Hope and Change

Quick note: for who ever will read it.

in 2008 we elected Hope and Change, but all we've gotten has been a new War (arguably 2 new ones.. Libya and Yemen), we've doubled the National debt since 2008 (7.51T to 14.568T) and more than doubled our future financial commitments (21.1T under G.W. Bush, 66.7T under Obama), had one of the roughest economic patches in american history, have seen our global status fall like a meteor, our national education level plummet, and now we've seen the last launch of our manned space missions.

I think this last point is very key, in conjunction with the others. America, the first *civilization* to ever put a man on another celestial body... the first of our species to travel beyond our own planet, has now discontinued it's exploration program. It's like a portion of America died on July 8th, 2011. Space exploration, and the technological advancements learned from it, have laid the foundation for much of the technology that we enjoy today. This computer I'm typing on was miniaturized from a warehouse down to a single room (then a single box) largely by the demands of the space agency. The Velcro that we've used to secure items for decades, came from the space industry. Lasers, fiber optic cable, shielded-twisted pair data cables, rocket propulsion systems, our knowledge of our own climate, GPS Satellites, Cell phones, SD cards (that you put your digital pictures on)... all has some how been related to the space program.

I know that the suspension of investment in the space program is "temporary".. but who really knows how long it will be; at the rate that we've been lied to. When a civilization quits pushing themselves harder, quits exploring, and stops reaching for seemingly unreachable goals... what happens?

After a short... 11 month break?

I make another post!

I really want to start trying to cook more... I bought a smoker that I'm super stoked about (no pun intended). I think I'll start posting about my experiences, trials, and tribulations with it.

I actually haven't even unboxed the smoker yet; I've been pre-occupied with work stuff, 'other ventures', the guys from the small group and tonight's Harry Potter premier. So, needless to say, I haven't had time to really even get it out and mess with it yet.

Tomorrow, I'll post pictures of the unboxing and making some modifications to the smoker that the BBQ community says you're supposed to make.. then we're on to cooking this Saturday.

... have I mentioned she's a good cook?

So... really, I've been to the *motherland* of pizzas. Like, in real life. Rome Italy and Tuscany.. it's like, the birthplace of Cheese mixed with dough and flattened to perfection.

the perfection portion, though, doesn't belong in Italy.

We had the best pizza, *ever* the other night. Jill made this dough, from scratch in her new stand mixer... then added cheese, sauce and pepperoni, and I swear it was the best stuff ever.

Pizza from Ray's Pizza in New York didn't compare to this... swear, I ate 75% of the pizza. I completely gorged myself to the point where I felt like I couldn't breathe (it was fantastic). I just couldn't help myself... it was the best Pizza I'd ever had.

Her cookies the guys at work fight over; someone today was offering cash for someone else's Molasses Cookie that i brought in. I thought we were gonna have a fight, so I split my last one so the other guy could have one.

Really, I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

Shave it or Don't... Poll!

So... Shave it back to the way it was, or leave the beard? it's not 100% grown in yet; but its enough.

I leave it up to the audience!

Poll is down... beard's still there for now!


Leave whatever comments you'd like... gonna review the poll this weekend and go with whatever everyone else says.

WWII in HD

Watching this three part series today.. and does color make a world of difference.

This is one of the best documentaries ever; the film being in color really makes a huge difference... you can see that its not mud on a marines face, instead its blood. The color just adds a certain humanity and humility to what the soldiers had to endure.

Watching this though; you can't help but realize that we live in a completely different "America" now though. The days are gone of sending in 150,000 troops in order to secure a beachhead, all in the name of liberty... knowing damn well that you're sending at least 25,000 to their certain deaths. No longer would you send in 485 planes, full of 9 men each, on a suicide mission just so their escort planes could wipe out the opposing air force. We don't do what is necessary to win any longer, no we only do what is acceptable in order to achieve a semblance of political victory to achieve "peace". During World War II, the entire country was behind the cause, and the military was given a political blank check to ensure the safety of peoples of all nations, regardless of the human cost... because the alternate cost would be tenfold.

Now, guarded by political red tape, humanitarian activist, media, journalist with personal agendas, and a fickel, self-serving nation.. we're no longer the nation that won the second world war. War has changed, as it has ever since its inception, but the basis is still the same... the nation or body thats willing to give up everything for its cause will be the victor. The "Greatest Generation" all gave up a part of themselves to ensure victory; they did whatever it took... even if it meant walking off a ship, onto a beach head with 4,000 rifles aimed at their boat; they would weather the onslaught and they would make it up that beach. Now.. we expect our men to fill out a piece of paper for every bullet they fire, why they fired it, and how they justified their right to fir; and our country scrutinize their every action with judgmental, arm-chair quarterback eyes.

I guess there is no real point to this post... more of just a rant. But I wish they we could get back to that America.. I wish we could get back to where we could raise the Flag, salute it, and sing the national anthem without fear of pissing someone off. Where we could not give a damn if we prayed in front of someone, because thats one of the founding principals we were built on... where we could do as we please without having our president go on an apology tour, begging for the forgiveness of all nations of the world.... cause God help us if we were to remind them, that if it wasn't for us; they'd be speaking German.

I do wish we could get back to "that" America.. but I'm kind of afraid of what it would take to get there.

Project Natal

Because I was talking about it tonight and we were playing the Wii... here's the youtube video for project Natal... this is coming out summer 2010 (they think); and it's some crazy stuff.

This is the crap that people wrote about in the 60's.. about how the year 2000 was going to be.

Voice Recognition

Facial / Body recognition

No Controlers

Sophisticated, Learning and Adapting Artificial Intelligence.

The first video is the promo vid for Natal.. this isn't the presentation that Lion Head Studios demonstrated the full under-the-hood horsepower of Natal (... that's Video #2). This is just the simple, over-the-top view of how Natal is going to change gaming and bring it in to a whole new audience.

With Huge.. **huge** studios chomping at the bits to get at Natal's source code.. big developers like Activision (World of Warcraft), BioWare (Fallout 3 / Dragon Age Origins), Electronic Arts (EA Sports Titles + Gears of War), Lionhead Studios (Oblivion)... with developers like this getting a hold of this technology; they'll be able to further the line where Nintendo and the Wii left off. Remove the 'clumsiness' of a controller from the mix; remove that boundary that prohibits so many from gaming, and open up the genre to even more people that it currently is enjoyed by...

Anyways, I'm very excited about this...this has the potential to be THE innovation in entertainment; potentially the largest innovation since color television; if it's really bought into by the industry and public:

Video #1:

And here's the full E3 presentation with Lionhead Studio's Milo AI:

that's all *real* stuff that's going into living rooms next year. I mean... voice recognition and facial recognition technology has been around for years in security equipment; but its so unreliable and dated.

But Natal's speed of recognition, facial expression reading, voice inflection recognition.. its just all brilliantly swift. If they can get buy in on this... you'll see and Xbox in 80% of all households.

POst

So... I failed at NoBloPoMo. Meh; I gave it a good fight.

Ya see... I got sidetracked, originally on Friday.

Friday night, I came home, changed clothes... then me and Jill went out to eat @ TWO: Urban Licks.. then afterwards went and saw 2012. We didn't get home that night till like, 12:30.

Saturday was busy too.. work @ 8:30, worked till 1:30, came home and ate (could've posted then I guess), back to work at 3:20, didn't get off till 6:30, came home then immediately turned around and went to Jennifer and Michaels UGA vs. Auburn party.. didn't get home then till after midnight.

Sunday.. had church that morning, then did some running around town and a little shopping, then home and straightened up (laundry etc) and then had my parents over for dinner. After that, I was pretty pooped and had work early on monday... so we went and watched a movie in bed and fell asleep.

Monday, went to work and stuff like normal, but then I got home and went and helped Jill babysit... so we didn't get back till 10:30ish or something like that, and I went to bed (it'd been a long couple of days at this point).

Tuesday, work and schtuff like normal.. then my really good friend from my Small group graduated from the police academy for his new job at the capital police in Atlanta, so I wanted to go to his graduation for support... which was in Jonesborough. So I didn't get back from that till 10.. got home, talked to jill for a little bit and hit the hay.

Now we're to Wednesday night and this is the first real time I've had the opportunity to post =/

been a great couple of days tho! Having fun and hanging out with loved ones >>>>>> "winning" at NoBloPoMo

PEace! Off to watch a movie!