Ramblings

The famed astronomer Carl Sagan used to begin each Public Television show he hosted with the phrase "billions and billions" to refer to the stars and planets in the Universe. The past two weeks however, have focused scientists and the world on Mars. If you've been living in a bubble then here's some news: Mars is closer to Earth today than it has been since the Stone Age. Spectatcular pictures have been taken by scientists from NASA and Cornel University showing detail up to 17 miles. In other words, we are about as close as we can get without having to send a telescope like the Hubble to the Red Planet. All of this interest in Mars begs the question. Why the fascination? Stories of Mars date back to Galileo and even further when the world's pollution levels were so low primitive man was able to see the Red Planet and a strong red tint in the atmosphere. Nowadays that's virtually impossible. But authors like Ray Bradbury and Orson Welles enchanted legion...

Every now and then you hear in the news about some computer virus effecting users on the information super highway. Michelangelo and Anna Kournikova are the two I remember most. Within the past two weeks though the Blaster virus and SoBig worm viruses infected thousands of users and made downloading email a chore for millions. All of this comes on the heels of news that Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Windows XP make it easy for hackers to gain access to users computers. With the internet all but a common household appliance for millions of Americans these security holes are frightening. Microsoft for it's part has updated its site and offers free downloads to its users. And with all things on the internet related to security we usually don't find out about these critical security holes until hackers penetrates them. So Microsoft can't be more proactive in these situations then we might expect from say the Office of Homeland Security. With that in mind all of us...

Over the past 100 years the earth's temperatures in the arctic regions have increased over 2 degrees. Not much you might say. But it takes quite alot to heat up a region that contains over half of the earth's water. In fact it usually takes a geological event. In this case it took irresponsible humanity. No doubt you've read about the heat wave going on in Europe. And how they're dying from dehydration. Meanwhile temperatures in the United States are also hotter than they've been. In Southern California we're experiencing humidity that rivals the Southern states. All of this begs the question is global warming to blame? This year out west we had one of the coldest winters since 1997. With the climate at such an extreme in winter some might consider it logical that summer be just as extreme. Scientists, more specifically meteorologist, say that the current weather could be apart of a 100-year cycle. Other scientists say that this is just an anomoly in the w...

If you know me, then you know I above all things value the inherit principles in a democracy. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is now in the twenty-first century basically freedom of speech, freedom of religion and right to protect one's property. The freedom of speech part is beginning to irk me though, mainly because we have a president who uses the english language like a three-year old. Hear me out, I'm not just another GOP bashing liberal. In fact, I tend more towards the conservative side when it comes to social issues and liberal on economic ones. So it comes as no surprise that I believe the tax break for the wealthy people, the tax advances for the middles class and the no tax breaks for the poorest americans, who pay a greater percentage of their income than all others, really bothers me. To top it all off the American President takes a month long vacation, while the American economy continues to struggle, American soldiers continue to die in Iraq, and t...

With the summer movie season almost devoid of acceptable entertainment. I thought I would take some time to defend a movie that has gotten an undeserved bad wrap. First off Gigli is not Citizen Kane or Casablanca, it's another Hollywood film with shallow characters and an even less deep script. What it is though is a mediocre romantic/redemption/look in the mirror type movie. Yet, if you listened to any reviewer you'd think it's the second coming of Glitter . After seeing the film, yes on opening weekend, I left the theater thinking of what could have been. Perhaps the fact that JLo and Ben Affleck are now romatically linked, turned off many people hoping to see some of those public fireworks. Instead the film has two characters searching for themselves and discovering it doesn't include the other. More than anything the film shows that no matter how high wattage the stars a film still has to have a strong script. And while this script was more Screech than A.C. i...

The greatest trick a politician ever pulled was to convince themselves they were qualified to run for a political office. Seems Arnold Schwarzenegger is more than just an actor - he's also a magician. No one doubts the good Ronald Reagan did for the world in ending communism in Russia. Yet it can all be erased if we blame him for allowing actors to believe they are qualifed to run for political office. I - like many sat in shock an awe in listening to Arnold announce his canidacy on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. As a Californian I also sat in disgust as I listened to the prepared statement and scripted verbal jibes at the politicians in Sacramento. It's bad enough Californians have to put up with new taxes yet alone go through another election with no qualified candidates. Honestly, is a qualified candidate in this race leader of one ballot initiative aimed at after school programs for kids? Is the most qualified candidate an actor married to a relative of one of the m...

The continuing efforts of one USC Trojan to establish a digital connection to the rest of the world begins here ... this step, the first in what will be several to create a website, blog journal, resume link, etc. ... to further the opportunities for myself to succeed in the digital age ... and for people to establish a connection with me ... stay tuned ...