Until Today...

I had completely given up on the Republican Party. Wouldn't send them a dime and sent all the requests for campaign contributions disguised as surveys back with scribbles all over them demanding:

Build the Wall
Drill Now, Now, Now
Stand for Something
Stop telling me to forget Reagan
Kick Mel Martinez out of the party

I love the Sarah Palin choice. Love it. Read up on her attacking the corruption of the Alaskan Republicans, pro-energy policies, refusing to abort a Downes baby. She is a brilliant choice.

Just went to www.johnmccain.com and donated.

Our Next Vice President?

America in the World -- A Brit's View

America in the World

Cool site by a group of conservative British who are tired of rampant anti-Americanism in their backyard. One of the posts is about the British ignorance of America. I added this to the comments:

As an American (U.S. persuasion) , I love you Brits and what you taught us about responsibility in the world. I have been fortunate to spend many months in England and enjoyed traveling to Wales and Scotland.

I have enjoyed all the lectures about my ignorance, our bad beer, and our guns. I have laughed when Budweiser became a craze in London, or in the midst of being lectured on my ignorance been asked how close Las Vegas was to my home of Orlando. (5 hour plane ride! Why that's as far away as Moscow!) I love you when you tell me the U.S. is bloodthirsty then get to tour London and see all the statues of the great British warriors. Bloody indeed.

I enjoy your country immensely. But do not want mine to be like yours. I love our big houses in the suburbs with 3 car garages, our boats, our snowmobiles, our big pickup trucks and SUVs. Our hunting rifles and our handguns. Not to mention our unbelievable national parks, rivers lakes, two oceans and the gulf of Mexico.

I love the idea that many Americans (pre 9/11) could live a fabulous life and never use a passport. There is so much diversity in the U.S. Plus we could travel to Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean Islands with just a drivers license for ID.

Most of all, I appreciate the UK for doing all the heavy lifting of creating the "Anglo sphere." That great group of sane countries that keeps fighting the good fight while maintaining a positive outlook and a good sense of humor. We Brits, Yanks, and Aussies are all different and all alike. And frankly would be surprised if we showed up at a crisis and didn't see each other doing their share of the work.

USRobotics Support: USR9610 USB Internet Speakerphone - 9610

USRobotics Support: USR9610 USB Internet Speakerphone - 9610

I recently wooted for three of these USRobotics Skype certified speakerphones. They were $5 each during a woot-off. I just pulled one out, plugged it into my laptop, and it instantly worked with Skype. We will use one in the office for conference calls with out locations. The sound was nice and clear and the microphone seemed to work very well. Very impressive for just $5 and is the best way to make free conference calls.

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments

The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, written by Robert Brent and illustrated by Harry Lazarus, was a book published in the 1960s that was intended to explain to kids how they could set up a home chemistry lab and conduct simple experiments. Supposedly only 126 copies of this book exist in libraries worldwide. Sometimes you can find a copy on eBay for around $600-$700. You can read the book online in pdf format, for free. Alternatively, you can download the pdf of the book to save on your computer or print.

Why isn't it still in print? Well.... there were some concerns about safety. Here's an excerpt from the text:

Test hydrogen for purity by collecting a test tube full of it and bringing a lighted match to mouth of tube, as shown on page 25. Hydrogen mixed with air explodes with a sharp "bark". Pure hydrogen burns with a quiet "pop".

Fun.

Olympic Logo

Dear Lord Let This Come to Pass

Jeering what they should applaud | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog:

From the comments section of the Australian Herald Sun:

"It is proven that all socialist powers fall 9 years after hosting an Olympiad. Despite any misgivings at the time....

It is written in the destruction of socialist destiny that Commie China will fall in 2017; 9 years after hosting the Olympics.

National Socialist Germany fell in 1945; 9 years after the ‘36 Olympics.

Socialist Soviet Union’s rotten murderous core collapsed in 89… NINE years after the Moscow Olympics.

You read it here foist.

I nominate NKorea for next Olympics. Then Cuba. Then Sydney, again; just to clean house."

Finally, I am officially delighted that China is hosting the Olympics.

Internet Fax to Email, Long Distance Service - Packetel

Internet Fax to Email, Long Distance Service - Packetel

Incoming fax service $3.95 per month.

Obama the Chosen One

Heh

Google Maps

Google Maps


View Larger Map

David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

David Byrne and Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

Byrne and Eno are releasing a new album together for the first time since 1981. It will only be sold through their website.

Google Calendar

School Grades

State School Grade Database

No comment necessary.

Cypress Creek Senior High School

ORANGE COUNTY

Charter School?: NO
Poverty Rate: 47%
Percent Minority: 82%

School Grades

---

2008: D 2007: D 2006: C 2005: C 2004: D

2003: C 2002: C 2001: C 2000: C 1999: C

[+] Show test score details for this school

Test Score Details

---

Percent Meeting High Standards in Reading: 48%
Percent Meeting High Standards in Math: 73%
Percent Meeting High Standards in Writing: 74%
Percent Meeting High Standards in Science: 43%
Percent Making Reading Gains: 54%
Percent Making Math Gains: 75%
Percent of Lowest 25% Making Learning Gains in Reading: 42%
Percent of Lowest 25% Making Learning Gains in Math: 61%

Dr. Phillips High School

ORANGE COUNTY

Charter School?: NO
Poverty Rate: 28%
Percent Minority: 58%

School Grades

---

2008: A 2007: B 2006: B 2005: B 2004: C

2003: B 2002: C 2001: A 2000: C 1999: C

[+] Show test score details for this school

Winter Park High School

ORANGE COUNTY

Charter School?: NO
Poverty Rate: 23%
Percent Minority: 39%

School Grades

---

2008: A 2007: B 2006: B 2005: A 2004: A

2003: A 2002: A 2001: A 2000: B 1999: A

[+] Show test score details for this school

Excerpt from Hoover's Diary

5:30 am - Mom woke up and I followed her to the office. My favorite thing!
6:30 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
7:15 am - A walk around the block! My favorite thing!
8:30 am - Nap with mom in her office. My favorite thing!
9:40 am - Gave mom a duck! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
11:00 am - Nap time in the laundry room! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Mom came home! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Got the mail at the mailbox! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
6:30 pm - Dinner! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Watched family eat at the table! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Went swimming! My favorite thing!
9:00 pm - Walk! My favorite thing!
9:10 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
9:30 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:30 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!"

Interactive Periodic Table

Dynamic Periodic Table

Our Electric Future — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Our Electric Future — The American, A Magazine of Ideas

Why Use Firefox?

Flashblock :: Firefox Add-ons

Two great add-ons make Firefox the best way to surf.

One is Flashblock 1.5.6

Flashblock is an extension for the Mozilla, Firefox, and Netscape browsers that takes a pessimistic approach to dealing with Macromedia Flash content on a webpage and blocks ALL Flash content from loading. It then leaves placeholders on the webpage that allow you to click to download and then view the Flash content.

Flashblock currently blocks the following content types:
* Macromedia Flash
* Macromedia Shockwave
* Macromedia Authorware

Flash can really slow you down, or worse automatically play noise and video when you arrive at a page. This kills everything. If you want to have flash play on your favorite pages you can "whitelist" those pages to allow flash to play.

The other is Adblock Plus 0.7.5.5 which blocks banners and all sorts of ads including pop-ups, scrolling ads, etc.

Both are essential.

National Hurricane Center

National Hurricane Center

Bertha heading to Bermuda. Thanks Bermuda!

"It's never been a dull moment since I married him."

Man Flies To Idaho … In Lawn Chair, With A Lawn Chair, A Dream And Lots Of Balloons, Kent Couch Successfully Flies From Oregon To Idaho - CBS News:

Couch's wife, Susan, called him crazy: "It's never been a dull moment since I married him."

Couch covered about 235 miles in about nine hours after lifting off at dawn from his gas station riding in a green lawn chair rigged with an array of more than 150 giant party balloons.

Stuff White People Like

Stuff White People Like

Is this satire? I can't quite tell.

My Thought for the Day

Expecting Hope and Change from a Chicago politician is like expecting a good presidential candidate to emerge from the Senate. Anyone expecting either to happen is delusional.

Housing market weakness long-term: survey - Yahoo! News

Housing market weakness long-term: survey - Yahoo! News

Consumers expect housing market weakness to linger for longer than they did a few months ago, a survey showed on Friday.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers Home Prices Report for June also cited a broad gulf between buyers and sellers in the housing market.

Economists broadly agree that U.S. house prices peaked sometime in 2006. According to some measures, they have fallen about 16 percent since then.

"Consumers now anticipate that the weakness in home prices will last much longer than they had anticipated a few months ago," wrote Richard Curtin, director of the survey.

"Record numbers of consumers now think there are very attractive prices on homes for sale," Curtin said. "The problem has been that record numbers of consumers have objected to selling their home at such deeply discounted prices."

Asked about prospects for home prices during the year ahead, 23 percent of homeowners reported that they anticipated declines, down from 27 percent in the May survey. In June, 19 percent said they expected home prices to rise in the next year, unchanged from May's reading.

Asked about the direction of house prices over the next five years, 13 percent of respondents said they expect prices to fall, while 55 percent said they expect prices to rise. That was down from a 2007 peak of 70 percent who said they expected house prices to rise.

Hundreds swept up in mortgage fraud arrests - Yahoo! News

Hundreds swept up in mortgage fraud arrests - Yahoo! News

Since March 1, 406 people have been arrested in the sting dubbed "Operation Malicious Mortgage" that saw 144 cases across the country. Sixty people were arrested on Wednesday alone, including in Chicago, Miami, Houston and a dozen other regions policed by the FBI.

In a separate sweep, two former Bear Stearns managers in New York were indicted Thursday, becoming the first executives to face criminal charges related to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

Across the country, reports of mortgage fraud have soared over the past year as the subprime mortgage market collapsed and defaults and foreclosures soared.

Banks reported nearly 53,000 cases of suspected mortgage fraud last year, up from more than 37,000 a year earlier and about 10 times the level of reports in 2001 and 2002, according to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

The most common type of mortgage fraud was misstatement of income or assets, followed by forged documents, inflated appraisals and misrepresentation of a buyer's intent to occupy a property as a primary residence.

Over the last several months, the FBI has been investigating an estimated 1,300 mortgage fraud cases — including 19 involving subprime lending practices by U.S. financial institutions.

Another Obama buddy bites the dust

Senators Appear to Have Received Below Market Mortgages from Countrywide:

Senator Chris Dodd, a vice-Presidential hopeful Democrat from Connecticut and Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee which regulates mortgage lending, was named as having received preferential treatment from Countrywide in obtaining mortgage loans. Dodd had earlier this year called Countrywide's lending practices 'abusive.'

One week ago the allegation of a similar deal with Countrywide forced former Fannie Mae Chairman Jim Johnson to step down from his volunteer position as head of Barack Obama's vice presidential search team.

According to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, the average foreclosure costs $77,935, while preventing a foreclosure runs only $3,300

A Look at Foreclosures Costs