Something I did last spring.

The numbers have changed as time passed, and the formatting didn't work well, but this is still interesting and relevant.

U.S. Military Fatalities in Iraq since 3/03	1,764	http://icasualties.org/oif/
New York, 9/11	2,985	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks
Trail of Tears	4,000
Bosnian Genocide	8,000
AIDS deaths, 2004; Middle East and North Africa:	12,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids
AIDS deaths, 2004; North America, Western and Central Europe	15,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids
Iraqi Civilian Deaths since 1/03	22,850	http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Sumatra-Andaman earthquake	240,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake
AIDS deaths, 2004; Asia	350,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids
Rwandan Genocide	937,000
AIDS deaths, 2004; Sub-Saharan Africa	2,100,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids
The Holocaust	11,000,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust
AIDS Deaths since 1981	23,000,000	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aids

NFC Championship

I believe Carolina will get two Steve Smith Touchdowns; they will also sneak in either a running TD or a field goal. The Seahawks, therefore need to score more than 17 or 21 points if they are to win. While this is not guaranteed, I believe they'll pull it off and go to Detroit in two weeks.

Limits of Constitution

I've discovered that a few months of continuous stress (work related, combined with holidays, combined with a few other things), plus screaming my lungs out as the Seahawks won their first playoff game in two decades, plus travel, plus drinking at game and while travelling, equals waking up with a 101 degree fever on Wednesday.

I didn't mind taking the eight count, and hanging around for a day with a fever is a little novel in my life. The fever broke during the night, so I returned to work on Thursday.

That doesn't mean I'm well, of course. I have throat / chest congestion, and all the herbal tea I've been drinking has given me heart burn.

I will likely chance an alcoholic beverage tonight, since it is Friday. As soon as I felt it creeping up on Tuesday, I've abstained completely from alcohol, and I'm a person who likes something tasty with dinner, and often after dinner.

I actually had a small fever of 98.7 this morning. Believe it or not, that counts, since I tend to run in the 97 range. Work is at a point where I really need to be there, so I went. If it had been a different circumstance, I would have begged off. Over the next two months, however, 98.7 will not be sufficient.

Chad in 'state of war' with Sudan

Chad says it is in "a state of war" with neighbour Sudan over the security crisis in the east of the country.

Drink the Kool-Aid

I drank the Kool-Aid.

On Friday I predicted, outloud to a witness, that the Seahawks were going to the Superbowl.

There were a few moments on Sunday when I was sure I'd jinxed the entire season.

I wonder what it is about my brain that believes these irrational bits of thought, time and time again. Of course I know that nothing I do can affect the game. Well, I believe in the home field advantage, and I believe the crowd can affect a game, but that's different. I don't believe that the Hawks will win or lose depending on the jersey I wear, or whether I'm watching on TV, or whether I admit out loud that I think I'll win.

It's similar to those damned Dead Nigerian Prince emails I occasionally receive. To this very day when I read one, I get a quick rush of excitement. The fortune could be mine! But of course it's fake, and I know that.

Supplies

What I want to do:

Find the supplies that appear on the most carts. Those will become standard supplies and will be found in all the new carts.

Find the supplies that are used most frequently. When appropriate, those will be stocked in the rooms. The supplies that are also in the standard carts will be stocked in all the rooms. The others will be in a modular system that is clinic based.

Maybe MA's will have trays or something to put the non-global supplies in.

Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked

This is an insightful article that goes after some anti video game conventional wisdom. It acknowledges the opposing arguments and presents a strong refutation of those arguments.

Quick Analysis

I would be shocked if the Seahawks didn't beat Tennessee next Sunday.

They have a very real chance of winning on Christmas Eve against Indy because Indy has already locked up homefield advantage and a first round bye. They may not bring their A game. On the other hand, the Hawks may be in a similar position, so it may wind up a game mostly against both B squads.

Playoffs

Seattle has clinched division title. Seattle clinches a first-round bye with: 1) SEA win OR 2) SEA tie + NYG loss or tie + CAR loss or tie + TB loss or tie OR 3) SEA tie + NYG loss or tie + CHI loss OR 4) SEA tie + CHI loss + CAR loss or tie + TB loss or tie OR 5) NYG loss + CAR loss + TB loss Seattle clinches homefield advantage: 1) SEA win + CHI loss or tie OR 2) SEA tie + CHI loss + NYG loss or tie + TB loss or tie + CAR loss or tie

He's lying, or he's stupid: Bush says 30,000 Iraqis killed since war began

Bush says 30,000 Iraqis killed since war began

In answer to a question about the Iraqi death toll, Bush said about 30,000
Iraqis have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Bush's figure for the death toll among Iraqis was in the range given by
Iraq
Body Count, a U.S. British nongovernmental group, which currently says
between 27,383 and 30,892 civilians -- rather than all Iraqi citizens --
have
been killed in Iraq since the invasion.

Its figures are based on
media reports, which often fail to capture all
deaths in the country. Other
estimates, including one done by scientists and
published in the medical
journal Lancet, put the civilian death toll as high as
100,000.

Either he's lying, or he's flat ignorant and stupid. Those are the options. Every day is a new embarrasment for our Mad President George.

He's lying, or he's stupid. He's lying, or he's stupid.

Idea

Maybe I'll add all the items that appear on 3 or 4 or more carts to all of the new carts.

Then I'll sort the remainder items and add some of that stuff too. Some of the current carts are shared, so items on those carts will weigh heavier.

Next question is what to put into the rooms.

Supply Breakdown v1.0

410 different kinds of items.

1 item appears 7 times
20 items appear 6 times
21 items appear 5 times
35 appear 4
53 appear 3
83 appear 2
197 appear 1 time

Supplies

Right now we have about 7 "supermarkets" for clinic supplies. In the new building we'll still have 7, but the configuration will be very different. Different services will share in the future than share now.

I have 7 lists in front of me. When I'm finished, I'll have 7 new lists.

I could go item by item and see what appears on which carts. It would be intereting to know what items appear on all the carts, or most of the carts. It's also good to learn which items are oddballs for specific useage only.

I might put them all in a column in Excel, sort by Item number, then see how many times they appear. I like this idea. Seems pretty efficient. I will then have to cross reference cart numbers with the actual name and location, but that's not so bad.

Warren Ellis stuff to remember

From his recent Bad Signal:

In summer 2006, I'm going to belaunching an ongoing title at Marvelcalled
newuniversal. No capital N,no capital U. We refer to it in-houseas
NU -- and I might have called itNU, if it didn't always suggestnu-metal to
me.The central concept, these days,also looks kind of generic. WildCards
did it, RISING STARS did it,etc etc. Something called The WhiteEvent
occurs, and afterwards ahandful of people are found to havebeen made
superhuman. So far soblah. But, in looking at this stuff ona webpage
one night, it occurred tome that that's not what happened.What actually happened
was thatthere was this huge astronomicalevent where the skies went whiteall over
the world for a minute, andthe aftermath was that the lawsof physics had been
changed.

There's a sf book by a writer calledVernor Vinge where the laws ofphysics
are radically differentdepending on which part of thegalaxy you're in.
Conventionalphysics' dirty little secret is thatthe speed of light appears
tofluctuate.

There is, as I say, a whole libraryof science fiction
aboutsuperhumanity. These are notsuperhero novels. Some lean
closerthan others, of course -- Zelaznyand Saberhagen's COILS comes tomind, and
SLAN was very clearly aprecedent to the X-Men. Butthere's a lot more that
speaks to,if you like, the superhuman condition. Melding that with
thenotion that suddenly the laws ofphysics can go and stay slightlynuts... In
one six-hour session, Igenerated a bunch of notes abouthow and why this could
happen,with some ideas from some oldabandoned projects of mine (fromthe Loose
Ideas folder) fittingthemselves into it...

Sure, it's not exactly cut from wholecloth. Like I said, it's a
writingchallenge. Blows the cobwebs out abit. Makes you focus on the
craft abit. Sometimes it's worth sittingdown and thinking, what *does*
make a Marvel character work?(Answer: tragedy.)

Olerud bows out quietly

John Olerud, who walked straight off the Washington State campus and into the major leagues 17 years ago, is calling it quits.

The veteran first baseman, who spent 4 1/2 seasons with the Mariners before being let go in the middle of the 2004 season, made his wishes known through the Boston Red Sox.

The hit

I ran across Steve Largent's revenge on Mike Harden on December 11, 1988. In their previous meeting earlier that year, Harden knocked out two of Largent's teeth on an illegal hit.

Largent's revenge hit allowed the Seahawks to get the ball back and may have saved that game.

Seahawks.com

Shaun Alexander

Shaun Alexander is having a great year, and is a great running back. These points are obvious and not up for debate.

However, the urgency of signing this great running back is very much a point for debate.

Conventional wisdom argues that he should be signed soon: the sooner the better, and the Hawks are already behind the curve.

I do not agree with this line of thinking. There is no urgency to this signing for some very good reasons.

Alexander's stock is already at its highest point. He's scoring virtually every game, he's on course to win the rushing title, and flirting with a 2000 season. The organization won't save any money by signing him now, unless they can spread any potential signing bonus any further.

Alexander isn't as amazing as his numbers suggest. It's difficult to prove this point, but there are solid indicators. The offensive line is doing an amazing job of controlling the line of scrimmage, opening gaps, and giving Shaun a clear vision. His talent is in finding the cut backs, bursting through the holes and finding the end zone. He is not put in a position to make something from nothing on a regular basis.

Holmgren's pass first offense and the Seahawks relatively easy schedule has also contributed to Alexander's success this season. The Hawks have spent much of this season holding leads and feeding Alexander the ball to run down the clock. Many of these defenses had virtually given up, allowing the Hawks to run up the ground yardage, and the score. The Cowboys proved that when defenses focus on stopping Alexander, his numbers suffer. Hasselbeck and the receiving corps don't permit defenses to do this because the Seahawks are always a threat from the air. In spite of Alexander's numbers, they remain a pass first offense.

Shaun Alexander is an elite running back, and he should be paid as such. He is not, however, inherently greater than the other elite backs of the league, and the success of the Seattle Seahawks is not dependent on his presence.

Colors

Group management

Returns diminish when teams larger than 4 work together. The more people, the more important that the meeting is run strictly (agenda, one person speaks at a time etc...). More people equals more chaos.

Returns diminish when meetings last longer than 1 hour. Some of this can be salvaged with short fresh air / bathroom breaks.

No one actually believes in Democracy. Democracy is primarily viewed as a tool that enables everyone a chance at getting what they want. Watch what happens when people lose a vote on something important to them. They get angry. I'm exagerating a little, but not much.

Arguing with crazy people usually makes them angry, and never makes them less crazy.

Fantasy Football

Mid season update:

I'm tied for #1 in my 12 team league, and I own the tie-breaker because of more accumulated points.

Priest Holmes was my #1 pick, and he's out for the rest of the season with injury. I don't regret my choice; it was a calculated risk. Shaun Alexander, Ladainian Tomlinson, Peyton Manning were all already off the board. What I do regret was not picking up Larry Johnson with a later round pick. I took Pittsburgh, someone then took L. J.. While Pitt was a good pick, defenses are easy to grab later on, and they aren't game breakers.

Early in the season, I dropped Jake Plummer. I probably should have hung on to him. On the other hand, my wide receiver corps needed work and opening up my roster helped me get my WR corps where it is today, and I'm happy with where it is now. Also, I probably swapped Plummer for Griese who had a great early season. These things are hard to predict, and either could have gone either way.

Next year, I may avoid Defenses and kickers altogether in the draft. I'm happy with my overall strategy. I went for Running Backs with my first three picks, and only would have chosen a WR or QB if someone awesome fell. Moss, Manning, etc are worth early picks, but not if you have to reach for them. And actually, from a Fantasy perspective, neither have been that amazing, compared with Alexander, Westbrook and the usual suspects.

I've benefited by my league's punt and kick return rules. Yardage gained there equals yards gained on receptions and rushes. I picked up Dante Hall as a free agent, and he's given me 12-15 points per game, which is good for a receiver.