Lower Gas Prices - Today!

I just read a couple of articles on CNN.com about the high price of gas, and what, if anything, we can do about it. You won't learn anything there that's going to save you money at the pump. There's only one way to lower gas prices. And there's only one person that you can anything about it. It's you.

You have to stop using it. That's all there is to it. The government can't do anything about gas prices - and they're proving it. The only way to reduce gas prices is to reduce demand. And when you stop using it, the reward to your wallet is immediate. And when we all stop using it, the prices drop down to where we want them to be.

Giving up gasoline won't be easy. We're all addicted to it. And if you don't break the habit soon, the habit will break you. You can make smart choices that will significantly reduce your consumption without drastically changing your lifestyle. But you will have to make some sacrifices, and I don’t just mean buying less of other things so you can buy more gas!

Park the boat this summer. Then park the SUV. Buy a scooter - they get incredible gas mileage! Carpool. Ride the bus. Best bet - RIDE A BICYCLE! Using no gas is the best of all choices.

If you seriously can't make any of these choices work because of real life limitations, not self-imposed lifestyle choices - buy a Hybrid! But reduce your consumption, and do it today. When we all reduce our consumption, we all win. And we all see lower prices at the pump.

Here's how I've reduced my fuel bill:

I have to own a truck that will pull my RV. But I don't have to drive it. And I don't have to pull the RV when fuel prices are unreasonable. So I don't. I'm only making one trip with the RV this year, and it will be a short one. And only then because it's necessary. I'd cancel if it were strictly a pleasure trip.

For my daily transportation needs, I rely on a motorcycle that gets 44mpg. And I ride it primarily for work (I'm a Motor Officer). I'll buy a smaller, lighter motorcycle next year that gets about 65mpg for my off-duty riding, and maybe even some of my work riding since it too will be a police bike. Right now I'm only riding about 2-3 days a week for work and staying home the rest of the time.

My wife drives a Ford Escape Hybrid that gets an average of 36mpg for delivering my daughter to school, shopping, etc. When the family goes out, we go in the Hybrid. When we have errands to run they get incorporated into other required trips like picking up/dropping off at school, etc.

I've reduced my fuel consumption by more than 50%. That gives me instant rewards with respect to my personal fuel bill, and it helps in the larger equation of how to solve the insanity at the pump. If we all made the modest efforts that I have, prices would go down. I guarantee it!

Think you can't? You're wrong! My modest changes haven't really inconvenienced me or otherwise changed my life at all. And I've still managed to cut my fuel bill in half!

You can do these things too. And you really can't afford not to.

Water Power

Can we REALLY power our cars with ordinary tap water? I don't know, but I intend to find out. Stay tuned for updates!

John Kanzius

John Kanzius is an American inventor, radio and TV engineer, and one-time station owner from Erie, Pennsylvania, who has invented a method that he hopes can treat cancer. And in doing so, he's also invented a way to burn salt water. Check this out:

Impressed? I was! Watch this video too:

Could this actually bring hope to the price war at the pump? Maybe. But John says in these video's that he'd be willing to sell out the technology that could help us at the pump so that he can continue his cancer research. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Real Talent, Amazing Pictures

Julian Beever is an English artist who's famous for his art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium.

Beever gives an amazing 3D illusion to his drawings. Take a look:

People are actually avoiding walking in the "hole"

Which is the real guy & which beer is real?

The image below has been taken from the reverse angle:

Remember, in reality, both his feet are flat on the same piece of pavement

Politicians Meeting Their End

This drawing of a Rescue was to be viewed using an inverting mirror

Girl on a beach mat.

Make Poverty History drawing from the side(40 ft long)

Spiderman to the rescue

Batman and Robin to the rescue

A PILOT EDITORIAL-- "YOU WORRY ME."

This chain letter is currently circulating on the Internet. It identifies an author that, according to American Airlines, denies having written it. So I’ve removed the references to the author and published it here without credit because I like its message – regardless of who actually wrote it.

"You worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me. I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On September 11, nineteen ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that have destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab /Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab-Muslim Americans and the Arab-Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter those very same good neighbors and children? The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for every Arab-Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation that He will protect and prosper it?
Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your "Jihads"? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. And no more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy...I am only interested in action. What will you do for America -- our great country -- at this time of crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting "Allah Bless America". I want to see young Arab-Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.
The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Hand them over to us, now!
But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.

The very few Arab-Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing "leaders" like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat. If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true when your "leaders" are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?

It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if large numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members defended Johnny Cochran and O. J. Simpson after the latter butchered his wife and murdered an innocent friend. A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because our women proudly show their faces in public rather than cover up like a shameful whore?
Do you and your fellow Muslims hate us because we drink wine with dinner, or celebrate Christmas? Do you and you fellow Muslims hate us because we have befriended Israel, the ONLY civilized democratic nation in the entire Middle East? And if you and your fellow Muslims hate us, then why in the world are you even here?

Are you here to take our money? Are you here to undermine our peace and stability? Are you here to destroy us? If so, I want you to leave. I want you to go back to your desert sandpit where women are treated like rats and dogs. I want you to take your religion, your friends, and your family back to your Islamic extremists, and STAY THERE!

We will NEVER give in to your influence, your retarded mentality, and your twisted, violent, intolerant religion. We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.

I want to know where every Arab-Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand."

Until then ... you worry me.

For the record, I've always been "color-blind" in matters of race. But I do find myself agreeing with many of the feelings that the unknown author presents. Especially given all the violence that recently surrounded a cartoon that some found offensive. I’ll never understand how a community that would have us believe that they aren’t violent could support and participate such violent protests. So I stand in agreement with our unknown author. Show me that you deserve my trust. Earn my trust. Then, and only then, shall I once again be color-blind.

UPDATE: KTVB just reported that an Afghanistan man has been charged with, and will be tried for, converting from Islam to Christianity. If found guilty, he’ll face the death penalty.

That’s exactly the kind of compassion that gives me pause in matters of Islam.

Jihad This!

'nuf said....

Another Great Quote

Another great quote found on the Internet:

"Never debate with idiots, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"

I think I learned this the hard way…

United States v. Reid

[Collected on the Internet]

At his hearing on 30 January 2003, Richard Colvin Reid was sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge William Young. After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly stating "I think I ought not apologize for my actions, I am at war with your country." Judge Young then delivered the following statement:

Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life in prison in the custody of the United States Attorney General. On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutive one with the other. That's 80 years.

On Count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you on each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 for the aggregate fine of $2 million.

The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.

The Court imposes upon you the $800 special assessment.

The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need not go any further.

This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and a just sentence. It is a righteous sentence. Let me explain this to you.

We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is all too much war talk here. And I say that to everyone with the utmost respect.

Here in this court where we deal with individuals as individuals, and care for individuals as individuals, as human beings we reach out for justice.

You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier gives you far too much stature. Whether it is the officers of government who do it or your attorney who does it, or that happens to be your view, you are a terrorist.

And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not treat with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists.

We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

So war talk is way out of line in this court. You're a big fellow. But you're not that big. You're no warrior. I know warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders.

In a very real sense Trooper Santiago had it right when first you were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and where the TV crews were and he said you're no big deal. You're no big deal.

What your counsel, what your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing.

And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you. But as I search this entire record it comes as close to understanding as I know.

It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose.

Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom. They carry it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely.

It is for freedom's seek that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in their, their representation of you before other judges. We care about it. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.

Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.

Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow it will be forgotten. But this, however, will long endure. Here, in this courtroom, and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done.

The very President of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged, and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag still stands for freedom. You know it always will. Custody, Mr. Officer. Stand him down.

iPAQ Failure

I purchased a new iPAQ rx3115 for my wife on October 24th, 2004. I’ve used HP PDA’s for many years, and I’ve often recommended them to my friends, family and associates. But that stops today.

Last week the battery in the rx3115 stopped holding a charge. My best guess is that the very day the lame 90-day warranty died was also the day the battery died. But by the time I could troubleshoot the battery and find the time to call HP, the warranty had expired by just 6 days.

HP is choosing not to honor the warranty. So I’m choosing not only to stop recommending any and all HP products, but to stop using them as well. No more ink. No more printers. No more PDA’s. No more computers. No more HP.

Post 9/11: Back From the Brink

Travel Related Business Crawls Back to Health, Serves 10,000th Customer.

Boise, Idaho, September 7, 2004 - Three years ago, in the aftermath of 9/11, Michael Worth almost lost his business. Crew Tags Int'l, LLC (www.crewtags.com) is one of many small travel-related businesses that saw sales plummet after 9/11. While many of those businesses were forced to close their doors, Crew Tags has crawled back to profitability. And now, almost exactly three years after the 9/11 tragedy, Crew Tags is making plans to celebrate serving its 10,000th customer.

Only one sale came in the morning of the 11th, and that was the last one Worth would see for a while. For three months, he, his wife and 2-month old daughter lived off of savings. Then, just when he was ready to give up, 12 friends pitched in to help keep the business afloat for one more month. As reports came in about 250,000 airline employees losing their jobs, some of them Worth's friends, sales also plummeted. It quickly became obvious that tough times were ahead; "My friends were losing their jobs, and I started to wonder if I was going to lose mine as well."

Small businesses are often the invisible casualties of an industry downturn. "I don't think I realized right away how much of an impact this would have on my business. It was about April of 2002 when sales returned to a level that would keep us alive," Worth says, "In January of this year, sales finally reached the level they were at just prior to 9/11, and this past August was a record month."

Associates' confidence in Worth's abilities helped bolster him. "I had faith that Crew Tags' superb quality would pull them through the rough times," said Randy Cassingham of This is True, Inc. (www.thisistrue.com), and designer one of Crew Tags' best-selling - and most controversial - tags, the Get Out Of Hell Free (GOOHF) Card. "So many other companies failed, so for them to reach 10,000 customers is terrific! It's an achievement I'm proud to be a small part of."

Crew Tags is looking forward to continued growth, and the projections for 2005 (and beyond) are very promising. "Reaching this 10,000th customer mark really shows us that we have come a long way from that day. We have been able to rebuild our business one luggage tag at a time."

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Crew Tags Int'l, LLC (www.crewtags.com) is the world's largest manufacturer of luggage tags for airline flight crews, and confident travelers, currently serving customers in more than 50 countries around the world.

Stop the Press!

Crew Tags is about to serve it's 10,000th customer - and it could be you!

To show our appreciation to everyone that made it possible for us to serve 10,000 customers, all orders placed in the month of September will be 10% off the regular price of $5.97 each.

But that's not all! The lucky 10,000th customer will get his or her order for FREE - AND they'll get an Amazon.com Gift Certificate valued at $100!

We know that we'll serve our 10,000th customer this month. So order soon, and order often! It could be you!

http://www.crewtags.com/

Fireworks

Imagine laying flat on your back watching fireworks explode 1000 feet directly over your head. Imagine that you are maybe only 1000 feet from the site where the fireworks are being launched from. And imagine feeling the repercussion of every explosion in your chest. It's AWESOME!

That is how I experienced the 13th Annual Boise River Festival Fireworks. And I shared that experience with just 9 other Voice of Idaho Members. Will I be seeing you there next year?