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

• • 
    

    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

Tonights Snow

Strange week so far. I really have not had a lot to write about this week. Nothing big or pressing. Doctors appointment went ok. Just some fluided on the knee and olds scars. So no surgery which is a good thing.  Dentist appointments on going. So far 2 finished with no cavities (now its the boys turns so not sure if that stat will hold). E's teeth falling out keeps from having them pulled this trip.

 Beth has finished Gmans science fair project. It is very interesting showing how much iron is in breakfast cerals. You actually see the iron bits when they were done. I will try to get pictures of it when he gets it back. Beth really gets into doing these and I am glad. I was terrible at them.

 Report cards came out. E got all pluses or better. Gman got all A's and B's so 2 straight honor roles. 2 B's so no princible list but getting close. Everyone have a good week.

President Obama's Full Speech at Tucson Memorial

I was going to show 2 videos but changed my mind after watching the President again.

Anyone who reads my post regularly know I am very vocal and liberal in my politics.  I have been trying to think about what has happened in Tuscon over the weekend and not be political about it. I am not sure how I will do that.  This post may not make a whole lot of sense and I know I will edit it a lot over the next few days.

I will  say I have been praying for everyone involved in the shooting.  I keep thinking about the shooter more than I wish.  I have prayed for him.  Prayed for his family.  Prayed for his attorney.  Prayed that he will come to trial.  Prayed for all the people who will be involved in the case into the future.  I hope that our nation will let them all be.  Let the system work.  I know it will not happen but I hope it does.

I will keep working on this post.  Thanks to all my friends and family for being my friends and family