Today I'm required to take a security awareness training course. It's actually pretty decent as far as presentation goes. Although I must admit I've never before been encouraged to become a "human firewall".

Light me up!

This place sure is dusty. I'm cleaning up a bit, including moving back to my 'classic' theme. I'm thinking the half-baked theme I started to implement and never finished was so ugly it was driving me away from this place. That and time commitments. But I'm back, at least for 5 minutes. Hopefully more. Anyone still out there?

Dyslexia + Zero Tolerance = This

Yea, it is satire...but close enough to real life to almost be not quite so funny.

But carbon offsets are a rather strange concept. Let me use a simple metaphor to explain it: Let's suppose that Al Gore goes to an Italian restaurant and eats a loaf of garlic bread, a plate of lasagna, a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, an extra-large pizza with seven toppings, a couple bottles of Chianti and a large assortment of pastries. As a result, he puts on 10 pounds. But he is deeply concerned that mankind is getting too fat. So he pays 10 peasants in Asia $10 each to eat nothing for a week. Although they are already thin, by starving themselves for a week, they each lose a pound. As a result, after a week, mankind is weight neutral. Al Gore weighs 10 pounds more, 10 Asians weigh 10 pounds less -- and Al Gore is given another Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in keeping mankind's waistline in check.

Of course, this example is not quite fair to Gore because that imagined humanitarianism actually costs him cash money. In the real carbon offset business, he looks forward to being paid for directing other carbon consumers to invest in carbon neutral projects. Although when Gore personally is using carbon, as when he flies in a carbon-belching Gulfstream, one of his companies would pay some other fella not to fly or plant a tree or do something to offset Gore's carbon belching.

Tony Blankley

...Paris Hilton story of all time:

PowerLine: My Thoughts on Paris Hilton Leaving Jail

So what is the moral of this story? Never depend on your government to save your life. It is the public citizen who is our first line of defense –– the John Does –– not the federal government. Stay vigilant.

Federal Air Marshall P. Jeffrey Black

It is the nature of desire not to be satisfied, and most men live only for the gratification of it.

Aristotle

The Artist is a very dedicated violin player. He had the honor of serving as concert master at his orchestra's last concert and also had a solo, which he carried off beautifully. Today, I followed a link to this marvelous piece in the Washington Post, which is a most interesting look at both music, and the speed of American culture.

I'm posting this for him, but it is also definitely worth your time.

(Hat-tip to Joe Carter)