For Want of a Nail

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost
For want of a horse, the rider was lost
For want of a rider, the battle was lost
For want of a battle, the war was lost
For want of a war, the nation was lost

I’m not sure who actually penned this little saying but I know that Ben Franklin printed it in Poor Richard’s Almanac. Its used for the title of a book that I’m currently reading called For Want of a Nail. The book is written as a 200 year history of the North American continent assuming that General Johnny Burgoyne defeated the Americans under General Gates at the battle of Saratoga.

In 1777, the British launched a two-pronged attack along the Hudson River with the intent of cutting New England off from the rest of the colonies. Burgoyne’s force was coming from Canada and met an American army under General Gates and General Arnold. The Americans not only beat Burgoyne in a pitched battle, but because of the inability to retreat, he was forced to surrender completely. It was the only good news that came that year as Washington was pushed back from Philadelphia and the city was captured.

In the book, Burgoyne manages to defeat the American force, aided by reinforcements that arrived from the south and proceeds to capture Albany. With the loss of Philadelphia, the more moderate faction of Congress enters into negotiations with the British and a formal reconciliation is hammered out in 1778. In the book, the British give fairly generous terms and only end up executing a few major players in the war: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, Richard H. Lee, and Patrick Henry. Washington is convicted but sentenced to a prison colony.

The book then takes an interesting twist with the flight of some of the second tier founding fathers. Under Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Gen. Nathaniel Greene, a group of settlers flee, to what for us would be Texas, and found a new nation called Jefferson. Back in the colonies, the territory is reorganized with a certain level of autonomous rule under British supervision and renamed the Confederation of North America (C.N.A.)

Currently I’m in the mid 19th century where the C.N.A. has just reorganized under a strong central government (very much like Canada now) with Gen. Winfield Scott elected as Governor-General (essentially the Prime Minister). Meanwhile the country of Jefferson has grown to include all the territory from the Rio Grande to within 50 miles of the Mississippi. The chapter I’m on now jumps back in time to the early part of the 19th century and will lay the foundation for the consolidation of Jefferson with the struggling republic of Mexico to form the United States of Mexico (U.S.M.).

For the most part it’s fairly believable. I question some small aspects of the development, including the economic factors that lead to the abolition of slavery in the C.N.A. But it reads well and is fairly entertaining. My only real complaint about the book is the authors annoying lack of maps. There is one broad map at the beginning of the book but no smaller maps that would help you determine where certain cities are. Obviously I know where all the old cities are, but as new cities spring up, it’s hard to determine where certain cities are. For example, the author mentions the city of Michigan City several times, which I think is somewhere in either the location of Cleveland or Toledo, but I can’t be sure and there is no map to give me a better idea where it is. But other than that I think it’s quite well done.

Probably the most interesting aspect is the constant use of footnotes, referencing books that don’t exist. It really gives it the flavor of a true history of a world that we might have experienced in some other reality. I’m not done, but from what I’ve read, I would highly recommend it.

Tonight You Will Play Miss Saigon,

Mrs. X and I went to see Miss Saigon over the weekend. How was it? Pretty good. We both had seen it before and when I look back on it, I think this version was a little better. The quality of the singing and acting was about the same (although I liked the engineer in the previous version I saw a little better) but the set and choreography was better in this production. The helicopter scene was done with a hologram which allowed for greater capacity of movement and making it seem more real. There was also an interesting dance with a dragon and tiger puppet during the Year of the Dragon routine, which added to the intensity of the song. The theater was nice too. This was my first time to the Aronoff Center and it is quite an impressive place. Good sound, nice build and very orderly. Mrs. X and I look forward to seeing another show there.

We also had the holiday party for my work the same day. The party was somewhat bleh, especially since we had already eaten before the party started. But it was held at the ballpark downtown which meant that we could go into the Reds Hall of Fame. Very enjoyable and even had some fun interactive things. My favorite was the do it yourself press box where you got to make the call on your choice of 6 events in Reds' history. We called Lou Pinella throwing first base in 1990 and the scoring of the winning run in game 2 of the 1990 World Series. I was complemented by the way I said, "... and this one belongs to the Reds." Not bad for a 2 year transplant.

So it was a fun weekend. But now I get the fun of running out for a meeting with the finance people for the house. I can only imagine what joy that will be.

Alternate History dilemma

I was checking in with the news over at Istapundit when I noticed a link to the latest Harry Turtledove novel. His latest foray involves a land invasion by the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Reviews are mixed and deal mostly with one of my greatest gripes against the alternative history that's out there: poor writing.

As Mrs. X can tell you, I speculate on alternative outcomes a great deal. I play wargames and constantly opine during reality shows about what tactical moves a person needs to make to further themselves. I've also got both What If? books, which are essays exploring the origins and outcomes of various alternate scenarios. However, I am greatly frustrated by most of the regular writing concerning alternate history, despite some interesting premises.

Now, some of the books wouldn't appear on my radar because the scenario is too out there. One book supposes that Germany, enraged by the US refusal to cede the Philippines and Cuba to them, mounts an invasion of Long Island in 1901. Mildly interesting premise but I can't see the British navy allowing a naval group and transport ships out of Germany on that scale. German colonies represent a threat to British interests in the Caribbean and Australia.

However, other books do have interesting ideas. A carrier group from 2021 accidentally sent back in time to 1942 and the cultural clash that results; a Roman empire that never fell but went on to conquer the world; and everyone's favorite, what if the South won the Civil War. All good premises. Most have been explored, but have fallen badly because of poor writing. I tried to read Harry Turtledove's How Few Remain and couldn't get more than a few chapters into it. The characters were poorly written, badly developed, repetitive, and strangely out of place for the time period.

I've seen others that may be good, but I have yet to have a chance to read them. Most other books seem to deal with if the Nazis had won WWII scenarios. Interesting but it becomes an old premise after a while. I'm actually interested in a book that I've seen and may give a chance to that explores 200 years of American history assuming the Americans lost the battle of Saratoga and, as a result, the American Revolution.

But, again, but for the writing style...

TAR and Lost

First, a welcome back after the long Turkey Day weekend. It was quite tasty and we had a good time at my parent's place. The drive was a little interesting as we ran into some nasty snow just north of Peoria, but it was almost gone by the time to got my parent's place and completely gone on the way back.

Now for some TAR thoughts. I've shown once again why I am very poor at picking things on TV. In the very first episode, I picked the Mormon girls to finish in that cursed 4th spot. But they ran into a little snag in the hayfield. They kept unrolling bales and couldn't find a clue. They were out there for 9 hours and had unrolled around 100 bales before Phil mercifully went out there and told them that they had been eliminated. In all that, they must have simply overlooked some of the clues as there were 20 clues hidden in various bales. After the 8 taken by the previous teams, 12 remained and only a few bales were left by the time Phil made it out.

So, someone else will have to take the role of favorite team and finishes 4th. I've softened a little on the wrestlers but I still think that the wife is a shrew who gets frustrated a little too easily and lashes out at her husband. Mrs. X and I also think that the screamer (or Blue Hair) has taken shots at his wife with his fists before. It would be interesting to see if he gets arrested either during or after the show for assault and battery. I am still however sticking with the long distance dating couple as a favorite for the top 3 and maybe even to win it all. Now watch them get eliminated next week ;)

Now for Lost. I've been sucked into this show from the first episode. I like the mystery surrounding it which is even cleverer than The X-Files, even though X-Files had (so far) better stand-alone episodes. This week's episode was the first full trip into the metaphysical world. We were teased with it in the Doc's Dad episode, but we jumped full in. Mrs. X was not thrilled with it as she thought it was ethically unsound of the psychic to send the pregnant girl on a doomed flight so that she would be isolated to raise her child by herself. I didn't mind myself.

The other grab was the reveal of the mole. Mrs. X has been pointing out Ethan to me for the past couple of episodes but only because the actor is related to Tom Cruise in some fashion. Still, I began to think that there might be something different about this guy in the closing moments of the episode. We've seen occasional randoms but never with obvious point outs like Ethan. I shall be interested to see what this group of other people on the island are and if they are connected in any way to the French woman.

One further thing that interests me is the use of Locke to represent choice and wilderness. At least twice now he has been shown representing the choice between light and dark. First with the backgammon set and then in the dream with his eyes. There is something important about this man, but what it is, I don't know just yet. I may have to start scouting some boards such as TWoP to see what theories there are.

More BCS Mess

I will first applaud both Clemson and South Carolina for openly declining bowl bids. I would have liked to see Lou Holtz go out on a better note, but both teams needed a severe beat down. It has been suggested that the schools may not have imposed such harsh penalties if it hadn’t been for the Artest fight but if that means that something good came out of that ugly incident, then so be it.

The BCS has declined an opportunity to straighten itself out until 2010 at least. After ABC declined the new package (except for the Rose Bowl) Fox made an offer that was accepted. The BCS will be adding a 5th game to be played at one of the four major bowls on a rotating basis starting in 2006. Some people would like to think that this would solve the problem of a disputed national championship, but it really won’t. Each scenario is different. Last year we had a situation where we needed to have USC and LSU play each other. The year before, it worked out fine, as Miami and Ohio St. were the only undefeated teams that year. Prior to that there was only one team that was the clear number one and a dispute as to who should play them (remember Nebraska getting the shot against Miami over Oregon despite not even getting into the Big 12 title game).

Even this year, it wouldn’t work. Let’s assume there was this 5th bowl game being played at the Orange Bowl this year after the 4 others. With no 1 vs. 2 system, the bowls would pick as they normally do with the BCS as a guideline for various at large berths. The bowl structure would work out as such:

Fiesta: Oklahoma vs. Utah
Rose: USC vs. Michigan
Orange: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech/Miami
Sugar: Auburn vs. California/Texas

We don’t know who will win the ACC yet and the Sugar Bowl would have the option of taking either Cal or Texas as they are projected to finish in the 4th and 5th BCS spots respectively. Utah is 6th but there is so much buzz about them that there is no way that the Fiesta Bowl would not take them for an undefeated match vs. Oklahoma.

Anyway, the problem immediately presents itself. Let’s say that the winners of each bowl game are Oklahoma, USC, Boston College and Auburn. BC is an upset win and their record keeps them out of the title game, but you still have 3 undefeated conference champions fighting for a seed in the final bowl game. It’s the same problem as this year. The bowls don’t want it but you need a playoff system. The top 8 teams go to the BCS bowls. Then the winners are ranked and play each other in 3 more bowls. In this example you would have USC play BC in a 1 vs. 4 match, while Auburn played Oklahoma in a 2 vs. 3. It’s a hard road but one that works. Unfortunately, we can’t even begin to dream of this scenario until 2011.

Mrs. X and I will head out of town for Thanksgiving tomorrow so no more updates this week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

I Went to a Fight and a Game Broke Out

I know most of us are already sick of hearing every Tom, Dick, and Harry talk about the various fights that went on this weekend, but I can't help putting my two cents in. Despite the constant talking, I still don't know how the whole thing really got started (ie. what started the fight between Artest and Ben Wallace). I just know that both teams broke up to calm down, the cup of fluid came down and then all hell broke loose.

Ultimately, fault does lie with Artest. Yes, fans should not be breaking the plane of the field, but even then, you can't go up into the stands. Now, if the fans come on to the field, then anything is legal. The two Detroit fans who walked onto the court got what they deserved. I personally enjoyed Jermaine O'Neal's clocking of the second fan as he tried to get up. You could see the man's face contort as he laid his fist in. Still, nothing excuses the original incident of heading into the stands. I imagine Detroit police will be doling out several fines for the throwers but arrests will be reserved for the court walkers I think.

One other interesting note is how things got shown on the Today Show this morning. They were discussing the punishments handed out and all they talked to were Detroit Piston's fans. In fact, one hot dog vendor went so far to say that he felt everything was fair except for the 6 game suspension that Ben Wallace got. He felt that was too harsh. I can't imagine why. And we wonder why the exit polling results were skewed.

Regarding the second fight of the weekend, I would go ahead and say that most of the fault lies on Clemson's side. I don't know which player it was, but a Clemson player pulled a very cheap shot on the South Carolina quarterback while he was down. Frustrated about being down, the SC linemen took exception to this and the fight broke out. It was interesting to see Lou Holtz out there trying to break it up. The sad thing is that the Clemson players were ones more at fault, they reacted non-shallantly by blaming the Indiana-Detroit fight for saying it was okay, and its probably the SC players who are going to get punished more. Lou Holtz will come down like the insane hammer of God that he is and Tommy Bowden will probably dismiss the whole incident as excess energy. We'll see but I'll just go ahead and chalk this up as another reason to dislike the entire Bowden clan.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were some good games this weekend. I watched a good portion of the Ohio St.-Michigan game, the Florida-Florida St. game and the Utah-BYU game. All three were quite entertaining and it helped that the team I was rooting for in all the games won. If Tressel can survive the NCAA investigation that's coming down the pipe, I think Ohio St. could be good next year. They still don't have that much of a running game, but the quarterback looks good and most of the defense will be returning next year. Tressel meanwhile is gaining more and more standing to getting his own street named after him in Columbus (Woody Hayes has a street named after him) with the National Title and beating Michigan 3 out of 4 times so far.

So, this is how things stand so far. Auburn did not score enough boku points with the voters to move up to the no. 2 spot. So assuming they beat Tennessee in the SEC championship game, Oklahoma beats Iowa St. in the Big 12 championship and USC beats Notre Dame next week, the bowl picture is looking like this:

Orange: USC vs. Oklahoma
Rose: Michigan vs. California
Sugar: Auburn vs. (Miami/Virgina Tech)
Fiesta: Boston College vs. Utah

The Sugar Bowl picks ahead of the Fiesta Bowl, but if Oklahoma goes to the Orange, then the Fiesta Bowl gets to pick the replacement pick and will take Utah. The ACC winner is yet undetermined and will be decided by the Miami-Virginia Tech game. The Fiesta will probably cut its loses and go with the closer favorite of Utah and then settle for getting stuck with BC when the Sugar Bowl picks the ACC winner ahead of the Big East winner. I don't know if BC has fully secured the Big East title but I think they are fully in the driver's seat.

Stuart Mandel has his projections for the Bowl games here. He's obviously taking Virginia Tech to beat Miami in the head to head. I guess its being played at Virgina Tech. He also has Ohio St. going to the Alamo Bowl as the Big Ten #4. I thought Northwestern was ahead of them and that they were going to be playing Oregon St. in the Sun Bowl, but I guess I was mistaken. I do like that he's projecting Bowling Green to get selected for the Silicon Valley Bowl, assuming the beat Toledo tomorrow, even though they can't win the MAC Championship. We should start seeing the invites before too long.

A New Season of TAR

CBS’s theme for reality shows must be “Let’s see how bitchy we can make the women.” The Amazing Race debuted last night and it was pretty good but I was amazed at how confrontational all the women in the man-woman pairs were. If the current trend continues, it’ll become really easy to handicap the teams.

My observations so far:

1) Hollywood Couple – They have strength and youth. They fight a little less than some of the other couples but they were in first place for most of the leg so that’s not saying much. Still, I would expect to see them around for a little while.

2) Long Distance Daters – This team could be really good. They weren’t developed at all so I think they’ll stay around for a while. Distance relationships depend on communication and good communication usually means a team doing really well. I would place this team high in my standings.

3) Mormon Sisters – After one episode, this is the team I would pick for the everyone likes and finishes 4th team. They seem to work well and feed off each other. They are also not alike so they’ll compensate for each other’s faults as opposed to the twins of last season.

4) Engaged Models – This team will last a little while but I’d expect a breakdown when things get bad. Communication is a clear problem as demonstrated by the age gap. I suspect this team will have to work out a lot of things after the race.

5) Screamer and Wife – Easily the most hateable team in the early going. This team will flame out and crash hard before too long. The guy should just hope that his wife doesn’t divorce him after the race.

6) Wrestlers – The guy is likable. But his wife clearly wears the pants. She berates him constantly and he just takes it mostly. Sort of an opposite of Colin and Christy last season. They’ll go far if they can stop bickering for a little while.

7) Hellboy and Girlfriend – This team might have a chance if it wasn’t for the fact that they are an ex-couple. Throwing yourself into the pressure cooker that is TAR is not the way to get back together. Tension will shred this team before too many legs is my bet.

8) Queens Girls – They don’t know how to read a map, but they recovered fairly well. They made up some time after the late start. If they can hold it together, they should make a few more legs before time catches up to them.

9) Grandparents – A little more forceful than previous older couples I’ve seen and that makes them entertaining, but I suspect that they won’t last much longer than one or two more legs. They can claim feeling the youth all they want, but attrition will take its toll and catch up to them.

10) Dad and Daughter – Parent/child teams never do well. The dad seems to be my type of guy with his attitude but I don’t know if that’s good enough to stay long in the race. When you’re complaining about your daughter running all the time in a race, you know that you’re not the overall favorite to win the whole thing.

11) Brooklyn Jews – I liked this team and I wish they had managed to stay longer. They had a good repore and seemed fairly smart. They just never quite got the sense of urgency that you need. After losing so much time in the water, they needed to take a highway where they could pile on speed, not look for shortcuts. But they’re history and we can say no more about them.

It could be a good season. I’ll need some more development before I start pegging down teams that I like and want to root for.

The Mass Exodus

Before I write on anything news related, I must publicly congratulate Mrs. X for officially becoming an attorney. She got the bar results on October 29 but we kept it hush hush so she could tell various people in person. Then, amidst the election furor, I forgot to post it. Of course, the way this past week has been, I haven't posted much of anything so I can't really be blamed for that. Anyway, we drove up to Columbus for the swearing in ceremony on Monday. It went very well, only lasting an hour. Given that there were about 450 lawyers getting sworn in at that first session, this was quite efficient. So now she has changed her e-mail signature to say Attorney-at-Law and even gets business cards that say the same. Yay her :)

Now, on to other matters. Lots of things in the news but I would like to focus on all the moping Democrats who are talking about moving to other countries. I understand your pain, but giving up on the system and going somewhere else isn't quite the answer. Need I remind all of you that in 1964, the Democrats spanked the Republicans, capping a strong Democratic reign only interrupted by Ike's run in the 50's. The Republicans hit back in 1966 and then took back the White House in 1968. One could argue that the same trend is in effect today. The Republicans have been in power since 1968 with only the runs of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton cutting into their power. The war is turning unpopular and we could very easily see the Republicans starting to get pompous about power. Rally and fight back rather than run away or whine like the little "girlie-men" that Arnold calls you.

In this fighting back, I would suggest a couple of things. Don't be too much of an impediment. If the public sees the Democrats as anything more than a roadblock, why wouldn't they just vote Republican again to get the 60 senators needed to stop a filibuster. Stand your ground, but point out indulgences of power that do not benefit the people.

Second, get out of the ivory New England tower and put your hands back in the soil. Mr. Kerry lost this election because he couldn't connect with the average Joe rather than notion that it was high turnout of people from "Jesusland." If you can't identify with the guy down the block and show him that you understand what he needs and will try to get it for him, why should he give you his vote? The other guy seems just as nice and he feels more like me. Simple connection and understanding. You're not going to get that if you keep thinking that it was a massive conspiracy or that you need to run away to Canada. Just my two cents.

I'll post a little more about Mr. Arafat's death when its been developed a bit. In the meantime, cross your fingers that things don't get any uglier over there.

You Mean... That's It?

Well, its official. Mr. Kerry called to conceed defeat and is scheduled to make his speech around 1pm today. For many of us political junkies, its been a little bit of an emotional letdown given how we were all pumped for a lawyer fight. But, in the end, Mr. Kerry must have felt that the landscape just looked too bleak in Ohio.

In this I must tip my hat to Mrs. X who openly derided my beliefs that Mr. Kerry would win Ohio and that it would come down to Wisconsin. Aside from that, I can at least pat myself on the back and say that I had things right down to the final three. Assuming that Iowa and New Mexico are certified as Bush wins (they're still working out the absentee ballots) I will have been almost totally right. I predicted that of the 5 main toss up states (FL, OH, WI, MN, IA), Mr. Bush would carry Iowa while Mr. Kerry would carry Minnesota. My personal feeling was that Mr. Bush would win Florida and Mr. Kerry would win Ohio with Wisconsin at the final battleground. In truth, I had things reversed. Mr. Kerry is going to win Wisconsin and Ohio is the battleground that appears to be going to Mr. Bush. I thought the job loss numbers would be too large to overcome. Apparently, I was wrong.

So, now that we have decided the election, we can look forward to nearly a year or more of the Democrats tearing themselves apart trying to figure out how they lost this race. My feeling is is that they simply did not select a candidate who commited himself enough. Of the field of 9 in the primary, I personally feel that only 2 or 3 could have beaten Mr. Bush. I think Mr. Edwards would have been a strong contender if he held himself in the debates. I think Mr. Lieberman would have pasted Mr. Bush. Mr. Clark could also have possibly beaten Mr. Bush, although his lack of experience would have cost him among some voters. The rest (including Mr. Dean) I just don't believe could have garned enough of the mainstream vote to take down Mr. Bush.

So, will they learn from this experience? Hard to say. People I work with are already launching Ms. Clinton to the front of the pack for 2008. First, I would focus on getting her reelected against a probable run by Mr. Guiliani. After that, we focus on Mr. Bush's annointed successor. Many eyes are being cast in Mr. McCain's direction. Payment for his support this year, Bush's support for the nomination in 2008. That's just speculation but it certainly wouldn't surprise me. But that's a discussion for another post.

Election Day

So today marks the first day of selecting a president. I hope everyone has voted today. Considering that the three people I know that read this blog are all in battleground states, I would hope you got out. Of course, two of you are going to be voting for the candidate who opposes mine so maybe I should discourage you ;)

It is my fervent hope that this whole event is essentially resolved around 4 am this morning. Maybe it'll be a little later, but I'm praying that whomever wins, its by a clear majority. Things are already getting testy with reports of jacked machines in Philly and Indian brow beating in South Dakota. Fortunately, despite all the fracas about poll observers here in Ohio, its been rather quiet. I didn't have any problems and the three old ladies I talked to were very nice and well informed. I've also not heard any reports from up around Cleveland or Columbus and that's where I would expect trouble. So we're doing alright so far.

Turnout seems to be alright. Mrs. X had to wait a short time in line when she voted this morning as our polling place only has six tables available at a time, but it was running smoothly when I got there around 10. Most of the people here at work reported standing in lines for a short time, but no real problems. One of the fellows here at work said that they expanded his location and got more tables in. He also said that normally when he goes, he's listed as voter number 30 or 40. Today he was voter 93. They hit 100 voters in the first hour of being open. Normally they have to wait 2 or 3 hours to hit 100. Quite impressive around here. Of course there's also a very nasty fight over a levy going on in his district. I didn't have to worry about that. We just have two levys for hospitals. I supported them both.

So, predictions? Not a clue. Both sides are trumpeting their polls and saying that they'll win. Honestly, I think it comes down to Florida again. As I posted previously, I think whomever takes Florida has the clear advantage and will win. I think Iowa will tilt to Mr. Bush and Minnesota to Mr. Kerry. So that leaves Wisconsin and Ohio. Win one of those two and Florida and you're in. But as to who's going to take those 3, I really have no idea. If we know by midnight though, I think we can safely call it as close to a landslide as you're going to get.

Election Math

Realclearpolitics has an election map that they update with what candidate is doing with each state, much like you have with all the networks. The current map shows Mr. Bush with 232 votes and Mr. Kerry with 207. This assumes Mr. Bush wins New Mexico and Nevada, but he is trending ahead there. Mr. Kerry's number is also a bit off as he is almost certain to win New Hampshire and probably Pennsylvania. So, realistically, it should be 232-232. (This also assumes Mr. Kerry holds Hawaii)

So as our realistic battlegrounds go, its Ohio (20), Florida (27), Iowa (7), Wisconsin (10), and Minnesota (10). Much ballyhoo has been made about Ohio in the past couple of months, especially as no Republican has ever won without it. But, with the shift of some more conservative voters to the southwest, there are several scenarios where Mr. Bush wins without it. The linchpin in all this is really Florida. Florida has the biggest prize between the two men and it could swing either way. But Mr. Kerry has said a couple of things recently that could have irked the large Cuban population in the south, especially with reminding them about the failed Pay of Pigs invasion. We also don't know if the more conservative panhandle voters will turn out in larger numbers than 4 years ago because they were told prior to their polls closing that Mr. Gore had won the state.

Once a candidate has Florida, they only need 11 votes to secure a win. Ohio would do it in one fell swoop, but so would a combination of the other two. One of my most amusing scenarios would be Bush winning Florida, Iowa, and stealing Hawaii away to end up with 270 exactly. This would actually create an even more interesting scenario because one of the West Virginia Republican electors has gone on record as saying that he will not cast his vote for Bush. Whether that means he casts it for Mr. Kerry or casts it away for someone like Mr. McCain is unknown. But if he did, then Mr. Bush would have technically won, but the vote will be tied and have to be settled by the House of Representatives. Barring an act of God, that will remain in Republican hands this election. The Senate would then go on to choose the VP and if the Democrats picked up 2 seats, they would vote for Mr. Edwards as VP. How funny would that be. Guarantee he wouldn't be allowed to do anything with regards to policy.

So those are the numbers. The Midwest is very important but again, it is Florida that will put a candidate in position to win the whole shooting match.

incidentally, regarding the Senate, that's almost as interesting a chess game as President is. The GOP will win the seat in Georgia from the Democrats and the Democrats will win the seat in Illinois from the GOP, offsetting each other. Democrats are looking close to taking the seats in Alaska and Colorado. Republicans are looking like they will pick up seats in North and South Carolina. The real nasty blow would come if the Republicans succeed in taking the seats of Florida and South Dakota and holding Oklahoma. Polls show this being the case, but they are within the margin of error so no one can officially call it yet. The loss of Mr. Daschle would be an especially harsh blow I think, although maybe the Democrats would rally behind a stronger leader then. I've felt that Mr. Daschle was not as decisive and combative as he could be. A better war horse could help the Democrats gain back the Senate in the next election.

It could get even uglier for the Democrats if they also lose Louisiana, but that's in a special 3-way race with 1 Republican and 2 Democrats. I imagine the Louisiana rules are that if no candidate gets over 50%, there's a run-off between the top two. Currently the Republican is polling at 51% but no margin of error was given in the poll. If this scenario holds, it would give the GOP a 54-45 majority, with Mr. Jeffords of Vermont siding with the Democrats. I guess that would hurt Mr. Edwards' shot of being VP in a tie.

But the election will be over soon. While I'll be thankful that the news and commercials will have ended, I will miss the chess match. I guess I'll just have to look forward to 2008. Dream scenario: Clinton-Bayh (D) vs. McCain-Giuliani (R)

Do You Feel A Draft?

I can imagine that many political cartoons are going to be going on that theme over the next couple of days. I'll probably head over to Cagle to see if anyone scored a Yatzee with the Hell freezing over theme.

So we tip our hats to Boston, winners after all this time and eradicators of the curse. Nike even jumped on the bandwagon with an ad showing two young boys sitting in the stands with a counter at the bottom at 1918. Then it started scrolling and you saw the boys progress during the different eras. Finally it stopped at 2004 with them as very old men, sitting with their (great) grandkids. It was an interesting little commercial.

Now the Red Sox can go back to tormenting the Yankees properly with cries of "2000." Not as good as "1918," but with Steinbrenner breathing down the Yankee's necks, it might get some play with the players and cause some amusing stories in the New York papers.

The only real bad thing about the Red Sox breaking the curse is that we now loose the mystique of matching the Cubs and the Red Sox in the world series. It would be a rematch of the 1918 world series, but it lacks the punch when its only one club that's suffering.

The true curse breaker match would be the Cubs vs. the White Sox. The Cubs haven't won the series since 1908 but the White Sox haven't won since 1917. Heck, the Cubs haven't been to a series since 1945 and the White Sox since 1959. I can imagine Chicago would get a lot of mileage out of that series. We already have the Billy Goat curse on the Cubs. We should have the Black Sox curse on the south side boys.

But since we have shown that curses can be broken, its only a matter of time. I'm personally putting money down on the Cubs in 2008. Nothing quite like the 100 year anniversary to bring a good curse to a close.

New Babylon?

Over the past couple of weeks I've been reading an in depth Bible commentary on the book of Revelation by Tim Lahaye (co-author of the Left Behind series). I'm almost finished with it and its been quite enlightening. One of the most interesting interpretations is the reconstruction of the city of Babylon.

For those of you not readily familiar with the book, Revelation discusses the universal church as "the whore of Babylon" in Ch. 17. However, it goes on in Ch. 18 and implys that there will be a separate Babylon which is the commercial center and seat of the Antichrist's power. Apparently, many scholars have come along and suggested places that this Babylon will be (New York is currently very popular as a choice). But Mr. Lehaye is of the opinion that it will be the actual city of Babylon, reconstructed. He bases this interpretation on prophesies in Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50-51 as well as very literal read of Rev. Ch. 18. I myself have no opinion on this interpretation at the moment but I'm not going to put it out of the realm of possibility.

What struck me most however was the plausibility of the rebuilding of Babylon given recent events. The ruins of Babylon are located about 50 miles to the south of Baghdad, right outside the Iraqi city of Hillah, itself becoming a fairsized metropolis. Over the past few years, archaeologists have been travelling to the site and have reported that Saddam Hussein was making efforts to rebuild the city of Babylon. Saddam was well known to be obsessed with the idea of casting himself as the successor to Nebuchadnezzar and rebuilding the old capital would have done a great deal towards creating that impression. Now that he's out of power, the city will probably be given fully over to local archaeologists to comb over. However, fears of robbing the state of its national identity (exacerbated by the great Iraqi nationalism that's springing up) will probably restrict excavation and fuel efforts to rebuild the site as a means of uniting the Iraqi's around their ancient heritage. This is just speculation, but with current times as they are, I think it could prove an interesting distraction to the people. Especially when it gets sold as a way of picking up the economy and creating the capitalistic hub of the Middle East. Now, I imagine this is still a number of years off as we are going to be in the country for quite a while, irregardless of who wins the election. Still, it creates tantalizing possibilities in the mind.

Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!

Ding dong the witch is dead.
Which old witch?
The wicked witch.
Ding dong the wicked witch is dead.

At least for this season. Yes, I am among those annoying Red Sox fans who moan and bewail the fate of their team and then get obnoxious when they do well. Fittingly, as Mrs. X can tell you, I actually refused to watch game 4 of the series because I just couldn't stomach watching the Yankees sweep. I hung to game 7 last year and was very disgusted so I wasn't giving the Red Sox my trust in this matter again. I stayed up until the 12th inning of game 5 and then had to go to bed, desperately worried that the Red Sox had given up the ghost after two botched attempts to get the winning run into scoring position in the latter innings. But I was rewarded when I woke up the next morning. So I thought I'd go ahead and try game 6 and 7. Mrs. X and I were actually watching something else when game 6 started and I came over to the game just after the 3 run homer that the umpires huddled on. I watched the rest and was sure the Yankees were going to take it in the 8th inning. I actually missed the A-Rod play as I had to use the facilities but I thought that was the real turning point. To have fortune reversed like that broke the spirit of the Yankees. What little was left was mercilessly crushed by Foulke in the 9th. Again I missed a portion of game 7 (Mrs. X and I went to pick up our wedding proofs - more on that later) but came back in time to see the aftermath of Johnny Damon's grand slam. The only time I got worried was in the 7th when Pedro was brought in for some bizarre reason. I was yelling at the TV to get him off the mound and put Timlin in. I, like most Red Sox fans I imagine, was having flashbacks to last year. But he got it thanks to some nice fielding and the rest is history.

Now that the Yankees are eliminated, I really won't be unhappy with whomever wins the world series. As I wrote in an earlier post, I would like a St. Louis-Red Sox series (rematch of 1967) but I have enough respect for Houston's accomplishments (especially Bagwell and Biggio) to see them in the World Series. Mrs. X and I have a full slate of shows that we like to watch on Thursdays but we'll check back to the game now and again and I'll probably leave it there once Apprentice is over. Soon we will have both and can let the prognosticating begin.

As to the other thing, Mrs. X and I picked up our wedding proofs last night, all 150 of them. Some are very good and some are not so good. There is one of the bridesmaid who caught the bouquet with her leg up in the air and a shot of more leg than even she wanted to show I imagine. Its very amusing. There's also one of my sister leading a conga line that I don't remember at all during the reception. We'll be taking these over to Mrs. X's mom this weekend to let her start picking out the one's she wants. As for my parents, we'll be taking them along with us over Thanksgiving so all interested parties can see them then. So we can start working on albums before too long.

Changing History

Yesterday I hit the threshold as far as political discussion. I need a break so I'm not going to discuss politics for once in this blog. *gasp*

So instead, I thought I would treat all two of you who read this blog to one of my new hobbies: Biblical Chronology. For those of you unaware of this subject, its the establishment of a historical timeline in conjunction with events as specified in the Bible. A popular example is the establishment of when exactly the Israelites left Egypt, who was pharaoh at the time, and what other kingdoms were around at the time. Most chronologists will tell you that the current theories that the Israelites left during the reign of Ramses II or Thutmoses III just don't make sense on a practical level. They would also tell you that the timeline of the kings in current textbooks built by Edwin R. Thiele is not correct.

Theories vary wildly according to people's persuasion and personal beliefs. I myself have been studying the theories of James B. Jordan recently. They're quite interesting but you have to sift through things that don't quite jive with your own beliefs. For example, Mr. Jordan is a preterist (a person who believes that all biblical prophesy has already been fulfilled) and I am not. So I am careful when he refers to things as though they have already occurred when I believe that they are still to come (see Revelation, Ezekiel 38-39, and the later portions of Daniel). Still, most of his work is sound.

Currently I'm working on the possible modification of the Greek timeline. This stems from a passage in Daniel about the 70 weeks (Dan. 9:20-27). In this, God sets a timetable from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming/crucifixion of Jesus of 483 years. This coupled with a comparison of genealogy lists in Ezra and Nehemiah, lends me to believe that the edict referred to in Daniel was the original edict written by Cyrus the Great of Persia, bringing to an end the 70 years of exile spoken by Jeremiah. However, this creates a problem with the current, established timeline. This theory now only allows the existence of the Persian empire to be about 120 years. At first, not a problem considering that most of the records of Persia have been lost. Except that if the Persian empire existed for a shorter amount of time that currently believed, that means that events recorded in Greek history are also inaccurate. Most notably, the Pelopponesian War. Did Greece devolve into civil war after the expulsion of Xerxes' invasion which paved the way for Phillip of Macedon or is there some other explanation? So I'll be reading Thucydides' history of the War to see if I can gain any insight.

Its interesting and only for people who really like history and research. We'll see what kind of progress I make on this section. If I get frustrated, I'll move over to resolving the Sargon/Sennacherib issue. I'll give more detail on that later.

Its Good to be in DC; Hooray! Hooray!

For those of you who don't get a chance to see the Today Show or the Tonight Show, Jibjab is at it again. This time they have a cartoon using the tune of Dixie to insult the candidates while encouraging people to go vote. In a portion that should be very amusing to Mrs. X, the Supreme Court gets a line where they threaten to decide the election again. The governor of New Jersey also gets really ribbed with his disclosure of being gay (although if it allowed for the John Ashcroft gay joke, its worth it). All in all, its very funny. Not quite as good as This Land, but still very funny.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, things are getting even tighter. Its gotten so bad that there have been accusations that the Democrats have encouraged the militant wing of the unions (ie. the Mob) to persuade people not to vote. This may be a bit out of line, but there have been a number of break-ins and assaults on Bush-Cheney headquarters. During one of the debates, an office was shot at while people were inside watching the event. No one was hurt, but it does tell you that things are getting a wee bit serious.

Mr. Kerry has done well to present himself well in the debates, but he has made a couple of serious missteps in terms of soundbites that we can expect Mr. Bush to hammer into the ground. He's gotten some good mileage out of "global test" and now he's working on "terrorism down to a nuisance." Mrs. X and I both understand this statement and we think that its probably a reasonably accurate one along with Bush's "we probably can't win the War on Terror" but its not what people want to hear. So its back to acting like 3 year olds.

Also, for you sports people, its Boston Red Sox vs. NY Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros. My personal hope is that we'll get Boston vs. St. Louis, but if we repeat last year's results of what I wanted, we'll get Yankees vs. Astros. If we do, maybe we can at least have Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite give the Yankees one last F*** You. Should be fun.

YANKEES SUCK!!

One Little Bounce...

But for a little bounce, the Minnesota Twins would be leading the Yankees 2-0. But instead the Yankees rallied in the 12th inning and head to Minneapolis tied at 1 game apiece. In the 8th inning, with runners on first and third, the batter slapped a double down the left field line. It took a hop and jumped over the fence to be ruled a ground rule double. It had been a 3-2 count and the runner had taken off with the pitch. Had the ball not bounced into the stands, the runner on first would have scored and the Twins would have gone into the bottom of the 8th up 6-5. But the runner had to hold at third and neither of the next two batters could drive him home. Such is life. But we have hope that the Twins will find their mojo in the dome and send the Yankees home.

Boston is up 2-0 on Anaheim, but we can't put them in the next round yet. Oakland was up 2-0 last year and Boston came back to win 3 straight. Still, things are looking good for Boston right now. St. Louis and Houston are also up in their respective series but they only have one game under their belts right now. Still, things are looking up for a Houston-St. Louis NL pennant series. Its very difficult to say as to who would win such a series. Houston is the hottest team and many people feel that St. Louis is the best team. Should be good.

I've also been catching back up with politics, although very little is grabbing my attention right now. The debates are generally too annoying to watch and as I've already made up my mind, its more fun to see how "neutral" parties try to spin things. I've also discovered this fun little website called Realclearpolitics. Its a collection of various news reports and links to articles. It also has this thing where they grab all the available polls and average them out to try and look at general trends. Its rather informative and you can be as selective as you want in terms of getting your particular flavor of politics, whether its Republican, Democrat, or miscellaneous (Hindu, there are 700 million of us you know).

Tomorrow's debate should be just as pointless except for showing facial expressions and stiffness again. Hopefully the town hall meeting style won't leave both men looking like complete idiots.

Back in the Ring

Well, after much anticipation, the wedding and honeymoon are over. I have a band of gold on my left hand and I can call Mrs. X that without contradiction now. We had a nice wedding and they only problem we had was the inexperience of the DJ during the reception. Although we did almost have a couple of falls during the ceremony. Still, it all went together well. Afterwards we lit out on the honeymoon. We traveled to Williamsburg, VA and then to the outer banks of North Carolina. Surprisingly enough, we didn't have any bad weather. We did run into the remanents of Jeanne during our drive back home across NC on Tuesday but aside from that, we never saw rain. Heck, the first three days in Williamsburg we didn't even see clouds. It was just that nice. Various friends and relatives are putting together pictures of the wedding and honeymoon. When I'm made aware of them, I'll see if I can't get a link up to a couple.

For those of you who read this and helped out or sent gifts/cards we are very appreciative and Mrs. X has been working diligently on the thank yous. I only offer moral support and the purchasing of stamps because its universally recognized that I have terrible handwriting.

So I don't bore all of you with talk of the wedding and honeymoon, I call your attention to the successful second flight of Spaceship One and its capture of the X prize. Fully viable and affordable space travel are still quite a ways away, but this does make for a very interesting step forward in terms of our quest to colonize other planets. 2001 may not have been much like the movie, but maybe we can make 2010 a little closer to way it was portrayed, though I doubt we'll find a monolith orbiting Jupiter.

Football

So the first week of the NFL and the second week of college football come to a conclusion tonight. I had quite an enjoyable time watching it and trying to stave off the impending nervousness (all while trying to keep Mrs. X calm). Not much grabbed me in the NFL yet except that I really like Carson Palmer so far but I'm very tenative about the defense which is very young. I think my prediction of a 7-9 or 8-8 season is very plausible. I must also note that Mrs. X beat me in our head to head pick of 5 games. Lesson: Never pick the Bengals in an opening day game and never pick Indianapolis against New England.

In college, Notre Dame beat Michigan so there was all kinds of happiness for us. I have a soft spot for Notre Dame and living in Ohio requires me to hate Michigan (the fact that Mrs. X has a personal vendetta against them helps). But I must say that I think that the new young quarterback for Ohio St. seems to be either in league or related to Danny Graves. He did his absolute best to lose that game against Marshall. I realize that he's young, but come on. You can't throw the deep ball over the middle like that for two interceptions in a row. I also think that Mike Nugent may be crowned as something near the level of god by the time this season is over. If they beat Michigan on a game winning field goal, he will have a shrine erected to him in front of the horseshoe.

Lots of upsets this weekend and that was enjoyable to watch, but some of the old stalwarts came through after shaky openings. I still haven't seen anything to make me go against USC as my number one pick yet but I can see a couple of teams that might change my mind. I will also say that unless they have a bad collapse against some other team, I think Purdue is the heavy favorite to win the Big 10 this year. Purdue plays most of the weak teams in the Big 10 and gets the luxury of playing the wounded Ohio St and Michigan teams at home this year. At Notre Dame seems to be the only chance for a derailment. We'll have to see what strength of schedule does for their chances of playing in the Orange Bowl come January.

The Devil Made Him Do It - We Have Documents

In the media's misguided quest to flood us with things we don't care about, CBS has produced documents supposedly showing Mr. Bush getting all huffy and then the Guard being forced to swallow it in 1972. Except that now its appearing that said documents may be forgeries. From what I can tell, the story started whispering around on various blogs yesterday and got picked up by the mainstream media today. The only reason this story catches my interest is the seeming idiocy of the forgers and both parties desire to make us care about what happened 30 years ago.

I'm sure I won't get all the main points but the reasons listed that the memos may be fakes are as follows:

1) Typespacing on the memos is not consistent with a standard typewriter of the time. Only high end typewriters and word processors had this capability and were not in wide use, especially by the National Guard
2) Number endings "th" are shown in superscript. Very common now but almost impossible to do back then.
3) The memos are written on 8 x 11 standard sheet with no letterhead. Memos of the time were written on 8 x 10.5 and usually with some sort of letterhead.
4) The reprimand and comment were written as memos when standard procedure of the time would be to write a formal letter and then place said letter in the personnel file.
5) There is a noticeable squaring off on the end points of the signature of the commander which is inconsistent with how handwriting typically flows. The appearance is more of something that was cut out or pixelated on to the document.

There are probably more but that's what I can remember off the top of my head.

The biggest amount of egg on their face obviously goes to CBS. Dan Rather is said to "shocked and dismayed" that the documents may be fake and has promised to personally retract the story and apologize if the documents do turn out to be forgeries. Some might ask that if the documents are such bad fakes, how was CBS taken in so easily. My guess is simply that when you want something to be true, you overlook little things. Mr. Bush's records for the first part of 1972 are known to be rather scant and there has been much suggestion from Democrats that he was AWOL and it was covered up. Mr. Bush denies this but has not produced documentation that would effectively counteract this. So you have a hole and the first news team to fill that hole gets to make a big splash. Unfortunately it seems the pool may not have been completely filled with water in this case.

The bigger problem I have is with both parties and the media's desire to make things all about what happened in Vietnam. Mr. Bush's records were first argued over back at the beginning of 2004 and more recently Mr. Kerry has been under attack due to the swift boat veterans allegations. Neither story has any real effect on me in deciding who I am going to vote for and the idea that a person's actions in a job can be fully defined by what they did 30 years ago seems a bit of a joke to me. Now, Mr. Kerry has left himself a little more open when he made his swift boat service a centerpiece of his campaign, but as I've argued in the past, I don't see how that's relevant. I'm much more interested in what Mr. Kerry did as a legislator and the specifics of all these things he says that he wants to do or that Mr. Bush is doing wrong. But I'm not sure Mr. Kerry is going to completely go that route, although I may be surprised during the debates.

So, What Time Does the Show Start?

Two days from now will mark the final week of bachelorhood for me. Some might view this as a monumental occasion. For me, its more of a big show (the SHOW?) confirming something that already exists. Mrs. X and I have the little piece of paper and just need the pastor to sign it. We have her all moved in to my apartment and are planning to start looking at houses when we get back from the honeymoon. We even fully combined bank accounts last weekend and then ordered new checks together. In all practical terms, we are already married. We just need the state to officially recognize the fact.

But as far as the party goes, I feel good about it. My biggest worries are saying the right name at the alter (very big concern since there's only one letter difference between her name and mine), getting nervous at the last minute and throwing up before or during the ceremony (I did that during a scholastic bowl competition once), and tripping over my own feet while dancing. Mrs. X and I have been practicing dancing but it gets very different when she actually puts on that big dress. Not as easy to move her around. And of course, if I display weakness, she starts leading and we can't both lead ;)

The honeymoon is what we're more looking forward to than anything else. I haven't had a real vacation that did not involve family since I first moved out here back around Thanksgiving of 2002. I've had a day or so here and some holidays where we traveled to see various relatives, but never a time of just Mrs. X and I away from the city for a time. I think we are both looking very much forward to it. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Hurricane Ivan may push through Florida by Sunday or Monday and then who knows where it'll track. It should be over by the time we set out on the 19th, but I'd like our time in the Southeast to be spent relatively dry. Knock on wood, we haven't heard anything about new storms forming off the Carolina coast.
Once we're back we can settle in and tell lots of stories about it. But you needn't fear. I'll keep posting for all you die-hards who read my blog up until we take off next week ;)

This Land Fix

I've been having trouble watching it lately so for all those of you who haven't seen it, here are the words to everyone's favorite election year parody:

Bush: This land is your land
This land is my land
I’m a Texas tiger
You’re a liberal wiener
I’m a great crusader
You’re a Herman Munster
This land will surely vote for me

Kerry: This land is your land
This land is my land
I’m an intellectual
You’re a stupid dumb ass
I’m a purple-heart winner
And yes its true I won it thrice
This land will surely vote for me

Bush: You have more waffles
Than a house of pancakes
You offer flip-flops
I offer tax breaks
You’re a UN pussy
And yes its true that I kick ass
This land will surely vote for me

Kerry: You can’t say nuclear
That really scares me
Sometimes a brain can
Come in quite handy
But its not going to matter
Because I’ve won three purple hearts
This land will surely vote for me (Dean scream)

Bush: You’re a liberal sissy
Kerry: You’re a right wing nut job
Bush: You’re a pinko commie
Kerry: You’re dumb as a doorknob
Bush: Hey, you’ve got that botox
Kerry: But I’ve still got three purple-hearts
Both: This land will surely vote for me

Indian: This land was my land
Chorus: But now it’s our land
Arnold: From California
Clinton: To the New York Islands (*slap* What’d I do?)
Kerry: From the liberal wieners
Bush: To the right wing nut jobs
Kerry: This land was made
Bush: This land was made
Both: This land was made for you and me
Bush: (Oh and Dick Cheney too)

Political Expectations

So the Republicans now have had their say in a mostly pointless pep rally. I say mostly pointless because at least we got to hear some entertaining hate mongering speeches. At the Democratic convention people didn't want to criticize too much. That made for some very boring speeches. Here we got some red meat and maybe even too much from person's such as Mr. Miller. But we must forgive him a little bit because he wanted to kick Chris Matthew's ass. Anyone willing to do that is okay in my book.

Now we go forward into the final 60 days of campaigning. Things will probably stay tied until the debates. I imagine Mr. Bush will get a small rise in the polls, but Mr. Kerry is now pushing out some new commercials so that might temper that along with any change in oil prices.

The only thing I will say after seeing Bush's speech is that I think that Mr. Kerry needs to get off the Vietnam kick and lay out his plans better. Bush may be a bit simplistic (and naive if he thinks he can implement half of what he promised) but he has laid out a somewhat clear idea of what he wants. I still haven't gotten a direct layout from Mr. Kerry. His great rebuttal to Mr. Bush's accusations last night was that Mr. Cheney deferred Vietnam service 5 times and that Bush was irresponsible in Iraq. Great, but what does that tell me about you?

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that unless Mr. Kerry fully defines his positions as to what he would actually do as president in the debates, he will lose. Something that the polls and pundants don't seem to mention is that Mr. Kerry probably needs to overachieve in some states because many of those state voters are over in Afghanistan and Iraq now. In a war, soldiers will often vote for their C-in-C unless they think things are going badly. I have seen no evidence of that so I think Mr. Bush will do well with soldiers. If Mr. Kerry is running neck and neck or just slightly ahead or behind Mr. Bush in a state like Florida, he may lose if the soldier returns come back 75% or better for Mr. Bush, which is not out of the realm of possibility. Polling doesn't necessarily account for that soldier vote and that could lead to false expectations on both sides.

I don't remember when the first debate is scheduled but it could be very telling as to how the flavor of the last month could go.

And the Torch is Out

So the Olympics are finally over. Overall, I'd give them a B. There were some quite good moments, but there were also some bad ones as well. Obviously there was the Paul Hamm incident, the insane Irish attacker during the marathon, the brief disqualification of the American backstroker that was later reversed, the moron in the pink tutu, and a couple of other gymnastics flubs that didn't get quite as high a profile as the men's all-around did. We won't bother to discuss the doping stuff because that happens at every Olympics and just isn't news anymore.

There were some good moments. The Moroccan runner getting double gold in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, Michael Phelps helping to lead the USA to one of the best swimming Olympics we've ever had, the women's soccer and softball teams going out well, the emergence of good young talent to take things on in the upcoming years, and the performance of American gymnastics overall. Obviously this is an American biased list, but NBC didn't exactly allow me to celebrate international accomplishments.

As for the coverage of the games, I'd have to give that a B- at best. Obviously NBC knows their audience wants to see Americans do well, but it could have done a much better job in giving a broad coverage of things, even things we stink at, instead of wasting large amounts of time with inane preps and heats. If its only a heat, why are you spending an additional 10 minutes before and after talking about it and getting soundbites from the runners? In the same amount of time, you could have covered what went on with other events and even shown more details where there was obvious cutting. It would have been nice to see some of the other divers, even if we all knew they weren't going to medal. If you're bothering to take the time to show the American who finished 37th, you could take the time to show the Canadian who finished 4th. Occationally you can get interesting stories from non-Americans, even when Americans are competing in the event.

But it made for somewhat entertaining watching. Now we just have to wait until 2006 when I can be bored to death watching figure skating and being reminded about the judging scandal while I wait forever for the few interesting speedskating and skiing events contained in the games.

TAR Update

Would that Colin had in fact been thrown in jail. It would have been so funny and such a good bitchsmacking that he truly deserves. He really is a complete jerk and flattens his girlfriend, basically telling her what to think and quashing any real self esteem she has. Hopefully she is watching this and realizing what a bad relationship she is in.

Anyway, Colin was not thrown in prison and thanks to the heliopad hours, everyone caught up to each other in Dubai. So we had a fresh race. People were generally not too stupid although its interesting to see how many teams are having problems with money. The bowling moms are not and they lost all their money at the first non-elimination leg. The focus on money during the show made it something of a boring episode after the first 20 minutes, but sometimes you have to go through bad episodes now and again.

The Texas Twosome finished first again and I am getting more and more sure that they will end up in the final three, despite their penchant for self destruction.

Chip and Kim will stay in it, if only they keep a better eye on the money. Things are going to start getting tight soon.

The Christian Models seem to be doing okay, but they are getting picked apart by money issues as well. When it comes to pure racing talent, they're managing to hang in there.

The Bowling Moms keep getting behind due mostly to a combination of bad luck and small problems that mostly have to do with their age. But they are hanging in well and if they can catch a break with one of the front three in the right time, they might make it to the final three.

The Twins are going to go down soon. They may manage to get some money back, but they keep shooting themselves in the foot so often that they consistently finish near the back. This should catch up to them in the next leg or two.

There are two more non-elimination legs and the suspicion that Mrs. X and I have is that there will be one right before the final leg. This will probably effectively whittle the race down to two teams as the third team will lose their money and be at a serious disadvantage going into the final stretch. Would that it is the Texas Twosome who get buried at the end.

Quick GoF Movie Update

I hope to have my usual TAR summary up a little later, maybe tomorrow at the latest, but in the meantime I found a summary of what's in and what's out of the Goblet of Fire movie. If you aren't interested, please stop reading. If you are, plow ahead:

What's been cut:
-The SPEW storyline
-The opening scene with the Dursleys
-The Hogwarts express (there are shots of it, but nothing in the train)
-The wand weighing.

What's still in:
-Creepy opening scene with Voldemort, Wormtail and Nagini
-The Dark Mark scene
-The "Potter Stinks" bit
-The skrewts
-The horntail challenge
-The merpeople challenge
-The final challenge (although the spider may NOT be in it, but the Sphinx is)
-Dobby and Winky
-The Portkeys
-Crouch freaking out
-The Pensieve scene
-Cedric's end

Things that are drastically reduced:
-Yule Ball
-Quidditch World Cup
-Rita Skeeter stuff (she's in it, but not as much as the book)
-Harry stressing over the egg clue
-Snape scenes (he's not in it much)
-Hagrid & Maxine love story (it's there, but just reduced to a few brief moments for humor)

Note on the ending: they manage to get it all pretty much in, which is surprising given what's going on.

That's all I've heard at the moment. I know the actors were seen filming the Stoatshead Hill scene and the trial of Barty Crouch Jr. scene. I'll keep everyone advised as I hear more.

Kerry with a Goatee

Most things that came out of Star Trek are just not known to most mainstream people. But some do make them out into the real world. One of the best known is the goatee parallel universe. In the episode Mirror, Mirror four Enterprise crew members get accidentally sucked into a parallel universe where the good guys are bad and vice-versa. The big thing about this episode is that Spock has a mustache and goatee where as in the normal universe, he's clean shaven. Since then its been an inside joke to show someone in a parallel universe with a goatee or some other facial hair. South Park did it and all 4 kids from the parallel universe had goatees. Very amusing.

Anyway, the reason I mentioned that was this article I read this morning. In it, John Kerry is shown as having suck to a strong message about current issues and not made his war record the center piece of his campaign, which seems to be causing him all kinds of annoyances. Its very easy to imagine that if he was following this line of campaign, he would be crushing Bush now instead of being in a dead heat. However, if he had followed this campaign idea he probably wouldn't have gotten the nomination as evidenced by the comments at the bottom of the article.

Marks

Some thing just catch your eye and unnerve you. This was the case with this article I read earlier today. The primary focus of the article is about implant chips to track who you are and where you are going. Sort of On-Star for people. Of course this is raising eyebrows from the civil liberties crowd who dream of a Big Brother system where the government or some corporation can track us at all times.

These of course are possible. However, I think the concept will work its way in in time. Now, cars are sold with On-Star trackers all the time. People have GPS in their phones and talk about the wonders of it. Why not have a chip that can identify you and work your credit for any purchase with the wave of a hand. Imagine, no more credit cards to carry. You just wave your hand over a scanner and it automatically deducts the money from your account. You could do the same with large purchases such as a car or a house where the central loan department is located. Sounds good doesn't it?

Now imagine a higher person controlling who could buy what based on whether a person had said chip or not. Imagine the power such a person would have. It would take a while for such a person to amass that much power and the technology isn't quite there yet. The markets would need a nasty drop off to resort to such single control as well. But its certainly possible.

And if you think about things from the same perspective I do... inevitable.

Beat Down

A very busy weekend for me. We spent Saturday moving Mrs. X out of her apartment in Columbus and down with me. So now we're all moved in snug. We're still sorting things out as to which additional items of mine and hers will go into storage and which we actually have room for. We also may have to put some of the shower gifts into storage as we won't be able to use all of them while we are living in the apartment. As soon as the wedding is over, its the beginning of house hunting season for us.

The Olympics started on Friday. Mrs. X and I have been watching a great deal of them over the past several days. Its much more entertaining than all the other crap that's normally on during the summer, even though football has officially started again. The opening ceremonies were entertaining although I think the Greeks were a little hung up on things flying through the air. Someone here in the office mentioned that the Olympic cauldron reminded him of the telescope gun that Marvin the Martian uses in his attempt to blow up the Earth - Oh, the Earth will be gone in a few minutes. I'm going to blow it up. It obstructs my view of Venus.

For the most part I've been quite entertained but I do have two rants. First, I wish the media would drop all this crap about Michael Phelps and his failure to break or tie Mark Spitz's record. First off, he's probably going to win 8 medals period and that's an enormous feat. Second, the field is much harder than it was in 1972 as evidenced by South Africa's win in the relay. Third, the kid is only 19. Let him go out and have fun for God's sake and just be appreciative that he swims for us and not Australia.

My second rant has to do with men's basketball. I personally feel that there was only one Dream Team and that was the '92 team. All others are just pale imitations so stop calling them that. Second, a lot of people seemed to have expected this, including me, so why is it a big deal that they lost. We all knew what the problems with this team were so how is it such a shock? And I don't want to hear if they had other superstars like Kobe, Shaq or KG they wouldn't have lost. This is not a team. They are not balanced, they have no perimeter shooting and they can't play the fundamentals of the game. This is a function of the deterioration of basketball in this country. Basketball used to be fun to watch with strategy, movement and balance. But as we said goodbye to the talent of the 90's, we gave way to prima donnas who never learned the strategy of the game and just came in with raw talent. Today, I can't watch a regular season basketball because its so boring. There is either a drive on the baseline for a dunk or a three point attempt. No one can work the middle and bury the inside jumper anymore. Honestly, the last good basketball game I remember seeing was the 1998 finals. I'd still opt to watch a game from the 80's or 90's over anything on today. Now the Americans are going to see what that rashness has done to them as the Europeans and South Americans wipe the floor with them.

Cnails and Slams

As an engineer, I tend to have my feet firmly rooted in science. However, I have great reservations about what scientists say about how the earth was formed and its age. Faith and reason are often portrayed as being at odds and that can create lots of conflict. Recently though, a group of guys got into a discussion about evolution here at work and one of them mentioned this lecture that he had on tape where a biologist went through and pointed out several large flaws in the evolutionary argument. I asked him if I could borrow that tape. I managed to listen to it yesterday and it was quite interesting. I had to listen to it in a disjointed fashion as I was interrupted by normal aspects of life while I was listening to it, but I got several key points out of it.

The first example he gave was against the idea of progressive mutation. This idea is that mutation happens every once in a while and some animal gets something it didn't have before which pushes it forward to become a new species. The example the lecturer gave (and I've forgot his name as of the moment) that hurt this argument was that of a woodpecker. The woodpecker forcefully bangs his head and bill into a tree to make a nest and extract bugs to eat. The impact deceleration of the head striking a tree can produce a force the equivalent of 20-30 G's on the head of the bird. To help against this the woodpecker has a long sturdy bill which cushions the impact and a reinforced skull to resist impact. The woodpecker also has a very long sticky tongue to stick down into the holes it makes to extract the bugs. Conventional theory says that the woodpecker would have gotten each item individually as it mutated. Except that if a woodpecker tried to peck wood before it got all the components, it would have killed itself in the attempt.

The second example was that of polystratic fossils. Strata are the layers of rock that have built up in one formation or another. Conventional wisdom says that this process takes millions of years to accomplish. However, there are quite a few examples of fossilized bones or trees which extend across multiple strata layers. To accomplish this, the bones would have had to be standing on end for thousands or even millions of years to settle in these shapes. With trees it gets even worse because trees rot much more efficiently than bones and should be less likely to produce fossils, especially ones going across several layers of rock. As the tree was partially buried, it would have rotted away and the hole collapsed on itself. The only way to explain these phenomenon would be if the bones and trees were rapidly buried in a sudden imolation of rock or water. Such phenomena has been observed after the eruption of Mt. St. Helens where several trees were fossilized in the same manner over a period of a week when the mountain exploded. Many of these polystratic fossilized trees are found in coal deposits which are supposed to be the product of millions of years of transformation of swampy matter. Now, how can you have swamp matter washing all around a tree, have that matter turn to coal over several million years and still keep the tree not rotting and standing upright as its covered up?

A third example is the age old one that we've never found cross animal hybrids. If you look in the fossil record, you don't find one thing that's halfway between a snail and a clam, you find snails and clams. Also when you go back, you always find more animals, not less. Evolution is supposed to be starting from something small and branching out like a tree. Instead you have thousands of animals and more and more just keep disappearing as time goes on.

There are a few other things that I or other people have thought of that I don't have the time to cover now, such as the error factor of C-14 dating and progression from asexual to sexual. But this gives a little bit for someone to think about. As with all things, weigh the evidence with an open mind. You may be surprised at the things you find out.

Some rocks, dirt, water, sugar, and lightning - now, HORSES!

TAR Recap

Well, I was both right and wrong about this week's episode. I was right in that the Texas Twosome screwed themselves over by taking the fast forward so early in the game. Everyone caught up to them and their impressing 7 hour lead was lost. They still finished 1st this week, but mostly due to their own fighting spirit. I was wrong in that I thought the Bowling Moms would be eliminated this week. They had a brilliant idea of getting money from the tourists and managed to get up to the point where the pizza brother's injuries put them in last place.

The host said that no one had ever really quit on the race before, but then, I don't think I ever seen a racer in that much physical pain before. I don't view them as quitting as I see it as more bowing to the inevitable. They knew they were eliminated and felt no need to push on. I still don't like them that much as they acted like stereotypical American jerks through most of the race, but you do have to give them a little dap for pushing through the pain towards the end. Hopefully the producers took him to a local hospital after they were eliminated.

My impressions of the rest of the teams haven't shifted too much. The Texas Twosome is getting more annoying. I'm starting to view them in the same light as the team that finished second last season, a team you know is going to be around until the end, but one you hope doesn't win. Myrna and Shmirna are getting more annoying as well. I was briefly impressed when I saw that Myrna spoke Arabic fairly well, but it went right back down the tubes with her accusations against the Texas Twosome and complaints against how she couldn't do the tasks. Shut up and just do the job.

I keep going back and forth on the Christian models. They seem likeable one minute and hateable the next. I'm also not as sure that they will be in the final three the way they keep messing up and snipping at each other in little places. I think Chip and Kim seem to be the couple that the producers are cultivating towards getting you to like them the most. They also seem to be the team that's just having the most fun. I hope they stick around until the end.

Next week looks like they're going down to either Kenya or Tanzania. It should be another non-elimination leg, but if the Bowling Moms finish last again, I don't know if they'll keep it or forward it to the next leg so that they can hit another team. It would suck if you had to take the cash of the same team twice in a row. I'm hopeful that the Moms are invigorated by their scare enough that they push someone else down and stick around for a little bit longer.

Tin Soldiers

I doubt many in my reading audience will recall from where I got my title, but its relevant to today's topic. 30 years ago yesterday Richard Nixon resigned as president of the United States. Quite a different time. No matter what you think of Nixon as a person, his first term would be considered a great success by any measure. His second term, however, was a huge disaster. A simple break in and it all went to hell. No one has ever really determined whether Mr. Nixon authorized or even knew about the break in originally, but he definitely took point on trying to cover it up. In the end, the tapes Mr. Nixon had created to help preserve his legacy ended up destroying him.

Mr. Nixon's legacy was salvaged a bit during the late 80's and 90's as he clawed his way back to respectability. After he died, I saw a political cartoon which showed an angel helping Mr. Nixon up. He was sitting on one end of a scale, on a block that said "Opening China." The other block said "Watergate" but it was being outweighed by the first block. The real legacy, of course, was the distrustful nature we still have of government and the media's desire to root out anything for a political scandal. Gone are the look the other way gifts that were afforded to prior presidents such as Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Harding. That style was already on the way out with the nastiness that started coming out during Mr. Johnson's administration over Vietnam, but Watergate accelerated the thing to a screeching pitch.

As a person who is very fond of alternative history, I've wondered what would have happened had Watergate either not happened, or if Mr. Nixon had come out immediately, apologized to the people for mistakes made by people in his government and been able to move on. Vietnam occupied a great portion of the public's mind. It's possible that with his new relationship with China, Mr. Nixon might have been able to broker a better peace accord that the one laid out in 1973/74 which lead to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. I think South Vietnam would have eventually collapsed due to its own corruption, but that might have been staved off until 1976 or later. Its hard to say. We can't even say how many more troops Mr. Nixon might have felt were necessary to keep in Vietnam if he wasn't trying to win back the public by bringing them home.

If Mr. Nixon had successfully retired in 1976, I doubt we ever would have heard much of Mr. Jimmy Carter. He would have grabbed the nomination but Mr. Ford would have probably have enough forward momentum (to say nothing of no Nixon anger working against him) to get elected in the following election. Bob Dole was his running mate then and I don't see any reason why it wouldn't have been that again, unless the Reagan camp made enough of a push to Mr. Ford that having Mr. Reagan would secure California for him. Mr. Dole's Kansas was probably already securely in the Republican column. So we could have seen a Ford-Reagan administration or a Ford-Dole administration with Mr. Reagan securing a juicy cabinet post for his assistance in delivering California. From there, we can't really say what else would have happened. I imagine Mr. Ted Kennedy would have made his push in 1980, but perhaps been beaten out by another prominent Democrat of the time. After 12 years of Republican rule, the people might have been itching for a change and there is no evidence that the economic problems of the late 70's would have been staved off by a Republican ticket. But then again, perhaps Mr. Ford's advisors would have forced him to take a very aggressive line against Iran during the hostage crisis. If Mr. Ford were successful in delivering the Iranian hostages prior to the election and in an aggressive manner, he might have nicked it out against his Democratic nominee. Still, I think we could safely say that Mr. Reagan probably would never have had the chance to become president unless Mr. Ford lost the 1980 election and then beat out Mr. Dole and Mr. Bush for the 1984 nomination. Its very difficult to project what would have happened at this point, but it makes for fun speculation.

So we remember Mr. Nixon and the legacy he left us. But in that remembrance, we think as to what he squandered and how events might have been different had a little third rate burglary been swept under the rug.

Unbiased News Coverage?

This caught my eye. I know we're only confirming what most of us already know, but it still sits a bit uncomfortably.

Shower Fun

So we had the bridal shower for Mrs. X yesterday. I didn't go of course, but I made the customary groom show towards the end when people started leaving. I actually spent most the shower time giving my grandfather a brief tour around the suburbs where I work and live. That was a lot of fun, although my voice was getting a little hoarse towards the end. My grandfather has very poor hearing and he doesn't use his good hearing aid very often, preferring to use his cheap one. So, one had to elevate their voice a bit while speaking to him.

Anyway, the shower was good. Mrs. X and I got a great deal of nice kitchen things that will be quite useful in the near future. I'm going to be spending the better part of the week trying to figure out where to put everything and how to organize it. But that's no big deal. After all this, Mrs. X and I will also have to be adding thing to the registry again. Our lists have gotten a bit low so we're going to have to imagine other things that we would like to have. Fun times for us.

Probably the highlight of shower had to be after I arrived and some people started to leaving. One of the guests was Mrs. X's cousin (once removed) who had brought her two little girls along (2 and half and 6 months). At one point I was just sitting down and Mrs. X, who had been holding the younger girl, asked me if I wanted to hold her. I did and did a pretty good job of it. Mrs. X made the comment that she thought it looked very natural for me. I think my parents and her mom got a little gleam in their eyes at that point. They won't say it, but they are getting very eager for grandkids. They're a bit like sharks who smell blood in the water and start circling. Hopefully I'll have a couple of pictures to show around of me holding Lorelei, who made it very easy for me. Apparently I bear a passing resemblance to her dad and I think she might have thought I was him. She did keep grabbing at my chin and apparently he has a rather prominent one. Or maybe she just liked the sandpaper feeling.

After the shower we went to dinner at the place where we will be having our rehearsal dinner. Mmmmmm... stuffed pork chops. Quite good and if you're ever around Mason, OH, I would highly recommend the Houston Inn. Down home cooking and a very nice salad bar.

But now, Mrs. X has returned to her apartment for the last stages of packing. We move all the big stuff on Saturday and then she'll turn the keys in sometime a little later in the week. Should be an adventure. I just can't wait until we're all done and settled.

Troubled Waters?

The surf appears to be looking a little choppy for Mr. Kerry. The new book, Unfit for Command, which attacks Mr. Kerry's war record is comming out soon and it has some rather unflattering details. The book charges that Mr. Kerry lied about the account to which he was awarded his silver star and in the incident he went so far as to shoot a wounded Viet Cong soldier in the back while he was running away. It also accuses him of coming across an abandoned village and, after shooting all the livestock, burning it down. Very nasty and very Apocolypse Now. How much of it is true? I don't know and I'm not going to hazard a guess. However, I will say that this could be a nasty distraction, espcially as Mr. Kerry has mentioned that he committed "attrocities" during his tour in Vietnam and then gone on to make his service a centerpiece in his campaign.

Another thing is just the public perception of Mr. Kerry. A Boston blogger posted his thoughts on Mr. Kerry's percieved intellectual superiority over Mr. Bush. He's certainly not a Kerry fan, although he did make an interesting offer to the Kerry supporters for his defense.

Several other bloggers are in mixed reactions of worry or delight depending on where they stand in support of Mr. Kerry. Glen Reynolds has a compilation of some of these concerns.

But, as many of the undecided voters only care about what the candidates are going to do on the issues, all this may just blow over. We really won't be able to tell anything until the debates come. Hopefully Mr. Kerry will know how to sigh properly during the debate, for his sake.

First Amendment

Here's one that's right up Mrs. X's alley. An Orlando, Florida news station reported that a woman was fired from her telecommuting job after she had a pizza with ham on it and a BLT for lunch. The woman worked for Rising Star, a telecommunications company headquartered in central Florida. Apparently, the company has strong ties to the Muslim community and has some unwritten rules in deference to the teachings of the Koran. That is not a bad thing in my mind. However, one of these rules is that you cannot consume pork products on company grounds. This is not a written rule and the woman was never asked to sign a waiver saying that she would not eat pork on company grounds. But, after these two incidents, the woman's position was terminated.

I'm not that well grounded in employment law and first amendment, but I'm sure Mrs. X would tell you that there is some violation of the Equal Opportunity Law in here somewhere, to say nothing of a possible first amendment suit. As it is a fairly localized company and a Muslim based discrimination suit, I don't think we'll be getting much national coverage over it. But it does make one think and boggle the mind as to what some people try to impose on others.

TAR Recap

Interesting episode this week. I like the new twists of only having two fast forwards in the entire game and the loss of money in a non-elimination round. I only wish that it had not been the bowling moms who had finished in last place. I can imagine that between the loss of money and the twisted ankle one of them suffered, they'll be the team eliminated next week.

The non-elimination rounds should be happening every other episode now and they will probably do a good job in eliminating the same team the following week. Now, there is always hope, but its just crippling to loose money, especially when you keep getting less and less of it the rest of the way. I imagine this was in response to the last two seasons where a team that was not that popular with the viewers finished last but wasn't eliminated and then rebounded to finish high in the standings and stick around, much to the annoyance of the audience.

I also like the limitation of the fast forward, although it was rather amusing to see teams jump at it early last season and then start to fall behind again. It kept around some amusing teams that would normally have been eliminated much earlier. But this way is interesting too. Now, if I had been team Texas, I would not have used the FF. They were 6 hours ahead of the second place team and the FF bumped them further up to probably at least 10 hours ahead. However, anyone who has seen the show before, knows that teams catch up to each other at airports and bus stations later in the day. They'll be leaving at 11:30 PM Cairo time and I can't imagine that anything will be open when they need it to be. So they will lose the lead until Myrna and Shmirna catch up to them as was shown in the previews for next week. What's more, team Texas cannot use the other FF which will probably come sometime when there are only 4 or 5 teams left and could be much more useful in jockeying for position among the final 3.

Irregardless, it appears the twins team will stay around for a little longer. The bowling moms, crippled by no money will be eliminated next week unless there is a huge gaffe made by another team. After that, I think the pizza brothers will be eliminated as injuries to knees push them further back. So that leaves our final 5 as the twins, Myrna and Shmirna, Chip and Kim, team Texas, and team Modeling for Christ. I've yet to see anything that makes me think that the twins will not stave off elimination around 5 or 4. Mistakes might keep one of the other teams down as well, but its difficult to say. I can't give any real impression as to who will be next on the block until after these next two teams are eliminated.

Reality Update

How is this for funny: Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush are both scheduled for campaign stops in the same town at the same time, and I am very familiar with both locations. Both candidates will be making stops in Davenport, IA, about 30 miles north of the town my parents live in. I used to head up to Davenport a lot while I was in high school and college. The fact that both men are in the same town at the same time is even funnier to me since I know where the locations are and can picture them. Although, I'm a little surprised Mr. Bush is there. Despite it being in the heart of the Midwest, the QC have enough manufacturing jobs to make it a very solidly Democratic area. I couldn't even tell you the last time a Republican represented the 17th district of Illinois.

Anyway, the real news on my mind is The Amazing Race. Mrs. X and I are sliding more and more into dislike of Myrna. Certainly her loud, obnoxious comments during the caviar eat while several other women were getting sick, were very annoying. I don't like the Texas couple very much either, but there is no need for that kind of poor sportsmanship.

I have a strong feeling that we will be saying goodbye to the twins very soon. They keep lagging towards the back and one of them was clearly very sick from the caviar eating. They themselves said that they don't have a partner who really balances out their weaknesses. I expect Egypt will be hard on them and we will be seeing them fall by the wayside before too long. I hope the same doesn't happen to the bowling moms but I'm getting skeptical of seeing them past India (which I suspect they will be going to after Egypt). We shall see but I'm looking forward to seeing what happens tonight.

Mrs. X has also given up on her TV blog and will only be keeping up one blog from now on. I suspect she'll give TV her focus there after the wedding. But for those of you starved for her BB5 thoughts, I can tell you that she is relieved that the Four Horsemen seem to be breaking down and that their leader, Scott, is looking like the key figure in being knocked out. She is also ticked to see the reaction with the red-headed twins reveal themselves and give notices to the meathead alliance, as she calls them, realize that they are down another vote. I'm sure she'll give you updates as necessary.