Post 125 - revised

Hello everyone... Hope everyone is getting their Christmas shopping done... only... 7 more days left?

Ok off we go with the banalities...

In the category of "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"* - The ability of smart phones is increasing all the time... the latest I've seen is an app for the iPhone/iPod Touch called "Word Lens". Using the device's built in video camera, the app will instantly translate signs from Spanish to English and English to Spanish... Watch!

How fucking cool is that???

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 Tomorrow the Senate is expected to vote on repealing Don't Ask/Don't Tell.  Reports are they have sufficient votes to overcome a filibuster.**  Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown recently announced his support for the repeal which, assuming all the Democrats vote for it, except WV's Joe Manchin (Seriously? WTF?), and the already announced Republicans actually vote for it, will give them 61 votes... yay!

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If you're a Colts fan... the new MUST FOLLOW twitter feed is of Colts owner Jim Irsay.  Wow... it's chock full of... I have no idea what.  So far as I know he's the only NFL owner on Twitter... First let's start with the background of his page... It's an overhead shot of him standing on the 50yd line of Lucas Oil Stadium surrounded by his guitar collection wearing a Colts blue and white tuxedo, complete with top hat, walking stick and blue shoes.  Ok that there should give you an idea of what kind of guy Jim Irsay is.  Now on to his feed... Mostly it's him completely and arbitrarily babbling... Song lyrics, his travels and other completely meaningless drivel.  But he does tweet two things that are cool... First is he's usually the first to report the Colts injury status... even before the official team report... I'm sure Bill Polian appreciates that... The second is contests where he gives away cash***(actual cash like a FedEx envelope with 30 $10 bills in it) and tickets to the game...

Speaking of the Colts... Jim Irsay is right... Sunday is a must-win for the Colts and they'd better be on it or they'll miss the playoffs for the first time since 2001.  They already lost their NFL record streak of consecutive 12 win seasons (7 straight, next highest is 4)... let's not break the streak of 10 win seasons and playoff seasons (both currently 8 straight seasons).

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Dear LTC Terrance Lakin,

I understand you don't like President Obama.  That's ok.  That's your right as a US Citizen.  However you took an oath when you pinned bars on your shoulders.  That oath states:

"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."

You took an oath to uphold the Constitution and part of the Constitution states that the President of the United States is your boss.  So bitch and moan about it all you want, but he was legally elected and therefor you don't have the right to refuse a deployment order because of some bullshit story about the President being born in Kenya.  Enjoy your 6 months at Ft Leavenworth military prison and dismissal from the Army.... Oooo looks like you only served 17 years so you don't get a pension.  Tough shit, dumbass.

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And finally... proof of Rule 34... It took the adult video game industry about a month to turn Microsoft's XBox Kinect into a tool for porn.

* - Arthur C Clarke's 3rd Law - His 3 laws of Prediction are:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; when he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

** - In the Senate, 3/5 majority (60 votes) is required to invoke cloture and halt debate allowing for an up or down vote.  Only a simple majority (51) is needed to actually pass the measure.  There are no limits on debate in the Senate so until someone invokes cloture they can't vote on the measure.  The endless debate is called a "filibuster" and is actually rarely used but frequently threatened.  So virtually no measure can be passed without a 3/5 majority.

*** Apparently the significance of September 3 has to do with The Temptations "Papa Was A Rolling Stone".   "It was the 3rd of September/That day I'll always remember/'cause that was the day/that my daddy died"

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JP