My guesses are of the aggregate kind. I don't feel like going through each race. Anyway, here goes:

Senate: Republicans hold serve, maintaining a 52-46-2(okay, 52-4 edge.

House: Democrats manage to wrest control from the GOP for the first time in 12 years, grabbing a grand total of 218-220 seats, which would give them a 1 to 5 vote margin.

These predictions are free, which means double your money back if I'm proven wrong.

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Bill Whittle has a new post up. And even though his comments are closed, you can still chit-chat with Bill-so to speak- at this discussion group.

Great reading, as usual.

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So you've just seen another blue screen of death. Or you've run into one of the many bugsfeatures in Windows that you just don't care for. Finally, you're thinking about making the switch to another OS, but you don't know which one to choose.

How about a Mac? People seem to love those. Well, not ALL people.

Okay, how about Linux? You've heard some good things about it: it's stable, has lots of software and has the ability to work with lots of Microsoft products, including Office. But you're feeling a little nervous because you don't know much, if anything, about Linux. What do you do to become more comfortable? Take some free online training courses which will walk you through lessons that will move you along the path from a rank novice to a seasoned pro. Here are the courses:

• Getting Started with Linux - Beginner's Course
  
• Intermediate Level Linux Course
  
• Advanced Linux Course
  

And here are some of what's taught in those classes:

Lesson One

• Objectives
  
• What is Linux?
  
• Installing Linux
  
• An actual install
  
• About Debian GNU/Linux
  

Lesson Two

• Installing Debian GNU/Linux
  
• Partitioning
  
• Plunk that CD in the drive
  
• Sundry installation tasks
  
• Reboot and basic configuration
  
• Completing the install process
  

Lesson Three

• Working with Linux - First Things First
  
• Working as another user
  

System Administration - An Overview
Installation Tasks
Backing up systems
...
System Services
...
The Apache Web server
Keeping Your Linux System Secure
Setting Up A Virtual Mail System
...
Programming under Linux

And there's a lot more there. In fact, more than you probably want to know. However, you should feel fairly comfortable using Linux after walking your way through the coursework.

Have fun, and give Linux a try. Try some of the Live CD distros so that you can test drive some different flavors to find one that's right for you.

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A pastor, a doctor and an engineer were waiting one morning for a
particularly slow group of golfers.

Engineer: What's with these guys? We must have been waiting for 15 minutes!

Doctor: I don't know, but I've never seen such ineptitude!

Pastor: Hey, here comes the greenskeeper. Let's have a word with him.
[dramatic pause] Hi George. Say, what's with that group ahead of us? They're
rather slow, aren't they?

George: Oh, yes, that's a group of blind firefighters. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime.

The group was silent for a moment.

Pastor: That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight.

Doctor: Good idea. And I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist buddy and see if there's anything he can do for them.

Engineer: Why can't these guys play at night?

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:54 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Defense Department implemented a program that allows members of the US military stationed abroad to submit ballots via email or fax. It's designed to make certain that our men and women in uniform get the opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot. That's a good thing, right? Apparently not if you're Democratic Rep. Rush Holt from New Jersey:

In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Democratic Rep. Rush Holt said the electronic registration and voting service is well-intentioned, but could expose troops to identity theft, or allow hackers or others to tamper with the ballots when they are in transit.

You mean like having illegal aliens or dead people vote? I'll tell you what: when you author legislation in New Jersey requiring people to show ID at the polls, I'll give you a pass. Until that day, when monkeys will be streaming out of my ass in large numbers, you can take your military vote suppressing ass-because they vote strongly Republican- somewhere and drink a nice, tall glass of STFU.

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Funny, but I don't remember this particular version airing when I was a child.

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I tried to stay of the Kerry snafu. I figured that no one was dumb enough to double down on a sure loser of a hand. Apparently, I don't know Lurch all that well, because the dumbass didn't apologize about his comments, but rather complained because someone was making his comments an issue. Some former fence-sitters have now chosen a side. I give you Neal Boortz:

OK ... all bets are off.

Don't get me wrong ... I still have this deep felt desire to see the Republican's get punished by the electorate in next week's midterm election ... but suddenly the stakes seem to be too high.

What turned the tide for me? John Kerry, that's what. That insipid, haughty, pretentious jerk uttered another one of his absurd statements about our men and women in uniform ... and in a flash my fear of Democrats and their disdain for our military services overcame any desire I had to put Republicans over my knee.

You did hear what Kerry said, didn't you? Come on now .. surely you have. [refresher] For the few of you who might have been in a 48-hour coma, The Poodle was talking to a group of college students in Pasadena, California (where else?) on Monday when he said: "You know, education--if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

So there you have it. There's your choice. According to Mr. Band-Aid Purple Heart, you either become smart, or end up serving in our armed forces.

John Kerry seems to have a deep-seated disdain (bordering on hatred) for those in uniform. Remember, please, that it was John Kerry who, many years ago, talked about our troops in Vietnam regularly committing atrocities against innocent women and children. It was also John Kerry who remarked earlier this year about American troops in Iraq "terrorizing" women and children. How dare that pompous ass suggest that it is our troops who are doing the terrorizing over there?

For the record, Kerry is dead wrong. Not that he cares. Just four days ago The Heritage Foundation issued a report by Tim Kane entitled "Who Are the Recruits? The Demographic Characteristics of U.S. Military Enlistment, 2003-2005." You have the link, go and read the report for yourself. If you do you will find that a higher percentage of military recruits have graduated from high school than the general population. In 2004 82.7% of recruits were high school graduates while another 7.03% had their GEDs. The national high school graduation rate that year was 79.8%. Even today, in 2006, the high school graduation rate for recruits is still higher than the high school graduation rate for the civilian population. Looks to me like the recruits are doing pretty well. You'll also find that "the Department of Defense reported that the mean reading level of 2004 recruits is a full grade level higher than that of the comparable youth population."

Clearly John Kerry had no idea what in the hell he was talking about .. the arrogant putz.

So .. the firestorm erupts, and here comes Kerry to the microphones to set the record straight. Did he apologize for his insult against our troops? Are you kidding? Not only did he not apologize, but he actually had the stones to try to tell us he wasn't talking about our troops, he was talking about Bush! I would ask just how stupid Kerry thinks Americans are --- but the very fact that he thinks we should have made him president indicates what his answer, were he to be truthful, would be.

These men and women are on the front lines, giving up their lives, to defend us from Islamic fascism -- and Kerry is back here talking about what intellectual failures they are. Intellectual failures that terrorize women and children in the night.

Do we hang the sins of John Kerry around the necks of all Democrats? Well, let me ask you. Did you hear of one single Democrat .. just one .. anywhere .. stepping forward to repudiate what Kerry said? Maybe some Democrat did, but I sure as hell haven't heard anything about it. Have you? A Democrat congressional candidate in Iowa has gone so far as to say Kerry's words were "inappropriate." Hardly an apology .. but he did ask Kerry to cancel a planned campaign visit to his district.

In other words ... these gutless wonders who just love to tell us how much they truly do support our troops won't even stand up to be heard when our soldiers are slandered by this rich woman's boy toy.

This is such a gift to the Republicans. It's as if Karl Rove himself paid John Kerry a large amount of money to read from a script. It couldn't be better. Here we are, on the even of the 2006 mid-term elections...in which the Democrats are poised to take over the House and maybe the Senate. Now here comes John Kerry, standard-bearer of his party in the last presidential election...to slander our troops. Bad move....even the most anti-war politician never blames the troops. It's political suicide.

So .. that's it. We're six days out, and I've come unglued. Sure, the Republicans have become just another party of big government and pork barrel spending ... but at least they don't slander the very men and women who are shedding blood every single day to defend our country.

Give me the big-spenders who support our troops over the big-spenders who slander them any day.

I'm voting Republican.

We'll just have to figure out another way to take these Republicans miscreants to the woodshed.

Good job, John. You might the guy who forces Pelosi to send her new drapes back.

Update: Jay Tea and I are on the same page.

Final update: Looks like Kerry ignored the Nutroots folks- who must be apoplectic right now- and finally did the right thing.

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You don't have to own a cat to appreciate this one...

A couple was dressed and ready to go out for the evening.

They turned on a night light, turned on the phone answering machine, covered their pet parakeet and put the cat out in the backyard.

They phoned the local cab company and requested a taxi.

The taxi arrived and the couple opened the front door to leave their house. But as they were leaving, the cat they had put out into the yard scoots past the husband and back into the house.

The couple didn't want the cat shut in the house because she always tries to eat the parakeet and generally gets into too much mischief. The wife goes out to the taxi while the husband goes back inside to get the cat. The cat runs upstairs, the man in hot pursuit.

Waiting in the cab, the wife doesn't want the driver to know the house will be empty for the night. She explains to the driver that her husband will be out soon. "He's just going upstairs to say good-bye to my mother," she explains casually.

A few minutes later, the husband gets into the cab.

"Sorry I took so long", he says as they drive away. "The stupid bitch was hiding under the bed. I had to poke her with a broom stick to get her to come out! Then she tried to take off, so I grabbed her by the neck and I even had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me! Boy, you'd think at her age, she wouldn't have that much fight left in her. But it worked. I hauled her fat ass downstairs and threw her out into the back yard!"

The cabdriver hit a parked car...

Posted by: Physics Geek at 04:28 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My Internet connection was down for the count the last several days, so I failed to post anything giddy to celebrate the St. Louis victory over Detroit. Click the extended entry to see that I've rectified the situation. more...

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Some of you out there might want to give Linux a try. Others might want to extend the life/usefulness of an aging laptop or desktop. Still others might be a mixture of the previous two categories. In any event, unless you're an experienced Linux user, you're probably a bit overwhelmed at the enormous number of available Linux distros available. In fact, I'll bet that that leads to confusion among the PC using public, which in turn prevents them from giving Linux a try. But fear not! A little test exists which can help you choose a distribution that'll work for you.

Editor's note: I've tried the test several times and it appears that it could be weighted towards the more popular distros out there. Being a bit of a gearhead, I lean towards the Slackware distributions in real life. However, that particular OS did not appear in my results, which included Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mandriva and Fedora.

Update: I tried once more and selected "Expert" under Linux knowledge. Lo and behold, Slackware appeared. I'll be truthful and state that I do not consider myself and expert. In fact, I'll wager that no actual expert would consider me one. But I do like Slackware. A lot. Anyway, consider the quiz to be a useful tool, not the Oracle of Delphi.

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If Emily didn't exist, we'd have to invent her. Check out this thread and contribute, if the spirit moves you. Or if you're just pissed off and want to rant. Or if your underwear chafes. Crap, just go already and stop bothering me.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 11:30 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Yeah, I know that Detroit will probably steamroll my Cardinals in the WS. But for right now, I'm enjoying the high of a game 7 victory in the NLCS.

And now for a few images:

Now if you'll excuse me, or even if you want, I'm going to go do the Happy Dance around the office while wearing my St. Louis cap.

Update: Looks like the lovely and talented Alliance Fitness Instructor is raising her son the right way.

Posted by: Physics Geek at 09:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Cat listening to Techno(on Ecstasy)

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Cat listening to GANGSTA RAP

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Cat listening to Stevie Wonder

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Cat listening to Metal

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Cat listening to Hip Hop

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