Random Thoughts on a Monday Afternoon

Hey, big news! Internet Explorer 7 is out and ready for you to download. Or if you have XP, it is automatic. See what they are saying about it on Technorati. While there are some new features, there is one I wish they had included in their design. Just a little one, but it would be so helpful: let us close the last tab open with an X right on the tab. No, it isn't too much trouble to reach aaaalllll the way up to the right corner of the window and close it there, and I suppose some geek out there will tell me I could have a shortcut key, but hey, I am just asking…for a little X.

Here in Washington state we have several mountains that people like to climb. Mt. Rainier is just one of them. Every year we have someone get stranded, or worse, up on the mountain, and the rescue people have to go get them, or their remains. Now, I think we have enough laws in this country already, but they should make it mandatory that if you are setting out to climb any mountain anywhere that you post a bond or some sort of surety that shows that you will pay for your rescue and not put it on the taxpayers, country, county, whomever, to pay for your accident.

Sometimes I wonder.......I can't put my finger on just who this would describe, but it seems to me that a good majority of people in the world seem to think the end of our (human) life on earth is near. I have no way of knowing, but I do wonder if it isn't some sort of self-fulfilling prophecy, that people actually want to have a mass extinction. People who are in organized religions seem to think it is a great idea. My take on it is, I am pretty much a heathen, but if you want to go see your creator early, go on ahead. Just because it is possible to end life on earth, doesn't mean we have to go ahead and try to do it.

You know, we live on this planet that is mostly molten core, with this thin crust that floats on top like leaves in a slow trickling stream. And every day we have earthquakes somewhere. Naturally occurring quakes. And yet, we have lunatics like Kim Il Nutcase over in North Korea setting off a nuclear device underground. I don't know for sure how big it was (does anyone?) but it seems to me that we really don't need to be messing with already shaky ground. It just makes me furious that any government, including my own, in order to show some supposed superior power, has to nuke anything. There are some men that I truly love, but for the most part men are screwing up this planet and I am convinced that they are no where near the superior sex. If anyone remembers, the second half of that fault in the Indian Ocean where the tsunami occurred in 2004 has not slipped yet....

It is very subtle, but I see the beginnings of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq starting to undergo a change. Too bad it won't be in time to save some more of our soldiers lives. It is just my opinion, but I think this whole Iraq 'war' was planned long before Bush took office. Not even by him. I have never been able to discern if he really thinks he is the President, or if he is an even greater actor than Reagan. I believe that the man is seriously mentally ill. Was this all just about greed and power? I think it was. I think there is a whole strata of people like Bush who have seen that they can get away with murder (and call it a war). Hold on, I think there is a jack-booted thug at my door....