It seems to be damn near impossible to cut back on government spending. Look at the current presidential election - we have a Republican President who has increased government spending, going up against Democratic candidates who are all going to increase government spending if they get into office. The strange thing is that most people want the ( Read more... )

It looks increasingly likely that Massachusetts' own Senator John Kerry will be the Democratic nominee for president. Hooray, or something like that. Seriously, I think that I should take this opportunity to point out that in spite of the fact that Massachusetts has produced Michael Dukakis, Ted Kennedy, and John Kerry, there are actually quite a ( Read more... )

Today, the temperature is reported to have actually climbed over freezing. This comes after a weekend where temperatures were in the 20s. This is a warm February so far.

If 6 more weeks of winter means 6 more weeks of this, no problem.

States that I've visited -


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According to some fairly recent research, people can significantly increase their lifespan if they cut their calorie intake to a very low level (like around 1500-1600 calories per day). This brings up the classic dieters dilemma in an even more extreme form - do I really WANT to live longer if I have to be hungry for most of my waking hours for ( Read more... )

Not much new here, except that it's almost cold enough to freeze the hottest levels of hell around here. In any case, here are a couple of pictures that I took a few weeks ago

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If US companies develop more new drugs than those of any other country, why do people in the US have to pay more for these same drugs than people in almost any other country ( Read more... )

In a positive step forward in the exploration of our solar system, NASA has successfully landed a vehicle on Mars. This time, nobody accidentally programmed the computers with the wrong numbers and sent the spacecraft flying in a completely wrong direction. It also didn't land right on top of a big rock or on the side of a hill and go tumbling ( Read more... )

What is it with my department? I come back after missing a sick day, and now Justin (who sits 2 cubes behind me) is suddenly seized with a fever, sore throat, etc, and has to leave early. It doesn't seem to be the same bug that I had - mine was abdominal pain - I thought for a little while that I might have appendicitis ( Read more... )

I celebrated the transition from 2003 to 2004 by being bedridden with serious abdominal pains and a fever. Fortunately, the New Year appears to have brought me luck, because I don't feel too bad anymore. In fact, I'm feeling well enough to be back at work today. (OK, maybe the luck wasn't 100% good)