Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Sen. Arlen Specter Switches Parties

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Sen. Arlen Specter announced today that he would be switching parties.  Now a lot of people are upset about the “shift of power” in the Senate.  But let’s be honest here – Sen Specter has been voting Democrat for years and the fact that he now is finally admitting that allegiance does NOTHING to the actual votes in the Senate.  It does however provide one less straw man – on less RINO (Republican In Name Only) to use for claims of “bi-partisanship”.  Which are often pointed to later when things don’t go as promised (almost always) to blame Republicans for this or that law or bill passage.

REALLY, the GOP now that they have lost 60 vote cloture numbers game (which they didn’t have even back in the “Gang for 14” days) should step up and throw out some more dead wood.  I can think of 6 more Senators that the GOP would be better without.  Make the RINOs be honest and sport that D next to their name.  You don’t have their vote and at least they would get to sabatage the party from the inside any more.  Let the libs fully claim and own their liberal policies.  At least then when they implode you can proudly say “I told you so” and pick up the electoral peices.  That is of course if the GOP actually wants to win future elections.  Lately here, I wonder.

The Ultimate Netbook

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Lenovo is taking suggestions for a higher quality ThinkPad netbook.  Here are mine:

The Ultimate Netbook: Think Sony P done right (bigger).

Using the Thinkpad Trackpoint & 100% sized keyboard but maintaining the wider format.  You get a 11-12″ screen with the footprint of a 10″ netbook.  Dial back Sony’s ridiculous res to the soon to be standard 1366×768. You have usable resolution on a screen large enough to not require squinting. Take the Asus/MSI over/under-clock to the next level with 1.12/1.66/1.84Ghz & focus on reasonable sized SSDs (32+GB) for the power savings & performance balancing act.  As much performance as possible is great but battery life is key.  8-10hrs would be great but 6+ (in the real world) is required.  Find a way to fit an expresscard/34 slot without losing too much and you’ll be at the head of the class for expandability.  And finally build quality, build quality, build quality.

Such a netbook could command a (relatively) premium price and sit between the std netbooks and ultraportables.

Dept. Homeland Security Targets Voters On The Right

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achmed.jpgThat’s right the same DHS that has banned the use of the word “terrorist” and the phrase “war on terror” has now found someone to target.  Right leaning voters are apparently the country’s greatest threat:

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines “rightwing extremism in the United States” as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

“It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration,” the warning says.

So if you believe in the concept of Federalism (States rights are more important than the Fed) or if you are pro-life or against Amnesty for illegal immigrants… you are an extremist.  Also the White House press secretary is apparently OK with using the T-word with regard with regard to right wing “radicals” if not Islamic radicals.   So I am a triple terrorist threat!  Strange how far the view has shifted on those that still hold to the original intent of the founding fathers on the country and the constitution.

The nine-page document was sent to police and sheriff’s departments across the United States on April 7 under the headline, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.”

It says the federal government “will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months” to gather information on “rightwing extremist activity in the United States.”

The joint federal-state activities will have “a particular emphasis” on the causes of “rightwing extremist radicalization.”

Population Math

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These dates were compiled by James Ussher in His Annals of the World (James is a famous historian born in 1581 – college at 13, masters at 18 and Dr at 26).
Disclaimer: NOT everyone agrees with his research/dates… (however many creation scientists do)… but don’t consider these truth with a capital T… Call them good estimates :)

Some high points from Genesis & Exodus:

4004 BC Fall of Man
2348 BC Flood over
2242 BC Tower of Babel
1996 BC Abram born
1897 BC Sodom destroyed
1896 BC Isaac born
1760 BC Isaac blesses Jacob
1728 BC Joseph sold into slavery
1706 BC Joseph’s family moves to Egypt
1635 BC Joseph dies
1571 BC Moses born
1491 BC Burning bush & Exodus
1490 BC Tabernacle completed

Now I will admit that even I – a young earth creation scientist – was a little shocked at the closeness of the flood! I mean 8 people to 6 Billion in 4357 years seemed -uhm- optimistic. So I did what I’ve been trained to do – look into it myself and do the math (shout out to Dan!)… Here’s what I found:

World Population Clock estimate for Today:
6,764,177,125

The current world population doubles every 40-50 years (depending on whom you ask). Now I know you’re saying – recent medicine advances, nutrition, etc. but just stay with me.

Best Case: Doubling the world population ever 40 years from 8 in 2348 BC after the flood (Noah + 3 kids + 4 wives) the current world population would be:
4,929,266,112,286,160,000,000,000,000,000,000 !!!

That’s too big a number to name so let’s try doubling every 50 years:
1,364,092,462,437,050,000,000,000,000
or
1,364,092,462,437,050 TRILLION!

So population growth from 8 to Billions in a few millennia is definitely mathematically possible (especially when you consider that most of the world hasn’t enjoyed most of our medical advances until quite recently and the fact that the birth rate for “developed” countries actually goes down not up). Now you throw in some plagues and such and slow the average growth to 1/3rd it’s current levels and you get a number that’s just about right:
Doubling ever 146 years: 7,701,358,198
Doubling ever 147 years: 6,690,448,509

Flip Side

What about looking at it from the other angle?  What population growth is expected from an old earth view?

Evolutionists believe that Homo Sapiens first evolved between 400,000 & 250,000 years ago.  We’ll be conservative and use the 250k figure. We will also assume that just 2 Homo Sapiens existed at that point instead of delving into simultaneous evolution in multiple places.

Starting at population of 2 doubling every 500 years (1/10th our current levels) you get a 3 with 150 zeros after it!

Let’s try doubling every 1000 years:
1,809,251,394,333,070,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Finally at every 5000 years (1/100th our current growth levels) we achieve a comprehend able number:
1,125,899,906,842,620
It would only take 166,450 planet’s of our population to hold that many people.

To explain the current world population size from 2 humans 250,000 years ago you need to restrict the population growth to approximately 1/200th of it’s current levels.  Which is fine if it took humanity 245,000 years to figure out a fraction of what we learned in the last 5,000.  But it presents a bigger problem. If population growth was so slow and we know that “less developed” humans (even today) have many more babies (for survival reasons) –  Where are all the bones from all the dead?  If 99.5% of the human population growth was being killed off – where are all the literal piles of bones that we should find from their remains???

GM Admits People Are Jealous Of WheelChairs

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embargogmsegway04_580op.jpgSince the Segway didn’t deliver on the hype to revolutionalize urban areas, the company has partnered with GM to create a “seqway built for two”.

Please hold a moment while we check our calendars. Nope, it’s definitely not April 1. That must mean a General Motors tie-up with Segway must be true. The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project (P.U.M.A. for short) will seek to develop a self balancing two-wheeled vehicle capable of reaching speeds of 35 mph – well above the Segway’s 12 mph top speed — for 35 miles.

Instead of the more common single track of a motorcycle, this electric vehicle will borrow the side-by-side arrangement popularized on the original Segway Personal Transporter. A lithium battery will store enough charge to allow the vehicle to travel for up to 35 miles on a single charge. Another interesting feature is the expected ability for each machine to communicate with vehicles around it, reducing the risk of accidents and regulating the flow of traffic.