May this new year be everything you wish it to be.

To all the good friends I have met at this site during 2004,

HAPPY NEW YEAR,

And may God in His goodness, bless you every one!

Joe Comer

and

Nurse Jenny

Finally, a moment to post something! After a harrowing end of semester followed by a two-week trip to Florida to visit the parents, we are settling back into a routine (I hope).

My life management skills are in need of renewal. I cannot have another semester like this past fall. I’m going over some of Stephen R. Covey’s material, including his new book, “The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness” (got it for Christmas; so far, I like it) and trying to figure how to improve my ability to manage my activities better.

Anyway, I’m hoping to finally and fully adopt the 7 Habits. I’ve always felt they held a great deal of promise, and I think it’s time to see if that’s the case. As a (somewhat modest) start, I make the following New Year’s Resolutions:
1. Get to bed by 10 each weeknight, up by 6 every weekday (this will be the hardest — I am by nature not a morning person, but I know I’ll be able to get a lot more done if I get up earlier than if I stay up later).
2. Post something of significance to this website at least twice a week.
3. Do 20 minutes of aerobic exercise at least three times a week.
4. Learn a new skill, take up a new hobby, or develop some as yet unknown talent (I’m considering learning to play the mandolin — what do you think of that?).

And I’m asking you to hold me accountable.

Feel free to share your own resolutions. Fellow Daily Briefers?

And of course, have a great and prosperous 2005!

From Lt Col Sage and the whole Sage family.

Relatively, not that bad, according to the Disaster Center:

Of course, it is highly debatable how “natural” the famines in the Soviet Union, Bangladesh and Ethiopa were.

Steve Park supplies this first-hand account of the rescue/cleanup work after the tsunamis on Phuket:

We stopped at a hastily arranged rescue center along the side of the road. Across the road were hundreds of bodies lined up, most left in the sun because all the trees are gone and they only had one awning to erect to provide a little shade. The sight and stench were horrible.

We put big gobs of Vicks VapoRub up our nostrils and started helping bag the bodies. But the pick-up trucks kept coming, bringing more bodies faster than we could wrap them in plastic and bed sheets (there were no proper body bags).

Later in the morning, some Thai rescue teams arrived and took over our work. By early afternoon, more awnings arrived and some body bags arrived. We then walked back towards the hills, behind the large naval boat that was washed over a kilometer from the beach.

We found several bodies in the debris back on the hill. Later, walking back towards the beach, the smell of decaying bodies buried under the rubble was everywhere. But there is so much debris, that heavy equipment will be needed to remove it. One rescue team from Taiwan was digging through rubble by hand and recovered one body. At one point, people started screaming and yelling, “the water is coming.”

The death toll now stands at over 150,000.

Big Band leader Artie Shaw has past away at 94. While I’m confident far fewer people will be as affected by his passing as that of Reggie White, It is highly arguable which of the two had more impact on the world in which we live.

If you are unfamiliar with his entrancing clarinet work, and brilliant arrangements, you’ll get a chance to hear his Nightmare on the movie The Aviator. Who knows, perhaps you’ll go on to other Shaw classics, or even move beyond, to the likes of Rich, Carmichael, Coltrane, or Paul? What a wonderful thing that would be.

I am currently watching The Hallelujah Kids on the Discovery-Times Screening Room. It concerns a father and his 19 year-old son, both evangelical ministers, and a 10 year-old son, who is about to become ordained. Personally, I have serious reservations about the idea of a 10 year-old proselytizing.

The father talks of a 10 year-old in the neighborhood of the brick-and-mortar church they are settling in to; he shot his father dead. I would also have a problem in trying that boy as an adult. The father claims that, if the Devil can occupy the soul of that child, why can’t God occupy the soul of his. The whole idea violates the concept of the innocence of childhood.

GreenDay has been one of those bands where I almost buy their albums. You know…you pick it up, you see a song or two that you’ve heard, but you’re thinking, “I’ll wait for The Greatest Hits.” And ya know…I was hitting punk clubs before Blondie and The Ramones went huge…so I’ve always sort of shrugged them off as wanna-bes, good wanna-bes but, I was in the third row when Blondie played The Aragon Ballroom in ‘79 or ‘80 so please…Dookie this mmm’k?

I know they’re not going to read this…but guys, I’m sorry. I haven’t been this glued to an album in a long time. You’re killin’ me here. Thank you for this album.

I owe Michele over at ASV and our own Styker huge for simply insisting that this album was worth some time because it’s not getting any airplay here in Nebraska…go figure…two of the best tracks are over nine minutes long.

Okay…I’ll stop with the gushing and try to tell you why this album is worth your money.

Think the first time you heard The Clash…or the first time you heard “HEY HO, LET’S GO” threatening to tear your speakers apart. No…not shitting you…the hair on my neck keeps standing up. Three guys….waitaminute…THREE GUYS ARE DOING THIS? And then it really hits you, yeah, three guys are making that sound and they’re not doing a lot…if any…overdubbing. Don’t get me wrong…it’s not as raw as The Clash or The Ramones were at the beginning…it’s produced, but not produced so much that anything is being hidden.

What gets me the most…is just when you think you know where the music is going next, there’s a break…sometimes it’s a smooth curve through the transition and other times…they do a complete 90 degree and I’m thinking “How the fuck did they do that?”

And there’s nothing really brand new here…it’s almost all derivitive…but no one else is doing this right now…and certainly no one has done it this well in YEARS. A punk rock concept album? Who do they think they are, The Tubes? Ummm, no, all apologies to Fee Waybill and the gang…this is better than just about anything The Tubes ever did.

I think I’m going to spend quite some time listening to this in pieces…one listen for the vocals…one listen just for Billie Joe Armstrong’s guitar…another for Tre Cool’s drums and his drums make me grin WIDE…another for Mike Dirnt’s bass…and then multiple listens to just grin about how they all blended in and worked together…except when they didn’t and those moments are worth it just for the intentional discordance.

How the hell does Billie Joe Armstrong sing and play the guitar at the same time when they perform live? His voice is going one way and his guitar is going the other. I’m talking completely different directions. I know musicians compartmentalize but this is just wrong.

Warning: This is punk rock in the old tradition. There’s anger, there’s raw nerves, there’s irreverance and blasphemy. They’re not happy with the state of things, and they’re in your face to tell you about it. If you want a nice comfortable album to listen to and be lightly entertained…find something else. If you want to pogo and slam dance and bang your head and do the move with the querky jerk…pick up American Idiot.

I’m in Audio East 12th Street.

Gotta find a pair of black canvas Converse High Tops…all there is to it.

“Go VOLS!” by Rum Smuggler.

Honoroable mentions: Everyone who flipped off Putin.

I read some good ones at Townhall.com today.

Why the war in Iraq is an integral part of the war on terror

The Bush legacy will take a healing period

And yet another Ann Couler gem, 2004: Highlights and lowlifes.

While one of my local PBS stations is airing a Globe Trekker episode, the others are showing; 1) Great Performances, featuring Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Robert Cray, B.B. King, Vince Gil, and others. 2) Nova - Fireworks. 3) And Nova - Great Escape. I’ve chosen the latter. I hope the rest replay soon.

I don’t know if it’s where or when I went to college, but I just don’t remember it being all that liberal. University of Central Arkansas, 1987-1994. Took me longer than normal, as I couldn’t settle on a major. Third one was the charm. (Pre-pharmacy, computer science, and finally industrial technology) I read this Academic Freedom, Hate Mail And David Horowitz by La Shawn Barber, and started thinking about my college days. Well, what I can still remember, that is. There was an incident in my Assembly Language class that has always stuck with me.

It was the spring semester of 1991; the day after Desert Storm kicked off. My professor came into class that day, and started it off a little different than usual. He spoke about the start of the war with concern for our troops, but not in an anti-war protestor sort of way. Then he asked us to have a moment of silence, for either a prayer, or whatever depending on our beliefs. No one in my class objected.

The school newspaper stayed objective, leaving the pro’s and anti’s to the letters to the editor. There were very passionate letters from both sides. As I recall, the were more pro-military rallies than anti-war rallies in that college town. Of course, 2 of the three colleges were religious-based colleges.

Maybe by avoiding liberal arts classes, I avoided the liberalism. Maybe I was too wrapped up in fantasizing about becoming a rock star during classes where it would have been spewed that I just blocked it out. Given that I often credit my less-than-stellar grades with spending more time with my guitar than my textbooks, the latter is probably the case, though I am most sure location was a major factor.

At least I know what I may be in for when I start on my master’s.

The current death toll from Indian Ocean tsunamis is estimated above 100,000. As usual, the United States leads the world international aid.. But, as we have seen, our reputation is on the ropes. Further, few economies in the civilized world, outside of Australia (riding China’s coattails) and the emerging economies of Asia and eastern Europe, match ours. It is especially important for we Americans to give generously to the private relief NGO’s operating in the effected region.

The more I hear of presumptive Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the more I like him. He rails against The Wall, but supports the Two-State Solution. He reveres Arafat (as any viable Palestinian politician must), but steps away from his policies.

This, coupled with the recent warming of relations between Israel and Jordan, the past ten year’s rejection of theocracy in Iran, and our own overturn of Saddam in Iraq, leaves me very hopeful for the future of peace in the Mideast.

We almost had a white Christmas here in North Carolina. It came the day after Christmas, and we were on the edge of the system and got mostly sleet. In 35 years, I have had only one white Christmas, and it was 3 or 4 inches of snow sandwiched between 2 inches of ice. (One inch on the ground under, and one on top of it.) I had just turned 14, and we still lived out in the country. We were iced in for about a week. So for fun, I went to the neighbor’s dairy in the evenings to help feed an milk.

Post shut down Monday (with the exception of essential personnel), so I got a snow day. Granted I still worked all day on a class I will be teaching, and considered staying in my pajamas to work on it. Tuesday was 2 hour delay, but I only postponed the trip an hour. Trip was fine, until I got to post. Yeah, those roads weren’t so clear. Ah, there is just something about black ice, that reminds me of my first 3 years in England. There was about a mile strip on the back road between Alconbury and Molesworth that was adjacent to a small forest. Since it generally got very little wintertime sunlight, it stayed pretty slick if any wet stuff fell. Most people there would take the A14 back and forth during winter weather, but I “rebelled” as I was prone to do over some things. Yes, the back road was not ideal, however, all you had to do was slow way down, stay of the brakes, and you were fine. On a clear dry day, I could make the trip between the 2 bases on the back road in 15 minutes. When it was wintery, it would take me 30-45 minutes as opposed to up to 2 hours on the A14. Of course there was always 2 or 3 idiots who would rush on the ice/snow/frost, end up in the ditch, and cause us all extra safety briefings, and orders not to take the back road. What really got me about that was that there were generally more accidents on the A14 with greater damage and personal injury. Didn’t have to watch out for the lorries (translation:tractor-trailors) on the back road, which tended to make me feel safer.

Anyway, still winter stuff on the ground here, but it’s almost all off the roads now. It’s supposed to be in the 60’s through New Year’s Day. Ah, winter in the South. My parents got the white Christmas in Arkansas. Glad we went home for Thanksgiving instead of Christmas….

Almost immediately following my tease of Sgt. Mom last week, comparing the weather of south Texas and SoCal, a series of storms, with rain for the foreseeable future, rolled in. Further, the rain we are currently having is very Texas-like, with hard driving cloudbursts in the presence of bright sunshine.

But, they say “it never rains on the Rose Parade.” True to form, the chance of rain for Saturday drops to 20%, going up afterward.

Michele has been extra-super busy over at The Command Post and has what must be the definitive list of agencies to help in the Tsunami Relief effort.

“Not only does God play dice, sometimes he throws them where they cannot be seen.” — Steven Hawking.

Unable to win at the polls, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych intends to try and win in court.

The results of the annual Military Times Poll are in. The results, with respect to both morale, and support for President Bush, are quite good. This is not a scientific poll, of course. But I think we will all be agreed here that this is pretty representative of the general attitude of the troops. Here’s a summary from USA Today:

Sixty-three percent of respondents approve of the way President Bush is handling the war, and 60% remain convinced it is a war worth fighting. Support for the war is even greater among those who have served longest in the combat zone: Two-thirds of combat vets say the war is worth fighting.

But the men and women in uniform are under no illusions about how long they will be fighting in Iraq; nearly half say they expect to be there more than five years.

In addition, 87%% say they’re satisfied with their jobs and, if given the choice today, only 25% say they’d leave the service.

Compared with last year, the percentages for support for the war and job satisfaction remain essentially unchanged.

A year ago, 77% said they thought the military was stretched too thin to be effective. This year, that number shrank to 66%.

Of course, there are some leftist propagandists out there who would like to use this poll’s lack of scientific validity to convince their readers that the morale of our troops is lagging.