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Update: OK, I’ve switched back to YACCS for my commenting host, as enetation is just too damn slow. I don’t get too many comments, but I imagine that waiting a couple of minutes for things to load isn’t exactly encouraging people. Hopefully things will be a little faster, so go ahead and let me know what you think! And for those of you that have posted recently, I’m sorry to say that I have no idea how to import those comments into the current system yet. Sorry about that…

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In an effort to stem the recent tide of forest fires, W is initiating a “Healthy Forests Initiative” that will allow for selective thinning of forests. Environmentalists and logging conglomerates alike have said that the judicious thinning of forests could have prevented some of the wildfires that struck over the summer. The first image that came to mind for me, however, was that of the Simpsons episode “Mr. Lisa Goes To Washington.” In this episode, Lisa espies lobbyists trying to get a logging permit for Springfield Forest using the argument that animals are more happy with a clean forest, showing a before picture of a scary, dark forest versus an after picture with happy animals playing leapfrog and drinking tea on the remaining stumps. OK, so I watch too much Simpsons; I still think it’s funny.

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80s box set coverCNN has a great review of “Like, Omigod!: The ‘80s Pop Culture Box (Totally)” released recently by Rhino Records. The boxed set comes with 7 CDs (143 songs) and a 90-page booklet of ’80s trivia. If I didn’t already own pretty much every ’80s compilation, album, and single out there, then I must say that this would be something I would buy in a heartbeat. But don’t think that I’m not itching to anyway… 😉

<shameless self-promotion>

If you’re interested in buying this yourself, please consider using this link to CDNow, as I am an affiliate with them.

</shameless self-promotion>

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The United States recently held war games simulating a conflict with an “unspecified Middle Eastern adversary” that involved 13,000 troops. However, as this story reports, the games were basically “fixed to ensure an American victory,” as retired marine lieutenant-general, the commander of “enemy” forces told the Army Times recently. Apparently he was told to deploy his forces and defenses in a way that made it easier for U.S. forces to land and manuever their troops rather than being given free rein to probe US weaknesses, as he thought would be the case. Despite this handicap, “as commander of a low-tech, third-world army, General Van Riper appeared to have repeatedly outwitted U.S. forces” and the “experimental new tactics and doctrines advocated by the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, …referred to in Pentagon-speak as ‘military transformation.’” In fact, most of the U.S. Navy’s ships were “sank” in this wargame and had to be “’refloated’ so that the US forces stood a chance.” What kind of a wargame is this? Gen. Van Riper “protested by quitting his role as commander of enemy forces, and warning that the Pentagon might wrongly conclude that its experimental tactics were working.” I’m glad he managed to get the word out on this, because there is no point in attempting any sort of action against Iraq or whoever (yeah, OK, Iraq) with tactics that are unproven and that will ultimately needlessly endanger American troops.

Speaking of which, it’s interesting to note the dissension in W’s own GOP with respect to an attack on Iraq. Although I really think they should have finished Saddam Hussein off during the Persian Gulf War 10 years ago, any kind of invasion this time will be nothing like the cakewalk that Desert Storm was, and the aftermath of such an attack is anyone’s guess at this point. My knee-jerk reaction is to go get ’em, but I really think that some prudence needs to be exercised here.

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American Idol contestantsI debated posting this story, because it would mean admitting that I’ve been watching American Idol. Well, I got sucked in and have been watching, although I don’t feel half as guilty as I did when I watched Bachelorettes in Alaska. Although I was dubious of the fact that the call-in public was responsible for choosing the winner, I figured that Fox was handling the voting process in a responsible and secure manner. So I am pretty damn pissed off that once again “fans” have managed to stack the phone-in votes, this time in favor of Nikki McKibbin, one of the most tone-deaf, uncharismatic, and talentless contestants to appear on the show. The fact that she’s lasted this long was a pretty good indicator for me that things just weren’t right. Tamyra Gray, who was eliminated last night, could well have deserved to win the entire contest, although Justin and Kelly are also great performers; this CNN article agrees with me. As I suspected, this USAToday story reveals how “war dialers” and “phone phreaks” with access to autodialers and computer software that can make up to 250,000 calls in two hours (!) have influenced the votes.

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I reported to you last week that the inventor of the Frisbee wanted his cremated remains added to Frisbees that would be distributed to family and friends and sold to help fund a future museum. Well, in a somewhat more bizarre twist to this theme, the Chicago company LifeGem Memorials has developed a way to “turn cremated human remains into diamonds that can be worn as jewelry.” Prices for a 0.25 carat diamond start at $4,000, and a full karat would cost $22,000. For those of you who haven’t had to shop for diamonds recently (as I have), that’s a damn expensive diamond! But then again, you can’t put a price on wearing your dead family member’s remains. OK, maybe that’s a little insensitive, but I just think that this whole thing is way too morbid.