An Internet affliction. I am bored by the Internet. It no longer has much interest.

I want to be cured. I want there to be interesting websites. There just aren’t… I don’t know why. Every site is the same, meaningless drivel. Including my own.

Thanks for reading. :)

The TSA is a joke. TSA means Transportation Safety Administration, those are the new government types who screen bags at airports.

Anyway, I have been wondering for a while if the TSA is just playing a cruel joke on us passengers. You see, let me explain. You’re not allowed to have any sort of semi sharp objects on the plane. No nail clippers, scissors, wire cutters, etc. Nothing.

When you go to check in they take your baggage away and let you go through security. You fly to your destination and pick up your bags and start your way back to the hotel. After arriving at the hotel you think, oh, let me just put on my shorts and relax at the hotel! So, you go to open your luggage and what do you find? They sealed it shut, OK. That makes sense, wouldn’t want someone to tamper. However, they used a semi-permanent industrial strength zip tie to seal it shut. And you weren’t allowed to take any sharp object through security.

So now you’re at the hotel struggling to get your luggage open with your teeth and pens and anything sharp you can find in a hotel room.

Yup, all a cruel, cruel joke.

After 9/11, Bush made two statements:
1. “Terrorists hate America because America is a land of freedom and opportunity.”
2. “We intend to attack the root causes of terrorism.”

I’ve been in Brisbane Australia since Thursday of last week.

Australia is a pretty cool country and has made it on my short list of livable countries. It’s not been that hot here but rather has been raining!

Next week I’m going to Hyderabad India to teach Using and Managing MySQL.

Columbia disintegrated over Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma this morning.

This is only the second major disaster in the space shuttle program. I find that really quite amazing. Many people feel like NASA should have taken more precautions to keep things like this from happening, but I don’t think so. It’s really not possible to be safe when conducting space flight. If you think about it, in an accident like this, there is absolutely nothing that could have been done.

Why doesn’t the space shuttle have ejection seats like most aircraft? They fly so high and so fast that they would be useless. An ejection from a plane flying at more than Mach 1 is considered “extremely dangerous” and the pilot may or may not survive. An ejection at Mach 18.1 is impossible to survive. Not to mention they were at 207,000 feet. They would freeze to death and suffocate before they even got to an altitude that they could consider using a parachute. It’s just not feasible.

Astronauts know the risks they take, they know the dangers involved. They fly because they want to and because they are OK with that. Disasters happen, and society as a whole moves on. I personally am shocked but not at all surprised by today’s disaster. It goes with the territory. We need to get back up and keep moving!

Update: I found this quote on slashdot

“If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business and we hope if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.”
— Gus Grissom, Apollo 1 Commander