If you think Bush will protect America from terrorists, read this report on where the $144 billion Bush wasted on the Iraq War could have been spent on to protect America from terrorists.  Instead of fighting terror, Bush fought in error, a terrible error that cost us more than 1000 lives and all that money without showing any improvement in national security.

Scientific American reports that revenge is indeed sweet.  No surprise there.  I always thought that revenge is a powerful source of motivation and that inability to take revenge leads to severe stress.

The article should should have distinguish before and after 'taste' of revenge more clearly though.  I think the aftertaste is rather sour.

Dave keeps his wheels rolling across America although his treads needs replacing.  I envy him because I never done what he is doing right now.  Farthest I have gone on wunderlust by car was a couple of states.  I wonder if programming on the road is productive for him.

I just can't focus when I am not in a familar surrounding.  Maybe a monster RV like Tog will do the trick.  I'll need a broadband connection via satellite, of course, and my wife will need GPS coordinates of malls.  Until my son leaves for college, seven years from now, I'll be looking at RV catalogs whenever I feel the wunderlust.

Comment spammers are starting to hit me pretty hard.  Please ignore the spam comments until I find some time to add a spam filter.  Thanks.

I can't fault Chechnyans fighting for their independence but I don't understand how they could justify killing of innocent children.  Even if they somehow succeeded, what would they say to their own children about how they gained their independence?  I used to have some sympathy for Chechnya, but their mindless guerrilla warfare tactics have eroded them away over the years.

Today must be a photo day.  Here are a couple of photos of my neighborhood from aloft, taken by Scott Loftesness who took these and other shots while his plane circled above the San Francisco Bay in preparation for landing.  Aloft, get it? 😉

The waterway (same one you see in the racoon photo below) looks like a pickaxe, no?  The cluster of buildings at lower left is the Oracle HQ.

Same area seen from the opposite side.

One of these days, I'll get a kayak (sold the old one years ago) and explore the marsh area on the left side of the picture above.

I pulled another all nighter, but I couldn't go to sleep this morning because today is a special day for my son.  He just left on a bus to go to his junior highschool (6th grade, wow…almost a man).  It was his first ride on regular bus and alone at that.  This morning he barely ate breakfast because he was excited as well as nervous.  I thought I should just pretend today wasn't special so I was in bed when he left our house.  I didn't last more than a few minutes.  I grabbed my camera and ran out after him.

My son riding samTrans to junior high

Since I haven't posted much pictures lately, how about a couple more?

Happy to be buried alive!

Above was taken just a stone throw from our campsite at Lake Tahoe.  Camping and hanging out at the beach at the same time is the best kind of camping.

Neighborhood racoon after tasting our grapes

I was working at night when I heard a loud noise outside.  When I looked out, I saw this racoon going through our small patch of grapevines.  It sat on the wooden support and ate all the grapes, one by one, while I was staring at it.  Racoons must have special kind of nerves.  Above shot was taken when it got up to leave.  So long and thanks for all the grapes, it seemed to be saying.

Next year, I know what it will be saying, Hmm.  These grapes taste different from last year.  How do I know?  Because I'll be marking my grapes the same way as dogs do with fire hydrants.  Hah!

From News.com

"Everyone is going to be asking, 'Where did the computer go?' The entire computer (now) floats in the air," said Schiller. Apple, he said, is aiming for a machine that people will be "proud to have in their den, their living room or in the front of a small business."

Yeah, right.  *eyeroll*  Aside from the joy of pretend surprise, why would anyone want to buy an oversized batteryless laptop with detached keyboard?  Wait a minute.  It just might work.  I can ducktape it to a small powerboat battery and use it as a laptop.  Wow, a laptop with 24 hour battery life and replaceable keyboard.  I am starting to like the idea.

While I have the ducktape at hand, I can attach some table legs so it won't break my leg and some small wheels so I can drag it around.  And how about those three fans?  What's next? iceMac model with a little cup that slides out when the CPU overheats so you can drop ice cubes into it?  How about an iAngel model that opens heat-dissipating wings at the back?  Cool!

I had a mail server relay problem which dropped incoming mail last weekend, yesterday, and part of today.  At first, I thought it was my network provider's POP3 server, but it turned out to be a problem with Docuverse.com mail server.  I think I fixed the problem so, if you sent me emails and haven't heard back from me or got a bounce, please resend.