Ugh

Ok, so now they're saying blizzard like conditions... great news.. just great..

Ready for Vacation

So ready for vacation it's not even funny.

On Wednesday, we will be going up to Deadwood, SD to eat, drink, (maybe gamble) and be merry. I'll be taking various forms of image capturing; moving and still; along for the ride so look forward to either flickr or youtube postings about the trip. This will be my first time in Deadwood and I'm told that it's a blast, definitely looking forward to it.

We will actually be stopping in NP Wednesday night to visit family & friends and will resume the trek Thursday morning. Spend Thursday through Sunday morning and then make the long 9 hour drive home.

Here's hoping it doesn't snow. God I hate snow...

Slow Motion Slap

If you think Hilary is not a crazy lying crackpot, you deserve the following...

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The End of the Cold Streak?

You know it's been a couple of cold weeks when you wake up in the morning thinking 19F is actually pretty warm...

A farewell to the era of anonymous drinking? - Not in Nebraska

So I was brought attention to the following article. In which they describe how some bars are using machines to scan the bar codes on drivers licenses, and then the information is stored and later sold to filthy marketing types who like to send out extremely targeted advertising to the unsuspecting patrons. ("Any big plans for your birthday next week!?" etc)

Anyways, I was interested in what the laws of Nebraska said on the issue (and more importantly whether I would get in trouble if I were to take a sharpie to the back of mine..) and am proud to report that we Nebraskans have nothing to worry about. The website www.privacyprotectionlevel.org got a response from Noelie Sherdon, Legal Counsel NE DMV on the issue and it is as follows:

Just a clarification of NE law on information on a driver license - While there is no way to restrict anyone writing down or photo copying the information that appears on the front of our driver's license if a person allows someone to do that to their license or ID card, that is also not very convenient in an electronic age. NE does have a statute that makes it a felony criminal offense to record and store the information that is electronically encoded in the machine readable zone on the license. I have pasted a copy of that statute below. You may also want to review our DMV privacy law which is found at Neb.Rev.Stat. 60-2901 and following. The statutes are available free on the Nebraska Legislature website. Our privacy law restricts release of data contained in our DMV records, but does not specifically apply to information on the actual driver license or id card.

Section 60-4,111.01 Storage or compilation of information; violation; penalty.

• (1) The Department of Motor Vehicles, the courts, or law enforcement agencies may store or compile information acquired from an operator's


• (2) No person having use of or access to machine-readable information encoded on an operator's license or a state identification card shall compile, store, preserve, trade, or sell such information. Violation of this subsection shall be a Class IV felony.

Source: Laws 2001, LB 574, § 30
Noelie Sherdon Legal Counsel DMV, State of Nebraska (402) 471-9593

So there you have it, you are safe to allow them to scan your ID and anonymously drink in Nebraska, which is all great and awesome for 80% of the state. However as a resident of Omaha I'll just have to be careful if I ever decide to cross the river into Iowa...

Captain Joe's Open Letter to America

Joe, a 26 year old from Colorado has a very inspirational letter that I think everyone should read.

My name is Joe. I am currently serving in my second deployment to Iraq as an Army officer. The biggest differences between this deployment and my last one are:

-The location (within Iraq)
-The Job (much busier : less free time/sleep)
-The duration (last deployment was 12 months, this one is 15)

I am sure you are wondering why some random soldier in Iraq would write you a letter… there are several reasons, but the primary one will be obvious by the end. First I’ll tell you a little about myself.

I’m 26 years old, I’ve been married for almost 7 years, and I have a son and a daughter in elementary school. I grew up in Georgia, but I live in Colorado Springs now. I come from a long line of military officers, so I was sort of “destined” to serve. Although I only have 3 ½ years in the Army, I’ve been wearing the uniform for 12 years (JROTC & ROTC). I have a degree in computer science and I’m a music & movie enthusiast.

Now that you know a little about me, I’d like to inform you on what Iraq is really like.
...

Check out Joe's Open Letter To Americans to read it all.

On The Issues

I just came across an awesome resource to help figure out where you and your candidate of choice compare on various issues. The site is www.ontheissues.org. They have a quiz (Look for the link "Click for our new PresidentMatch 2008 quiz" on their mainpage) that compares your choices against a wide area of candidates both for senate and for the presidency. They take the various actions that the person has done (voting for/against issues, statements, news reports) and compile where each one stands and compares it to your own set of answers. What ended up being my closest match wasn't quite what I expected and now I have someone new to look into.

I definitely recommend taking 5-10 minutes to go through, answer the questions and see if who you are supporting adds up to all you thought they would.