Happy blogday (belated)

I came to the sudden realization yesterday that this blog turned 1 year a couple of week's ago.

What a delinquent parent I am to not remember the birthday of my blog. Actually, it's not really that big of a deal when you read that some people have been blogging for ages (since the turn of the century) and have much greater traffic.

Still, it's a milestone of sorts. And it's the longest I've ever kept a regular journal, so balls to blogging!

This whole thing started on July 14, 2005. A friend of mine had been urging me to blog for a couple of weeks and after a late night (hence the name) IM conversation, I finally did.

Since then, I've had nearly 20,000 visits. I started keeping track of Technorati rankings in late December when I was ranked a respectable 361,466. When I checked yesterday, I had climbed to 9,297 (which coincidentally was my ranking in my graduating class at K-State -- hey, I never claimed to be a rocket surgeon).

Anyway since my arm's getting a little sore from the self back-patting, let me just say a quick thank you to everyone who visits. I hope I haven't bored you too badly. I've made some great blogfriends and I highly value the free exchange of ideas. Hopefully we'll get to meet sometime in the corporeal world (I still owe Xavier Onasis a Scotch).

And if perchance I have offended, I offer now my sincerest apologies. But I can't really promise that it won't happen again.

tagged: blog, blogging, anniversary, Technorati, K-State, friends

YouTube Tuesday: Best. Mashup. Ever

I love the fact that consumers have such great editing and publishing tools these days. Anyone can now create their own works of art and publish them for everyone to see. Those in the marketing biz call it "consumer generated media."

One of the best examples I've seen is today YouTube Tuesday submission. Take the godfathers of British comedy and mash it up with a campy sci-fi hit and you get Monty Trek.

Join the crew of the intrepid Enterprise as they finally return to Camelot. You'll have to click the link, since the "owner" has disabled the embed function. Still, this is funny enough to make it worth your while.


Monty Trek

WARNING: Do not drink milk while viewing this video, as there is a high risk of ex-nasal lactification.



Huge tip of the hat to Get on the Blandwagon for passing it on.

tagged: movie, YouTube, video, music, mashup, Star Trek, Monty Python, culture, humor

Kansas Guild of Bloggers Carnival

Go check it out at Blog Meridian.

Don't forget to submit a post for this week's KGB Roundup, which Blog Meridian will host next Monday.

tagged: Kansas, blog, blogger, carnival, KGB

inertia

I just haven't been able to get going all day. From the moment I woke up, I've been the proverbial "object at rest."

A couple of extra cups of coffee didn't help any and I've been pretty unproductive all day.

Hopefully I'll be able to break out of the malaise tomorrow. Until then, I've gone back to my blogging roots to pass on a couple of items that I stumbled upon today as I tried to become interested in something, anything.

• First, I found this M.C. Escher meets Salvador Dali flash presentation. Here's the link. Try zooming all the way in, it's way trippy.
  
  
• I also wasted a good half hour writing my own George W. Bush speech with this handy-dandy tool. Hours of fun for the whole family to enjoy. Send me a link to the speech you wrote.
  
  
• I also ran across this pretty neat flash adaptation of Kafka's famous Metamorphosis. I just reread that book and a collection of Kafka's other short stories a few months ago, so I found it particularly interesting.

Well, time to call it a day. Hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow. If not, there's always the colossal time waster that is the Internet.

tagged: Internet, Kafka, malaise, Metamorphosis, Escher, Bush, Salvador Dali

Landis maximus

Congratulations to Floyd Landis on winning the 2006 Tour de France. It's very satisfying to see an American win, particularly this year, when Americans weren't really expected to show up.

For those of you keeping score, this is the eighth year in a row that an American has won the most prestigious race in cycling and the biggest sporting prize in France.

Unfortunately, as with all American Tour winners, Landis is in for some major medical problems in the off-season. He' scheduled to have hip-replacement surgery, a big deal for anyone, but a mega-big deal for a cyclist. It's like Roger Clemens having arm replacement surgery -- a potential career ender.

And let's face it, Landis wasn't really a favorite to win this year's race. A doping probe resulted in the elimination of the big favorites - Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Joseba Beloki -- before the race even started.

Still, it's tough to discount an American coming back from a major medical setback. Greg LeMond set the trend when he returned to the Tour after being shot in the heart during a hunting accident. And Lance Armstrong's battle with cancer is very well documented. Both came back stronger than before.

So here's a big bon chance to Floyd after a hard-fought and well deserved victory. Looking forward to seeing you next year.

tagged: Tour de France, Floyd Landis, cycling, Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond, France

Sweet relief

It was a relief and a joy to take the trash out this morning. The cool morning air and drenching showers that followed were a sweet relief from the heat wave we've had of late.

In honor of today's rain, we bring you...

Song Of The Rain VII
by Khalil Gibran

I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven
By the gods. Nature then takes me, to adorn
Her fields and valleys.

I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the
Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn
To embellish the gardens.

When I cry the hills laugh;
When I humble myself the flowers rejoice;
When I bow, all things are elated.

The field and the cloud are lovers
And between them I am a messenger of mercy.
I quench the thirst of one;
I cure the ailment of the other.

The voice of thunder declares my arrival;
The rainbow announces my departure.
I am like earthly life, which begins at
The feet of the mad elements and ends
Under the upraised wings of death.

I emerge from the heard of the sea
Soar with the breeze. When I see a field in
Need, I descend and embrace the flowers and
The trees in a million little ways.

I touch gently at the windows with my
Soft fingers, and my announcement is a
Welcome song. All can hear, but only
The sensitive can understand.

The heat in the air gives birth to me,
But in turn I kill it,
As woman overcomes man with
The strength she takes from him.

I am the sigh of the sea;
The laughter of the field;
The tears of heaven.

So with love -
Sighs from the deep sea of affection;
Laughter from the colorful field of the spirit;
Tears from the endless heaven of memories.

tagged: rain, weather, poetry, Khalil Gibran, heat

Was Wally World closed?

I hear there's some pretty heavy shit going down in Lebanon these days. I'm trying to feel bad about it. But it's hard.

It seems like this fighting has been going on in some form or another since before I was born. I'm just so used to it that it really doesn't seem like news anymore. Sure, it's a little "hotter" now, what with Hisbollah now lobbing bombs back at Israel instead of just suicide bombing them.

It's just too bad innocent foreigners are getting caught up in it this time. But then again, it seems like Americans in particular should know better than to hang out in that part of the world.

I don't really get why people would want to vacation in Lebanon in the first place. Sure, it's nice to visit the ancestral homeland. But COME ON! There are just some places you don't go if you want to stay out of trouble. Lebanon and East Kansas City are two of those places.

It's not like there aren't other vacation spots. I hear Las Vegas is lovely this time of year or there's always a crass Caribbean all-inclusive resort.

Look, if we learned anything from Jim Croce, it's that you don't pull on Superman's Cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger and you don't vacation in a Middle East war zone.

tagged: Lebanon, Hizbollah, Hezbollah, Israel, vacation, war, Jim Croce

Double chicken noodle

So I had a conference call scheduled over lunchtime today, which means I had to be back in by cube by 12:30 p.m. to call in.

The big downer to this situation was that I was forced to go to the corporate cafeteria for lunch, as opposed to going off-site. I typically leave the corporate HQ for lunch because the cafeteria is horrible. There's rarely anything I want to eat. I always lose my appetite when I go there. I literally would rather eat a pre-fab sandwich from the convenience store than eat at the cafeteria (and I have, many times).

But today, I was forced by time constraints to dine at the cafeteria -- which is in another building. So I leave my building and walk out into the 100-degree heat. I make it gasping and sweating into the cafeteria. At least the AC works there.

I browse through the food choices (a futile effort since the choices are the same as the last time I was here... and the time before that... etc.)

I finally rule out everything in the cafeteria. The pizza is dry, the burgers are greasy, the pot roast is just too heavy and the baked fish looks like it was baked on the sidewalk outside. I'd opt for the pre-packaged sushi, but it looks like it was packaged in San Francisco the week before and it costs eight bucks.

My last resort is the soup kettle. At least I'll be able to choke it down quickly. I fill a styrofoam cup with double chicken noodle, pay a five-spot for the soup and a soda and head back to my building.

So there I am, sweating like Ken Lay on the witness stand because it's hotter than Satan's balls outside, carrying a nice warm cup of soup for my lunch.

If it weren't so bloody hot and humid, it might be funny.

tagged: heat, weather, hot, lunch, soup, sushi, Ken Lay, Satan

Congrats MM

A good friend of mine announced a couple of weeks ago that she will soon be a first time mom.

I couldn't be happier for her and her husband. I'm not so far removed from that same moment in my life (first learning about impending parenthood) that I don't remember the excitement tinged with anxiety. Actually, to be honest I remember the first few days after learning about the upcoming child were filled with abject terror.

But that soon wore off and the excitement took over as we started making plans, painting the nursery, buying baby supplies, visiting doctor and seeing the sonograms. A friend told me at the time that it would change my life -- for the better. I believe it has.

So please take a moment to go congratulate MM at Suddenly Three. She learns the big boy-or-girl question today. Then, I assume, we'll all be given a chance to suggest names.

tagged: pregnancy, baby, congratulations, life

Response to a response to a response

We've got a good discussion on the estate tax going, so I wanted to post a response to Dan's response to my response to his original post, and I wanted to do it in a new post to it wouldn't get buried.

First let me say that I know Dan doesn't hate rich people. I was trying to be tongue-in-cheek in a Kanye West kind of way. In actuality, I don't think Dan hates anybody, with the possible exception of Ann Coulter (but he wouldn't be alone in that).

Next, Dan asserts that money is the main thing in taxation discussion. I'm not so sure I agree with that. I think good tax policy and fairness as well as the impact of taxation on the general economy are very important. Money is important in the way it is spent by the government, and I think we both agree that spending has been pretty egregious for a long time.

Next, with all due respect to Dan, the comment that neither Bill Gates nor Warren Buffett opposes the estate tax seems to be a non sequitur. After all, Gates is in favor of spyware, but that doesn't make it right.

Dan says he doesn't care about the study cited. This is odd because, upon further reflection I think it might support the estate tax from his point of view. If the primary purpose of the estate tax is the redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor, this study would seem to indicate that this purpose is being achieved.

Next, I agree that taxation is applied to nearly all economic transactions. My concern is that we'll get to a point where taxation is being applied to non-economic transactions (i.e., dying).

And, Dan has an excellent point that putting tax money into a separate fund isn't workable. Much like the "social security trust fund" myth, all tax money is "fungible." So unless we could put the proceeds from all estate taxes into a super scholarship fund, my plan just wouldn't work. I hereby "take it back".

Dan is also right that we need to take a look at the current estate tax from a tax policy standpoint. My big objection to the current estate tax it that it is an attempt to shift the tax burden to fewer people -- and thus is not "fair."

In fact, I think it might be more fair to do away with the estate tax and institute some kind of inheritance tax (I read an article on this a few months ago, and if I could remember the source I would link it). In this plan, anyone who received inheritance income would be taxed according to their normal tax bracket.

The key difference between the estate tax and an inheritance tax is that with an estate tax, the tax owed is determined by the size of the estate when someone dies. The heirs are responsible for the entire tax bill. With an inheritance model, the heirs only pay taxes on the income that they receive from the estate.

And, if this were expanded to all estates (not just the richest), the rate could be lowered from 60% (or whatever the current level is), to the standard 0%-35%.

The bottom line is that class warfare shouldn't determine tax policy. Fairness and efficiency should.

tagged: death, tax, inheritance, fair, property rights, education, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, economy