October 2005

10.18.2005
Disaster!
What is one of the worst disasters to hit the U.S.?

10.11.2005
Take It To The Limit
I like Christopher Columbus fairly well. Granted, Magellan is still my favourite explorer, but only one of them gives me a day off work every October. Although a three day weekend only gives me 50% more time off, it is easily 3x better than a two day weekend. I'm not positive how that fuzzy math works, but knowing that I have Monday off just seems to enhance Saturday and Sunday. Plus, I had a lot of fun this weekend.

On Saturday I went hiking with my Dad in the Superstition Mountains, on the trail to the Reavis Ranch. The main man Reavis lived there with his family in the 1800s and planted an apple orchard in the surrounding meadow. Eventually, the family passed away or moved away and the ranch fell to ruin, but the apple orchard/forest still grows wild in the valley. Unfortunately, we got a late start and had to turn back (in the interest of daylight) when we were only a mile from the ranch. I'm going to try to take another stab at it in a couple weeks. On the hike we saw a snake, a tarantula, a centipede, and four deer. I'll put some pictures up shortly.

Sunday was football day again, and the Cardinals lost again. Phoenix finally had a day, after all these months, that allowed us to open all the doors and windows and turn off the AC in the house. Happy days are here again. That night I went bowling, which I hadn't done in about a year, and rolled a 138 which I was pretty pleased with.

On Monday I played some frolf, or disc golf, or whatever. It is really fun, but throwing a golf frisbee is a lot different than throwing a regular frisbee. This resulted in me chucking it into the ground thirty feet in front of me more than a few times. I did some more bowling on Monday night and rolled a 141. That's good, by the way, for me, so share in my celebration. Its been so long since I bowled. Hopefully I'll get into it again and get really good.

Last thing, I put a bunch of new photos online in two albums - some pics from Summer 2004 and some photos from hikes and outings around Phoenix. Gotta catch 'em all!

10.03.2005
She Blinded Me With Science
Nothing concerns young Americans as much as conflict in the Middle East these days. With Israel giving up the Gaza Strip and Syria pulling out of Lebanon, our attentions become focused on the latest contention: Iranian nuclear ambitions!

The western world opposes Iran building nuclear power plants for "peaceful" energy because the process can be used to develop clandestine atomic weapons. The United States and other western powers are seeking to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program through trade embargoes and U.N. sanctions.

Iran's government takes a totally different approach. The state television and radio department has produced a couple of hot summer hits that tackle the intracacies of these diplomatic issues. The first song, an Ali Tafreshi-penned military march, is titled "Oriental Sun, Nuclear Science."

The other number is "Nuclear Know-How" by Reza Shirazi. According to one news agency, the song "extols the wonders of a 'great and powerful Iran' which has destroyed 'the arrogance of the oppressors' and 'defends its independence by using science.'" I used to defend my independence with science. Nowadays, I use intelligent design.

Shirazi's biggest lyrical influence is, ironically, a Brit: Thomas Dolby explored similar themes 20 years earlier when he sang, "The spheres are in commotion / The elements in harmony / She blinded me with science / And hit me with technology." Unfortunately, Dolby's song was not mandated by state radio and thus suffered in longevity.

These songs are interesting because they highlight the versatility of modern science. Whether you are defending your independence, building peaceful nuclear energy programs, developing weapons of mass destruction, or blinding people, it all comes down to science.