up Wayna Picchu (mnt behind Machu Picchu) yesterday. I…

We got an update on the trail weather tomorrow; rain. The second day (climbing 1400m to a 4100 meter pass) it looks like snow. Fun! If it rains on the third day, we get to walk down 3000 wet stone sta…

We leave tomorrow for the Inca Trail. Still have a hard time getting enough air when doing the steep stairs around town, but figure I should be ok for the trail. I'm sure it takes longer than a few da…

(Photos for this entry can be found here: Cuzco, Peru ) Anna and I had an absolutely amazing dinner last night at a place called Greens. Really hit the spot. With two great dinners in a row, I figured…

(Photos for this entry can be found here: Arequipa, Peru ) We didn't end up doing Toro Muerto, as I was sick the night before (Inka revenge?). We spent the day cruising the city and snooping in on chu…

Hopped up on IncaKola, Anna and I survived the 30 hours of travel and managed to make it to LAX, San Jose (CR), Lima, and finally, Arequipa. It is a great city. We did the local thing today and checke…

This will be my last posting until I make one from Peru, or when I get back. I hope everyone has a nice holiday.

I should have started my Spanish weeks ago, but instead I started a day before I leave. Oh well. I rely on Anna too much for her Spanish I guess. I found in Costa Rica I could understand a great deal …

Today I get to go get poked and prodded as an alien. No, I'm not talking about xfiles type stuff. I have to go through the "Medical Examination of Aliens Seeking Adjustment Status" to prove I am a hea…

I like my new camera so far. It has a good weight and fits naturally in the hand. The controls are all well laid out and very easy to understand without grabbing a manual. When it comes time to slip i…

From CS Monitor - US Defense Department confirmed the contents of a report by the Defense Science Board that is highly critical of the administration's efforts in the war on terror and in the wars in …

I hope everyone had a good turkey/tofurkey day. I took the leap. A Fuji Film F810 is being shipped to me. It was pricey ($380) compared to the 550 (same lens and digital chip, 250$ after rebates). But…

Hopefully they realized that this idea was insane: Bush denied nuclear bunker-buster funds More privacy issue super happy fun time: Airlines Cough Up Passenger Data The US dollar continues to drop. Sn…

Anna, Pete, Paul, and myself hiked up Iron Mountain in Poway. It was a great hike, and a terrific view from the top. Our bodies did better than expected, as we have been slack on exercising for the pa…

PBS Frontline has an interesting interview with Clotaire Rapaille . He believes all purchasing decisions really lie beyond conscious thinking and emotion and reside at a primal core in human beings - …

Wow. I'm sure I'm late to the party, but I just now stumbled on the art of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison by way of an article at the CS Monitor. I was fascinated, so I looked up some of their work. I…

I figured it was about time for a quick update on my laser eye surgery: Every once and a while when I am very sleepy, I wake up and wonder where my glasses are. It is a funny feeling, but ultimately s…

Holy crap. Why is it that I have to read the Moscow Times to learn about The Constitution Restoration Act? Not only that, but why am I hearing about it 8 months afterwards? "acknowledge God as the sov…

Ah.. Life is sort of back to normal. We had a good time, but my familly has finally all been shipped back up north. Now we get to head back into the gym (amazing how bad a week can be for your health)…

Photos here

More rain, more raw sewage. This time 2.26 million gallons . Way to go San Diego, we are #1! Hah: Recently, we at GeorgeWBush.org happened to notice that our mail server had a default "catch-all" mail…

Wow, this is pretty amazing stuff: Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world... The 18,000-year-ol…

Uhg. I forgot to mention one of the worst parts about the whole LASIK deal. The drops for your eyes eventually work their way down the back of your throat (eyes -> sinus -> throat). And the meds taste…

I had wavefront LASIK done on Friday morning. It was an interesting experience. They gave me one last check out, then I got to wear a fancy hair net and take a valium and a vicodin. My metabolism is p…

From BBC: Narco Corridos . An interesting article on the music aspect of the smuggler/drug/gang culture of Mexico and the US. It has been a bit of a culture shock down here for me in this aspect. You …

Wow, I've never seen rain or wind in SD like today . You know what that means, boys and girls... Sewage for everyone ! All you CA voters out there, yes on 72 . Heard an interesting story coming into w…

This weekend is the GreenBuilt tour in San Diego . Here are a couple of pics from the tour last year, a day before the fires. The LA Times seems surprised, but I'm not: The Bush administration is supp…

Jon Stewart is the man. Clicky here to watch him sass up a storm on CNN's Crossfire. Or click here to read the transcript (about halfway down) BEGALA: Well, it's because, see, we're a debate show. STE…

Had my eyes measured the other day for LASIK & wavefront. I have very good night vision, so I figured my pupils were fairly large. They are a ginormous 8mm - that's a fancy medical definition for you.…

Busy busy. Even a simple wedding is a lot of work. -------------------- Wow, check out the picture: World's pollution hotspots revealed from space Cheese or security. Answer, cheese! Airport security …

I am going to get my eyes measured today for wavefront LASIK. I have wanted to do this for a while, but waited until the 3d technology was affordable ($2400). Surprisingly, the costs in Calgary were a…

This will be a busy weekend. Little Italy festival, Ray at Night, and One Nation at the Whistle Stop. Too bad I have so much work to do :( There are few travel shows out there, and even fewer that I l…

Wired covers the 70mpg Smart Fortwo car and their future plans in the US. Gizmo also covers some of their other designs . I want a smart fortwo cabrio, that thing looks fun . The articles are disappoi…

I found this really interesting to look through: Transmaterial is a catalog of materials, products and processes that are redefining our physical environment.

I just received confirmation for Anna and I to hike the Inca Trail on Dec 17th. We are going with Andean Life for our trek (you have to go with a certified guide and service). I'm giddy.

My links of the day: Stealing a nation - A new documentary by John Pilger, to be screened next Wednesday, reveals how in the 1960s Britain secretly and brutally expelled the inhabitants of the Chagos …

This looks fun, I might have to check it out @ Hillcrest : Pranksters vs. the WTO, The Yes Men .

Your links of the day: Keats' project asks some serious scientific questions -- and no small number of religious ones: If evolutionary theory is accurate, then God's genetic makeup should most resembl…

I went to the Adams Ave street fair this weekend with Anna. It was good, as usual. It was interesting to run into Bill Gookin. He is exactly like you would expect - a very friendly, geeky guy, obsesse…

Erica Durance. Erica and I went to the same school, she was a year younger. I knew her, but she was not a close friend or anything - the school was small enough that everyone sort of knew each other. …

My new testament might be a bit rusty, but I think Jimmy Swaggart might be even rustier than I : " I'm trying to find the correct name for it ... this utter absolute, asinine, idiotic stupidity of men…

Had a big garage sale on Sat and made 100 bones. I was pretty surprised, I was ready to truck the stuff off to Goodwill. Finally starting to move into Anna's place. In fact, I am on the free wireless …

Cleanup of C Street is goal of program . I perked up at this article, since I walk down C street fairly regularly to visit my gym (on 7th) and back, usually at night. Anna and I are also fans of the s…

Garage sale and a move this weekend.. I will be busybusy. But, I hope to catch Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - it is playing at The Ken . I liked the visual style of the first movie, and the explora…

Anyone out there with a circular-key-type bike lock (think Kryptonite U-Lock), might want to visit this page and go buy a new key lock: Opening a bike lock with a plastic ball point pen .

Anna and I went down and got our marriage license this morning. No hassles, it was pretty easy. I've been looking into all sorts of places in Peru, trying to figure out where else I want to go. I am r…

I posted my 395 and Burning Man photos . No comments yet. Amuse yourself with this cool time lapse of a guy driving from LA to NYC.

Reno. I spent a lot of time in Reno this last trip to Burning Man. Pete's flight was delayed about 11 hours, so Anna and I had a lot of time to wander around the place. - Casinos. Sure you can get a h…

Tired. Will post soon. Go here to wet your appetite.

A friend of Anna's was in town on Sat & Sunday. She had 2 walk-ins and 2 50% off tickets for The Two Noble Kinsmen at the Old Globe. She was kind enough to drag the unwashed masses to get a little cul…

I've started on my guide to San Diego . This is primarily for the people that are coming in from out of town to my wedding. Let me know if I have missed something, or am crazy about my choices. Packin…

Interesting: Proposition 71 to devote $3 billion to human embryonic stem cell experiments in California . It is good to see that people are trying to get around the Bush administration's attempt to ki…

Looks like the weather at Burning Man is shaping up well so far: weatherunderground , intellicast . Watered the garden at 10:30 last night. I could see some green showing up though.. Probably have to …

Miami Model: Free Trade Police State at Voz Alta was worthwhile. The place was packed out. The movie was thought provoking, and asked some good questions about the changing environment of protests (an…

Too much stuff going on. Prepping for Burning Man and a wedding can be exhausting. I would like to write up a bit of a guide/info bit on my favorite things in San Diego. I think this would help out al…

Watched The Blair Shark Project last night. I want my money back. The website screams BASED ON A TRUE STORY , but 99% of the film is just someone's imagination. I woke up early this morning, so I walk…

Anna and I are going to be married on Oct 30. My parents were married on Friday the 13th, so we were tempted to make it Halloween as a laugh. But Saturday will be easier to manage. The plan so far is:…

I love tea. I have found the perfect office brewer. This little baby is pretty slick. Hot water in, tea in, then set on your glass and it pours the tea out, catching the leaves. I drink a lot more tea…

I am a tired man. We spent about 4 hours putting in our garden today. The soil was quite hard and full of rocks, so it took a long time. I think it will be a fun thing to have though. Went to the new …

Congressional Budget Office says tax burden fell for those making $1M, increased for lower levels. Ok, I'm not really shocked.

Bill & Morgan (neighbors) and Anna & myself bought a plot at the golden hill community garden. We are heading there this weekend to dig it up and get ready. Everything about the garden (ecologically, …

I am engaged. Anna and I have been discussing it for ages, but we finally made it official Sat morning. Busy busy. Starting to get ready for Burning Man. Bought a shelter , the dome last year was just…

Air Canada just keeps getting worse and worse. Uhg.

The Law of Large Numbers guarantees that one-in-a-million miracles happen 295 times a day in America; Miracle on Probability Street The Saudis claim to have plenty of reserves, but a top energy expert…

Ophelia Rising - A co-worker of mine has done a lot of sewing over the the past year for an art project; a history of women's clothing. It is presented at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave. The…

Just got back from seeing Napoleon Dynamite . Great movie, very odd and funny. Make sure you stay past the end of the film.. extra stuff.

I've been working like a dog lately, so I haven't posted much. This morning I woke up to the sound of a hound trying to climb a pomegranate tree. Yeah.. My windows look out to pomegranate tree and a r…

I will try to post some pictures some time this week. Update: My photos of New Orleans

No one is perfect - patch for Firefox shell bug . Well, off to New Orleans tomorrow, and it could not be sooner. I worked the whole weekend and am feeling pretty beat. Even though they say it is opt-i…

Great, I am getting Iraqi reconstruction spam. Hurray for war profiteering. 'War profiteering', isn't that redundant? Oh how nice! Pentagon: Bush Military Records Destroyed Bush has declined invitatio…

Well I am completely moved over to Firefox. With these plugins, Firefox is the best thing out there. 1) Adblock kills most ads ( default adblock script ) 2) Bugmenot for all the sites that want regist…

I had no idea that snake plants could bloom. My plant at home (around 2ft) has just started. It is very fragrant, and quite nice. Who knew? The cat that lives on the roof next door has apparently had …

A depressing read at The Nation: The Bush Administration has so violated and corrupted the institutional culture of government agencies charged with scientific research that it could take a generation…

I don't think these people know the definition of a 'public employee'. A senior Defense Department official conducted unauthorized investigations of Iraq reconstruction efforts and used their results …

I went out to Phoenix last weekend to visit with Mike and Dan. It was a good time. We tubed down the Salt River and managed to not kill ourselves on the rocks. Though Mikey got a lesson in kinetic ene…

Walked down to TNT last night. The exhibit this month was on the Mexican-American experience. They did it like a hands on museum geared towards adults. Displays, buttons to push, etc. Quite interestin…

Saw Spiderman 2 last night with Jimmy and Anna. Have to say, despite the absurd science in parts, it was quite entertaining. So much for that whole 'seperation' issue: The Bush-Cheney reelection campa…

I have been using Firefox full time instead of Internet Explorer these days, this is one reason. With default popup blocking already taken care of by the browser, I just needed to find an ad blocking …

Watched Fahrenheit 9/11 last night at the GasLamp downtown. I love the GasLamp Theatre , but the poor place is usually dead, not many people want to bother with parking downtown. Not last night though…

Anna and I caught part of the soap box derby in Sherman Heights while on our way to Chicano Perk. It looked like a lot of fun, and it was great to see the community out. One of the racers brakes faile…

Ah yes, the wonderful life of the IT nerd; 20 hour days when servers fall down. Pigeons fluttering through a hole in the ceiling of a Spanish cathedral led an art restoration team to discover a hidden…

People have been freaking out about gmail. The storage space, the privacy issues, and more recently, about the usability of the web client. People were offering up gmail invites as prizes or favors. I…

My bus stop is near a seniors center downtown. That is a good thing. However, there is no outside seating for the center. This means that the seniors who still smoke (and there are a lot of them) come…

Finally watched City of God last night. I had heard great things about the movie, but finally got around to renting it. The movie is about a photographer growing up in the infamous 'City of God' slum …

A great story from NPR and Slate; First Into Libya . A group of 16 American tourists, the first to tour Libya in a long time. They did a good job on the story, it seems like an amazing place. Our main…

United Nations-mandated auditors have sharply criticised the US occupation authority for the way it has spent more than $11bn in Iraqi oil revenues and say they have faced "resistance" from coalition …

The first private manned spacecraft to fly to the edge of space and back .

We watched Control Room last night at the Ken. Thought it was a great look at the media, exposing biases on both sides of the world. I should really learn to sandboard . Nice: GOP avoiding investigati…

From foundphotos .

Looks like some things are finally leading back to people at the top; Rumsfeld ordered Iraqi terror suspect to be hidden off the books Nice: Batter-coated french fries are a fresh vegetable, according…

Earthquake.. still going... Update: Well, that was a nice roller. Looks like it was a 4.7 in the desert . Update: Scratch that, looks like it was a 5.1 off the coast of Baja . Interesting the two quak…

For all of you infiltration.org fans: Lost Destinations Undercity.org

The Telegraph understands that four confidential Red Cross documents implicating senior Pentagon civilians in the Abu Ghraib scandal have been passed to an American television network, which is prepar…

Sunday afternoons are quite enjoyable with public radio . First up is This American Life , then The Next Big Thing , then Sounds Eclectic . An easy way to get your weekly recommended intake of stories…

Few expected the gloss to be pierced by examinations of his past as an FBI informant , his support for the apartheid regime of South Africa, America's covert alliance with Saddam Hussein, or the killi…

Read this , and you will know why I won't buy a house in San Diego.

Show's over for Madstone Theaters That really sucks. I loved that place.

Well, the flames lost the cup . I saw them on ABC while I was at the gym working out. It is quite amazing how hard it is to catch hockey on TV here. Saw Harry Potter last night. I thought it was prett…

A Pentagon report last year argued that President George W Bush was not bound by laws banning the use of torture .

Is this Atlantis? Cheap gas because of the Iraqi invasion. Just not cheap for the US ... hah. Americans would trade rights for security - according to " experts " Then again, Cities Say No to the Patr…

Wow. Stumbled on a great little cafe near Imperial on 25th called Chicano Perk . Apparently I am out of the know, because they were having their 1 year anniversary today. Very nice place, awesome pati…

Super Size that? We saw Super Size Me last night. Great movie. Funny, disturbing, and thought provoking. Finally posted some pictures and started to comment some old ones (little bit of NYC).

There is a feral cat that hangs out in the courtyard of my building. This morning I walked outside to see him sharpening his claws on some furniture someone had left outside. Even the wild cats like a…

Don't ever buy anything from TechBuyersDirect.com. It seems that they are the latest in a string of less than honest online stores. After you buy something (assuming you actually get your order) you a…

Saw shrek 2 last night. It was a typical sequel, predicable, but still enjoyable. Ah Enron. They released some tapes of the traders talking about screwing over CA and how Bush wouldn't stand in their …

Dropped off and picked up Anna at the airport in Orange County this weekend. I'm sure it is a great place if you know where to look.. but OC just seems like nothing but malls and condos to me. Uhg. I …

Database Nation , a different look from Reason Mag. U.S. agencies collect, examine personal data on Americans , "I didn't know you cared what color my car was, how sweet" . Latest terror alert surpris…

Went to LA last night with Anna to see Madonna. A friend was supposed to go with her, but the concert was delayed a day and he could not make it. I ended up going in his place. I am not a big fan of h…

Wow. Crash Testing: MINI Cooper vs Ford F150 Interesting article here: Big and Bad

New Information Indicates Attacks in U.S. Nice: Five days into the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, with the superpowers on the brink of confrontation, President Nixon was too drunk to discuss the crisis with t…

All done with the mini-vacation. The drive up the coast (San Diego to San Fran) in the convertible was quite nice, really could not have asked for better weather. As usual, the view on the coast highw…

Sipping on some jasmine pearls Anna bought for me. They are quite nice. Heading up to Big Sur tomorrow for a bit of camping overnight. Then it is up to the bay. We are going to hitch a ride on Mark's …

A very interesting read from the Village Voice regarding the meetings of the National Security Council's top Middle East aide with apocalyptic Christians . The problem is not that George W. Bush is di…

Finally up and running on my RMA stuff.. we shall see if she holds together. The San Diego Reader does not lie: BEST VIETNAMESE-FRENCH SANDWICH I went here tonight while I was waiting for Anna. Awesom…

Just ordered my new backpack: Mountainsmith Retro Bugaboo , I almost bought it before, but it just went on sale with REI. Its not a huge bag, but is very comfortable and is pretty much the exact dimen…

Worked out my upper body yesterday and I am feeling it today. The US couldn't find them, unfortunately someone else has: Sarin artillery shell used in bomb Cambridge has done the first legal gay marri…

I finally got the blogger comments working. It is set to anon, so behave. Even if you hate onions, they make you cry when you kill them. I'm making a batch of 'mexican' rice. Basically a bunch of rice…

I still haven't figured the comment system, doesn't seem to like my template or something. I finally joined a gym. When I moved out of my old place (which had a tiny gym in the basement) I figured I w…

India just elected Sonia Gandhi in a surprise victory . Neoconomy - It sounds like a recipe for the kind of social unrest that can make an economy stagger, stagnate, or worse. A political backlash wou…

The rabbit hole goes pretty deep - Lawmakers Are Stunned By New Images of Abuse More than a year after Saddam's ouster, no proof of his ties to al-Qaida or September 11 has materialized. Some skeptics…

How Does Fat Kill Thee? Many Ways . An interesting write-up on fat from Wired News. I never really liked Chretien... but Martin is looking like a fool: Prime Minister Paul Martin says he believes Sadd…

Information Environmentalism . The information age, it seems, is data-contaminated. And it's not just the volume of information that's worrisome; it's the lack of context in which it's delivered.

Just got Lonely Planet Peru and Under the Tourist Sun in the mail. KPBS had an interview with the authors of Under the Tourist Sun a while back and the book sounded quite interesting. I can't wait to …

A round-up of info from Salon .

Uhg. Greenspan is a wanker . Yesterday he warned that America's soaring federal budget deficits were a huge threat to the US economy, even though interest rates are rock bottom. This is the same guy t…

Postponement of Release of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2003-2004" The release of "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record 2003-2004" scheduled for May 5, 200…

The chief of the U.S. Selective Service System has proposed registering women for the military draft, increasing the draft age to 34 , and requiring that young Americans regularly inform the governmen…

During my walk today I saw a $70k Mercedes Benz with the license plate "EMPATHI".

Israel's Housing Ministry has funneled nearly $6.5 million to illegal settlement construction in the West Bank in the past three years, more than half of it to outposts Israel pledged to remove, the s…

Testosterone on This American Life. I love the show, this one is no exception.

The Congressional Research Service says the Bush administration apparently violated federal law by ordering the chief Medicare actuary to withhold information from Congress indicating that the new Med…

Media Matters for America will document and correct conservative misinformation in each news cycle . Some nice ones in here: Rush Limbaugh's comments on the March for Women's Lives: "Some of these bab…

Just ordered Lonely Planet Peru (2004). I'm giddy. The plan is Peru for xmas. The Advertising Century. Ad Age takes a look . Sky Ear will be a one-night event in which a glowing "cloud" of mobile phon…

Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge to Patriot Act

How would you feel about a person who thinks it is okay to grab your shirt and use it clean their eyeglasses ?

The United States is preparing to significantly raise its estimate of the number of nuclear weapons held by North Korea, from "possibly two" to at least eight .

A damning new report reveals that the Bush administration has quietly removed 25 reports from its Women's Bureau Web site, deleting or distorting crucial information on issues from pay equity to repro…

We got rear ended/bumped on the freeway this morning. Big old brown van gave us a nudge at 65, just before we turned off an exit. The other guy turned the other way, so it is a good thing there does n…

Kerry rejects medals dispute - and hey, someone that was actually there: I watched Kerry throw his war decorations Why has the Bush administration has engaged in a three-year fight (which reaches the …

I downloaded (*gasp*) the first show of Iron Chef America. Hmm, not sure what to think. It has definitely lost some things on the trip over from Japan. I suppose there isn't really a way to get back t…

Tim Russert talking with Prince Bandar bin Sultan regarding the flight on sept 13th (the evacuation of approximately 140 Saudis just two days after 9/11). Bush says "I promote wetlands protection", th…

Finally posted some pictures of my folks out visiting and the Iron Mtn hike . Uhg. Bought 2 sticks of Kingston pc4000 RAM at bestbuy. What a mistake. They are horrible. One reboots my machine every 30…

Finally: A voting panel urges California officials to stop using a voting machine made by Diebold Election Systems , and recommends that the state consider filing civil and criminal charges against th…

The Condensed Bob Woodward . U.S.-Saudi relations an election focus . McCain calls for fresh troops for Iraq .

Bribes and black marketeering are rampant, Halliburton subsidiaries charging double for gas, Iraqi officials and Arabic translators unrestrained from pocketing millions of dollars, or even members of …

At least three senior United Nations officials are suspected of taking multimillion-dollar bribes from the Saddam Hussein regime. Oil for food scam? Iraqis enjoy new freedom of expression on Web journ…

Arab ally snubs Bush amid 'unprecedented hatred' for US. The Arab world sees us as giving a free pass to Israel, now the world looks at Iraq and sees a similar situation. The Pentagon deleted from a p…

Ahh. Day off. Or rather, spare time adjusted. Went up to the Museum of Man today in Balboa Park (3rd tuesday of the month is free). Wandered around but was facinated by the Peruvian mummies and Inca m…

One jumbo portobello mushroom. Add salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and a tiny bit of olive oil. Put on a bit of tin foil and slap it in the oven for 15 to 20. Mmm, good. It is surprising how meat-like…

The German Walmart ? I am a big fan of Trader Joes, turns out they are a child company. Eeenteresting.

Anna and I hiked up Iron Mnt yesterday. My legs are sore today. It was well worth the trip though. Was good exercise and the view was quite spectacular. The mtn was burned over in the fall, so it had …

Looks like Bush has another book to disbute - President Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan and was so worried the decisi…

I would like one of these for my front yard.

Director George Tenet and others at the CIA were briefed in August 2001 about the arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui in a paper titled "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly." But Tenet barely had any contact wit…

Ahhh.. things are finally starting to settle down. Had to head up north to Loma Linda on Tuesday to meet with some future clients. A very long day. Loma Linda would be a beautiful place, if it wasn't …

How a six-foot-three, 225-pound African-Canadian nearly became the King of the Jews .

Living in a place like San Diego, it has been pretty obvious that there is something very wrong with the housing market. Now the potential for a housing bubble seems to be getting some attention: MSNB…

More info on private military contractors in Iraq and the issues they bring up.

Woke up to the new ball park down town setting off fireworks. Uhg. I hope that isn't a regular thing. The lights on the thing have already ruined my poor view... I can only guess that the people in th…

Japanese print gallery . Searches Without Warrants - I can't wait! Critics say rest of us are carrying tax burden for super-rich - hardly news, I know. "Special Skills" draft coming ? E-vote fun .

Insight on the war in Afganistan.

I mentioned this story before. Here is the text of the Esquire story 'Hired Guns' . This is a very interesting story, I highly recommend reading it. After reading the story it is easy to understand ho…

No comments for a while, so you will just have to figure it out. NYC photos are here.

Text of a speech Dr. Rice was supposed to give on 9/11 - outlined a Bush administration policy that would address "the threats and problems of today and the day after, not the world of yesterday" the …

Interesting story on acid use in the US .

This guy's travel pictures are quite good. Makes me want to visit China.

This was an interesting story, sounds like the FBI needs a kick in the ass: Clarke 'Outsourced' Terror Intelligence . Richard Clarke was so frustrated by the FBI's inability to identify Islamic radica…

And off the road .

Finally got around to posting my MS Walk pictures , as well as the Desert Bloom & Fire Growth .

Anna gave me a pair of socks with the NYC skyline (though they still have the WTC towers in the image) as the clue to where I am headed tonight (return Tuesday). Wow, NYC. This will be my first time, …

This is an interesting write-up: TNR Logic Jam

Black Ships and Samurai . 200 Japanese and American graphics depicting the 1853-1854 mission by Commodore Matthew Perry that led to the opening of Japan to the outside world. The Core Exhibit brings t…

Much of the right in the US believes that free markets make the best decisions. I'm not sure what they think of this: Gay-tolerant societies prosper economically . This is an interesting article - All…

Watched a documentary called Stevie last night. It was surreal and very sad. It makes you wonder how their life would be different if certain things changed. Looks like the 9/11 panel is coming down h…

CLUE and Choicepoint being used for Govt investigations . Ah choicepoint, my old nemesis. A while back I was in a 6 month fight with AAA about my driving record being linked to some crash that occurre…

We all love it. I have been giving SpamBayes a try (open source Outlook plugin). It took about 3 days to get it trained (helps if you have folders of good and bad messages for it to start out with), b…

The cacti in Anzo Borrego drop little Cactus Bombs. This is a little blob of cactus, with spines on all sides. They get stuck on things and become new plants. My Sanuk sandals are very comfy, and very…

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is the best movie I have seen in a while. Funny, painful, thought provoking. Run, don't walk. Anna and I went out to the desert today to see if we could spot some…

I seem to be on the road to recovery from this weird chest pain thingy. An infection around my lungs or something.. I love it: Iraq On The Record - prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is …

Anna and I saw A Silent Love and El Misterio del Trinidad last night at the Latin Film Fest. A Silent Love is the story of a Canadian teacher who goes to Mexico to propose to a young woman he met thro…

Watched Radio Favela at the latin film fest last night, loved it. Was the story of a pirate radio station in the slums of Brazil. After 20 years, they just got a licence a little bit ago. Just got bac…

As everyone knows, yesterday was a sad day in Madrid . One wonders what changes this will bring, depending on the culprates. Good plan on Kerry's part - a d-bunker blog to take a close look at GOP att…

Something that is dear to the hearts of southern California, flip-flops: My award for flip-flop of the year goes to.. the Sanuk Lazy Boy! Expensive ($20), but they are the most comfortable things you …

Microwave popcorn not so great ? Gee, I can't wait for this: Space-Ads .

'Unknown Soldier' interview. Remember when republicans attacked Clinton for letting donors stay in the white house? yeah... Media to blame for crap coverage of US intel on WMD's. Interesting. McCain w…

The situation in the US is not good . Total employment rose by just 21,000 in February, well below forecasts of around 150,000. But here is the kick in the gut - the 21,000 new jobs created was entire…

Private armies in Iraq. There was an interesting and disturbing story in Esquire a month back from a guy traveling with a private security force in Iraq. Best place to ride a motorbike like a maniac? …

Right... "The biotechnology industry is considering a lawsuit or statewide legislation to nullify a successful Mendocino County ballot initiative, the first in the country to outlaw the growing of gen…

California Supreme Court declined a request to shut down San Francisco's gay weddings. Hey, you can even send flowers through the net. Bush calls for changing the constitution to ban gay marriage.

Apeonaut burst onto the scene several years from now. He travelled back in time with a dire warning from the future, and with the coolest monkey beats known to apekind. From deep within his base on th…

Greenspan suggested cutting future benefits and raising the retirement age of social security . Yet the projected Social Security shortfall over the next 75 years is less than one-third the projected …

Hastert to block 9/11 commission extension . Rice, Bush, and Cheney declined a request to testify. I'm not exactly sure how Bush can say he is giving the commission his full support. Update: Looks lik…

On March 14th I will be doing the MS Walk. I wanted to do the MS Walk this year to show support. We found out around 7 years ago that my father has Multiple Sclerosis. MS was not new to my familly, as…

Just posted my Costa Rica pictures in the Gallery. No captions yet, so you will have to use your imagination for now.

I realize I post too many links, but these two are really worth checking out: The top Censored Media Stories of 2002-2003 . Some of this has been picked up in limited bits (Depleted Uranium Rounds and…

Translated from Lost in Translation (from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/21/fashion/21LOST.html) DIRECTOR (in Japanese to the interpreter): The translation is very important, O.K.? The translation. IN…

U.S. Still Mining Terror Data - Mega Super. When I came back from Costa Rica I got to experience the new border security. Everyone not from the US was digitally finger printed and had their mug snapsh…

Awake early because of the 2 hour time difference and the sleeping schedule. The last 3 nights we were there we had a 5 am wake up call from a howler monkey. If you tried to make the loudest, deepest …

We really loved the country. Will post info and pictures soon.

All packed. I leave tonight and get back next sunday.

I am starting to pack for Costa Rica, but keeping light. I decided to leave my snorkel stuff at home, as there are only a couple spots where it is decent in Costa Rica. I think I can rent some stuff i…

Why Canadians are healthier - An impressive array of comparative data shows that Canadians live longer and healthier lives than we (americans) do. What's more, they pay roughly half as much per capita…

Peak Oil . Getting all ready to head to Costa Rica for 9 days.. I can't wait.

A Message From Pat Robertson and the "Vote No On Jesus" Campaign. I love McSweeney's.

Bush stonewalling the 9/11 report . Electronic voting machines do not equal accuracy . Salon story here . Free markets fix everything . Or not. More here . New York City Council approved a resolution …

(+) Saw The Station Agent, liked it. (++) Feb 1st. Met up with Randi (sister) and Jeff in Vegas, was good to see them and Vegas was fun . (+) Feb 2nd. Bought 'Alien Jerky' and ate at 'The Mad Greek' i…

The Web Hosting company I was using for this site (Endore.net) went out of business. They didn't give any warning and shut down their servers on Thursday night. Luckly, I had backups of everything. I …

Drug companies not publishing all the studies on their own stuff? I am shocked. From Harpers, an interview with Israeli soldiers that appeared in Kol Ha'Ir, a Jerusalem weekly Do it yourself Absinthe …

Eep. Not his 'good foot' . I Am VADIM - Russian urban spelunkers Best pictures of 2003 - Good, but best? I dunna.

Day 19 photography Interesting project, some cool entries - Thrift Store Art . Photography by location .

Nerdy art post: Ryan Church - sci fi paintings Istvan Pely - Some amazing 3d/digital work

Hopefully just the first of many decisions: Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional .

Here is video clip in honor of David Kay resigning from his post as Chief Weapons Inspector in Iraq. It is from the Uncovered documentary.

This is a good writeup on the hundreds of military bases the US has spread all over the globe. A bit mind blowing when you consider the reaction if say, China, tried the same thing. "We have no desire…

9/11 Witness Says She Exposed Infiltration , Tells Kean Committee She Lost Bureau Position; Sen. Grassley Sees Potential Espionage Breach

Uhg. Shame that it is the stupidest people that pass on more genes. More evote security warnings. Mars photos from Euro probe. Lot of new 'lie-detector' technology coming soon. False positive? What's …

This is for people who say that something like the witch trials could never take place in this day and age.

I love it when random events come together.

The joy of Wal-Mart.

Follow up on the space stuff: The Straight Dope on why we put humans in space . The short answer, ego. Hah, everywhere you look , Halliburton.

Lovely - Bush Plans $1.5 Billion Drive for Promotion of Marriage The Rise of the Religious Right - "With the apathy that exists today, a small, well-organized minority can influence the selection of c…

Wow, I just can *not* wait for the upgrade of Patriot Act II : Expanding on the original, the new measure is said to instruct the government to build a database of citizen DNA information that could b…

Royal Journal of Found Art . Patricia Piccinini 's art. 50 years of pictures in China. Lastly, the Ruins of Detroit . I love this site. Stuff like this blows my mind.

NYC street art . Go for a virtual walk around NYC. An interview with Swoon (paper/carving graffiti). And even more street art links for you! banksy . FAILE . defumo (mode)

Torture by proxy .

from free speech !

I just slacked and watched some movies. I'm boring, I know. I printed out some of my digital pics to send to people for xmas with shutterfly . They did a really great job - the local places I tried di…

I was told about the Iran quake by a friend this morning. I looked in the paper, nothing. I watched 30 minutes of CNN, nothing. I went to bbc news online and finally found some information. The story …

Super Sale!

Wow - 9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable . I didn't think that this would ever come out. I want to see someone run a comercial showing this . More here . A widely publicized Iraqi document that purpor…

Someone got the real story on the Saddam capture. Speaking of Saddam, here is to memories . More fuzzies here . POLApola Hah - Lauryn Hill going off on the catholic church at the vatican christmas con…

Might be old news to some people - but I found this story on old masters using high tech (image projection) for their works.

This morning I heard that Albertson and Ralph's (two of the tree grocery stores that are on strike) profits were down 50%. Most people are going other places it seems. Anyway, I went to whole foods (g…

Biggest! Prime! Ever! Someone finally realizes what a problem Diebold is . More here . Interesting graphics design site. I had seen stuff about this guy before, but Wired just did a full story on him …

I trust everyone's (in the US) turkey/ tofurkey day was nice? "It hasn't bothered my health any" Burning Alexandria . I don't know . Surprisingly good read at Rolling Stone . Clean Surface .

Though I understand it only takes one person to create this , I heard nothing but great music when I was there. Potholes . Hmmm . We all have a chemical cocktail in our blood. Sounds fun !

PatriotAct ++ Motes !

Our old friend the patriot act is back. Updates to it are moving through congress: Yahoo link , Associated Press link .

So London has the biggest weekday protests in history, Turkey is being bombed , and this is the top news item in the US press.

Kurt Wenner's street paintings . Cool .

Nanotubes . I find the whole thing rather interesting as I am currently reading Engines of Creation . Think I will pass on the green onions . Cool sign project . Privacy watch . Interesting green retr…

Nice one , Ashcroft.

I'll try to get some pictures posted this weekend. Update: Boston photos here

Right ... Grope PI We all need one ! Uhg .

I love this stuff (thought cryptonomicon was a great book), so this was an interesting read . Russia - "if they can do it, so can we !"

Too bad . More of Isreal .

Isreal's tactics are backfiring . With US help, Afghanistan is number 1 ! I'm not surprised . " Intelligence Problems In Iraq ". Iraq, testing ground - and probably not legal by Geneva Conventions. Th…

Anna Gosselin and I carved two pumpkins each last night. I do believe they are the best pumpkins, EVER! The halloween photo proof is here . Interesting . Thanks for the info !

Finally posted pictures - LA , Colan down , and Little Italy . Right now scripts ranch and a bunch of other stuff is burning up. They sky is orange and it is pretty interesting. It is as if someone pu…

This is a great read. As I was telling Jimmy, if I ever had fat stacks of cash, this would be an amazing project. The potential is quite unbelievable.

Found this interesting page of art from Japan (seems to be mostly Tokyo). Some of my favorite pieces of this are paintings on street people's cardboard homes .

A photo journal of Afganistan.

Faux News (we distort, you comply). How can anyone read this transcript and not be disgusted?

"It's not my language" I guess I missed Marriage Protection Week . Nothing to see here, move on . My god is better than your god . For those of you that are interested in 3d stuff, the new version of …

More arnie fun. Funny . Thanks Dick !

Good ole Pat Robertson . Diebold voting and and the Georgia upset. Kurzweil pushing the AI envelope .

Depressing. I saw this photo at 'Border Crossings', a showing at TNT on Oct 2nd. Not as impressive at that size, but the one showing was aprox 40x30. I thought it was beautiful and sad. I loved it. I …

Do a google search on "We entered the country at midnight on March 26" . You will find something a bit disturbing. The exact same letter to the editor, sent to many different news papers, by different…

Ahrnold today . Tells davis to stop working, appoints a supply side economist, calls his groping old news and wont answer questions he said he would. Looks like we are in for a fun ride. Ironic and sc…

Lesson number 85,923 on why DMCA is bad. A computer science grad student at Princeton wrote a report showing the CD DRM (digital rights management, in other words, you can not backup or rip the CD to …

Nice one, Vatican . *shakes head* Its war !

"I'm sick of politicians running our state", "he will change Sacramento" Somehow people forget that gov is not king, his only real power is to veto stuff (I'm exaggerating here, but thanks to reminder…

Info from wired about the evoting machines . It would not be hard to mess with them.

Come one, come all to the best innovation of the year ! I'm going to start a company now, 8 blades. By the time I get to market they will be on 5 blades. I will dominate! Interesting link . Nauseating…

I'm interested in the actual scientific data , but the commentary seems a bit motivated. Maybe he wants to be Dr Phil for men. By the way, forgot to post this before - a bunch of us saw "Lost in Trans…

What is wrong with this picture: 14% more Millionaires this year than last Consumer confidence drops More Americans lack health insurance Longest job slump since WWII Job watch

On thursday night Anna, Colan, and I saw red tide at La Jolla shores. It was quite amazing. Red tide is phosphorescent when disturbed. Some waves looked like they were charged with blue/green electric…

Ocean ph dropping?

Have been saying this for ages: Children find violence on TV news more disturbing than anything else on screen

Even Rumsfeld sees no link between 9/11 and Iraq

This is just messed up : Cheney still trying to claim "ties between Hussein and al Qaeda" Even Wolfowitz says: Iraq had no part in 9-11 or Al-Qaeda . Cheney spends time trying to link Iraq to 9/11, th…

20 questions . This guy is a bit of a rambler, but he highlights the very scary stuff that the PNAC comes up with and some thoughts about 9/11. The PNAC includes people like Dick Cheney (now vice-pres…

Posted some of my burning man photos .

Back from Burning Man. Tired. Will post pictures soon.

I am sure this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I figured I would post it anyway. I am currently reading The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil - and really enjoying the book. Sort of the sa…

I have been slacking and not updating this page. We went to Montreal and then a week later, to Calgary. Both were a good time. I have pictures, I just need to caption and post them. Update: Montreal p…

I have been very busy lately, but I will try to post some pictures of my latest trip. I am headed up to Calgary 9-12, that should be fun. The Onion article

Finally got into the golden view apts. I haven't spent much time in the apt yet, but I like it so far. It has a bit of a view, and the main area is nice and bright.

sad: Ford's 2003 average vehicle mpg is lower than the 1903 Model T.

I saw the Fern Street Circus on the weekend - a local circus group from Golden Hill. Reminded me a bit of burning man - Good bad ugly, it was all there with no apologies. The genuine creativity and en…

Photos from Anza Borrego and San Francisco are up.

Neo-conservatives Lame site disign, but legit information. Go here if you want to see the PNAC's page. Lot of people with their names on it: Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, etc. New tax …

This is seriously disturbing. Wired has the scoop. What national security experts and civil libertarians want to know is, why would the Defense Department want to do such a thing? The embryonic LifeLo…

We went up to San Louis and were in Pasa Robles Saturday for the wine fest. Wine was good, weather was amazing, and the local produce was amazing. I really need to start doing more farmers market shop…

I stumbled on this guy's paintings - I love them.

Physicists have concluded that space is infinite and that, therefore, there are an infinite number of other universes out there identical to ours - "In infinite space, even the most unlikely events mu…

This is an interesting read.

I was at home depot last night looking for some supplies for my coffee table. There was an entire wall of Ralph Lauren paint and painting accessories. It was very surreal. Maybe the paint comes with a…

Me: "I have been trying to get my good driving bonus for the last 6 months. I've been paying the inflated insurance the entire time." AAA: "It shows you had an accident" Me: "No it doesn't. Your screw…

Pizza Hut and Burger King are doing their part to make Iraq better . Iraq needs multinational corporations and fast food, badly!

Unbelievable. A former exec of Internet advertising giant DoubleClick will be the Department of Homeland Security's first privacy czar, Bush administration officials said. For those of you that are un…

[08:58] dan_kowalyshyn: we lowered our alert status to sunset orange [08:58] Chiefwagonburner: when is it going to burnt sienna? [08:59] dan_kowalyshyn: I need an Adobe color chart to keep up [09:00] …

Have a bit of a backlog of news, so I will post a bunch: I finished Culture Jam last week, finally. A bit rambling, and some of the options are a bit out of my reach, but still a great read. I bought …

More things to worry about. Trail of a Bullet: The depleted uranium issue.

Watched bowling for columbine this weekend and liked it a lot. I think Mike did some creative editing on certain timeline bits with regards to the NRA stuff (some clips were taken from different times…

Rumsfeld with his friend saddam in the 80's: I The Onion. Sad that this is funny .

Apparently it is OK for US agents to bug offices and intercept the emails of UN Security Council members. Like it or not, the world gets a war thanks to W, because he knows what is best. US vs. Them. …

When Saddam was a good guy.

The rules of war are weird: "The stunned Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade were forced to tell the Iraqis they were not firing at them, and ordered them back to their home country telling them it was …

Jimmy sent me this link . The site is fantastic. I think I need to reread 1984.

New Scientist SUV report - "President Bush's new $674 billion economic stimulus plan includes tax incentives for small businesses to acquire SUVs - incentives so generous that many will effectively be…

The news is a bit surreal these days. It seems like bush is hell-bent on war. One day he says 'We don't need a regime change in Iraq, just that they comply with the UN.' Iraq starts to destroy missile…

Just posted the new look for my site. It is very simple, I like it that way. The logo at the top left is a bar code of me (birthdate, and initials in ascii). This was inspired by a piece of art by Sco…