The Big 3

About the Big 3 as to their latest stories about how badly they have managed their finances and need a $34 billion loan. It seems to me that these are three kids at a candy store telling their moms why they need the extra gumdrops and licorice because they have spent all of their money on other candy that didn't taste all that good. They had the money to buy good candy and they did buy candy, lots of it too. However, their candy selection was very poor and now that their allowances are gone and spent. Now they are asking mom for some more money promising to be good little kids if they receive the extra money.

CNN has an article and one line of it says, "all three CEOs have agreed to cut their pay to $1 a year if they get the federal help they are seeking."

If the CEOs really cared about the livelihood of their companies then they would forgo the paychecks any ways.

If the CEOs really cared about their companies, they would really think about bankruptcy as an option so that it could be rid of it's dead weight and therefore be more cost efficient.

BBC's fasination with America

On November 11th I checked BBC's web page to look at it's format. What I found interesting was the headline story. In 1968 a US B-52 Bomber flying over Greenland with four nuclear warheads crashed. According to the US government only three warheads were recovered. Due to some complications in weather and technical difficulties the fourth warhead was never recovered. New findings by BBC about the missing warhead was the big headline. Today I looked again and the big headline is again about a video game which "takes a humorous looks at US politics."

Now my question is, is there really nothing going on in the whole world that the British Broadcasting Corporation puts an online video game about US politics as it's premier headline? This quite odd to me. The biggest thing in all of Britain is to talk about the US? It might be possible that I have no idea how important of a role in the world America takes.

All Eyes on the Steps

I've not had the opportunity to watch a Presidential Election as closely as this one. However, I think this has been a first time for many people around the country. Media coverage has been monumental and every move has been noted and commented upon. Now with the huge media machine that has been created there is no longer two or more parties to cover. All eyes will now be on Barack Obama. His every move will be reported. Every promise made in the past two years will be questioned. He has created some large shoes for himself to fill. In a Chicago Tribune article it list his every move from the time he won until the publishing of the article. It list the exact minute he left Grant Park in Chicago. He will be watched like a hawk until the media finds a new toy to report about. I think it will take a long time for that to happen. Much longer than the first 100 days in office.

Pirates in the Gulf of Aden

In several articles that I've seen lately have mentioned the recent increase in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden region. According to CNN.com five attacks were repelled Tuesday alone. A question that comes to me is how many were not repelled on Tuesday? The CNN article states that there have been at least 60 attacks this year. However, that is just the number of reported attacks. In an article on Forbes.com pirates have captured a Ukrainian ship with a cargo of Russian tanks and other weapons. They are now holding the ship ransom for $35 million.

Since the end of the Cold War many have felt that the need for a large military force is unnecessary. Because of this our Navy has been reduced to a very small number. With less military naval ships of both the US and the former USSR piracy has been on the incline. To me there is need of a solution. Because of piracy insurance for these big cargo ships has gone up between $900 to $9,000.

One solution, and I think it is a good idea, is that of private military contractors. Blackwater Worldwide has announced that they will begin to offer a service to protect ships as they go through the Gulf of Aden. I think that this is a good idea however, there is a chance that if it goes unchecked the solution could become a problem.

The Match-o-Matic II

I ran across a little game on abcnews.com. In the game several issues are addressed with quotes from each candidate. However, who says each quote is not listed. The game is to choose which quote you agree with the most. After the course of 13 selections you are told which candidate you agree with the most according to which quote you chose. To my un-surprise I found that I agree with John McCain 10-3.

The Match-o-Matic II

Opening Ceremonies for the Huntsman Senior Games

Hansen Stadium at Dixie College is host to the opening ceremony for the Huntsman World Senior Games. This is the stadium before the set up for production has begun.









All of the lighting, cables and stage were brought in by hand. Extra bleachers were trucked in for the many spectators of the opening ceremony.

The lights for this production are operated by this light board. The lights can be turned up or down, left or right, and have the ability to change colors.

Several hundred feet of cable was ran for power and data connections to all speakers and light fixtures.


















A member of the production crew stands ready for any task.





Cables, cables and more cables. These are the cables to run just the audio for the ceremony.




Number 3 follow spot waits in his scissor lift, 25 feet above the ground, for the show to start.










The flags represent the different countries of origin of the many participating athletes of the
senior games.













Clean up of the event is goes quickly. All of the equipment is stored in boxes. The boxes are staged in one area to be loaded on to a semi-trailer.








That’s it, all there is left to do is go home.

The New World of Sports

I'm sure the strict feminist of the world fighting for equality among men and women aren't exactly excited about this new league. For some time now I've heard of women wanting to play football, trying out for mens teams and various other avenues. However, I don't think there has been an official womans football league. The New York Daily News put out a story that the Lingerie Football League held tryouts last month to find who were athletic and beautiful; or beauty and athletic. I'm sure one of them is more important than the other. The LFL will consist of 10 teams from around the country. The first season won't start until fall of 2009 to give the girls plenty of time to practice and learn all that is needed to play a serious football game.

Photo Essay

Defenselink has a number of photo essays available.

The Shredder

Now here is a girl that has done some homework for her article. It's not really hard news but very informative non-the-less. My home has gone through a number of paper shredders over the last couple of years as my Mom goes through and shreds various pieces of junk mail. I think that everyone ought to have a paper shredder to secure their identity. At the same time I am a guy, and I liked "Home Improvement" with "Tim 'the Tool-man' Taylor," and his never ending quest for more power. That's what I want, more power. I believe that everything ought to have more power. Here is a good list of paper shredders and their ability to shred paper. I say kudos to the reporter who took the time to be so thorough.

P.S. Personally I think I would go with a commercial or maybe even an industrial grade paper shredder. Even if it's to shred only three or four pieces of junk mail. Just so that I know I can shred half a phone book at one time. You know, out of the 13 that came to my door this last year.


Home Slice: What's the best household paper shredder? By Laura Moser, Slate.com

Google's Millions

On CNN.com the front page has a list of "Latest News." In there is a story about Google's announcement of a contest of ideas. Google will pay up to $10 million dollars to fund a good idea that will impact on many people.

I personally think this is a great idea. Why not solicit the public for a great idea to back and help a number of people at the same time.

The thing I find interesting though, is that while Google is a search engine it is also its own media machine. Go to news.google.com and there is a list of breaking news, tech stuff, entertainment and a host of other categories of stories to read. However, Google doesn't list its own idea search until it's buried eight stories deep in the tech section. I find that odd and bad marketing. But, the contest is pretty cool.

CNN

Google's link to the story about itself.

Financial Sense

Today I read another article about the falling out of the American economy and who's to blame.I have noticed a lack of personal responsibility for peoples personal finances. I am currently 24 years old and for the last three years I have known that the housing prices in the St. George, Utah area could not last the rapid increase for any length of time.
As the housing market has fallen out over the last 18 months the finger has been pointed at every organization besides the individual. This is still true, I distinctly remember sitting in a chair in front of a loan officer of my local credit union about to sign on a loan to buy a vehicle. The loan was mine, all I had to do was sign on the dotted line. However, I went through the thought of, "Can I make this payment, plus insurance, plus the gas to drive it and still have money to go out to eat every once and a while?" The answer was no. I had to take responsibility and walk away from the loan and get a less expensive vehicle.
If more people had taken a look at how much they make and what expenses they have we may not have seen the huge expansive growth that we've seen in the last couple of years but we would not be seeing the very unstable market of today.

Gov. Sara Palin

It wasn't until the summer of 2007 that I actually started paying attention to Presidential elections. I had a persuasion class in which we were asked to start to analyze stump speeches and take a look at the messages that individuals were trying to convey. Since then I have started to listen more to what people are saying, what news organizations are saying, to what talk radio is saying, and to what candidates are saying. After all of this listening I decided that it was time for me to do something. I went and found the local Officer Selection Officer for the United States Marine Corps. I filled out my application and was later selected as a candidate eligible to go to Officer Candidate School and be evaluated for my leadership potential as a company grade officer. I continue to listen to messages of those presidential hopefuls with a new interest as the decisions of the new President will have a direct impact on my life, even to where I might live.
Last week was the first time that I watched the Republican National Convention to any extent. I was not able to watch Gov. Sarah Palin live on TV but I was able to watch her on CNN.com the following day. (http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/09/03/sot.palin.entire.cnn ) I was throughly impressed by Palin's speech. She was strong, stable and spoke with conviction about a number of issues that are very complex. She spoke about new energy as though she had dealt with the issue before. She did it all with a sense, not of holier than thou but that she was your average citizen who lives a life that people can relate to. She believes in America and more importantly she recognizes that this is country is still an experiment in self-government; and that it can still fail. I've never been more impressed with a political figure than I was watching Gov. Palin deliver her speech.

Ductus Captus

Ductus Captus is Latin for Leadership through Ideas. I've come to the conclusion that I have a lot of ideas or opinions (which might be more appropriate) that others don't agree with at first. However, after some pondering on it, it makes sense and people tend to agree with me. Perhaps it's because I'm right or it might be the that people's minds really are malable and can be shaped.