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Happy New Year...Again

here follows a series of rants, loosely connected, if at all

The internet is a very strange thing.
In some ways, the internet is the death of conventional privacy. I've been able to find a number of people using various search engines, some who were glad to be found, and some who have not acknowledged it. I've used it for research (gotta love reading a copy of the Geneva Convention, for instance), for gathering news, for entertainment, for commerce, and to indulge my increasingly erratic urge to rant. I store pictures and writings in a place which is far removed from any of my property. I can communicate with people around the world for free (aside from the requisite phone service and hardware required). I can even reference a piece I wrote two years ago today.
Ten years ago, the internet was just being declassified and approved for public consumption. I was a high school senior and an internet virgin. I'd lost friends as everyone else does over the years, and I was still in the occasional habit of writing letters to people. Email was not even a thought in my mind. Now I use email every day, whether at work or play. A lot has changed.
I'm not equal to the task right now of analyzing the effect of the internet explosion, or to sound more preposterous (and therefore academic), The Inception of the Internet Age (TM). I'm recovering from a mysterious throat illness (probably, but not officially diagnosed as strep throat, which was no fun) and anticipating a road trip in the coming day or so. I don't think I'm qualified to comment on the effect of the internet on society, although I could examine it in microcosm with respect to myself, but there's time for that another day (at this rate, shortly after I die). So on to the vaguely connected self-indulgent rants.
Staying vaguely with the internet topic, I found a long lost love (ok, we were 10 or 11) using an internet search, purely at random, probably in a moment of boredom (no offense, if you're reading this). We've since reopened the lines of communication and appear to be mutually happy with the unexpected discovery. I went on a journey to see her and thoroughly enjoyed that particular day. Took some pictures with the still-new Cybershot but have not uploaded them yet (mostly pictures of deer and turkey, with the odd trout shot thrown in for the heck of it). We'll see how that pans out, but for the moment, things are cordial. I like!
Shortly before and after that time, I went on a Transformer binge, picking up 5 separate figures and spending more money than was really wise in doing so. Pics can be found here of some of them, as well as the others that I have. A tale from some time ago shows that this is not so much an aberration as a long-term illness of the mind. Suffice it to say, I can proudly claim to have three (3) original Optimus Primes (two Toys 'R Us reissues and one from the 80's which I found, with similar joy, in 1999). I don't think I'll be buying any more, but the Takara reissue is tempting me (the only difference is the presence of an energon axe and some bonus stuff in the packaging). A list of my most recent acquisitions (hyperlinked to pics):

Oddly enough, I'm still seeking at least one Arcee (pink ninja cycle of destruction) from the new Energon line of TFs (they retail for about seven bucks, but are tough to find). Throw in the DVDs and you have a staggering expenditure for artifacts of questionable use and value. Oh well. Guy's gotta have a hobby, I guess.
Opening Day for baseball (not counting the Devil Rays-Yankees series in Japan) comes on Sunday night. I heard on the radio that the over-under for wins for the Orioles is 81.5. I'm not sure where to go with that one. The O's have made some worthwhile offensive additions, if they pan out, at the cost of a marginal loss of pitching (no more Pat Hentgen or Jason Johnson, but Sidney Ponson's back). Four of the five starting pitchers have a combined 10 major league wins (I think, it might be 11, or 9), so anything could happen there. 81 wins seems high, but I can't get a feel for where I think the team may go. Last year's team was a pretty solid bet to win 70 games. This year's team may win 75, or 90 if the pitching goes well and the offense delivers. It depends on the divisional play (76 games against Boston, Tampa, Toronto, and the hated Yankees) more so than anything, which makes sense. New York and Boston are the chic picks to win the AL East, but Toronto is dangerous, and Tampa isn't as bad as in years past. Without thinking out loud, I'll pick the O's to go 79-83. I don't think the team has enough pitching to complement the (hopefully) improved offense. We have a number three starter (Ponson) anchoring our staff, with four number fives in the wings behind him. I'd love to be wrong and see the O's win the division or the wild card, which is not impossible, but it is unlikely, unless the O's mysteriously move to the AL Central. Other baseball picks at random:

  • AL East Champ: Boston
  • AL Central Champ: Kansas City
  • AL West Champ: Oakland (to choke in the Divisional playoffs again)
  • AL Wild Card: ...Yankees
  • AL MVP: David Ortiz
  • AL Cy Young: Mark Mulder
  • NL East Champ: Philadelphia
  • NL Central Champ: Houston
  • NL West Champ: Arizona
  • NL Wild Card: Chicago
  • NL MVP: Richie Sexson
  • NL Cy Young: Randy Johnson
  • World Series Champ: Boston over Chicago, seven games

The recent and horrible mutilation of 4 Americans in Iraq just does to show that the United States grossly overestimated the effect of Saddam Hussein's ouster on radical Iraqi sentiment. On the whole, the people of Iraq are probably better off with him gone, but the fact still remains that America is not loved in the Middle East. We're firmly entrenched now, which may be good from the point of view of international intelligence (the removal of most of our intelligence operatives in the seventies has borne much ill fruit in recent years, with 9-11 topping the list), but in terms of our international image...let's just say we're playing every bit the part of the 800 pound gorilla in the boardroom.
No one's talking about Afghanistan any more. My guess is that things are going worse there than anyone would imagine. We still provide a significant security force for our embedded ruler Mr Karzai. But I grant that the alternative was to remain within our shattered oceanic cocoon with little or no access to what goes on in the regions of the world where anti-American sentiment runs highest. It's a ticklish, damnable situation to endure, with no easy answers. More blood will be shed before a solution is found, which is nothing but a damned shame.
On that cheery note, I look forward to what this year has to offer. If nothing else, I think the 17-year locusts are due to return real soon. This time, it's for real.

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It's funny, the older I get, the slimmer I ain't.

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