rare bird

"Eleven dimensions, parallel universes, and a world made of strings. It's not science fiction. It's string theory." Probably the most significant thing about string theory is that it hammers the last nail in the coffin of methodological naturalism. It essentially says that matter is energy, that vibrating strings are the smallest bits of existence and are almost infinitely malleable, and make up the entire universe. And this is all within nature, though it may be outside of common experience. "Nature" no longer refers to what we sense directly. String theory predicts 11 dimensions, 7 of which exist in the subatomic realm, outside our common experience. It says that our universe may not be the only one. More than that, our universe may be inside a super-dimensional space wherein reside many universes. Where is the boundary between this kind of thinking and belief in a "spiritual world" outside our common experience? If a person could have

"Ukraine's Supreme Court has rejected all four complaints against the conduct of the presidential election lodged by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. " TAK!

"Reinforcing his image as a Western-leaning politician who hopes to expand Ukraine's ties to Europe, Yushchenko also said he planned to create a new government agency, the Ministry of European Integration... Moreover, in a sign of the degree to which Yushchenko appears prepared to wrest power from the remnants of Kuchma's government, Yushchenko said he would replace all of the 10 regional governors in eastern Ukraine who had threatened last month to form an autonomous region. Under the Ukrainian Constitution, the president appoints all regional leaders... Yushchenko also suggested that he was willing to prosecute Kuchma, who has been accused of election-rigging, corruption and abuse of state power... And Yushchenko restated his intention to investigate privatization deals he says were rigged by Kuchma's administration to sell state assets at absurdly low prices, particularly that of a metallurgical plant earlier this year to Viktor Pinchuk, the president

This is a site which will direct you to companies that support the Democratic party. In a market-state, such as that we live in, one can argue that this form of political expression is just as important as voting and being politically active. Also check out BuyBlue.org, which is temporarily offline so they can double-check their numbers and add ways to measure corporate political support beyond financial contributions.

This is a wiki about Yushchenko vs. Yanukovych. It includes maps in the popular style of coloring regions according to the majority vote for each candidate.

This is a map of Yushchenko vs. Yanukovych, round 2.0. In the popular style of coloring candidates, it shows where each candidate's respective strengths are: generally, Yush in the west and Yanu in the east. (It's too small to see percentages; go to the above link for that.)

This is an animation demonstrating the length and breadth of the tsunami in Asia. The scope of the thing is mind-blowing. I think this kind of event argues strongly for some theory of natural evil - the creation is just as fallen as humanity.

I finally broke down this Christmas and bought a gaming console. An Atari !

Why come up wtih orignal material when you can just re-hash the old stuff eh? Been seeing a great deal of reviews on this one and there have been some rather positive comments, along with the negatives. As always, time and Nielson rating will tell.The next interesting "remake" will be when the new Dr.Who series begins in 2005 on BBC with a new doctor.Regardless of how either show fairs, the efx shots will certainly look better then the orginals.# posted by Anonymous : 11:28 PM To be fair, I think the writers at SciFi are coming up with a semi-original story and maybe characters that weren't in the original. If it's as good as "Legend of Earthsea" I'll watch it. That is, it retains the cheeziness characteristic of sci-fi TV series in general, but the writing is just interesting enough to keep my attention. One has to lower one's standards for these things.

Our lifestyle editor VisionMan has some advice for fighting the common cold: VisionMan here, having small children in school means my house is its own biological warfare zone. Here are the basics against the viral cold:Eat regular, qaulity mealsSleep 7-9 hours per nightWash your hands throughout the dayKeep your body on a daily scheduleGood luck this season... # posted by Anonymous : 11:16 PM

Been watching this with much anticipation, especially given the direction their former mother country is currently headed. The big concern is, given the condensed time frame, can they get organized enough by the 26th (not that they have much choice) and can it be open in its process so that the international community will accept it. I find myself wondering how "valid" it will seem if the process is open and fair but the prime minister wins.# posted by Anonymous : 11:23 PM Bird says: Sorry I didn't get to this earlier! Been kind of swept up in the news that I haven't been paying attention to comments. (I know; bad bird). What is happening in Russia is frightening. It does look like Russia is reverting to its imperial ways. One should remember that for Russians, an independent Ukraine is quite a paradigm shift. They are used to Ukraine being a subservient territory, and for Ukraine to become independent is quite a shock. Of course, that doesn't mean they're r

My sources suggest this is because Kirpa was a man who knows too much; if he were called upon to testify he could endanger Yanukovych and others, perhaps Kuchma himself.

Christians worldwide should share his sentiments. Christianity knows no nation, only the world community of individuals.

Thank God.

Exit polls say that Yushchenko is winning the election, by 15-20 percentage points. Finally ! As Yelena, Igor, and Valentina have become fond of saying, though, it is one thing to win the vote; it is another to become president. Yanukovych has not yet conceded and has given no hint as to what he will do next. We can only hope that there will be a concession and an orderly transfer of power. We are afraid this will not happen, however.

This blog is doing a good job of keeping up to date. I got the previous story from them. Also check out Neeka's Backlog , and Orange Ukraine - Journal of Election Madness . Thanks to Instapundit for the link. (You all know who that is).

Do not relax!

December 17, 2004 -- The repeat runoff election to be held december 26 in Ukraine presents a crucial opportunity for Ukrainian authorities to respect the will of voters and ensure harmony and stability in the country, Freedom House said today. Ukraine's new Central Election Commission (CEC) faces an extremely important and challenging task. It must organize and run the next round of voting in a transparent and open manner, offering solid and extensive explanations to voters on every step of the process. Every year, Freedom House surveys the world and ranks countries according to their liberty. They are watching Ukraine closely to see if democracy will prevail in the current crisis.

MOSCOW - Russia has restricted rights to such an extent that it has joined the countries that are not free for the first time since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Freedom House said Monday, marking Moscow's march away from the Western democracies it has embraced as diplomatic partners.

This is an interesting site which will tell you everything you want to know about the common cold. It busts some myths: Myth 3: Becoming cold or chilled leads to catching a cold. Facts: 1. As discussed above, almost everybody becomes infected whether they are chilled or not, if cold virus is dropped into the nose. (72) 2. One study has looked at this question. It was found that colds were no more frequent or severe in volunteers who were chilled than those who were not. (76) " Myth 6: You should feed a cold (and starve a fever). Facts: 1. The origin of this old saying is obscure. There is no scientific evidence that excess eating will cure a cold. 2. On the other hand, eating tasty food will not make a cold worse and may help the cold victim feel better. Commoncold.org features tasty recipes for the cold sufferer.

scifi.com/battlestar

Looks like I finally caught that cold that's been hovering around my workplace for weeks. Will this mean I blog more or less? We'll find out. Starve a cold? Feed a fever? Should I follow the quarantine rule and not go to work to avoid spreading the bug, or should I work no matter what as long as I can think?

Hallelujah! It looks like the opposition got everything it needed to ensure a fair and free election on Dec. 26th. It may be difficult after that, but at least the orange movement has gotten this far.

I talked with Igor on the phone yesterday. He said that the whole experience of living in Kiev during this orange revolution has been like nothing in his life he's ever experienced before. His relationships with many people have changed. People that he was only acquaintances with before the election are now friends, since they share the bond of demonstrating for Yushchenko. People who he never talked to before are now good acquaintances for the same reason. And people whom he thought were or could be friends are no longer, because they said they support Yushchenko but refused to participate in the demonstrations. His father (also Yelena's father) did not support the demonstrations. Their relationship has always been difficult - now it is nearly impossible. His father said that it is not worth it to go to the square, it accomplishes nothing, and getting killed for accomplishing nothing is meaningless. It seems to me that instead, meaninglessness comes from persons w

Season Four of '24' is coming ... I don't know how long it's been posted on their site, but Fox says episode 1 will be Jan. 9th at 8pm / 7 Central. I haven't been there for ages but thought I would check. I was hoping they would be working on a new season of one of the finest series on television, but I wasn't sure they would.

I found this by accident, since I listen to KCRW online sometimes. Turns out there was only about a half-hour or so left. It was still worth it - and you can still listen to the archive at the link. Looks like his new album 'Hotel' is coming out soon - this is why they had him in.

If you work in Word a lot, you probably wonder if there isn't a faster or better way to do things. Indeed there is! Check out this section of O'Reilly and see what you can do better and faster than before. Hacks include: #3: Hack your shortcut menus #23: Make PDF's without Acrobat #100: Google without leaving Word Highly recommended (as is everything at O'Reilly).

This is probably old hat to most of you, but I discovered today I still didn't know how to stop tooltips from appearing. This walkthrough on getting rid of annoyances covers almost everything in a nice, systematic way.

- From VisionMan, our Entertainment and Lifestyle editor. Does this mean the upper-crust can now afford their own mobile nuclear arsenals? I can see the marketing now: "First you had the missiles. Now increase your range on a global scale with your own personal attack submarine!" I'm sure Tom Clancy would be interested.

Kuchma has not been foolhardy at all, so far as I can tell. He seems, like Putin, to be a politician of the highest ability. He is trying very hard to checkmate Yushchenko so that even if Y. wins he will have lost the ability to produce any real change as president. So we won't see the Russian army taking over Kiev. On account of the response the EU/NATO/UN would give to an obvious threat to Europe's security? If this is the case, then I guess NATO has won the Cold War, and we are in a new era, one where Russia cannot project power by flexing military muscle. The only reason I bring it up is because one does not have to go that far back in time to remember the Russian army invading Ukraine, ostensibly to save it from the Nazis, but in reality to keep it under Russian control. These memories are fresh in the minds of Yelena's grandparents and parents, I am sure. When we talk about public opinion, whose is Putin afraid of offending? Ukraine's? Remember, most Russians

This is a link to an NPR story about Neil Innes, the man responsible for Monty Pyton's music. I never even realized it was one person. He's still touring, though his newer songs have a more satirical bent.

Note: this is not mine. It's beautiful, though. Just like the 12 days, it goes through all of these individually before the end. I'm only showing the end, though. when the twelfth bug appeared, my manager said to me 1. tell them its a feature, 2. say it's not supported, 3. change the documentation, 4. blame it on the hardware, 5. find a way around it, 6. say they need an upgrade, 7. reinstall the software, 8. ask for a dump, 9. use a debugger, 10. try to reproduce it, 11. ask them how they did it, 12. see if it happens again.

I wish Blogger expanded postings automatically so the casual reader would see comments. Since they don't, I'll keep posting comments manually when they're really good. This one is from our guest resident scholar in international affairs, Hamlet: I think the answer to this question depends on what the scale of the violence is and where the source of the violence is. It really depends on who starts it and what form it takes. Kuchma would be foolhardy to instigate the masses, and there is no way to see Russia brazenly rolling tanks into Kiev. There would be easier ways to bring the military into this story that would not galvanize the ever important public opinion. Perhaps the violence will start with a Yushchenko supporter targeting part of the political infrastructure. This isn't too unthinkable. It could be as benign as a building vandalized, or as bad as an assassination attempt (poison seems to be a preferred method here ;) ). Or, perhaps Russian spesnatz w

Rare birders are secret admirers of Apple and everything it stands for. They really wish they owned a Mac, though they never have. They can only imagine how nice it is. They think IBM (or Sony, or any other worthy company) projecting Apple into the economic stratosphere would be an immensely wonderful thing.

Somehow I just find him hard to believe. Couldn't say why. Must be those clenched teeth behind his face. I think Putin deserves our confidence as much as, oh, say Kim Jong Il?

This is an excellent analysis of where the situation currently stands, with an eye towards the end. It also appreciates the supreme power of the president in Ukrainian politics and that defying him is a long hard slog. I wish more members of the western press, not to mention western politicians, understood the situation this well.

This was written by the BBC on Nov. 25: The political crisis in Ukraine looks as though it will head towards one of three outcomes. 1: The government candidate for president, Viktor Yanukovich (who has been declared the election winner) will back down in the face of large scale protests and accusations of fraud. 2: The opposition supporters, who've been on the streets to back their man, Viktor Yushchenko, will grow tired and dispirited and will melt away. 3: There will be a violent confrontation. Mr Yushchenko is certainly trying to keep up the pressure. He's called for a general strike starting today. The extent to which that strike call is heeded and could well give us a clue as to how things will unfold. From Kiev here's our correspondent, Sarah Rainsford. First Broadcast 25th November 2004 #1 has not happened, but if the Supreme Court declares the election invalid it won't matter. The question is whether or not Pres. Kuchma will back d

Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look like in the year 2004. However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve those problems. With teletype interface and the FORTRAN language, the computer will be easy to use. If this is any guide, it suggests that our predictions for 2054 have to take into account that computers then will be a lot smaller, even more affordable, and use more technology that hasn't yet been invented!

Orange Christmas! 

Kuchma and Putin have come to an agreement. Neither of them will agree to Yuschenko's demands that a re-run of the runoff between him and Yanukovich proceed; they want completely new elections with new candidates, and two rounds again. This way Kuchma can choose another apprentice whom he thinks is more attractive than Yanukovich. Kuchma also made an announcement that the situation is causing a banking crisis, and that the exchange rate was going to jump five times from what it is now. The announcement caused a panicked run on the banks that nearly did cause the exchange rate to jump that much. Now all the business owners can think about, including Igor's boss, is their cash and accounts. The result of this evil plot is that momentum of the democratic movement has been challenged. The Supreme Court has gone into chambers to make a decision about whether or not the election was valid. They do not have the power to order a new election.

My sources tell me President Kuchma has gone to Moscow to meet with Mr. Putin. Well, it shows you who's pulling the strings.

Ukrainian deputies and supporters backing opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko try to prevent two other supporters from entering the parliament hall in Kiev, November 30, 2004. Supporters of Yushchenko broke through a fence surrounding Ukraine's parliament, massing around its main door after the chamber failed to debate a no confidence vote in the government. Photo by Mykola Lazarenko/Reuters 

Kuchma and Yanukovych are not negotiating in good faith. Apparently Yanukovych has even offered the post of Prime Minister to Yuschenko if he allows Yanukovych to become President! What a sheister! "Sure, just let me be president, and I'll make you No. 2 (a job Yuschenko has had before!) but you'll be totally impotent (because the president is omnipotent in Ukraine). I've also confirmed from Igor that Russian special forces are in Kiev, and they're wearing Ukrainian uniforms! Igor confirmed it from one of Yuschenko's personal assistants, with whom Igor goes to university. Igor is upset that the US and EU are basically doing nothing while Russia seeks to more or less, annex Ukraine. What has happened to NATO's original mission?

Here are several pictures from Kiev, courtesy of Igor. They're protesting all night long! Be sure to click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Marching in the street! 

These are Igor's workmates - they all came out for the protest 

Igor & friends 

Igor & friends 

flags and all kinds of people 

Igor with workmates 

Marching in the street. 

The riot police line with orange ribbons and flowers in their shields. 

some Yanukovych supporters 

surrounded Yanukovych supporters 

more crowds, with main stage (rock concerts and speakers and big television for live events - well organized!) 

crowds 

Tak! 

Kivalov. (I'll have to look this up!)

dog.jpg 

My mother-in-law tells me Russian-language news sites say the Russian special forces - 'spesnatz' - are in Kiev, as well as skinheads who want to cause trouble for Yuschenko's people. Yanukovych has had convicts released from prison and bussed to Kiev. She also says Yanukovych and Kuchma will probably ignore the supreme court if it rules against them. She is afraid Russia will use force if Yuschenko wins. Is the Cold War not over??

This is an email I got from Igor, my brother-in-law. He lives in Kiev. "Tak!" is "Yes!" From: Bogdanovs [boglar@i.com.ua] Sent: Friday, November 26, 2004 12:36 PM To: Sean Subject: TAK! YUSCHENKO!!! TAK! MAN!!! Today is the fourth day of my personal participation in the revolution. I spend 6-8 hours a day striking. I participated in all major events. I was marching next to Yuschenko and other politicians several times. I participated in blocking of Administration of President. I was everywhere!!! Right now there are up to 1 million people striking in the center of the Kiev. I have a lot of digital pictures at office. I'll send them to you on Monday. UKRAINE! FREEDOM! YUSCHENKO!!!TAK!!! IGOR.

This color switch demonstrates my sympathy with The Orange Revolutio n .

There is also the campaign page, but it loads more slowly. It also looks like they've set up a way to give money to a bank account that has been set up to support the protesters and the coalition "Our Ukraine"! Click on the "ENG" link to see the page in English.

Ukrainian Protesters Vow to ‘Stay Until the End’ 

(Yuschenko) Cool tie! But look at the poor man's face. This was done by the poisoning. 

USATODAY.com - Powell says USA does not accept Ukraine vote results OK, that's more like it.

Life at a software company... Originally I made my comment verbally, but Greg thought it was funny - so I'll share it with you. -----Original Message----- From: Greg Sent: November 12, 2004 12:05 PM To: [ REDACTED ] Subject: Ver_380\QA All, Is there a reason we have a Ver_380\QA folder already? I am making modifications to the v370 test data and test scripts still. I would think this should not be created until we have created a v380 branch and are ready to build and populate a v380 database. Thoughts? ----I Said---- It's a "running start" - kind of like going towards Baghdad as fast as we can before we have the rest of the country under control.

testing w.bloggar...

He's been attending the demonstrations, and today saw Yuschenko give the oath of office, with his own eyes. I've asked him to send me any digital pics he has. He's going back to the crowds tomorrow. The tent city you may have heard about in Independence Square has a heater for every tent. This way the students and demonstration organizers can stay all night in the central square. The organizers have also arranged for hot breakfast (oatmeal) and soup to be served. Most people go home at night but then come back to the square in the morning and continue the demonstration. They won't stop until ... until justice is done. "Today or Never" is one of their slogans. The police generally support Yuschenko so they are not going to break up the demonstrators. Eat your heart out, MoveOn.org!

Johann Norberg, a Swedish libertarian. writes: 13:16 - IS THE WORLD WATCHING?: Right now in the freezing cold, almost 100 000 Ukranians are protesting against the stolen election in central Kiev, and a huge demonstration has also started in the city of Lviv. The municipal councils in both cities have said they only take orders from the liberal presidential candidate Yushchenko, the real winner of the election. At the same time, security forces have said that they are ready to put down the protests "quickly and firmly". Where are the concerned European politicians who should condemn the fraud, and who could be with these crowds to show their support? And where are the "human shields"? A lot of young westerners were willing to risk their lives to stop the war on Iraq. Aren’t they willing to risk some discomfort to stop one of Europe’s biggest countries from slipping

Yuschenko 

breakfast 

send