The Red Brick Times

Butterflies. Check out the "Faces and Figures".
Posted 12:45 PM by whatley 0 comments

In Ohio, the "Electronic Government Services Act" has been tacked onto Ohio's current budget bill. It prohibits a state government agency from providing information if there are two or more competing private enterprises providing those services. That would mean that a government agency would not be allowed to post its regulations or decision on its Web site if, for example, Lexis, WestLaw, or other companies offer that information for sale.

Section 1306.25 (E)(1) further includes under "state agency" "similar agency of a county, township, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision,..." It then substantially limits their ability to publish electronically. While H.B. 145 is not as onerous as the previously withdrawn H.B. 482 of last year, it is a huge threat to public access.

This bill threatens the right of residents in Ohio from accessing state government information, created with their tax dollars, at no cost through the Internet. It is an abhorrent model that must be stopped short.

(FYI: I lifted this post verbatim from BoingBoing.)


Posted 12:56 PM by whatley 0 comments

'A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...' Transcript of Tim Robbins Speech to the National Press Club
Posted 3:27 PM by whatley 0 comments

Since Christianity is about being a creation of, and therefore a part of, a greater whole, it was developed from primal roots. "Eat or Be Eaten" seems to be the root primacy, and Christianity incorporated the sacrament of Communion as an institutionalized acceptance of the rule of nature. The survival of the species is at the core of Christianity, but raised to a non-corporeal level.

So go and look at the site Easter Symbols and Food, wherein is shown that Christians, like other cultists, are not above eating the lesser forms of life that represent tenets of their faith.

For example: "Among the popular Easter symbols, the lamb is by far the most significant of this great feast. The Easter lamb, representing Christ, with the flag of victory, may be seen in pictures and images in the homes of every central and eastern European family. The oldest prayer for the blessing of lambs can be found in the seventh-century sacramentary (ritual book) of the Benedictine monastery, Bobbio in Italy. Two hundred years later Rome had adopted it, and thereafter the main feature of the Pope's Easter dinner for many centuries was roast lamb."

Who says Christianity isn't a blood-thirsty practice? Little wonder that Buddhists, Hindus and Moslems look at Christian culture with some suspicion and mistrust. That, plus the unfortunate tendency to launch crusades and sing martial hymns about fighting and winning and crushing foes, cast it in an uncertain light. As an aside, the marital hymns also have these themes. Hmm. Eastern religious philosophy seems to have included less violence and more sex. Seems to be a better way to insure the survival of the species. And more in line with the ostensible message of Easter ("Life, Life, and More Life!").

Anyway, lambnibalism, egg-hoarding, bunny-watching and piggishness are all explored, along with the revelation that the Washington D.C. egg-rolling originally took place on the lawns at the US Capitol, until 'they' decided that the grasseous estate was more important than the children's fun. Bunch of hard-boiled old eggnoggins, 'they'. At least the President saw a PR opportunity and opened the White House lawns to the little beasts.

Here's to the Vernal Equinox. Balance ye eggshells while ye may. Strong winds do shake the fragile orbs of May. And other persiflage and poesy.

Amen.

Posted 10:33 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Got an article from my brother about Hydrogen use for transportation. It says, basically, "not now, maybe 10% by 2050". But the best thing about the article is that it shows comparisons of Hydrogen mobility, generated from various sources (natural gas, coal, renewable sources) and the emissions and energy costs of gasoline and diesel as well. See Figure 4 on Page 6 (out of 8 pages) for the graphic comparison. The last 1 1/2 pages is the bibliography. If you are dialing in, the article may take a few minutes to filter down the wire (it took me less than 2 minutes on my dial up). It is an Adobe Portable Data Format (PDF) file, so you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader (free download) to see it.


Posted 2:40 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

Hi, guys. You may all access this at work, but I resort to solitaire when I need a break from the hustle and bustle.

I feel the need to do a little bashing. Thanks in advance for listening.

A furniture salesman who works with my sister-in-law said that when Republicans are in office, he doesn't make any money and when Democrats are in office, he does.

Last week, I was in a meeting with a group of folks who expressed their concern about technical issues not addressed by launching into personal attacks. I told them that I felt like I was in a room full of Republicans.

I have a lamp lit in my suburban condo living room that will not be turned off until we stop killing people.

One email from the peace groups I subscribe to suggested city councils formalizing a request that Bush bomb our inner cities. Then at least we'd get new roads, bridges, and hospitals.

On Saturday and Sunday mornings, we often listen to the blather on CSPAN's Washington Journal. Inevitably, the Republican view point is filled with ugly epithets and vituperative name calling. Discussions are rants. There is another one going right now to some poor schmuck graduate students from Johns Hopkins on to discuss the plight of the Kurds. He's being called an indiot and a fool by a caller. Unfortunately, we don't do enough name calling of them, publicly. Selfish, greedy bastards.

It is a beautiful Saturday morning. The sun is shining; the lake is flowing. The little furry kitty is enjoying a lap session. Hope you all get to enjoy the beauty of spring this weekend.
Posted 8:56 AM by joyce hicks 0 comments

Thought you might find this interesting. It's a graph showing site usage through March based on a 24 hour format. Seems that we mostly access tRBT when we're at work. Bunch of slackers. Makes me proud.

Posted 2:11 PM by whatley 0 comments

We all get excited these days about paying taxes because we never know which country our money is going to.
We wouldn't mind the "pay-as-you-go" tax so much if we knew what we were paying for and where it was going.
Be assured that no enemy nation could risk invading the United States. It couldn't afford the taxes.
President Bush will consider every way of reducing taxes except cutting expenses.
Most "slight tax increases" cost you about $300, while Bush's "substantial tax cut" will lower your taxes by about $30.
So stay on your job and pay your taxes promptly. Thousands of workers in the government bureaus are counting on you.


Posted 10:02 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments

For those who don't visit the ol' blog that often we were offline for about 5 days due to a hack of our hosting company's servers. Web, ftp, email, you name it. In the end it looks like we permanently lost some comments but not many. Could have been worse. Because Blogger wasn't affected (completely different servers and site) a few of us were communicating by reading and writing to the "post" window there (the few posts below are it). Something to remember when this kind of shit happens again.
Posted 2:49 PM by whatley 0 comments

Well, that relieves my mind. Glad that we are not all dead from terrorist blog attack. Glad that your experience with icy oblivion resulted in a near-life existence. I have had several car and motorcycle similarities in my several incarnations on wheels. I feel for you, bro.


Posted 8:22 PM by Andy Allan 0 comments

The hack was much worse than they thought. Almost all of their hosting servers are still being repaired. Sorry, nothing I can do. Feel free to email me at "russ at seblueprint dot com".
Posted 3:59 PM by whatley 0 comments

Russ,
The RBT has been unavailable for about three days. I have a link to posting page which works fine, but the 7393.org gets a page not available. You are also bouncing e-mails from the 7393 mailbox. Is this the result of being hacked the other day.?
Just saw the article below. Glad you're OK. How'd the truck come through? Kind of a good argument for wearing brown pants when you drive.
AOG


Posted 11:18 AM by A. O. Gutierrez 0 comments

I seem to be unable to find the RBT this morning. Are we asleep? Underground?
Posted 7:56 AM by Andy Allan 0 comments