Kevin's Ramblings http://kevinarth.posterous.com I may post about tech, science, politics, religion, or whatever floats my boat. posterous.com Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:12:02 -0800 The Point of the Holiday Season to an Atheist http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-point-of-the-holiday-season-to-an-atheist http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-point-of-the-holiday-season-to-an-atheist
In a conversation with a friend, who is also atheist, the topic of holidays came up. Someone questioned why she would have a Christmas Tree. She said “Umm, why not?” I also thought it was a strange question. I said “I’m atheist, but I love the holiday season.” However, when my cousin (who is not atheist) questioned this “...and what exactly do you love about it?,” I started wondering if maybe this wasn’t so obvious to those who don’t understand atheism. Perhaps this question deserves to be fleshed out a bit.

Every atheist has a slightly different definition of atheism. Going into the nuances is outside the scope of this post. Suffice it to say we don’t believe in God and tend to shun the institution of religion in general.

So my desire to celebrate the holidays with family and friends is considered strange behavior for an atheist. First of all, what is Christmas? It’s the celebration of the birth of Christ, although with a little research, I could come up with the names of at least two other non-christian deities who also celebrate their birth around this time (an inexplicable coincidence), but that’s another topic for another day. If you’re Christian, this idea of “birth of Christ” is not lost on you. You may go to Church, but even if you don’t, you recognize that this holiday has the aforementioned religious element to it. I don’t believe in Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ, and I don’t celebrate it any more than I celebrate Hanukkah or Ramadan. Christmas, specifically, holds no significance for me. However, the holiday season in general is a different matter.

If you set aside religion for a moment, do the days in and around November/December feel like normal work days? Of course not. Decorations are up, Christmas trees and Hanukkah bushes are up, people are shopping for gifts and visiting with friends and family, and the atmosphere is just generally more festive and cheerful.

We decorate the house and put up a tree if we’ve got the time. It’s pretty to look at and it helps to create the festive atmosphere that we enjoy as much as anyone else does. We don’t stress out if it doesn’t get done. It’s not about responsibility. It’s about doing what we enjoy doing without losing perspective. After all, what’s the Christmas tree got to do with the religious aspect of Christmas anyway? It’s just another decoration for the house. We exchange gifts just because that’s what’s traditionally done, although we rarely do so on Christmas day. It just happens, frankly, whenever the hell we feel like it.

So, what do I love about the holiday season? Essentially everything that my Christian friends and family do. The only difference is that I don’t recognize it as a celebration of the birth of a man that Christians consider their god. I use it as an opportunity to celebrate the things that are important to me -- my family and friends.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:12:37 -0700 Finally got off my butt and ran. it's been 8 days http://kevinarth.posterous.com/finally-got-off-my-butt-and-ran-its-been-8-da http://kevinarth.posterous.com/finally-got-off-my-butt-and-ran-its-been-8-da Friday evening, I decided to tape up my ankle and jump on the treadmill. It had been 8 days since I sprained it. This is what it looked like the night of the injury:

And now, eight days later:

I didn't want to risk another injury by running outside again, and frankly, I wasn't even sure if I'd be able to do it.

It's been over a week and, although I've been off the crutches for several days, I'm still taking Vicodin and Motrin for pain pretty regularly. Plus, my foot's sportin' every color of the rainbow.

I started off at a slow walk/limp pace for a couple of minutes and then tried to step it up to a slow jog. Well, let me tell you, that sucked. Treadmill said 3MPH and my ankle felt like someone had shoved a bunch of broken glass inside my ankle joint. I really thought that was it. I was going to have to quit.

I really wanted to spend at least 10 minutes on the treadmill before giving up, so I tried to push through the pain for at least a few minutes with the thought that I'd walk for 5 minutes if I had to, but I wanted to at least run some of it. Well, after a minute or two, the ankle settled down and didn't hurt quite as much, so I kept going.

Every step was painful, but ultimately I was able to suck it up and get 3.5 miles in. The pace was pitifully slow (about 45 minutes), but it's more than I expected, so I'm pleased with it.

I took today off to rest it, and I haven't decided if I'll go again tomorrow or wait until Monday. It'll depend how it feels and how much pain I'm in the mood to tolerate. I really hate running treadmills, but I think I need the predictability to minimize the risk of re-injury until my ankle is a little stronger and a little less sore.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:05:42 -0700 Stargate Universe http://kevinarth.posterous.com/stargate-universe-10 http://kevinarth.posterous.com/stargate-universe-10 I'm a week late, but I just caught the series premier of Stargate Universe.

I like the new show, but, of course, I have to offer a little perspective. I loved the original movie, Stargate. I've seen every episode ever created in the 10, or so, years that Stargate SG-1 ran and I've seen every episode ever created in the 5 years that Stargate Atlantis ran, so my liking this new series is kind of a no-brainer.

I am a little concerned though. Although Stargate SG-1 was wildly successful, as evidenced by its run time, they cancelled Stargate Atlantis after only 5 seasons, presumably due to ratings. The new series, Stargate Universe, is a new cast in a new story arc, but I'm not sure it's different enough from Stargate Atlantis. If Atlantis died early due to ratings, I'm not sure this won't suffer the same fate.

Stargate Universe lives in the same world as the other Stargate shows, and there's some overlap of characters, with guest appearances by Col. Carter and Gen. O'Neil, and even Walter, but otherwise, it's a whole new cast. The main premise is that they discover a gate address with a 9th symbol and when they dial it, they end up stranded on a broken "Ancient" ship hurling through intergalactic space at superluminal speed. They have no idea where they are or how to get home, and the ship is breaking all around them. So, presumably, this show is about their efforts to find a way home, with the exception of one character, whose motives have not been made clear. In a way, this sort of reminds me of Star Trek Voyager.

Again, I liked it, and I'll watch it faithfully, as I did with the other series,' but as I said above, I'm an easy win.  We'll have to see.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:38:00 -0700 Lesson for the day: iPhone update and VMWare Fusion don't play nice http://kevinarth.posterous.com/lesson-for-the-day-iphone-update-and-vmware-f http://kevinarth.posterous.com/lesson-for-the-day-iphone-update-and-vmware-f

I use VMWare Fusion to run Windows Vista on my Mac for work. I was in there when I was notified by Apple of an update to the iPhone software. I switched over to iTunes (in OS X) and initiated the update. i then switched back to Windows to proceed with my work while the update ran.

Unfortunately, one of the steps in the update was for the phone to restart. Well, naturally, when the phone attempted to restart, Windows recognized the new device and started to install device drivers for it. I cancelled the driver install and switched back to iTunes, but it was too late. The update failed because iTunes lost its connection with the phone (due to Windows trying to snatch it up).

It forced a phone restore, which I attempted. The first attempt failed. I had to disconnect the phone and reset it manually, then run the restore again. It succeeded on the second attempt, but it completely wiped everything from the device.

I'm currently in the process of reloading all my apps, music, pictures, etc. This will take a while, and I've lost trivial things like the locations of apps on screens and other settings, but it appears that no data was lost.

I just hope when it's done that I haven't lost all my email and calendar (CalDAV) settings. This will be a pain to reconfigure.

Ugh!

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:11:00 -0700 First thoughts about Google Wave http://kevinarth.posterous.com/first-thoughts-about-google-wave http://kevinarth.posterous.com/first-thoughts-about-google-wave

I've put a few hours into Wave, and I know that doesn't make me an expert by any stretch, but there's one little piece of perspective I'd like to offer.

Right now, we have some of the smartest, techiest geeks on the planet in there with their hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Friendfeed followers. Whenever someone like Scoble or Steve Rubel starts a wave, half the US tech population wants to jump in and be involved with these Internet Icons. I'm not saying that's good or bad, but I am suggesting that it may not be a typical use-case. it's like jumping on a conference call with 8000 of your closest friends and everyone trying to talk at once.

I think when some of the hype dies down, people will start using it in smaller groups for more specific conversations and the interactions won't be nearly as confusing. I'm also guilty of this because none of my personal contacts is on Wave yet, so I'm stuck driving the Autobon on my unicycle and trying to keep up without getting run over. Once I have some personal contacts on Wave and can engage them in more focused conversations, I'll have a better idea what niche (if any, as Rubel suggests) this fills.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:04:14 -0700 Testing the ability for Google Wave to post to my Posterous blog using the Posterous robot for Wave http://kevinarth.posterous.com/testing-the-ability-for-google-wave-to-post-t http://kevinarth.posterous.com/testing-the-ability-for-google-wave-to-post-t Testing the ability for Google Wave to post to my Posterous blog using the Posterous robot for Wave

This is a test post. Trying to see how formatting works when posting from a wavelet to posterous and also how/whether or not it does the auto-post thing to twitter/facebook, etc.

Also, instructions say "You can change your post settings before posting a blog by replying '/site'." Not sure what this means.

via google-wave-robot

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:01:53 -0700 The failure of Capitalism, Our Current Financial Crisis and How One Man Predicted It Years Ago http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-failure-of-capitalism-our-current-financi http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-failure-of-capitalism-our-current-financi
The Boston Globe recently did a piece on capitalism and why it's inherently flawed. Before you call me Socialist and click away, please read on as I explain how one economist predicted our current financial crisis more than forty years ago as a result of his insights regarding the problems inherent in the American economy.

Hyman Minsky, a macroeconomist who died over a decade ago predicted our current financial crisis. When did he have this revalation? Roughly the 1960s. He believed that modern finance policies are the very mechanisms that "created the illusion of stability while simultaneously crating the conditions for an inevitable and dramatic collapse.

He argued that capitalism, as a whole, is inherently flawed. Minsky argued that the American economy was not the self-correcting machine that many of his contemporaries thought. "Far from trending toward some magical state of equilibrium, capitalism would inevitably do the opposite. It would lurch over a cliff."

He explained the pattern that he recognized. Following the Great Depression, everybody, consumers and businesses alike, was being very conservative. Loans were not given out unless you were highly qualified and repayment of loans was the highest priority. However, as the years progressed and the Depression became more and more of a distant memory, people were steeped in prosperity and forgot the problems they faced. Borrowing became easier to do and it gave rise to the kind of speculative lending and trading practices that you saw just a couple of years ago. Despite his warnings throughout the 60's, 70s, 80's and even into the 90's (just before his death), this house of cards continued to build until it hit an unsustainable peak.

The system collapsed under its own weight and this is where we find ourselves today. Although some of Minsky's solutions for recovering from this death-spiral have been put into place by Bernanke and the Obama Administration, many of his solutions were considered too "socialist" for this current political climate.

This is a fascinating article and I highly encourage you to read it. It can be found here.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:59:31 -0700 Russia yields to Obama Star Wars U-turn - Scotsman.com News http://kevinarth.posterous.com/russia-yields-to-obama-star-wars-u-turn-scots http://kevinarth.posterous.com/russia-yields-to-obama-star-wars-u-turn-scots
Check out this website I found at news.scotsman.com

Obama's decision to change the plans regarding the Missile Defense Shield that was originally supposed to be deployed in Poland (with tracking systems in Chech Republic) was a very welcome change of direction by the Russian Government, which always thought these missiles were being put in place as a threat to them as opposed to defense against Iranian ambitions.

In response to this new development, the Russian government is planning to scrap its own plans to deploy counter-measures near the border of Poland.

I see the potential for a course-correction in relations between the US and Russia. There's much to be worked out. The US is pressuring Russia to support Sanctions against Iran because of their unwillingness to stop their nuclear program. However, Russia is reluctant to go along with such plans because of the depth of their trade relations with Iran.

Russia has not yet given any signals that it's ready to go along with these sanctions, but I believe there's reason for optimism in light of this new information.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:20:44 -0700 Missile shield and the state of politics in this nation http://kevinarth.posterous.com/missile-shield-and-the-state-of-politics-in-t http://kevinarth.posterous.com/missile-shield-and-the-state-of-politics-in-t A thought occurred to me today as I was listening to a Newshour podcast. They were discussing the fact that President Obama is killing GW Bush's plans for the Missile Shield in Poland and Czech Republic and replacing it with a new program that he feels more effectively addresses the immediate threat posed by the Iran missile program.

 They had two guests on the program, as they often do. One of them agrees with the new plan and the other thinks the change is a mistake. This post isn't really about the defensive system itself, so I'll only recap briefly.

 Essentially, the President's position is that the old system was being designed to defend against ICBM threats posed by Iran. The assertion is that this Iranian ICBM program is moving more slowly than estimates indicated, but that short and medium range missile tests are progressing more quickly. Furthermore, the missile shield dreamt up by the former President has never been developed and has never been demonstrated to be feasible. So, President Obama is proposing a program that will more effectively defend against these short and medium range missile attacks which are considered far more imminent. The proponent suggested that the old system was a system that didn't work going up against a threat that didn't exist.

 The opponents of the plan think the President is giving in to Russian pressure and, in the process, leaving US interests and allies in eastern Europe vulnerable to attack.

 I tend to think that re-aligning our strategic assets to meet the needs as they exist today instead of trying to anticipate a need 15 years out with technology that has never been shown to work with any reliability is a far more pragmatic approach. And this doesn't even begin to account for the goodwill gained from major players in the region by stopping a program that, since its inception, has been very unpopular to all involved.

 Here's what I thought was interesting. One camp is sitting here telling us the recent changes are a big mistake for the reasons outlined above. The other camp is trying to convince us that this new plan is the only sensible option. We, the viewers and listeners, the voting public, are left in the middle trying to figure out who to believe. All the while, we have the President and his staff sitting in their offices laughing at how utterly naive we all are. They clearly have a plan, but no one outside his circle knows what it is. We're all left to grope in the dark while he looks on from on high.

 I'm generally a left leaning person and have supported our President in most regards. I'm not suggesting that this situation is unique to Barack Obama, our current President. This little dance would be occurring no matter who was President and it happens for all issues, not just this missile shield.

 I don't see a solution to this. Despite all the noble claims of transparency, there are just some things that the government will not allow to be public, and I'm sure the real reasons for this change are among them. Furthermore, unless we make ourselves experts on the dynamics of eastern European affairs and United States Foreign Policy, we can't hope to figure this out for ourselves.

 So who do we trust, mainstream media? They presumably have the experts who can help sort out some of these details, but they're so biased toward their political alignments that we're still left trying to interpret the findings of our 'independent' sources.

 I don't think there's an easy answer.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:49:41 -0700 Boo's first time swimming http://kevinarth.posterous.com/boos-first-time-swimming http://kevinarth.posterous.com/boos-first-time-swimming

Download now or watch on posterous
IMG_0006.mov (865 KB)

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:12:34 -0700 The Dentist http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-dentist http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-dentist
Cute Joke I got from a friend.

A man goes to see an oral surgeon to have a tooth pulled.

The Dentist pulls out a freezing needle to give the man a shot. (it used to be called Novocain, but I think it's no longer that).

"No way! No needles! I hate needles," the patient said.

The Dentist starts to hook up nitrous oxide (laughing gas), and again the man objects. "I can't do the gas thing. Just the thought of wearing the gas mask is suffocating me!"

The Dentist appears frustrated, but not quite ready to surrender. He asks his patient if he has any objection to taking a pill.

"No objection!" the patient says. "I'm totally fine with pills."

"Great," says the Dentist, who leaves and returns with a tablet in his hand.

"Here," says the Dentist, "pour yourself a cup of water and take this Viagra tablet."

The patient says, "Wow, Doctor! I had no idea that Viagra works as a pain killer."

"It actually doesn't," replies the Dentist. "But, it will give you something to hold onto when I pull your tooth."

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:59:15 -0700 My Twitter avatar http://kevinarth.posterous.com/my-twitter-avatar http://kevinarth.posterous.com/my-twitter-avatar At the risk of confusing, disappointing, or even offending some, I've decided to restore my avatar. I changed it back in July during the uprising following the Iranian elections as my way of showing support for their cause. Then when I heard about the oppressive silencing of the media in Venezuela, I added a banner to my avatar in support of that cause. Since then, I've been exposed to dozens of other causes that I feel are worthy of support and it got to the point where my avatar was unrecognizable.

 I support human rights and personal freedom of all people and anyone who takes the time to know me will know that without the need to be reminded by looking at my Twitter avatar.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:23:29 -0700 Followup to Congressman Joe Wilson's juvenile outburst http://kevinarth.posterous.com/followup-to-congressman-joe-wilsons-juvenile http://kevinarth.posterous.com/followup-to-congressman-joe-wilsons-juvenile Rep. Wilson is the incumbent in SC up for reelection next year and is being challenged by Rob Miller. Since the time of his little "You lie" outburst from yesterday, Rob Miller's campaign has received over $250,000 in campaign contributions from people who were outraged by Wilson's antics. I think this is, perhaps, one of the most expensive tantrums in the history of American politics.

Rob Miller's campaign site can be found here where you can see some of the damage, and contribute if you're so inclined. I don't live in SC, but i think this is hysterical. It's a great example of Congress answering to the people.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:24:00 -0700 What happens when you act like a child on the floor of the House of Representatives http://kevinarth.posterous.com/what-happens-when-you-act-like-a-child-on-the http://kevinarth.posterous.com/what-happens-when-you-act-like-a-child-on-the

Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) felt it necessary to scream "You Lie" (or something like that) to the President during his Joint Session Speech tonight. Does he have the right to do so? I don't know. I guess so. But he also has to expect that he's gonna get called out for acting like a douche bag. Check out this image and read the informational paragraph. I'm sure it's been pulled by now, but a friend was able to grab a screenshot before it got pulled.

Doesn't the President of the United States deserve some respect even if you disagree with his policies? Apparently, the GOP doesn't think so. It's ironic that the adults that President Obama addressed were his audience yesterday. Yes, the school kids. Shame on you, Congressman Wilson.

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:37:38 -0700 iTunes 9 Smart Playlists much smarter than before http://kevinarth.posterous.com/itunes-9-smart-playlists-much-smarter-than-be http://kevinarth.posterous.com/itunes-9-smart-playlists-much-smarter-than-be I've had to jump through some serious hoops to overcome the limitations of the Smart Playlist. Looks like Apple finally made them "Smarter." Check out the elipses button down the right column for setting up nested conditions. I'm planning some amazing things with this new functionality.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:18:54 -0700 Some thoughts on the Lori Drew cyberbullying case that lead to the death of Megan Meier http://kevinarth.posterous.com/some-thoughts-on-the-lori-drew-cyberbullying http://kevinarth.posterous.com/some-thoughts-on-the-lori-drew-cyberbullying I'm listening to Buzz Out Loud Ep. 1054 and one of the topics is about the Terms of Service (TOS) that users must agree to when accessing most websites these days. They're specifically referring to MySpace because there was a court case brought against Lori Drew alleging violation of the TOS. Here is an ArsTechnica article that provides more background on the case, but essentially this woman impersonated her daughter on MySpace and taunted her daughter's friend until that person committed suicide. The problem is, there's no law on the books that properly deals with a situation like this. Since they had no way to charge her for causing the death of this other person, they tried to nail her for a TOS violation. Specifically, they tried to charge her with illegal access to the systems.

The judge threw out the case stating that, although Drew's actions were reprehensible, simply logging in as her daughter or creating a fake account doesn't constitute "unauthorized access." The hosts of the podcast agreed with this decision and I think I also agree.  TOS violations should not, in themselves, be criminal offenses, misdemeanor or otherwise. If there's been a violation, then the site owner has to right to boot the user accused of the violation and even file a civil suit if appropriate, but criminal charges should be saved for people who are really breaking the law. As unjust as this particular case appears to be, if they can't charge her with causing the death of Megan Meier through murder, manslaughter, or whatever, they shouldn't be twisting other parts of the system into knots trying to find other ways.

So the bottom line is this woman caused the death of another person through her actions and it appears that she's going to get away with it. Our legal system was created hundreds of years ago and is not equipped to handle many situations that are created by the advancements in technology that we've enjoyed in recent years. Trying to shoehorn these cases, which could never have been anticipated by our founding fathers, is what allows worthless individuals like this to avoid punishment for such unspeakable crimes.

Of course, in fairness, I do have to make one other point.  Although this was a tragic story and I hope this haunts Lori Drew for the rest of her life, I have to question the emotional stability of Megan Meier in the first place. I'm not saying I know what she went through, because I don't, but I've seen bullying and harassment first-hand. I have a good idea what it looks like. I have to wonder if harassment of this nature is sufficient to cause an otherwise stable individual to commit suicide. Did Megan already have emotional issues that made her particularly vulnerable and susceptible to this kind of abuse? I'm not letting Drew off the hook. I think she's a despicable human being for attacking a 13 year old in this way. I'm just not sure if 1. murder was the intent, and 2. if the suicide was 100% Lori Drew's doing.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:41:34 -0700 The Global Warming Myth http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-global-warming-myth http://kevinarth.posterous.com/the-global-warming-myth

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Sat, 29 Aug 2009 11:19:50 -0700 YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID http://kevinarth.posterous.com/you-cant-fix-stupid-2 http://kevinarth.posterous.com/you-cant-fix-stupid-2

Sure Wish They Would Invent Something To Keep The Sun Out Of My Eyes.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:42:20 -0700 Letter from camp http://kevinarth.posterous.com/letter-from-camp http://kevinarth.posterous.com/letter-from-camp Dear Mom & Dad,
Our Scoutmaster told us to write to our parents in case you saw the flood on TV and are worried. We are okay. Only one of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the mountain looking for Adam when it happened.

Oh yes, please call Adam's mother and tell her he is okay. He can't write because of the cast. I got to ride in one of the search and rescue jeeps. It was neat. We never would have found Adam in the dark if it hadn't been for the lightning.
Scoutmaster Keith got mad at Adam for going on a hike alone without telling anyone. Adam said he did tell him, but it was during the fire so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas will blow up?
The wet wood didn't burn, but one of the tents did and also some of our clothes. Matthew is going to look weird until his hair grows back.

We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Keith gets the bus fixed. It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked okay when we left. Scoutmaster Keith said that with a bus that old you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why he can't get insurance.

We think it's a neat bus. He doesn't care if we get it dirty and if it's hot, sometimes he lets us ride on the fenders. It gets pretty hot with 45 people in a bus made for 24. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway patrol man stopped and talked to us.

Scoutmaster Keith is a neat guy. Don't worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Jessie how to drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any cops. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.

This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out to the rapids. Scoutmaster Keith wouldn't let me because I can't swim, and Adam was afraid he would sink because of his cast, it's concrete because we didn't have any plaster, so he let us take the canoe out. It was great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the flood.

Scoutmaster Keith isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad about the life jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the bus so we are trying not to cause him any trouble.
Guess what? We have all passed our first aid merit badges. When Andrew dived into the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a tourniquet works.
Steven and I threw up, but Scoutmaster Keith said it probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken. He said they got sick that way with food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and became our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done better while he was doing his time. By the way, what is a pedal-file?
I have to go now. We are going to town to mail our letters & buy some more beer and ammo. Don't worry about anything. We are fine and tonight it's my turn to sleep in the Scoutmaster's tent.

Love, Jimmie

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:03:23 -0700 Social Media Revolution http://kevinarth.posterous.com/social-media-revolution-61 http://kevinarth.posterous.com/social-media-revolution-61

This is a very interesting video. I discovered it on a website called Pizza Comedy. Some of the stats are illuminating.

 

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/78615/me.jpg http://posterous.com/people/1brmqBJoNk5 Kevin Arth Kevin Kevin Arth