Merry New Year

Enjoy your extra 'leap' second tonight at 23:59:60... Above all, be safe. Here's to an even more prosperous 2006!

Are Any of You Playing Sudoku?

I realize that I'm late to the party on this one (nothing new) , but what an addictive puzzle! Here is a site that posts a new puzzle every day- with varying degrees of difficulty. For those who don't know, it's not a math puzzle, it's more of a spatial thing... Try it, it's fun.

I Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Boring Posts

for a friends and family-related post: a recent picture of my 1 year old daughter, M:


A friend suggested naming this one, "Happy Meal."

Too Bad Satellite TV is Not as

Hassle-free as satellite radio. Just when I thought that Dish TV had stopped finding ways to infuriate me, I find out this morning when I tune to my trusty Bloomberg Information TV channel that it's no longer part of my package and costs and extra $1.50/month. The cost isn't the issue; they just keep nickel-and-diming me (it costs $5 just to change anything on your programming) , so I think I'll look into DirecTV (cable is not an option out here in the sticks) and see if they are any better. I won't hold my breath.

I Just Achieved

The rank of 1st degree Black Belt in Hapkido today. Hapkido is one of the more realistically useful traditional martial arts, so it has been a fun process. I believe I will continue further with it. It's hard on your body at times, but if it weren't, it wouldn't be any fun.

It's really weird thinking that I have two different black belts now, but believe me, the more you know about unarmed combat, the more you realize that there's so much more to learn. A black belt doesn't mean that you're invincible; it really means that you have mastered the basics of a particular style, and that perhaps you have an advantage over an untrained fighter...

As it stands now, my training will proceed like this:

Taekwondo: pursue a 3rd degree black belt (almost complete), then stop with official rank

Hapkido: pursue a 2nd degree black belt

Gumdo: work toward black belt, but I'm in no hurry

Jiu-Jitsu: I have no official rank in jiu-jitsu, but will continue with it and some mixed martial arts with some talented fighters I know.

I haven't had occasion to be in a 'street' fight since I started training back in 1998; if anything, the martial arts have probably made it less likely that I ever will. It really has to do with controlling yourself, particularly emotions and self-discipline. Everyone should give it a try. You'll be glad you did.

I'm Off to Tunica, Mississippi

For my wife's company xmas party. She works for one of the local steel manufacturers, and they are nothing if not pretty good to the employees. Time to go to the Gold Strike for some good food, drink, and maybe a little black jack and poker. Always good fun.

The Phrase 'Happy Holidays' is Not an Attack on Christmas,

For two reasons. First, people are lazy. Let's face it- for most people, expressing holiday sentiment carries no more meaning than it does when you see someone and say, "how are you doing?" Most people could care less. It's just nice to say it. When someone says, "Happy Holidays," it is possible that they are being politically correct. I personally believe that they're just being lazy- why take the time to get to know a person, at least to the point of where you know their particular religion and what holiday they celebrate? Christmas? Kwanzaa? Festivus? Hanukkah? Nah, takes too much effort. Don't bother. Just say "Happy Holidays."

Second, businesses are frugal. If a business wants to get signs and decorations for each of the holidays, go for it. I don't think many of them will. Why not just get Santa-related decorations and signs that say, "Happy Holidays?" Much less expensive. Don't think that the business is assaulting your holiday if it isn't expressly acknowledged. It's not as if the employees of the business are really expressing their heart-felt holiday sentiment to you anyway- they're not; they just want your patronage! Follow the money. Business is business.

If there is a 'War on Christmas' (some of the right-wingers believe there is), my relatively few ultra left-wing secular socialist jerk friends have not informed me of it. Rest assured, Christmas will never go away. I leave you with this: Peace on earth, good will towards men (Wait a minute! I can't say men- that wouldn't include women) ummm- good will towards people (Damn! Can't say that either, it doesn't include the animals, which have 'rights' like we do) ummm- good will towards the world, and happy kwa-fest-chris-hanu

Ah, forget it-this is taking too much effort: Happy Holidays.

A Word of Advice Regarding Law Enforcement

Specifically, if you are the one being confronted by law enforcement, at any level: Do exactly what they tell you to do, don't say a word unless asked, and things will usually turn out relatively well for you... This applies to any situation, especially traffic stops. Hands on 10 and 2, mouth shut. Don't give the officer a reason to harass you further.

The air marshal who shot the mentally ill guy was doing exactly what he should have, in my opinion. The officer had a credible threat, and when ordering the man to leave his carry-on bag alone, the man reaches into his bag. In the marshal's mind, it wasn't to share a piece of gum with the officers. What if a detonator had been in the bag? From the linked story: The incident was the first time an airplane passenger was shot by air marshals since the enforcement program was beefed up after the September 11, 2001, hijacked airline attacks.
Adams said the two air marshals had been with the service since 2002. He said they followed "textbook training" in the incident in which they shot the passenger, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, as he ran off the airplane and after he ignored demands to stop and put down his bag.

There is no room to err on the side of caution these days in terms of public transportation counterterrorism efforts. I'm no huge fan of many law enforcement tactics, but the decision was a good one, even if it resulted in a tragedy for the man and his family.

I'm Home Early Today,

and I'm listening to Kudlow & Company on my Sirius satellite radio... Walter Williams and Robert Reich are guests on today's show- Williams is pretty much beating him senseless- Reich continually pounds back with his class warfare crap (but the top 1% blah blah blah- Hey Bob- you go become one of the top 1%, then you can bitch about them) ... I think it's time to switch to Alt Nation, or maybe the Big 80's... Beats Reich any day.