Bubba Weekend is here.

Just a short post.  It is Bubba weekend and I can't wait to see everyone.  I pray for everyone to have a safe trip in.

 I am thankful for friends and family who get to share the weekend with the Bubba kids.  For our kids this year they get Bonnie and Mike.  Mom and Lynn had them last year. E asked yesterday if Granny and Lynn were going to come up to stay at Grand-mommy and Papaws with him and Gman this weekend.  I had to tell him no but hopefully  they will be here next weekend for the Pine wood derby with the cub scouts.  It should be 2 good weekends.  

Thanks again the Bubba wives for putting up with us.  

OK I was trying not to be political tonight but this is a great video.

Glenn Beck

I usually try not to listen to Glenn Beck.  I do not avoid all conservative talk on radio or TV but I just can not stand Glenn.  I remember some of the stuff he use to do on the radio in Louisville and just assumed everyone thought he was an idiot.  The time in Louisville also is when he has admitted to be on heavy drugs.  I feel that explained a great deal of what he said and did.  Now he claims to be clean and sober.  He still seems very crazy.

I started looking a little harder at him this weekend.  I know the internet is not the most reliable source but this is on the web so do I really need footnotes?  Per Google search Glenn is a Mormon.  I think this brings a large light to his present TV and radio programs.  He is seeing the end of the world.  He is taking his religion, mixing in conspiracy theories, and his on personal addiction problems to come up with a world that is out to get him and his followers.  Here is a good article from Joanna Brooke, (who if you read the page is an award winning writer which I never will be).  

I will not make a judgement on his religion or his personal trials and tribulations.  I will go back to my first thought about Glenn and say I still think he is an idiot.

Egypt and the Army

Just a few thoughts on the change of power in Egypt as a follow up to my earlier post on the differences in the recent revolts in the middle east.  The role of the military was huge.  The Egyptian military sided with the revolting populace over the government.  What they do in the future is still uncertain.  The Tunisian military stayed on the side lines for their revolt until the dictator slipped out of the country.  Iran's military supported not the president and the failed elections but the ruling oligarchy. They ended the revolt at the order of the Mullahs not the president.

Why the Egyptian army supported the people over the government will be a large discussion topic in the near future.  I think that historically the difference between the actions of the military in each country will be very important.  Dictatorships have fallen before.  The main reason usually are external forces beyond the control of the military.  Here we have internal forces causing a popular uprising that was fairly peaceful.  The government could not put down the uprising or appease it without the military.  There were attempts by pro-government forces to end the uprising and they failed.  The military came into keep the peace between the sides very similar to Iran.  What are the major differences in the two?

My first thought is the the relationship between the Egyptian military and the U.S. military.  The 30 years of interaction and support from the U.S. must have influenced the actions there.  Did our military aid buy us enough leverage to keep the Egyptian military neutral and then even pro reform at the thought of losing that aid?  Or was it the enter action between our military and theirs that influenced them to believe the populace needs to give its consent to be governed?  I am usually very skeptical about good intentions.  I am the leaning toward the money and military aid over the good ideas.

The second thought springs out of the use of military aid.  The U.S. has given a both military and humanitarian aid to many countries for many years.  Dictatorships, juntas, democracies it did not matter as long as it was in the best interest of the U.S.  What has made the relationship with Egypt different  from others?  Panama, El Salvador, Columbia, and even Iran before its revolution all got aid and support.  Why has Egypt turned out differently?  Or has it?  Will the military willing give up power with free and open elections?   We will see in the future which way it goes.

The third idea deals with what role the internet had in the success of this revolution and future political changes.  The old school media is giving a large deal of credit to social media like twitter and Facebook for the uprising.  The Iranian uprising was also driven with the Green support on twitter.  I see the organizing and communication aspects very useful.  What about the ideas that are shared over the internet?  Information has always led to questioning and change.  The internet is going to bring about more of this in the future.  It makes me wonder how much control needs to be used on it.

Well trying to wrap this one up.  Please pray for all the people over there.

Bad Headache

I have had one of the worse headaches in months today.  Very light sensitive and felt like an ice pick behind my left eye.  So I  slept until about 3pm. I am not sure what caused it today but it stinks.   I hope it does not come back now that I am awake.  I feel so sorry for everyone who has migraine headaches if they are anyway close to this one.

We are less than 2 weeks away from Bubba Weekend.  Thanks again to the wifes it looks like it will be a fun weekend.  I wonder how much different this one will be with Brian not working on his Doctorate?  I really not sure when we became so laid back but these weekends have became soothing and restful.  At some point I can see us doing something wild and crazy on the weekend.  Sky diving anyone?

Keeping it short and taking more pain pills.  Good Night all

It's February but my mind is on baseball.

I know it is still the dead of winter.  The weather man is calling for snow and ice tonight.  Granny and Lynn are not going to make it up this weekend because of the weather.  The boys have basketball games tomorrow.  All I can think about is the sign ups start for baseball tomorrow at the Dicks at the Fayette Mall.   Southwest Pony League  will be there between 1pm and 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.  So if you are in the Lexington area and want to join a great league please come and sign up.

I have even talked Beth into letting me assistant coach Gman's team again this year.  After almost driving her nuts as the head coach for fall ball (and worrying myself crazy) I figured the coaching was finished.  One of the dads from the fall team is taking a team for spring and I get to be the assistant again instead of head coach.  I think it will work well.  I know I will be a lot less stressed and hopefully Gman will listen to him better than me.

What really got me excited about baseball was when the family got home tonight.  I was watching the movie The Rookie.  E and Gman both saw it and stopped to watch instead of doing what their mother told them to.  There was a great catch and E shouts "You're Out".  I love that they both love the game that I do.  Beth even stopped to watch (I think it was because of Dennis Quaid not the baseball).  It turned into a nice family movie night.

Everyone please enjoy the nice winter weather and remember baseball is on its way.

Egypt Tunisia and Iran uprisings

I tweeted earlier this week questioning the on going success of the Egyptian and Tunisian social uprising and the failed Iranian uprising of 2009.  I think Brian for some very thoughtful input.  I am not planning on this blog post to be a long winded history lesson.  I also know it will not be my answer to the question of what is the difference between the uprisings.  I am looking to find out what questions to ask not for the answers to those questions yet.

The Iranian uprising followed rigged elections in a state that is ran by an oligarchy  .  The Tunisian revolt was against economic and social oppression of a military dictatorship. The Egyptian revolt is against economic and social oppression by an elected party and President, which may have won a rigged election but it was years ago.  Egypt and Tunisia are majority Sunni while Iran is Shia.  Economic and social oppression seem to be a similarity.

Does the geography of the nations have any input for the success in the latter 2 and the failure of the first?  North Africa verses Persia? What about the colonial past of the 3 nations?  How does each nations recent history play into the outcome of the uprising?  Iran has been in a state of war or under the threat of war for over 20 years.  Egypt has been at peace since the Yom Kippur war with Israel in 1973.  Tunisia has been a dictatorship without major conflicts since it won its independence from France in 1957. It has only had 2 leaders since then until the recent revolt.

The military also seems to be a common thread in all three.  Iran's military helped keep the regime in power.  The Tunisia the military supported the Prime Minister over the president.  In Egypt, the military so far has said they will not fire upon the people but will keep the peace.  Has the recent past history of military use in each nation influenced how each handled the revolts? Is there a deeper meaning to the actions of each military?

All the nations are different.  All have their own problems.  All of them have enough in common to try to find out what has led to the fall of at least 1 dictatorship but not the other.

Please add questions and answers if you have any.   Brian brought up some really good questions when I first thought about this topic. So here is copy of those unedited.
  Jim Milburn

Why is Eygpts uprising working and Irans did not? Hmmm I need to think about this

Yesterday at 9:00am via Twitter ·  ·  ·  · @jmilb10053 on Twitter

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    Brian McAdams 
    

    This seems to me to be a really important question. Wish CNN would be talking about it. I wonder it to. Your question sparked some random, not full formed ideas that are likely mutually exclusive. 1) Is the difference that Egypt needs the...See More

    
    

    Yesterday at 9:27am · 
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    Brian McAdams 
    

    The US invasions of Iran and Afganistan, made Iran very powerful in the region. Shia Iran, stands pretty well alone in the world already, but Sunni Egypt has democratic Muslim examples like Indonesia and Turkey (and now Tunesia). Why worr...See More

    
    

    Yesterday at 9:40am · 
  • 
    

    Brian McAdams ‎"The US invastions of IRAQ and Afganistan...."
    

    Yesterday at 9:41am · 

New Phone? Rebuild the Desktop? Need to scratch the itch

Some people have a sweet tooth.  Some people like to shop.  We all get an itch sometimes that just has to be scratched.  Mine has been baseball cards in the past.  The feel of an old pack of baseball cards in my hands was as good of a rush as smoker gets from lighting up a cigarette.  I have wasted more money on that habit than I want to think about.  My present habit is my computer and tech stuff.

I tried to scratch the itch this weekend by reinstalling Windows on my SSD drive on the computer.  I followed a procedure I found at overclock.net.  It lets you have all your big files and program go to your 2nd hard drive instead of taking up space on the SSD.  It is working fine and was fun to do.  It did not scratch the itch.  I need to find something to take care of the itch.

The last time I had the itch this bad was when I finally broke down and bought my netbook.   I am very glad I got it.  It has been a very good purchase.  I enjoy having the mobility and it has enough power to do all the non-gaming computing I do.  It allows me to be on the net anywhere in the house and frees up the family room for the boys in the evenings.  It kept the itch in check for almost 6 months.  

I really do not know what will be the next itch scratcher.  I have been looking at some of the new Intel Cpus.  The new Sandy Bridges coming out look very cool.  I just do not want to a total rebuild again.  It has been less than 2 years and the desktop is still kicking butt.  I do not need to do a rebuild.  Beth will not let me mess with her laptop.  It really has been a good addition to the family's computer network.  I still can not see how she likes Vista as much as she does but hay.  

With the desktop and Beth's computer out that leaves the boy's.  It is running very well and does everything they need so far.  It needs a bigger hard drive and hooked up to the printer but neither of these will scratch the itch.  This leaves my Blackberry.

I really do not need a new phone.  My Blackberry works just as well now as it did 2 years ago.  It is just a 2G phone so it is not nearly fast as the new ones that are out there.  It does not have a touch screen but it has a great full keyboard.  I can use it with my netbook as a modem without having to pay for a tethering fee with ATT because it is an older phone and I have an unlimited data plan.  The email and apps work great.  The phone part does as well.  My battery life is almost a full day (as long as I am not on it constantly to check FB and twitter).

So with all of that said, anyone with a suggestion of how I can scratch the itch?

Thanks everyone and I hope you have a great week