Couple of things

This blogging thing is not working well for me. Got too many other things to do.

After being way too hot for way too long, "I" finally installed the swamp cooler in the house. It feels great.

There is a new gadget out there that I want. I just have to figure out where to get it. It measures your electricity consumption constantly. In dollars. People freak out when they realize how much they spend, so they start shutting things off :)

Speaking of energy. This morning on NPR they were talking to some random people who want to get on government case to develop alternative energy sources. So, that's great. One thing that slightly bugs me is their reason for that. It is "We're too dependent on foreign oils". I guess whatever works.

weather

So, we moved. There are lots of things that happened, it'll take me a while to write about it. An exciting one is that I finally, finally finished My name is red. That took forever. The title of the post? It is so, so hot in Salt Lake City. Let's look at some data:

June 13 -- we arrived to SLC:
13: 88 | 55
14: 90 | 61
15: 93 | 60
16: 100 | 62
17: 83 | 65
18: 80 | 50
19: 93 | 57
20: 98 | 67
21: 95 | 64
22: 98 | 62
23: 94 | 69
24: 93 | 71
25: 86 | 60
26: 89 | 57
27: 97 | 63
28: 99 | 68
29: 100 | 69
30: 95 | 60

July:
1: 98 | 61
2: 99 | 61
3: 94 | 64
4: 97 | 64


5 Forecast: 101 | 68
6 Forecast: 102 | 70
7 Forecast: 101 | 67

Christian Science Monitor?

I was walking downtown Ann Arbor the other day, and saw a sign for Christian Science Monitor. I realized I was confused about this name. Do they monitor christian science? If so, then I can't imagine what that might be. Or do they monitor science done only by christians? If so, it seems as an amazingly scientific way to choose which science to talk about. I suppose one might say that christians are monitoring all science, but I'm not sure that is what the title suggests. Maybe I don't get it, being a foreigner and all.

Packing

sucks! That's pretty much all I have to say.

The Mormons, Part II

In the second part of the series, people talked more about how they feel about religion, way of life, and their beliefs. They are pretty nuts. However, they did pick a wonderful place to settle. In fact, I don't think I mentioned this, but we are moving back! Yay.

The Mormons

Few days ago I found an ad in the New Yorker for a PBS show The Mormons. At the time I wondered how connected this show might be to Mitt Romney's presidential bid and whether any of the funding resources were connected to him. I watched the show tonight (there is another episode tomorrow which will talk more about contemporary mormons) and I have not learned whether Mitt paid for the show. But one thing was rather clear: almost all the interviewed were mormons. I guess that makes sense, mormons do know most about mormonism :) I don't really understand why America is worried about mormons. They aren't any more dangerous/different than/from any other average religion subscriber.

Guns

From WP:

Investigators said Cho procured one of the guns he used in the rampage, a Walther .22-caliber pistol, Feb. 9 from a pawnshop on Main Street in Blacksburg near the Virginia Tech campus.

On March 16, he bought the second gun, a 9mm Glock 19, from Roanoke Firearms, a gun shop on Cove Road in Roanoke.

He used his driver's license as identification and had no problem buying the guns because he was complying with Virginia law, which permits the purchase of one gun a month, investigators said.

Then we have Q&A session from the White House:
Q Dana, going back to Virginia Tech, what more does this White House think needs to be done as it relates to gun issues? The President says current laws need to be strengthened, anything beyond that -- you had a conference on school violence with guns -- what more needs to be done?

MS. PERINO: I would point you back to the fact that President, along with Secretary Spellings, hosted last October -- October 10, 2006 -- a conference on school gun violence after the Amish school shooting and the other shootings that had happened, because the tragedies are the ones that just collectively break America's heart and are ones that we deeply feel, because all of us can imagine what it would be like to have been at your own school, your own college, and to have something happen. And those of us who are parents, or brothers or sisters of people at the schools have to take that into consideration.

As far as policy, the President believes that there is a right for people to bear arms, but that all laws must be followed. And certainly bringing a gun into a school dormitory and shooting -- I don't want to say numbers because I know that they're still trying to figure out many people were wounded and possibly killed, but obviously that would be against the law and something that someone should be held accountable for.

Q Columbine, Amish school shooting, now this, and a whole host of other gun issues brought into schools -- that's not including guns on the streets and in many urban areas and rural areas. Does there need to be some more restrictions? Does there need to be gun control in this country?

MS. PERINO: The President -- as I said, April, if there are changes to the President's policy we will let you know. But we've had a consistent policy of ensuring that the Justice Department is enforcing all of the gun laws that we have on the books and making sure that they're prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Q Lastly, in Texas, if I'm correct, he passed legislation, no age restriction on possession of weapons, if I'm correct. Should there be some kind of federal age limit, as far as the President is concerned, raising the age for gun possession in this country?

MS. PERINO: Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go back and look at what the record was in Texas. Maybe Ken Herman could tell us. We'll go to Ken next.


And so it goes...

One more thing: interesting how nobody wondered if this was a terrorist connected shooting and nobody had to reassure us that there were no links to various terrorist organizations. If I recall correctly that was the first thing everybody wanted to know when the Salt Lake shooting happened couple of months ago.

Kurt Vonnegut died last night.

Harsh language

I am trying not to use too harsh language. Hate is a word I am trying to avoid as much as I can. That said, I genuinely, sincerely, truly, from the bottom of my heart dislike rain. Coming home from the office I thought I would be really clever and put a plastic bag on my bike seat so I wouldn't have to ride on a wet bicycle. By the time I got home, my ass was dry, but everything else was soaked. Rain is many different things to many people. To me, it is nuisance only. I do not recall ever being happy because it rained. Midwest sucks.

Another thing that's been bothering me lately. This blog stuff is very unsatisfying. Who do you talk to about people that bug you?

Chaney not welcome in Utah?!

This means they really are down!

Some students and faculty on one of the nation's most conservative campuses want Brigham Young University to withdraw an invitation for Vice President Dick Cheney to speak at commencement later this month.

Critics at the school question whether Cheney sets a good example for graduates, citing his promotion of faulty intelligence before the Iraq war and his role in the CIA leak scandal.

The private university, which is owned by the Mormon church, has "a heavy emphasis on personal honesty and integrity in all we do," said Warner Woodworth, a professor at BYU's business school.

Read more here.

Kitchen!

I love to cook. It is incredibly frustrating to cook in my current kitchen. It is tiny, but even worse than that is the fact that fire alarm is a meter away from my stove. I swear even boiling water sets that thing off! Argh.

Define ironic, would you?

This morning on NPR we cought a piece that basically said that the president of a fence company that had government contract to build border fence between Mexico and US was sentenced for hiring illegal immigrants. That was precious. Turns out I either missed this when they got busted, or I had forgotten. NPR's old story is here, and I found this as well.

Dawkins & Collins

I haven't had the time to write. That is not to say that there aren't any outrages things happening. Today I listened Fresh Air. What a lucky person I was, because they ran an interview with Fancis Collins. You can hear it online, of course. I did find out that I had missed Richard Dawkins' interview, which aired yesterday. Luckily, I can still hear it (I still haven't finished the book).

Voting by bumpersticker?

This one should win for sure:



I like Kucinich and I agree with lots of his positions. I also admire him for trying.

Lottery

I don't ever get anything for free. Except for today. Well, I guess technically it wasn't for free, because we paid to enter into lottery, but still. We received in the mail today announcement that we can, in fact, raft down the Salmon's Middle Fork this August. If you think I'm nuts and you've never heard of this kind of lottery you may want to see their webpage, but important bit is that WE'RE DOING IT.

Hybrids

I enjoyed reading Mark's response to his friend's question:

"What’s your purpose of getting solar panels? If it’s to save money, then there are better ways of doing that. Get better insulation, new windows, new furnace, turn off lights… I don’t think it’ll increase the resale value that much either. If you want to help the environment, some cities have a green power program where you pay extra and have some of your energy from renewable sources. Or do you want to be the Unabomber and live ‘off-the-grid’?".

He wouldn't want me to share it, but since he doesn't read this it's ok ;)

... My thoughts were a little unibomber, a little save the environment, and a little hybrid car. Along the lines of what could be done to a house to improve it for resale. Now $25k solar-electric is probably not a good answer but here's where the hybrid car come in. (put on your boots, Kelvin it's about to get deep!) It seems to me that the kind of people who buy/drive a hybrid are interested in saving the environment, making a statement, and doing little else. The hybrid is perfect for that. It still uses gas which is available everywhere, everyone recognizes it gets better gas mileage and therefore saves the environment. So it's hands off, low maintenance. But what about running biodiesel in a super efficient diesel like a diesel golf. One could argue that it takes a lot less energy to build the golf than a hybrid, gets great gas mileage and therefore saves the environment. So the problem is, where the hell do you get the biodiesel? So the biodiesel golf I'm going to attribute to living off the grid, unibomber style. It's high maintenance like an off the grid solar system. Whereas a grid-tied solar-electric system would be like the gas-electric hybrid, super low maintenance. It seems to me that the same kind of person who buys a hybrid car would also be interested in a solar-electric, grid-tied house. It saves the environment, makes a statement, and nothing else needs to be done. It's perfect for the apathetic environmentalist...

Rulings

Coincidences are funny. Surprising. Just two days ago Pi asked me to write about the most recent war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Then she apologized for potentially ruining my weekend. I told her that the thought of that war doesn't depress me anymore, and that I'll try to write some over the weekend. Obviously, I did not get around to it. Then I listened to the BBC World Service this morning. And I cried. The UN court has cleared Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in BIH. You can read a story over at BBC . Or, you can read what Washington Post has to say.
I like this quote:

But the 15-judge panel rejected Bosnia's claim that the Serbian state was responsible for the killing, saying it did not have effective control over the Bosnian Serb forces it had helped arm and finance.

Hmm. Not responsible. Sure. Gave a helping hand, and arm and more. Why not. We don't hold anybody responsible for that. They then continue on:

Instead, the judges ruled that Serbia stood by and allowed the massacre to happen.

Pardon my bosnian, but no shit.

The fact that the country is not responsible is not what bothers me. That the government is not responsible is what is not acceptable. And the worst part is that people who have committed the crimes will now think that they have been exonerated. They will say "See, we didn't do anything wrong. The court said so."

And, if that were not enough, let's hear more from the "Honorable" Judge Higgins:

They "were fully aware of the climate of deep-seated hatred which reigned between the Bosnian Serbs and the Muslims in the Srebrenica region."

I think few of us remember this in a slightly different light.

Update The Economist has put in its two cents.

Disaster expert?

This morning's NPR program aired the first of three part interview with Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard commander, who wrote The Edge of Disaster. Quote that made me cringe:

...this is the place that if it were disrupted whether it's an act of god which would be potentially an earthquake or whether it's a terrorist attack....

Why did he feel compelled to declare an earthquake an act of god?!? This piece also reminded me that I should really go back and finish reading the book I started few years ago, but for some reason never finished: The Culture of Fear , especially since I find myself wrapped up in a blanket of it more often than I care to.

Random acts of senseless violence

No, this is not about the book, although I recommend it.

I was out of town for a few days, on a little vacation over on the west coast. After a lovely journey back home yesterday that lasted slightly longer than expected, with an overnight stay in Omaha, NE, we finally got home with about 18 hour delay. My dad's been trying to get in touch with me, so being a good daughter that I am, I im-ed him as soon as I got back home. After a perfunctory chat, he asks me about news. Well, I haven't heard any in about 5 days, and I was little at a loss as to why he'd be asking. Turns out a Bosnian kid went on a shooting spree in a mall in Salt Lake City. Why am I writing about this, apart from all the obvious reasons? There are two that may not be known: I am a Bosnian and I lived in Salt Lake City for five years. My first reaction is as everybody else's (I assume that it is) of disbelief and sorrow for all the lives that are lost. My second reaction is anger: what on earth could have made this kid do what he did? And I am even more mad because this kid lived through a war! He should know better than to take other people's lives. I read everything I could find in various papers, and then ran into comments that some people are leaving on various blog and news sites (I am sorry, but I'm not putting these links here, you can google kid's name and find them if you are so inclined). And then I got mad at these people, too. And then I got sad for those people.

I made this

This past year has been all about learning for me. Today I made this:

I know, it's not much. But it's cute. The other reason I'm here is that I am trying this WriteToMyBlog thingy I tried earlier today. Well earlier it ate my meaningful blog, but I can't be bothered to reproduce it. Besides, it's late.

PS It worked this time.