It seems my comments are messed up and no one can respond to my posts. I'll get it fixed eventually, but since I've never had a very verbose readership, I'm not in a huge hurry.

I just read something on boingboing.net about the government putting more regulations on the availability of various chemicals, including many used by kids in science experiments. The impetus is to avoid the easy availability of chemicals that are potentially dangerous in the wake of homebrew bombing incidents like the Oklahoma City thing several years ago. I understand the desire for this, but they aren't looking at the downsides much. Consider first that I hear time and time again that not enough Americans are going in to the hard sciences. Then consider how many people that are now high up at NASA or JPL or inventing new vaccines in a medical lab played around with chemistry kits in their basements when they were kids. Think they'd still be scientists if their curiousity was as restricted as the government seems to want it to be? I know my Dad played around with a lot of stuff in his basement lab as a teen. Granted, he did not go on to a career in the sciences, but a lot of other kids doing the same things did. You just can't put restriction after restriction on the toys of science that make children want to become scientists, and then expect a growth in those careers. It's stupid, and yet another reason the nanny state ideology is slowly destroying many of the things that make the U.S. so great.

Practically every tangible item on Earth has the potential to cause harm. How many people have been killed with fireplace pokers over the years? Maybe we should restrict those only to people who have proper licenses to use pokers in business-related activities.

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 7330476

I did this last year, and had a tremendous amount of fun. The prize pool was great then, but it's even better now, with 1st place getting a main event entry, and a bunch of other cool prizes behind that. I think I finished 60 something last year when I lost on a suckout, and the top 40 were getting iPods. I definitely want to do better this year and get one of the top prizes. The fact that I'm not just a blogger, but also play a lot of poker should help. Lats year there was a lot of dead money to be had.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I won a Pokerstars.com hat last year, and I find it very comfortable and stylish.

I've been doing a great job trying to get ready for the Peachtree Road Race. I did about 3.2 miles tonight, though my pace wasn't exactly olympian. Unfortunately I finished with a really bad blister that hurts every step. I think I'm going to take a week or so off to let that heal, and then try putting gauze and duct tape over that area before I jog again. On both feet. It's happened before, and my shoes are broken in, I guess they just don't fit quite right. But tape should solve the problem.

Again regarding the console wars, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that Nintendo is creating a buzz with Wii that Sony and Microsoft could only wish for. The first hand reports from E3, the annual festival of video games and related electronics, are almost universally in awe of the sheer fun and joy of playing with the Wii. And it's not just the innovative controls and new games, it's the library of older games available on the system from all the past Nintendo entries. I think I read it's got the TurboGrafx16 library available, to. I've always wanted to try out the Y's series.

The rumoured $250 price seems to strike peoples' fancy, too, mine included. Who wants to spend $800 for a system and a couple of games? Despite all this, the naysayers still feel the superior graphics will win out. Sometimes I think Sony and Microsoft have forgotten that games are supposed to be fun, like Monopoly, or throwing batteries off overpasses (I'm kidding. Seriously).

The other big point people mention is the multi-media capability of the other systems. The Sony PS3 is even going to have a blu-ray player. Proclomations of the added value of the blu-ray player and the $1000 initial price-point of standalone blu-ray players forget that only innovators and early adopters are going to be getting blu-ray in the first year or so anyway. We all got on the DVD train just a few years ago, and most people still don't have HDTV anyway. After a year or two, the price of a standalone blu-ray player will fall to the point where a lot more people will want them....

blah blah blah, gotta run, finish this another time

This is too freakin' funny! The BBC had some expert coming to be interviewed about the Apple Records versus Apple the computer company suit. Someone ran outside to get the expert, who was running late, asked for him by name, and some random dude who turned out to be a taxi driver raised his hand. So they dragged him inside and asked for his expert opinion. The guy didn't do too badly. Follow this link for more.

I found this letter on Boortz's website. It's a fantastic analogy to the illegal immigrant situation we have going in the U.S.

"Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the U.S. might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and once here, to stay indefinitely.

Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.

Let's say I break into your house. Let's say that when you discover me in your home you insist that I leave. But, I say, "I've made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors: I've done all the things you don't like to do. I'm hard-working and honest ... except for that part where I broke into your house.

"According to the protestors, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family's insurance plan and provide other benefits for me and my family. My husband will do your yard work because he too is hard-working and honest ... except for that breaking in thing.

"If you try to call the police or force me out I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be here. It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm hard-working and honest .... ummmmm .... except for that breaking in thing.

"Besides. What a deal it is for me! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being anti-housebreaker!

Did I miss anything? Does this sound reasonable to you? If it does, grab a sign and go picket something. If this sounds insane to you call your senators and enlighten them because they are stumbling in the darkness right now and really need your help."

I wrote a long email to Cynthia Tucker, an editorial writer for the AJC. She usually ticks me off, though sometimes I agree with her. Not this time. Anyway, she took the time to rebut my response, and asked if she could print my response. I think she meant as a column, not just a letter to the editor. I said that would be fine as long as I got to see/approve the edited version beforehand. They've edited some of my letters before to the point where my meaning was altered, and once I think I came off looking a like bigot. I don't think it's their policy to let me approve their edits, so I may have knocked myself out of my first major newspaper column, but it's worth it to keep the integrity of my thoughts.

Why is it that many of the same people that are so against the NSA wiretapping because they don't trust the government to maintain their privacy are also gung ho about having socialist (government controlled) health care? Isn't there an inconsistency there? You won't trust the government to listen in on phone calls with known or suspected terrorists, but you'll trust them with all your medical information? The potential for abuse is just as bad, is it not?

Of course one could say the same for me. I'm ok with the wiretapping to an extent, but against socialist health care. The difference is that one is essential to fighting terror in our midst, and the other is essential to nothing except pandering to poor people. And from that we realize that some Americans are against the government knowing their private business, but only when that might help catch terrorists. Medical information won't help catch terrorists, so it's ok for the government to know that stuff.

Now I'm not saying that these people actively favor terrorists, that's just one result of the "wiretapping bad, medical info good" mode of thought.

Ever heard the phrase, "When God closes a door, he opens a window?" Ever had a day that felt more like, "When God closes a door, he hits you in the head with a sledgehammer, leaving your brains splattered all over the welcome mat?"

I think I mentioned this guy a few weeks ago, but I feel I should again. If you are interested in the Middle East and Israel at all, you need to be reading Michael Totten. He's a freelance journalist who goes where he wants to go, and writes about what he wants to write about, and can do it because of reader donations. His latest entry is about the Palestinians of 1948, those Arabs who stayed when Israel was formed, and have made their homes, and peace, with the Jews.

What did I get out of it? Nothing is perfect, Israeli has plenty of problems, including some racism, but to call it a racist or apartheid state ridiculous and makes a mockery of people with real problems, like what had gone on in South Africa for so many years. It was especially telling that one of the Israeli Arabs that Totten talks to acted like it would insane to want to live in a Palestinian state instead of Israel. So next time some ignorant jerk starts talking about how Arabs in Israel are second class citizens and that sort of BS, you send him to Totten, so he can read about reality instead of the myth of the evil Jews.

The Console Wars are heating up again, and this could be the most interesting battle since... Well... The last one.

Honestly this one will be better. Last time you had the Sony PlayStation 2, vs. Microsoft XBox, vs. Nintendo Gamecube. The Gamecube seemed behind before it began, and the XBox was clearly the most powerful system, but the real excitement was watching Sony push those PS2's everywhere, and succeed. Since then the XBox has become the console of choice for hackers. I've seen what new software and a mod-chip can do for an XBox, and trust me, they're awesome. The XBox 360, however, does not have the functionality that allows quite the same upside.

A quick summary of each company's offerings:

The Microsoft XBox 360 is out, and has been for a while. I don't know much about it, to be honest.

Sony is releasing the PS2 in the fall for a ridiculous amount of money. The fully functional version will cost like $700. Of course you also get a Blu-ray disc player included, and a standalone blu-ray player is going to cost near $1000 in the fall, so by that perspective, the PS3 is a good deal. The question is, how many non-gamers are going to pick up a PS3 instead of a standalone blu-ray player? And what if blu-ray gets crushed by HD-DVD in the marketplace? Betting a console on a possibly DOA storage unit seems risky, but Sony is sort of betting their whole company on the PS3 and blu-ray, so it makes sense to cross-market. A popular PS3 will mean huge automatic markets for blu-ray discs. The other big thing about the PS3 is that it is ridiculous powerful, absolutely crushing the competition in that area. The question in people's minds is, "Does power matter anymore?"

Nintendo is answering that question with a resounding, "No!" The Wii, formerly known as the Revolution, isn't much more powerful than the GameCube was, but it has a new and allegedly innovative control system. It sorta sounds like what the Power Glove was supposed to be, but without a glove. Move the controller and the character onscreen moves. I think it also has a laser pointer for shooting games and the like. Plus it's rumored that the system will sell for $250 at launch. I may even get one myself. The controllers look like fun, and Nintendo always has the best games.

The really intriguing part is that Microsoft was making fun of Sony's price point and remarked that consumers could buy an XBox360 AND a Wii for less than a PS3. The official seemed impressed with the Wii's controls, too.

I know I've gone on here and there about online poker, and I got a another crazy story for you now. A lot of online players like to multi-table. In fact I'm doing it right now, playing two SNGs while writing this, and looking for a part-time job (15-20 hours a week, if anyone has anything). I also spent a minute looking at a poker blog, and saw where some guy had been trying to follow a player he felt was easy money, and noticed the guy he was stalking was playing on 31 different tables at once. He wrote PokerStars, asking how this was possible and asking them to investigate. They replied that they had already done so, and the multi-tabler cooperated completely, but they were still skeptical, so he sent in a video of him playing all these tables at once. I think of myself as an A+ multi-tasker, in fact I find it to be one of my best skills, but I don't think I could competently play in 31 games at once.

Glenn Reynolds was discussing talk of invading Iran. Is he in favor? Not at the this point, but he did make a very interesting remark. One could make the arguement that invading Iran and Saudi Arabia and taking control of their oil is a lot like the reaons given for taxing the rich in the U.S. They didn't earn the oil, they just inherited it, and are using to to screw over poor people and those without their own underground oil supplies. They've done nothinng to deserve this, and are full of greed.

I don't think that's a good enough reason to invade, but I also don't think that soaking the rich and successful with ridiculously high tax rates to support the less successful is a good thing. In fact I find it a bad thing, and feel that it removes a lot of incentive to work hard and improve one's self. But hey, fair is fair. The only difference is that we are soaking our own rich instead of the rich in another country.

Mickey Kaus made a great point about building a wall across the border. It's compassionate, and enforces laws going in to the future. Let the illegals already here stay here and come in from the cold, and build a wall. It's a grandfather clause. If you're already here, great, if not, too damn bad, you ain't coming unless you do it the legal way. Makes sense to me, and avoids the trials and tribulations that would come with deporting millions of illegals already here.

I love Thomas Sowell. He's always got funny and interesting observations in his columns, and today's was no different. He pointed out an inconsistency that I never would have thought of. Of course I have no concrete examples of people that fit these characteristics, but I have no doubt they are out there. Basically he said that the same kind of people that deride standardized testing as a valid measure for children fully support not executing someone on death row because they scored low on an intelligence test (ignoring the fact that someone on death row has no incentive to score well, knowing that being really dumb could keep them alive). But I don't actually know anyone offhand that matches that. Of course those aren't topics I spend a loat of time talking to people about. Personally I love standardized tests because I'm REALLY good at them. More than anyone I know, I'm able to figure out the nuts and bolts behind a test, and score higher by knowing what the test's tendencies are. Many times I can answer a question without actually reading the question, just looking at the choices. Of course that's also a backhanded slap at the tests, because a well-designed test shouldn't be as full of tricks as the SAT. When you take a Princeton Review course, they spend as much time teaching ou the tricks which I pick up instinctually, as they do teaching you how to actually solve math questions and resolve analogies.

I should also mention that none of the teachers I know like standardized testing and they all hate "No Child Left Behind." Then again our school systems are failing us, so maybe we shouldn't care what the teachers think. I don't know the solution, but sticking our heads in the sand and refusing to do anything but raise taxes and spend more money is obviosuly not helpng, so let's try something new. Vouchers perhaps? Honestly, most talk about improving education seems to be entirely negative with no good suggestions. Just that vouchers suck, but no positive ideas. Pay our teachers more, blah blah blah. The problem with that is that nit's nearly impossible to fire a teacher, and crappy teachers get paid the same as good ones. They have little incentive to be better, and the teacher's unions won't allow any change to the status quo. In fifty years (assuming no singularity), historians may look back on the teacher's unions as the single greatest factor in the fall of the United States. Our kids are falling further behind other industrialized countries every day, and the status quo is not going to fix things. Only change will, and groups that obstruct change are, in this case, EVIL. Unintentionally, perhaps, but evil nonetheless. They are destroying our country slowly but surely.

Do you realize that most high school kids can't find India on a map? And most also think the U.S.-Mexico border is the most fortified in the world (I bet most adults do, too). This sort of ignorance is scary!!!! FYI, the U.S.-Mexico border fortifications are practically non-existant. Most countries have FAR stricter border controls than we do, and they deport illegal aliens as a matter of course. Only in the U.S. do we embrace lawbreakers before we embrace our own citizens.

I ran across an interesting comment about marijuana the other day. Someone remarked that if pot were currently unknown, and some scientist found it in the mountains of New Zealand and started researching it for possible medical use, it would be hailed as a miracle drug from Mother Nature, something that can help cancer and AIDS patients live better lives, and it helps fight glaucoma, too!

The problem is that the government has invested a LOT of money and time in making pot illegal, and the last thing they will ever do is admit to being wrong and wasting all that money.

I just read about a little known drug law that extends the death penalty to a person who has sold over 60,000 marijuana seeds. I don't have verification that this law really exists, but from what I read, some Canadian guy is undergoing an extradition trial so he can be tried in the U.S. for selling much more than the law requires for death. And supposedly they went after him specifically because he uses his earnings to support various legalization groups instead of buying bling. This shows that the DEA doesn't really care about drug dealers so much, they are far more interested in cutting off funding that might make their jobs pointless.