As they explain here, Uwe Boll said he'll stop making movies if one million people sign this petition. So please go sign it now.

JERJERROD: Lord Vader, this is an unexpected pleasure. We're honored by your presence.

VADER: You may dispense with the pleasantries, Commander. I'm here to put you back on schedule.

JERJERROD: I assure you, Lord Vader, my men are working as fast as they can.

VADER: Perhaps I can find new ways to motivate them.

JERJERROD: I tell you, this station will be operational as planned.

VADER: The Emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation.

JERJERROD: But he asks the impossible. I need more men.

VADER: Then perhaps you can tell him when he arrives.

JERJERROD (aghast): The Emperor's coming here?

VADER: That is correct, Commander. And he is most displeased with your apparent lack of progress.

JERJERROD: We shall double our efforts.

VADER: I hope so, Commander, for your sake. The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.



So, the Iraqi government finally passed the law that I mentioned earlier. It took a visit from VP Cheney, but it passed.

I normally don't get too interested in politics, if for no other reason than any effort I expend is likely to have less impact on my life than if I were to expend that effort differently. But I do try to keep up with the current campaigns, and that's what pointed me to an article in the Washington Post about a speech McCain gave recently. I has been planning on voting for McCain, but that was mainly because I expected both Hillary and Barack to have plans I specifically didn't like. After reading this article, though, I'm happy to say that I'll be voting for McCain because I like him.

Seriously, it's like he asked me what his positions should be, and then took them. On the current economic situation: "I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers. Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy ... I will consider any and all proposals based on their cost and benefits. In this crisis, as in all I may face in the future, I will not allow dogma to override common sense." Rockin'.

On foreign relations: "We cannot build an enduring peace based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to. We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact -- a League of Democracies -- that can harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests. It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people and consign them to the horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing, and possibly genocide that would follow a reckless, irresponsible, and premature withdrawal. Our critics say America needs to repair its image in the world. How can they argue at the same time for the morally reprehensible abandonment of our responsibilities in Iraq?" Yes. Yes. Yes. Pure awesome.

So I'm started to get excited. Not that he's getting my money or anything - he's a politician, so taking my money is literally part of his job. Still, things look good. I think what I like the most is that McCain is coming out with straightforward conservative ideas that aren't crazy. It'll force Hillary or Barack to take their own clearly-defined positions, and then voters will get to decide based on positions. Well, they'll be able to, anyway.

First read this article about the current movement to force women to be equally represented in the hard sciences and engineering in college. Note the part where the NSF (the 'S' stands for "Science") funds a performance of The Vagina Monologues.

If you're a reasonable person you'll be shaking with impotent rage when you're done.

It's hard to not think about politics these days, what with the Democratic elections on TV all the time. And with my mind wandering, I starting thinking about who was the worst president ever. Of course, the fact that I'm asking this question means that I don't think it's Bush. And to be honest, lying and killing less than 4,000 American soldiers is not all that bad. I guess I don't expect much from my politicians.

( Terrible Presidents )

Yakka foob mog. Grug pubbawup zink wattoom gazork. Chumble spuzz.

I realized the other day that I had been remiss in uploading new pictures of my precious snowflake to the Internet. Then I realized that in order to upload pictures to the Internet, I had to move them off of the camera and onto my computer. So I did both of those things, and now there are lots of new pictures of Nathan on the Internet.

Speaking of pictures, Pneu Matic is looking pretty good these days. Go check it out.

You know how all the directions for making pancakes say to not overmix the batter so that it stays lumpy? Those directions aren't fucking around. Pancakes from perfectly smooth batter are crap. Trust me.

You know where they make good pancakes? Pneu Matic, that's where.

Quick update on Pneu Matic. The recent celebrations were a little too successful at bringing people to the city, and their infrastructure can't keep up. If you can lend a hand and help them develop their transportation system.

10 points to whomever understands the subject of this post.

My friends in Pneu Matic have just forwarded me an email from their Mayor, the Honorable Airon Windham. Mayor Windham congratulates the brave settlers of Pneu Matic on achieving two major goals. First, Pneu Matic's population exceeds 100. Second, Pneu Matic is one of the top 3000 cities in the world! Wow!

My friends wanted me to extend their thanks to all of you for all of your help with their fair city. If you ever visit, look them up and they'll buy you a beer.

Everyone should go check out http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004152847_rbkelley300.html If you don't make it all the way through, it's okay - the inspirational part is in the first half.

Okay, now that you've read it, think about how hard it must have been for that guy to decide he was going to go to school instead of focus solely on football. Very impressive.

Speaking of impressing, the people of Pneu Matic have managed to bring their unemployment down to 0% (zero's a percent) and transportation up to 100%. Now that their city has remedied its temporary flaws, you should go visit it and see just how great it is.

The good people of Pneu Matic are starting to have some growing pains. Now that they have 100 residents, they're starting to have trouble both with unemployment and transportation inadequacies. So I encourage to you either invest in industry or improve their transportation infrastructure.

I will say I find it frustrating that I can't check in on the settlers of Pneu Matic without using up my one action for the day. It would be nice to know the best way to help them - via transportation or industry - before I instead contribute to their population.

UPDATE: It looks like what they need most is industry. I agree - no one likes unemployment. So help!

I came across the invited address given at the American Psychological Association in 2007. No, really, someone linked to it in a fark comment thread - that's as close to stumbling across as you can get, I think. Anyway, it's a really intelligent and reasonable way of looking at and thinking about the differences between men and women. It's not based on quite enough scientific evidence, but it's certainly rooted in science. Good stuff.

Speaking of science, they're doing a lot in Pneu Matic. You should go visit them and see how they're doing.

An email on our neighborhood's listserv (don't get all excited, it's just a Yahoo Group) brought up the Purple Line. For those of you not in the know, the purple line is a light rail system that will run from about 11 o'clock around DC to around 3 o'clock, give or take. It's all outside the District itself, which means it's in Maryland.

Anyway, it looks like the proposed line will pass within walking distance of my house. It's light rail, so it's not too loud, and I don't hear traffic from the road that the light rail will be traveling along. Once built, it will give someone living in my house rail access to downtown DC, which is great, both for me and for my property value.

This is actually relevant to the people of Pneu Matic. Those brave settlers are starting to draw up plans for their own mass transit system. They believe in smart growth, it seems. Of course, all their plans are for naught if you don't go visit them.

I've spoken with my contacts at Pneu Matic. They tell me that the point of developing industry is to reduce unemployment. Fortunately, that's not a problem they have right now, so for now, when you visit Pneu Matic, do the tourist thing and don't worry about developing industry.

No full update now, my nose is still buried in books in the research library. I've been in contact with a hard-working family in Pneu Matic and they tell me their city is starting to develop industry, and they need your help. So, please, come visit Pneu Matic and its hard-working citizens grow their industry.

When I said the people of Pneu Matic left to establish their new city, I'm understand that I'm likely oversimplifying. It's unfortunate, but I don't have enough time to do more research. It's true that the economy in Matic was centrally controlled and managed by the government. People couldn't start their own new business. Instead, all new business ventures are undertaken by one of a handful of government-approved corporations, and even then only after the government approves it.

Such a centrally controlled economy has huge ripple effects. Wages are controlled by the government, so prices are controlled. People need to make money to buy the things the government says they need, so people are guaranteed employment. Which might be good, except people don't really have much choice over what job they have. With a handful of people controlling business, it all comes down to who you know or who you're related to. And if you don't know anyone and aren't related to anyone, you life is pretty limited.

So it's more than just a centrally-controlled economy that led to the founding of Pneu Matic. For now, though, I think it's a convenient shorthand. If time permits, I'll try to address it in more detail in future posts.

My previous entry about the brave settlers of Pneu Matic takes a pretty obvious pass on the question of why they left to found their own city. It's an important question. Multiple historical studies have investigated how the initial intentions of the settlers in the New World influenced the present-day character of the countries they founded. I think, therefore, that not only might it be interesting to look at why Pneu Matic was settled, but it is critical to do so.

History shows multiple reasons for the establishment of new cities and colonies. The best known to me, as an American, is religious freedom. There are others, though. If you believe that there is a fixed amount of wealth in the world (I don't), then you'd be a fool to not try to claim newly-discovered land. Such land would be a rare injection of wealth into the known world. In other cases, cities were founded because certain geographical features - a mountain pass, a deep harbor - encouraged it.

The settlers of a Pneu Matic had a reason that, as far as I'm aware, is unique in history. They left their homeland in search of economic freedom. While similar to other historical reasons of colonization and expansion (there's probably a book or thesis in looking at those similarities), I consider it to be different enough to warrant some further investigation and discussion.

In the meantime, please visit Pneu Matic and help the enterprising citizens improve their city.

So my city, Pneu Matic, still needs more people to visit it. Pneu Matic was settled only days ago by settlers from Matic. They named it after their lovely home city of Matic to remind themselves of what they wanted to build. Only with your help can they achieve their dream in a fresh new world.

Remember, not only can you visit once a day, the brave settlers need you to.

It's been a while since I've posted, so I guess I should put up something unimportant or meaningless.

Nathan continues to grow, as I expect him to. He's crawling and pulling up with proficiency an soon will be walking. We are also eagerly anticipating teef. Er, teeth. His hair is awesome, something like this.

As an aside, many years ago I read that all your links on a web page should be through descriptive text, and not through meaningless pronouns, like in my link in the previous paragraph. Screw style guidelines, I say!

Anyway, I also have my own Mini City, Pneu Matic. You should all go visit it every day, because that's how it grows.