Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
at 10:13am
I recently came across a “real-time” game called Virtual Villagers. I’ve seen it before, never checked it out. The company that makes it, Last Day of Work, is up to sequal number two so far.
Virtual Villagers (1, 2 & 3) is a pretty simple game that keeps on playing after you close it. Well, what it really does is use your computer’s clock to calculate what probably happened while you weren’t playing the game. It’s an addicting little game where you train your villagers to keep on certain tasks needed for the survival of your village and also to unlock various achievements and new parts of the island they are trapped on — Isola.
If you haven’t ever played it, it’s worth checking out.
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
at 6:38am
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
at 10:39am
Japan’s making solar power for regular people cheap.
Tax breaks begin next year.
The prime minister, aiming to take the lead in the fight against climate change as host of the Group of Eight leaders’ summit next month, unveiled on June 9 a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60-80 percent from current levels by 2050.
Once again, other developed nations beat the U.S. to the punch when it comes to alternative fuel sources. Our current administration’s big idea is to drill for more oil, an idea that, while I’m not opposed to it, doesn’t solve any problems. It only create more money-making opportunities for the oil companies which are already making 100 BILLION in profit every year.
Bush and Co. have offered no alternatives to oil. Why should he? He’s an oil man. All his friends are in oil. He from Texas for crying out loud!
Several years ago, Bush gave a speech saying that America was addicted to oil and that his administration would work to lesses this addiction. Looking back, I now realize that speec was like a crack dealer telling all his clients they were addicted to crack and that he would help them out by locating more places for them to buy crack.
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
at 10:24am
According to an article published today by the Robin Harris in the National Review (article), the Christian population in Iraq is shrinking very quickly since the invasion and fall of Saddam.
…Christianity now faces extinction. The 1987 census recorded 1.4
million Christians in Iraq. Numbers began to drop as conditions
deteriorated after the first Gulf War. There were, though, around
800,000 at the time of the U.S-led invasion of 2003. Of these, about
half have now left the country altogether, while more than 100,000 are
internally displaced persons.
Harris continues:
Members of all religions have been affected by the violence since the
toppling of Saddam Hussein. But Christians are in a worse position
since they suffer directly because of their Christian faith. Targeted
by Islamist extremists, they are confronted by demands to convert,
death threats, looting of their homes and businesses, systematic
intimidation, abductions for ransom, bombings, and frequently murder.
Because Christians are known to be weak they and their property are
also prey to gangsterism. Churches and church leaders are particular
targets for Islamists.
Someone remind me again why we are there in Iraq?
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
at 2:44pm
This Father’s Day, we went down to the town I grew up in, Byesville, and took a ride on the scenic railway. The girls had a good time.
Friday, June 20th, 2008
at 12:33pm
In an unprecedented move, MoveOn.org sent this email to their mailing list today:
For almost ten years, we’ve worked together to change American politics. Millions of us have collaborated to build a new progressive moment, catalyzed by the Internet and motivated by our belief that the country we love deserves better.
Now, in Barack Obama, we have a Presidential candidate who has based his campaign on precisely that kind of new politics—a people-driven politics focused on the outside-of-the-beltway consensus around Iraq, climate change, and health care, not the gridlock in Washington.
Using a lot of the tools and techniques developed by the progressive movement—as well as a visionary approach to leadership—Obama’s brought millions of new people into the process. And, following in the footsteps of Howard Dean, ActBlue, and other innovators, he’s adopted a new way of funding a campaign—relying on a donor base of millions rather than contributions by lobbyists and special interests.
It’s a very exciting moment. And so the time has come to answer an important question: should we make an all-in commitment, together, to this new politics?
While MoveOn Political Action has always been funded exclusively by small donors like you, we’ve held open the MoveOn.org Voter Fund—a separate “527″ organization—which can raise money from big donors. We haven’t actually taken any big-money checks since 2004, when MoveOn members matched big contributors to educate voters about George Bush’s policies. But in light of the new politics offered by Barack Obama, I’ve come to believe it’s time to close the 527 forever—and to challenge organizations on the right to do the same thing.
That means that we won’t raise any money for our election work from foundations, or even individuals who want to give over $5,000. It’s an all-in commitment to the small-donor way of doing things. But the time is right to take the leap.
Not relying on big donors means that all of us, together, have to take responsibility. So before we sign the final paperwork, we need to know that you’re in. Are you?
I’m interested to see what other 527’s do over the weekend and into next week. We’re seeing a shift in politics, folks, and I think people who don’t get one board will be seen as “the old way of doing things” as their power and influence diminishes greatly.
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
at 6:05pm
Most people who know me online don’t know I suffer from severe psoriasis and acute psoriatic arthritis. It’s not pleasant. In fact, it is quite literally a living hell. It hurts to run, walk, exercise. It hurts to go out in the sun, to sweat, to stretch. It hurts to scratch but it itches all day. It bleeds after showers for days.
If you’re not squeamish, you can see my arms and legs here. About two years ago my wife and I were in between jobs and because we had kids and no insurance, we signed up for Medicaid. I went to the doctor for my psoriasis and long story short, he put me on Humira, lovingly paid for by the great state of Ohio.
And then I got a good job. And I made the mistake of making $500 more than the maximum income for a family of four, and that $500 a year equaled the loss of my $19,200 worth of Humira. How any bean counter ever figured that someone making $24,000 a year with a family of four can afford $19,200 for medicine is beyond me, but that’s what I was told.
My psorasis, which had almost completely cleared up came back with a vengeance. It spread to places it had never been, finally covering 70-80% of my entire body. The pain was more than I could bear, so I began looking for another way to get the medicine that would clear it up. My wife had been working in a diabetic clinic in Wichita, Kansas, and had used a website called needymeds.com to get patients the forms they needed from the various drug companies to get medicine for free or at the very least, vastly reduced costs.
I went to the website and was surprised to see Humira listed. I filled out the paperwork and took it to my doctor, who agreed I should be on it. They faxed the forms to Abbot Labs and about 10 days later, I was approved me for one year of Humira. Five days after that, yesterday, I received a cool-to-touch package through FedEx. Inside was my first three months of Humira injections. When I got home from work that night, I gave myself the first injection, and I will continue to do so every 14 days.
I’m thankful that I was approved, but I know that when my workplace offers insurance, or when I move to a job that does, I’m going to have a hard time keeping my Humira. You’re not eligible for the free stuff if you’re insured and most insurance companies won’t cover the Humira for me because its one of those “pre-existing conditions” they like to talk about so often.
So I’m not going to worry about it. Hopefully someday soon, I’ll be able to either afford $1,600 a month for it or our country will finally have some kind of health program that puts everyone on equal footing where everyone can get the meds they need to live happy, productive lives. It shouldn’t just be the rich (not me) or the lucky (me) who can get medicine.
