450

Yep that last post was post 450. Hard to believe. I sure have said a lot. My wife tells me that I talk too much! Well I am still not done. There is more to come about my life, family, friends, technology and much, much more. Here's to 450 more! 

Top of the list!

Just had share with all ya'll that I made the top of the list! The number one local blog/local news site/ aggregator chose my blog/post as the top of the list this morning. I just thought I'd share. Click here to view.

If you don't frequent Treasured Valley, I recommend that you do. It's the best way to keep on the up & up in the Treasure Valley!

Fact-check Friday!

It's been a little while but they're back. The Annenberg Public Policy Center has returned with another installment of "Just the Facts". As a non-partisan group they do a great job of presenting the truth in a sea of fiction from all parties. 


Enjoy!

What old emails say...

Have you ever come upon old emails and tried to remember what you were thinking at the time. Or what was going on in your life? Sometimes you might find one and wish that yo hadn't sent it. Or maybe your opinions have changed since you wrote the email. It happens to the best of us. 


I came upon an article in All Things Digital (http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com) that outlined a situation where this occurred... to Bill Gates. Yes sir, the king of all geekdom has an email that he may have wished he'd not saved. You can read about it below. 

Source:http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20100211/bill-gates-on-itunes/

I also heard on the radio the other day about the lack of privacy that exists in the digital world. The right of privacy is not the same as it is with physical communication. I guess someone forgot to tell Microsoft. 

Response fromt the field...

Here is an article from Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan with response from the troops.
My favorite quote "I am here, I am defending my country, and I am watching history being made,". So true.

From correspondents in Camp Phoenix | January 21, 2009

Article from: Agence France-Presse

THERE were cheers, whoops of joy and loud applause at US military bases in Afghanistan today as soldiers welcomed in their new commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama.

Soldiers at Camp Phoenix, a mainly US base on the outskirts of Kabul, stood to attention as they watched a live television transmission of Mr Obama take the oath in Washington.

"It's a proud moment for us," said Brigadier General Steven Huber, commander of the base, where many of the soldiers hail from Illinois, also Mr Obama's home state.

"He is our new commander-in-chief and we will serve him with honour," he said. Live feeds of the ceremony were watched at other bases across Afghanistan - where roughly 32,000 US soldiers lead an international effort to fight a Taliban-led insurgency and rebuild the local security forces.

"To see a black man become commander-in-chief - some people thought it would never happen," said Sergeant Mike Byrd, himself an African-American.

"Now it has happened and that brings loads of joy, the beginning of hope," he said in a large dining hall at Camp Phoenix filled with uniformed men and women, some with guns in holsters or resting in racks, gathered for the event.

"I have family members in tears of joy at this moment," he said.

Moments before the inauguration ceremony, a large cake in honour of the new president was sliced and handed out in front of a small replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Master Sergeant David Nichols said it felt right for him to be watching the inauguration in Afghanistan.

"I am here, I am defending my country, and I am watching history being made," he said.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24941966-12335,00.html

Mr. President

Today we, as Americans were part of history. The 44th President of the United States was inaugurated. The peaceful transfer of power happens again in the world's oldest democracy. Whether a person voted for Mr. Obama or not now is the time to rally behind our new President just as our nation had rallied around Presidents in the past. The time is here for us to embrace our legacy and strengthen our nation with our desire and conviction in the precepts that have kept our nation throughout the years.

Congratulations Mr. President. Time to get to work. (FYI- after being sworn in, before the parade, President Obama went to the Oval Office to get some work done. (source:NPR))

Pot...Kettle

If you have ever been frustrated by Fox News then Keith Olbermann is for you. Here is a clip from a recent show about the "robo-calls" from the presidential race.

Idaho Politician in the News Again!!!

Look what I found at the unequivocal notion...


From Politico/ source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/1008/Sali_gives_opponents_spokesman_bunny_ears.html

October 15, 2008 Categories: Idaho Sali gives opponent's spokesman bunny ears You can't make this stuff up. During a local television interview with the spokesman for Democrat Walt Minnick, Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho) and his staff were trying to disrupt the interview by making faces and giving the flak bunny ears. From KTVB-TV: Congressman Bill Sali and his campaign staff disrupted a NewsChannel 7 reporter and a representative for his opponent during an interview Tuesday in Downtown Boise. KTVB reporter Ysabel Bilbao was interviewing Walt Minnick's campaign director John Foster Wednesday afternoon. During the interview, someone loudly yelled and was laughing during the interview at the Grove plaza. Bilbao and Foster initially ignored the intrusion, but quickly noticed the source of the heckling -- Sali and members of his staff. Foster stopped the interview and noted the commotion. “I am sorry I was a little bit distracted,” Foster said. “I think at some point you even have to question his maturity.” Foster said he saw Sali making faces at him and holding up “bunny ears.”

By Josh Kraushaar 10:25 PM

Update:

Another story from Daily Kos

ID-01: Idaho, We Have to Talk

by mcjoan

Thu Oct 16, 2008 at 09:49:16 AM PDT

Don't make me come back there. You know I love you. You know you'll always be my home. But what is it about whackos that just so enamors you? This is what you chose to send to DC:

KTVB reporter Ysabel Bilbao was interviewing Walt Minnick's campaign director John Foster Wednesday afternoon. During the interview, someone loudly yelled and was laughing during the interview at the Grove plaza.

Bilbao and Foster initially ignored the intrusion, but quickly noticed the source of the heckling -- Sali and members of his staff.

Is that really how you want your Congressman to behave? Are you really okay with that?

Now I know you love your characters, from Helen Chenoweth and her canned salmon to George Hansen, almost reelected just before he was sent to prison. Is it that you have so much disdain for government that sending these people who are incapable of anything but stupid stunts and grandstanding you're making some kind of nose-thumbing statement? Don't even make me talk about Larry Craig.

You do realize that you're paying for it, right? You're paying for it by having not only a laughingstock representing you, but in his complete inability to actually do anything of substance to help the state.

But you're paying for him, too, all of you who hate having to see any of your hard-earned dollars going to the government. Your taxes are not only paying him to serve in Congress, but paying for his campaign, too.

Three members of Idaho Rep. Bill Sali's congressional staff are also now campaigning for his reelection, with at least two of them still drawing some kind of government salary.

An online Sali campaign roster, stamped "completely confidential," lists Wayne Hoffman, Tina Jacobson and Jonathan Parker, respectively, as campaign media manager, North Idaho campaign director and campaign strategist.

Meanwhile, on the congressional salary database Legistorm, the same three individuals are shown to have pulled down federal salaries through the reporting period ending in June (the latest available).

It is not illegal for congressional staff members to "donate" their time to reelection campaigns. But House rules are clear that any campaign work should either be done on the staff member's "own time" unless the staffer takes a leave of absence or reduces his or her work to half-time status.

That campaign page has since been taken down, but New West has a screen shot of it.

That means he's stealing from you, Idaho. Are you really going to put up with that?

Time and time again, you throw over the tradition of electing real statesman--William Borah, Cece Andrus, Frank Church--to send in the clowns. Why? These are exceedingly serious times. You don't have to look any farther for proof than at Micron, of your largest employers and leading businesses. It's struggling, having to lay off 1,500 workers--1,500! Do you think Silly Bill Sali is going to be able to do a damned thing to help those people? To do anything to position Idaho for the financial storms that are going to keep coming?

Please, people, for once think about doing what's best for the state. And for all you people like me, you Idaho expats, send some money home, help the Idaho Dems get the word out to early voters about their choices this election. And talk to your friends and family back home. Idaho deserves so much better.

• ::

Factcheck Friday! Oh Yeah!

Time to put the campaigns to task on the falsehoods and mis-characterizations from the past week. The crew at Factcheck.org always do a great job. As the debates get closer they are a great resource for the inaccuracies that are sure to come from both sides.

Wait Wait.

If you don't listen to "Wait Wait. Don't Tell Me!" You should. "Wait Wait. Don't Tell Me" is a weekly quiz show on NPR. Here the show is broadcast on Saturday mornings at 10:00 AM on 91.5 KBSX. I typically listen to the show in podcast format and enjoy it when I am driving to for work. You can get the podcast through iTunes or from their website here. On their site they have a daily quiz. I wanted to share the quiz from Monday. (I use email!)

Fact Check Friday

Another edition of Fact check Friday! Time to get the numbers right!



www.factcheck.org

Fact Check Friday...Back again

We took a couple weeks off but back again is FactCheck Friday. This installment tackles some misinformation and "fuzzy" math. As always they do a great job of sorting it out. As the election gets near it is important to know where to get good and accurate information. From Wikipedia

FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website^[1] that describes its own goal as "[reducing] the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". In its efforts, FactCheck claims to be nonpartisan.^[2] It is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation.^[2]

Most of its content consists of rebuttals to allegedly inaccurate, misleading, or false claims by politicians. FactCheck has also targeted the misleading claims from various partisan groups.