Subject to Change

Many other blogs are reporting the good news: the surge is working, we’re winning in Iraq. It has also been reported that July was the least deadliest month since last year.

Is anyone wondering why we’re winning? Why wasn’t it news when November of last year was the least deadliest month of the Iraq war? Hmmm… Maybe the surge was just that successful.

I doubt it.

At the risk of being too political on an otherwise pointless blog, I think there’s an easy answer. The democrats need Iraq to be off the table by November 2008. They’ve backed themselves into a corner over Iraq policy, because they misread the results of the 2006 midterms. Instead of interpreting the results as simply frustration with the course of the war, they decided that the American people supported a complete withdrawal. They’ve been hammering that point so hard that they have no credibility on seeing the war through to a successful conclusion.

What they are discovering now is that only a minority of Americans want to pack up our toys and go home. The rest of us want to see freedom succeed in Iraq. It would appear that the 2006 election was a call for action, rather than a call for surrender. The battle lines have been drawn and the democrat mainstream is clearly on the wrong side. They need Iraq to go away. The failure of the withdrawal movement means that they’ll have to resort to Plan B.

I expect the outlook in Iraq to begin looking rosier and rosier over the next few months. By next November you’ll have forgotten all about Iraq because the war will be going swimmingly. American soldiers may even be rising from the grave by then. Iraq will be a shining pillar of democracy, and wouldn’t it be great if a Democrat president(ette) could usher in the new era of peace in the Middle East?

Cross posted: BBA 

The following is a summary of an actual conversation I had recently. I had just asked my mom for one of her grocery card account numbers.

Mom: Do you have a pen and paper?

Me: I’ve got a cell phone.

(My hand was already on the phone and I flipped it open to use the notepad)

Dad: (half laughing, half sighing) That’s such a strange response… I’m never going to get used to this.

My dad has also seen me use the camera on my phone to document prices and products when we’re at the hardware store.

Isn’t technology wonderful?

… and anyone else who needs encouragement.

Update: Image remastered by Cantankerous.

I tried using Flickr once, because it seemed like a great idea.

I have no patience when it comes to software. So, after spending five minutes with the thing I decided it wasn’t for me. The main reason was that it seemed to have a limit on the number of photos you could upload. I also probably thought the interface was too much work.

I remember thinking that the whole thing was just too darned complicated. I was just playing with it now, and found myself clicking links that didn’t take me where I thought I was trying to go.

I’m commenting on it now because I see that Nick has a few hundered images in his photo stream. So I’ll ask: what’s so great about Flickr?

We went to Fujiyama on thursday night. This was a special dinner, to make up for all that time I spent in El Paso. So, I ordered a bottle of plum wine, assuming that it would be like any other bottle of wine: about four glasses. Ordinarily, that means I’ll be drinking three to three and a half glasses on my own.

When the 1.5L bottle arrived, Kelly and I both got a little scared. Then, the waiter reminded us about the change that was made to the liquor laws a year or two ago. You’re allowed to take unfinished wine home now, provided that the restaurant knows how to properly package it up for you.

I’ll tell you with a high degree of certainty that the new laws made our night more enjoyable. I like plum wine, so there would’ve been nothing to stop me from trying to polish off that bottle right there. I wouldn’t have been driving at that point, so that’s not really the concern. After drinking that much, though, I would’ve had a very rough night. I probably would’ve run off at the mouth a bit, too. I can’t eat or drink like I used to. But, you can’t stop me from trying sometimes.

Today has been much busier than yesterday, because Kelly figured out how to place her signs. We’re mooching off another rummage a block away. They deserve it. Those guys are way over-priced.

Here’s a great exchange from a moment ago:

Old Lady: Will you take $3 for these pictures? (actual price $5)

Us: Sure.

Me (to Kelly): Whatever gets them out of here.

Lady comes back from car.

Old Lady: All I have is a $100 bill.

Me: We can’t break that.

Old Lady: Maybe I have some change.

Who carries bills that large anymore? More importantly, why did she need to haggle over the price?

H/T: Geekologie

Some sick freak hooked up a web camera and pointed at his Frankenstein’s monster: a frog implanted with mechanical actuators, hooked up to an embedded web server.

The cool part is that you can use your web browser to make the frog move.

The bad part is you’re going to hell for this.

Note: Using the mechanics is cheating. They should’ve used electrodes to drive the muscles directly.

I’ve posted the official/unofficial BBA gathering info. Shall we say it’s Subject to Change?

I especially enjoyed being able to somewhat legitimately use the “cow farting” tag.

Now that Cole is starting to move around and play more, Kelly is making me put batteries back in all the toys we got from friends.

Did you know that kid’s toys talk to themselves?

It’s true. If you leave the batteries in them they will wait until the house is quiet or the moon is full. Then, they’ll start quietly humming a tune or talking in tongues. They won’t let you find them, either. The creepiest toys find all the best hiding spots.

How did we ever manage to fit all this junk in an 850 sq. ft. apartment? With more than double that space, a basement, attic, and garage, we still can’t find room for anything.

So, over the next few weekends we’ll be tormenting ourselves by attempting to have a garage sale. I’ve never heard that this is a good experience. I think I’ll let Kelly find out, while I stand back. I have heard that it can be entertaining to watch. I hope to have a few good stories to share.