Leaving Childern Behind

GWB signed the legislation to leave children behind (educationally) yesterday, 2/8/2002. This law requires all public schools receiving federal funding to administer a statewide standardized test annually to all students. Can you say "teach to the test"? Sound like a good idea? I thought not. This law is a giveaway to W's cronies in the standardized testing industry. Cronies that include his brother Neil Bush. Can you say "corrupt president"?

I've Got A Feeling That Terrorists Might Attack The World Trade Center Again

George W Bush, the doofusy son of a former one term president was inaugurated today, becoming our 43rd potus. In my opinion dark days are ahead of us. For the record I voted for the Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader. In my strong opinion, however, the election was stolen from the true winner, Al Gore. That the Supreme Court stopped the recount and handed the presidency to W is total bullshit. Unprecedented bullshit.

But now we are stuck with W for at least the next 4 years. I can't imagine him getting re-elected, however. He'll be another one term president like his father, mark my words. God, it sickens me that it isn't Al Gore who is being sworn in today. Sure, I'd have prefered a president Nader, but a president Gore would have been acceptable to me as well. Especially considering that Al Gore actually won the election!

But back to the dark days. The reason I say that I think terrorists might attack the World Trade Center in New York City again is because they've done it before. On 2/26/1993 a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower, killing 6 people and injuring more than a 1,000. Those responsible had intended to bring down the entire structure and kill many more, however.

In my opinion the terrorists will probably try again, and the election of an incompetent CIC might be just the opportunity that our enemies have been waiting for. President Clinton, the traitor (AKA "New Democrat") who signed the NAFTA trade agreement, at least kept us safe. As you may recall, President Clinton attempted to take out bin Laden. Although the Republicans in Congress claimed that he did so only to distract from the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

I didn't vote for Clinton, instead casting my ballot for Perot in both 1992 and 1996. I was convinced that Perot had a better shot the second time, given the fact that Clinton went back on his word and signed the trade agreement that cost many American jobs, just as Perot warned us. Unfortunately Perot did even worse the 2nd time he ran.

But at least Clinton recognized the threat posed by bin Laden and his terrorist group. Will our new illegitimate president also take the bin Laden threat seriously? I doubt it. Actually, I've got a very bad feeling that the WTC (or some other high profile target) might get bombed again. And this time our enemies might kill many more Americans. We got lucky the fist time. Their plan was to kill thousands, but they only killed 6. We might not be so lucky the next time.

The 21st Century Has Arrived

Today, January one, is the first day of the 21st century. The future has arrived! Wow, huh?

The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era or the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. It began on January 1, 2001, and will end on December 31, 2100. It is the first century of the 3rd millennium. It is distinct from the century known as the 2000s, which began on January 1, 2000 and will end on December 31, 2099. (Wikipedia Link).

OK, so the countdown to flying cars is on. Only 14 more years until we're all zipping around up in the sky (as per Back to the Future P2). I wonder if I'll have to get a pilot's license, or will my regular one for driving do?

Al Gore Will Be Elected Our Next President

The results of the United State's 54th quadrennial presidential election will be known tomorrow. While I'm casting my ballot for Ralph Nader, my prediction is that Vice President Al Gore will ascend to the White House. Certainly the people are with him, given the popularity of Bill Clinton. Yeah, Clinton disappointed with his signing of the NAFTA trade agreement, but overall the WJC presidency was successful, I think.

Ralph Nader would make a much better president, IMO, but a Gore presidency? I think it could work out OK. Sure, a Gore presidency will not be as beneficial to our economic well-being as a Nader presidency, but it will be loads better than a W presidency (God forbid the electorate is dumb enough to elect this mouth-breather).

Ralph Nader's campaign issues, BTW, included universal healthcare, free education, and protecting American jobs by opposing globalization. As a resolute opponent of trade agreements such as GATT and NAFTA, President Nader would push for the replacement of these bad deals with open agreements that pull-up rather than pull down environmental, labor, and consumer standards.

So-called "free trade" enriches the transnational corporations at the expense of American jobs, harming our economy. President Gore will not roll back NAFTA or pull us out of the World Trade Organization. The exodus of good paying jobs from the US to 3rd world sweatshops will contiune under President Gore.

OK, so there probably are not enough voters out there as intelligent as myself to elect candidate Nader president tomorrow. But, on the other hand, the electorate surely is not dumb enough to send the bumbler George W to the White House. Of that I am 100 percent confident.

The Pyrenean Ibex Extincted By A Falling Tree!

WTF is a Pyrenean Ibex you might ask?

The Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica), Spanish common name bucardo, was one of the four subspecies of the Spanish ibex or Iberian wild goat, a species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula. Pyrenean ibex were most common in the Cantabrian Mountains, Southern France, and the northern Pyrenees. The Pyrenean ibex was one of four subspecies of the Iberian ibex. The first to become extinct was the Portuguese ibex (Capra pyrenaica lusitanica) in 1892. The Pyrenean ibex was the second, with the last individual, a female called Celia, found dead on January 6, 2000. Although her cause of death is known (she was killed by a fallen tree), the reason for the extinction of the subspecies as a whole is a mystery. Some hypotheses include the inability to compete with other species for food, infections and diseases, and poaching. (Wikipedia Link).

Weirdly interesting, huh? Please share your thoughts.

In The Year 2000

So, the year 2000 is now here. Planes did not drop out of the sky. Computers did not stop working, shutting down the electrical grid and sending us back into a pre-modern technological era. Not that I was worried, mind you.

I did wonder, however, if computer programmers were not smart enough to allocate 4 digits for the year, or if they were incredibly smart... setting up a situation where they'd have to do (millions?) of man-hours of work "fixing" a problem they intentionally created. Thereby providing job security.

Anyway, did you know that the year 2000 is a century leap year?

In the Gregorian calendar, an end-of-century leap year (often referred to as a century leap year) is a year that is exactly divisible by 400 and, as with every other leap year, qualifies for the intercalation of February 29 ("intercalation" is the insertion of a leap day, week, or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follow the seasons or moon phases). End-of-century years that are not divisible by exactly 400 are common years. The years 2000 and 2400 for example, are end-of-century leap years in a century with 36,525 days, while 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, and 2600 are common years in a century with 36,524 days. (Wikipedia Link).

Interesting, right? Please share your thoughts.

Longplayer

So, I was poking around Wikipedia and I found the following article, which I found quite interesting.

Longplayer is a piece of music that is designed to last for one thousand years. It started to play on 1/1/2000, and if all goes as planned, it will continue without repetition until 12/31/2999. It will restart on that date. Longplayer is based on an existing piece of music, 20 minutes and 20 seconds in length, which is processed by computer using a simple algorithm. This gives a large number of variations, which, when played consecutively, gives a total expected runtime of 1000 years. The original music was composed by Jem Finer, who was also one of the founding members of the group The Pogues. It uses Tibetan singing bowls and gongs, which are able to create a range of sounds by either striking or rolling pieces of wood around the rims. This source music was recorded in December 1999. It was commissioned by Artangel. Longplayer could be heard in the relaxation zone of the Millennium Dome in London during its year of opening in 2000. The piece was also played in the 19th century lighthouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf and other public listening posts in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Egypt, where it can still be heard today. It can also be heard via an Icecast Internet stream, hosted (as of 2008) by Greenwich-based SPC. (Wikipedia Link).

Please share your thoughts.