This has been a depressing week. Everytime I wake up in the morning I find that the death toll figures from southern Asian has increased ten or twenty thousand from the previous evening. When will this come to an end? Oh so many questions! Will they be able to get relief supplies in quick enough to help? Will they be able to control possible outbreaks of deadly diseases? Will they be able to account for everyone (probably not on this one)? The world has not seen anything like this in the modern era. I suppose the "black death" in Europe during the middle ages comes closest in so far as death and injury goes.

I feel so helpless here. I have made two donations so far (Red Cross and Mercy Corps) and would like to do more. Perhaps when I get to Bangkok next week I will have a better idea of what I do to help.

Now I have heard from everyone I know in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. That is a relief. Although those areas are far away from the zone of disaster caused by the tsunami, I worried that someone might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now I know my friends are fine.

It is a tragedy however, that so many others will not be able to say that. I think one of the worst problems for many people will be that their loves ones have never been found or identified so in effect, they just disappeared, never to be heard from again.

Now the so-called experts here are debating whether or not that could happen here. There is a fault off the west coast of the U.S. which has been inactive for 300 years and is now "due" for movement. Some experts are worried that the northwestern U.S. coastline could suffer a similar fate as well. These sort of things combined with increased population and habitation of coastlines and rising sea levels due to global warming, are adding to the dangers of natural phenomena.

In reference to my friends in Thailand,I still have not heard from Anant. I am now beginning to worry. Hopefully he is just slow to respond but I don't think this is the case since I specifically asked him to respond if only with "Hi...I am fine". If I do not hear by tomorrow morning our time, I will try to call hoping that his mobile phone number has not changed. If there is no answer I really will be in the dark. He is one of my primary contacts for my visit beginning on the 6th of January. This wouldn't change my plans but it would sadden me greatly if he is a victim of this disaster.

The Christmas weekend was wonderful. I had a great time visiting with friends Oakland and we had a very nice dinner. Our group was smaller this year as several people were out of town or otherwise committed to other events.

The news on Sunday about the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia ruined the otherwise great weekend. It does not seem possible that so many people could be victims to one event over such a wide area. It will undoubtedly take many months to get back on a normal footing but for those who lost relatives and friends in this disaster, things may never get back to normal.

I know a few people in Thailand and I have heard from all except one. They are fine but I am beginning to worry about the one who has not responded to my e-mail. None live in the effected areas but there was a chance that someone could have been in the wrong area at the wrong time. I hope that Anant is simply slow to respond to my e-mail as usual but then perhaps he has friends or relatives in the stricken areas. Right now I don't know.

I will be returning to Thailand soon but this journey like my others is to Bangkok and Chiang Mai. I have never been a beach person. Now I have an additional reason for not being one.

The news was a downer on Sunday and the gray gloomy skies plus the chill in the air made for a miserable day. The heavy rains last night and today however, have helped to moderate the temperatures somewhat so it is not as bad now.

The rains are predicted to continue most of the week so New Year's Eve is somewhat iffy at this moment. Maybe there will be a few lingering showers but hopefully we will not have anything like the heavy rain we had most of last night and today.

If you did not read the previous posting here, I would like to just point you in the direction of two important websites that need your full attention if we are to take back control of this country from the Rebublican leeches and money interests in the corporate world.

Buy Blue

Choose the Blue

Check them out - PLEASE.

As usual, Mark Morford of the San Francisco Chronicle, writes about some important topics which need everyone's attention. This morning's column about the businesses in this country which are sucking up to the Republican leeches is an especially good one. You can read it here by clicking here. My biggest disappointment, so far, is that Amazon.com is one of them. A big boo on them.

Question: If Social Security is not taking in enough money to sustain itself, how is diverting contributions by workers and employers to stocks and bonds going to help the bottom line of Social Security Savings? Hello! If you put less into the program, it will go broke even sooner but I guess that dumb jerk we have in the White House failed simple math as well as everything else.

This is the season of giving...giving out death penalties that is. Yes, heinous crimes have been committed however unless one believes in the "Old Law" of a eye for an eye, how do you justify executing a person? That is really the quick way out. The executed then has no more to think about, no more to worry about, it is finished. Given a life sentence in prison, however, will provide plenty of opportunity to think about what has been done. Life in prison is far worse than laying down on a table, having someone stick a needle into your arm and then going to sleep forever. If these believers in the death penalty really want to punish the offenders, why don't they promote Life Without Possibility of Parole". Instead, they are simply putting the poor bastards out of their misery.

There continues to be much discussion these days about the death penalty and Scott Peterson and I cannot understand the thinking of those in favor of it. Certainly if the death penalty is meant to be a deterrent to killing, it is not considering the ten or more years before it is ever carried out, if at all. Also, it is really a cop out. It is supposed to be the ultimate punishment but it is really the easy way out. So the state executes someone. End of story. His life, his suffering is over. If, on the other hand, the prisoner had been given life without the possibility of parole, he will have a long time to think about what he did and in the case of Scott Peterson, his killing of his unborn child will attract the worst of the worst in the prison system and he may not live too long anyway. How or why does the family of a murder victim feel better if the killer is executed. It certainly does not bring the victim back to life. Since this is one of the few countries still executing people you don't suppose the other countries know something we don't?

If our governor and local officials can't agree on a design for the eastern span for the Bay Bridge, perhaps they should bring in officials from France who have recently opened a spectacular new bridge in southern France.

The petty squabling of politicians here really grates on my nerves and Arnie is one of the worst.

I suppose I could say that it is all over except the shouting. Certainly the lynch mobs outside the courtroom for the Scott Peterson trial have been able to shout twice now; first following his conviction and then for the death penalty verdict.

What a waste! First you have the tragedy of someone killing Laci Peterson and her unborn child. Then you have this long drawn out trial (At least it wasn't as long as the Simpson trial.) with a death penalty verdict handed down which may never be carried out. Our court system is so screwed up that it will take years to process this and carry it out, and who knows, a subsequent court may overturn that verdict and say "life without the possibility of parole". Then, if that happens, he could be killed by a fellow inmate. This whole thing is a farce from beginning to end.

Perhaps I have been watching too many CSI programs on TV recently but I would like to say, SHOW ME THE PROOF. Even though he was convicted on circumstantial evidence, or at least that is what I have been hearing, I am wondering what happened to the DNA evidence that law enforcement agencies now hold up as the final nail in the coffin of people accused of various crimes. Was there no DNA involved in this trial? I don't remember hearing about any on the news. Or then perhaps, the waters of San Francisco Bay effectively cleansed the bodies on any DNA evidence, thereby making this a nearly perfect crime. That is, no witnesses and no DNA.

These mobs outside the courtrooms bother me greatly. Why this desire for revenge? They are lowering themselves to the level of the convicted by desiring the prisoner's execution. If the death penalty is the law of the state, so be it, by why stand outside the courthouse cheering on the decision in a particular case? That is plain sick.

We live in troubled times, very troubled times. So many people can only think kill, kill, kill. Whether it be a work of fiction with the title "Kill Bill" or the president himself talking about killing Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden. There is this obsession with the word kill. Yet, isn't one of the Ten Commandments "Thou Shalt Not Kill?" Oh, but so many "god fearing" people are going to urge that we do just that. How hyprocritical! How sick and perverted! Sometimes it so depresses me that I just want to go out and kill myself. Oops! Did I say that?

Interesting piece in the news this morning about mobile phone usage doubling since 2000. Ah, so many people saying nothing, at least that is the feeling I get when forced to listen to other people's conversations in buses, on the street corner, in the supermarket, etc. Is anything really important being said? I doubt it.

Well, here we go again. VHS vs. Beta is being relived with the DVD wars of Sony and Toshiba. Disney and apparently MGM are backing the Sony Blu-ray standard for high definition discs while Warner Bros., New Line Cinema, Paramount, and Universal are backing the HD-DVD standard developed by Toshiba. Both use the blue laser technology but in a different way. Sony was responsible for Beta in the seventies, a better product, but VHS won out when most people jumped on that bandwagon for whatever reason. Now, only one or two studios have announced intention of releasing movies in Sony's Blu-ray standard while at least four have announced their intention of utilizing Toshiba's HD-DVD standard. Won't these companies ever learn?

Then down in Rio de Janeiro we have evangelical Christian politicians pushing legislation to create "conversion therapy" for LGBT people. Won't those people ever learn? They claim they are not beng homophobic but are only "offering an escape" for those who desire it. Escape? Escape from what? Would or could these heterosexuals "escape" from their sexuality? Come on folks, we are all sexual beings, period, and cannot change that. We are what we are!

Meanwhile, back on the home front, I have completed my Christmas shopping and this is probably the earliest I have ever completed it. Today, however, was a mess, with frequent heavy showers. Leaving Nordstrom's just after lunch I found it was pouring. I put up my umbrella but by the time I got across the street it had stopped so I lowered my umbrella. Within a minute it started pouring again so once again up with the umbrella. As soon as the bus arrived it stopped raining and did not start again until I got to my stop so again - up with the umbrella. It was like I was playing tag with the rain. Anyway, my next sojourn to me to Walgreens for Christmas wrapping paper, ribbons, etc. and then a stop at Cala to buy lottery tickets for tonight and Saturday. It raining off and on during that walk but not as heavily as earlier.

With my slide scanning project completed I could start with the color and black & white 35mm film strips but I think I will hold off until after the holidays. One reason is that I need to inspect all remaining boxes of photographs for any possible overlooked slides. Also, I may not have filed all of my film strips properly in which case I will have to add them to the 3-ring binder files. Hopefully, too, during the next few weeks I can complete the book of the history of Thailand that I have been slogging through for several months. It is of interest but keeping all the people, facts, and figures straight in my mind is not easy these days.

Oh well, one good thing about today's rain. It came in on the "pineapple express" so our temperatures are much milder now. No electric blanket will be needed tonight.

No more symphony concerts in my subscription series for several months now and it is even longer until the final two operas of the current season. Those won't be until June 2005.

Right now, though, it approaches bedtime so I will sign off for this time.

Perhaps it is something in the air today. Here is another phalic oriented story but this one from Italy. You can read it here.

Oops...be careful what you say?

--------------------------------

South Korea has shelved a plan to replace the English word for condom with a Korean word after a string of complaints from people with identical or similar sounding names.

The Korean Anti-AIDS Federation said it would drop the use of a suggested new word for condom, "ae-pil," which was derived from the Chinese characters for love and necessity.

The name, picked from 19,000 suggestions sent in by the public, had prompted complaints from many South Koreans with similar-sounding characters in their names, federation official Kim Hoon-soo said.

"An old lady called to complain, saying she was worried about her grandson being teased due to her name being 'condom,'" Kim said, adding the federation had dropped its push for a new name.

The federation promotes condom use in South Korea, where only 10 percent of people use condoms when having sex.

Questions actually asked in courtrooms and recorded by court reporters:

Q. Are you sexually active?
A. No, I just lie there.
--------------------------
Q. How old is your son, the one living with you?
A. Thirty-eight or thirty-five. I can't remember which.
Q. How long has he lived with you?
A. Forty-five years.
-----------------------
Q. The youngest son, the twenty year old, how old is he?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Q. Were you present when your picture was taken?
-----------------------------------------------------------
Those are just a few samples from the book "Disorder in the American Courts".

Here are some good suggestions which sailed into my email box recently which I would like to share with you.

Some things to Do Before the Inauguration:

1. Get that abortion you've always wanted.

2. Drink a nice clean glass of water.

3. Cash your social security check.

4. See a doctor of your own choosing.

5. Spend quality time with your draft age child/grandchild.

6. Visit Syria, or any foreign country for that matter.

7. Get that gas mask you've been putting off buying.

8. Hoard gasoline.

10. Borrow books from library before they're banned - Constitutional law
books, Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter, Tropic of Cancer, etc.

11. If you have an idea for an art piece involving a crucifix - do it now.

12. Come out - then go back in - HURRY!

13. Jam in all the Alzheimer's stem cell research you can.

14. Stay out late before the curfews start.

16. Go see Bruce Springsteen before he has his "accident".

17. Go see Mount Rushmore before the Reagan addition.

18. Use the phrase - "you can't do that - this is America".

19. If you're white - marry a black person, if you're black - marry a white
person.

21. Take a walk in Yosemite, without being hit by a snowmobile or a
base-jumper.

22. Enroll your kid in an accelerated art or music class.

23. Start your school day without a prayer.

24. Pass on the secrets of evolution to future generations.

26. Learn French.

28. Attend a commitment ceremony with your gay friends.

29. Take a factory tour anywhere in the US.

30. Try to take photographs of animals on the endangered species list.

31. Visit Florida before the polar ice caps melt.

32. Visit Nevada before it becomes radioactive.

33. Visit Alaska before "The Big Spill".

34. Visit Massachusetts while it is still a State.

This country has really gone too far with its pettiness. Read on...

----------------

"The computer term "master/slave," which was banned as racially offensive by a Los Angeles County purchasing department, was named the most politically incorrect term of the year on Thursday.

Among other terms on the top 10 list of politically charged words and phrases, issued by the word usage group Global Language Monitor, were "non-same sex marriage" to describe heterosexual unions, "waitron" for waiter or waitress and "higher being" for God, a term some people found too religious.

"We found 'master/slave' to be the most egregious example of political correctness in 2004," said Paul JJ Payack, president of The Global Language Monitor.

"This is but one more example of the insertion of politics into every facet of modern life, down to the level of the control processes of computer technology."

In computer terminology, "master/slave" refers to primary and secondary hard disk drives. But a Los Angeles county purchasing department told vendors in late 2003 that the term was offensive and violated the region's cultural diversity. The county's department of affirmative action undertook a hunt to replace it on packages.

After a public uproar, the county backed down. Payack said that while the incident took place in late 2003, debate about it grew enormously in 2004.

The phrase "non-same sex marriage," was used by a former congressman who did not want to offend gay people by using the term traditional marriage, Payack said.

Also on the list this year were "Red Sox lover," to use in place of "Yankee hater," "progressive" for classical liberal, "incurious" rather than more impolite invectives for President Bush, "insurgents" instead of terrorists in Iraq, "baristas" for waiters, and "first year student" rather than freshman."

------------------

To me, the most irksome PC term is "waitperson". Yuck! To me, they will always be waiters no matter what their gender. These people need to get a life.

There seems to be a lively debate lately concerning evolution vs. creationism and what is being taught in our schools. Today's letters to the editor column of a local newspaper carried some excellent responses to this situation. Here is one of my favorites...

"The widespread acceptance of "creation science" is a symptom of a much larger problem ("Anti-evolution teaching gain foothold in U.S. schools," Nov. 30). Science, like democracy, depends on a willingness to understand the world and to question assumptions. The study of evolution has withstood generations of inquiry and challenge, while so-called creation science is based on assumptions that are untestable. Its proponents oppose, or even forbid, subjecting it to rigorous scrutiny.

Those who would teach creation science are asking students to reject the scientific method, the essence of scientific inquiry. They teach that the assertions of a religious text exclude the body of science based on centuries of observation and experiment. This is not science -- it's political ideology based on religious fundamentalism. Its spread shows how willing people are to deny proven facts and accept assertions that have no basis in the physical world.

When half the country accepts such fallacies -- for example, rejection of global warming evidence or the supposed connections between the Sept. 11 plotters and Iraq -- democracy is in trouble. We won't build a democratic society by teaching kids that understanding need not be based on analysis."

But then, another letter writer hit upon a point that has always bothered me about these people. The religionists always refer to God as infinite and say that he can do anything so one writer penned these thoughts regarding this matter...

"What a pathetically limited view of God it must take to see a contradiction between Darwin's theory and intelligent design. Can God not also design the rules of evolution and genetics, and let those rules play out in what we call time? Why do these chumps in the deep South persist with the Father-Christmas-in-the-sky-with puppet-strings image of creation? Why do atheists imagine that their disbelief is not God's will? "

Touche!