Stephen Fry

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Stephen Fry has achieved the status of being a national treasure in the United Kingdom.

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In the TV series Kingdom, he plays a solicitor (lawyer) in a small market town in rural England.
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The Telegraph has just published a good interview of him: http://tinyurl.com/2sqy95
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Iran

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I am not an athiest. I believe in God. One of the foundations of the USA is the right to practice (or not) the religion of your choice.
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I just think that Christianity is a nice fairy tale. Like Alice In Wonderland, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy.
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But Islam is not just a fairy tale. It is very negative and harmful. I read an article today that in Iran if you renounce organized religion this is punishable by death. Gosh what a bunch of crap.
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LINK: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,538466,00.html
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Synonyms in Translation

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I love it when words are 100% the same when translated. Even the various different meanings of the word.
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The Obama poster below uses the word cambio when talking about change. Political change.
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And when you go to the store and you get monetary change back, this type of change is also called cambio.
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Obama

I went by the Obama campaign office this morning. I signed up and made a donation to his campaign.

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I have covered up the Richardson sticker on my car with an Obama sticker. I also put up a sign in my front yard.

While I was there a reporter and his camerman for some newpaper in San Antonio was there. He asked if he could take a picture of me standing next to the picture of Obama. I told him, "Sure, one time in Livepool I got a Japanese tourist to take my picture standing next to a cardboard cutout of Paul McCartney."

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As he was taking the pic I laughingly told him that he needed to get rid of that piece of shit Cannon and get a good Nikon. He thought this was funny, but the reporter didn't see the humor in it.

I am a life-long yellow dog Democrat. I even ran for a very minor political office one time as a Democrat and won. I think Bush is the worst president we have ever had. Just like Ronald Reagan, again the republicans are almost bankrupting the country. All that said, John McCain is an honorable man with a long track record battling special interests. McCain has fought one battle after another against lobbyists and special interests.

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LINK: http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,537765,00.html

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Credit Cards

Someone very dear to me died a few years ago, and at the time of his death he had several credit cards. All were maxed out to around $12,500- each. I only have one credit card, a Visa. I have it set up so that the full balance is automatically paid from my checking account each month.

Every few months I have received a notice from the bank that the credit limit has automatically been increased. The latest increase was to $20,000-. Nowadays when ordering over the internet, you give your credit card number, and the secret number on the back, to a great many different people. This idea has been bothering me recently.

So today I called customer service and had them reduce the credit limit to $5,000-. They tried their scare tactics on me, telling me that it I ever wanted to increase it again that they would have to make a decision based upon the circumstances at that time. I said that was fine, and I also got them to disable the automatic increases in this credit limit.

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I feel so much better now!

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Abusive Marketing Tactics

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I used to subscribe to the El Paso Times. I cancelled my subscription because of several factors, but mostly because it contained far too much advertising and too little news.
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During the last month the automated telephone dialer for the El Paso Times has dialed me seven times asking that I re-subscribe.
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I have asked them to stop calling me numerous times, both by telephone and by email. On January 31, 2008 Don Flores, who is the Excecutive Vice President and Editor of the El Paso Times, sent me this e-mail:
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Dear Mr. Garland,

I apologize for the trouble.

I have forwarded your email to our circulation director.

Please let me know if the problem continues.

Again, thanks for bringing this to my attention.

--Don Flores
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I have told these people that I have malignant cancer, and that because of my illness I require a lot of sleep. I have also informed them that my telephone number is on the National Do Not Call Registry. Apparently I am not getting through to them because now less than a month later their automated computer telephone dialer has called me four times during the last 48 hours.
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Nader Running Again

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I read in this morning's news that Ralph Nader has begun a presidential bid again.

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What is this guy, some kind of a fascist who intentionally gets the Republicans elected? I know some very intelligent people who were fooled into supporting him before. It is because of these Nader supporters that we have had to suffer through George Bush bankrupting the country's economy and ruining our reputation world wide.

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LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/24/AR2008022400481.html

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Happy Birthday George Harrison

Tomorrow would be George Harrison's birthday.


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He died of lung cancer which had spread to his brain.
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Note to all the stupid bastards who still keep smoking cigarettes: Just keep on smoking. Even more money than God won't keep you alive and keep you from suffering a horrible, slow death.

Nikon D40 SLR Camera

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I am just so pleased with my Nikon digital SLR.

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Like Toyota in cars and Sony in TVs, Nikon makes the best cameras. Full stop.
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This is a link to the accessories I think one should have: http://tinyurl.com/33sw32
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Candidate Daughters

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A friend of my is infatuated with Chelsea.

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I think John McCain's daugther has a really neat blog: http://mccainblogette.com/

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Clinton Rally

Bill Clinton came to El Paso today to help Hillary's bid for the Democratic nomination.

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While waiting for him I met two nice old men (my age). One noticed my 25 year El Paso Natural Gas Ring. He had retired after 27 years of service to EPNG and was wearing a similar ring.

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The other old guy liked my Honda. He owns four bikes. We had a great 30 minute conversation about politics, kids nowdays, the benefits of speaking more than one language, and motorcycles.

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I brought along my Nikon SLR and the long lens. I was standing up on my motorcycle (parked) when I took this shot. I was sort of pretending to be a papparazzo.

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Spectroscope

My own personal human eye can see from about 425 or 450 nm in the short wave portion of the visible spectrum (blue or purple) to a wavelength of about 650 nano meters in the longwave part (red).


I have been experimenting around with my spectroscope which came in yesterday.


First, using a conventional fluorescent bulb I calibrated it for the bright green line at 546 nm which is the element mercury.



Then I started looking at various things and seeing the lines in their spectra. I got the pictures on the left from the instructions, and I took the top picture on the right while I had the spectroscope pointed at a cloud right next to the sun.
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The bottom picture on the right is what a compact fluorescent bulb looks like through the spectrascope. Here one can clearly see various individual emission lines lines, some bright and some dim.






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Castro 'relishes chance to rest'

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This morning the BBC reported on Fidel Castro retiring.
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They used words like "glory days are long gone."
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I certainly don't dare compare myself with a longtime head of state, but having been retired about 2-1/2 years now I have to agree with Castro.
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Free At Last, FREE AT LAST! Finally have the time to pursue the things I am really interested it.
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link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7259399.stm
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Dee Margo Interviewed by FBI

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The headlines in today's El Paso Times say that Margo was interviewed by the FBI about the public corruption case that is under investigation. Six people have pleaded guilty to serious federal charges in this case.
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Margo, a wealthy Republican, is head of a large insurance organization in El Paso. His wife serves with the Bush administration in the area of the arts. Her art gallery is located in the basement of her husband's business operation at JDW Insurance.
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The newspaper could have used headlines saying that "Margo Helped The FBI" with their investigation, but they chose not to. Without coming right out and saying it, I get the feeling that they are casting aspersions at Margo.
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Margo is running against the long time office holder Pat Haggerty. Margo has been accused of moving into the district as a sham, only so that he would be eligible to run against Haggerty. Pat Haggerty is well known for being honest and saying exactly what he thinks, even when it means that the rich and powerful will be upset with him.
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I am tempted to vote in the Republican primary just so that I can vote for Haggerty.
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Clinton ridicules Obama in comeback bid

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Reuters has an article entitled the above this morning. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1560427320080220?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

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The main reason that Obama and McCain have done well is that they are polite. Gentlemen.

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Bill and Hillary are more rough and tumble. Sort of Machiavellian. They are the types of politicians who will do or say anything to get into office. They don't quite fit this "polite" mould. American voters want a statesman, not a politician.

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Stolen Paintings

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Recently four paintings were stolen in Zurich. Among them paintings by Monet and Van Gogh.

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I read today that two of them have been recovered. One was a painting by Vincent Van Gogh called "Blooming Chestnut Branches." The two paintings were discovered in an abandoned car in a parking lot in front of a Zurich mental hospital. Completely appropriate.

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After living in Holland for 15 years and seeing many, many of his paintings I don't think a great deal of this lunatic Vincent Van Gogh.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRDbcIWkDAJuntYwgLB0roJ43VVQD8UTF28G0

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Amorality

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I was reading in the British press about a lady who was testifying in court. She described the accused person as being completely amoral.

It made me look up the exact definition of the word “amoral.” It is important to differentiate between being amoral and being immoral. The former simply does not recognize traditional rules of right and wrong. The later understands that certain behaviors are wrong, but goes ahead and does them anyway.

It made me think about the phrase, “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family.” I think it might be appropriate to expand this to, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your colleagues.”

I have had a few friends over the last half century who sometimes were a bit immoral. Driving while intoxicated, cheating on their taxes, having sex with people who were already married to someone else, etc.

In addition I have had the misfortune to know a few people who I would classify as amoral. They just didn’t think that these traditional rules had anything to do with them. It wasn’t that they did things they realized were improper, they were so self-centered and arrogant that they felt they were far beyond these rules of behavior.

I can think of at least four people without any difficulty who would qualify as amoral. All were people who I was forced to associate with because of my job. I guess that if there is any grain of truth at all in Christianity they will eventually pay for their hateful behavior. If not in this life, then in the next. After watching these people for years I find that the common man is smarter than he is given credit for. These men have become very wealthy financially, but they no longer get any respect from the communities they live and work in. And over the years it is clear to me that their self-respect has also horribly diminished. Despite all superficial appearances of happiness, they are miserable in this life. Alcoholism, addiction to mood enhancing drugs, divorce, etc.

It seems clear to me that the same sorts of behaviors that will get one into heaven will also make one’s time spent in this little one act play happy as well. So try to live by the ten commandments. It doesn’t matter one bit if Christianity is a fairytale and a bunch of hogwash, or if it is literally true. The exact same rules of morality will make you happy now and also get you into heaven at the end of the chapter.
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Total Lunar Eclipse

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There will be a total eclipse of the moon Wednesday, February 20.

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On the North American continent if you are in the mountain standard time zone, one should begin looking at the moon about 6:43 pm and by 8:01 pm the moon should be in total eclipse.

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Selenite in Chalcedony

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Sometimes I collect fluorescent rocks which surprise me once I get home in a really dark room. This is one of them. I have several pieces of gypsum from France and North Africa.

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But this rock out of Crawford, Nebraska tells the story of why I enjoy this hobby of fluorescent minerals so much.

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The orange fluorescence is the selenite gypsum crystal. The green comes from traces of uranium in the chalcedony/silicon dioxide. And the whitish blue? I'm not certain but it might be from calcium carbonate. This fluorescence is seen under shortwave ultraviolet light.

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Snow in Athens

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We had a little light dusting of snow over the weekend here in the Chihuahuan desert of El Paso, Texas.



I saw this AP photo on the DW website this morning. They also had a light snow on the Acropolis hill in Athens. Years ago I visted the remarkable ruins of the Parthenon.




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