Spank You Very Much, Hillary

Yours Truly,
North Carolina

Now get out, already!

Obama Points the Way

obamapoint0339, originally uploaded by Watts4.

Fellow North Carolinians, the time has come to place your vote, and I'm expecting better results from us than those smarty-pants folks in CA, NY, PA, OH, etc.
Yesterday after church, an older man came up to me and said he had seen me on Monday. At first, I thought he must have seen me driving around town or something.
But this gentleman had seen me at the Obama rally. He had waited in those long lines because he thinks Obama is the best chance we've ever had to make a difference. He thinks Obama is the one person who can best deal with the folks in the Middle East. He thinks Obama can make America great again. And I couldn't agree with him more.
I gave him some 3D glasses and some pictures from the rally, and implored him to go vote on Tuesday. His response: "I already have".
So fellow North Carolinians, I implore you, go vote tomorrow, and vote for a real change.

Update: Not soon after I posted this, that older gentleman just stopped by our house and dropped off a big bucket of fresh strawberries, from his farm. Found out he took his grandson (who I've played ball with) to the rally. Gotta love NC!

Hillary's Curse

Eight Belles, the only filly in the Kentucky Derby, had to be euthanized on the track.
Thank Hillary. From ABC News :

"Tragedy struck the first filly in the Kentucky Derby since 1999, as Eight Belles went down on the track after her second-place finish today, broke two ankles, and was euthanized.

Showing a sisterhood with the female horse, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., during a trip to Louisville this week had said she was going to bet on Eight Belles to win, place, and show....

... Eight Belles' trainer, Larry Jones, returned the love. "It looks like it could be the year for the girls," he said. "Eight Belles I’m sure would want to endorse.""

Military Spending Out of Control

Interesting article on AlterNet from Chalmers Johnson about how much we (mis)spend national defense:

"It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what our government spends on the military. The Department of Defense's planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 are larger than all other nations' military budgets combined. The supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not part of the official defense budget, is itself larger than the combined military budgets of Russia and China. Defense-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. The U.S. has become the largest single seller of arms and munitions to other nations on Earth. Leaving out President Bush's two on-going wars, defense spending has doubled since the mid-1990s. The defense budget for fiscal 2008 is the largest since the second world war.

Before we try to break down and analyze this gargantuan sum, there is one important caveat. Figures on defense spending are notoriously unreliable. The numbers released by the Congressional Reference Service and the Congressional Budget Office do not agree with each other. Robert Higgs, senior fellow for political economy at the Independent Institute, says: "A well-founded rule of thumb is to take the Pentagon's (always well publicized) basic budget total and double it.""

Only so many places we can cut, and we need to make cuts. Our military spending is hurting us in the pocketbook (not to mention the immorality of the Iraq invasion/occupation, or the fact that it has actually worked against our national interest, making us less safe). Time to regroup.

Barry & Me

Mike Easley, Wanker

He looks scared to me.

Maybe he endorsed Hillary out of fear. Maybe, just maybe, Hillary promised him something for his endorsement. Ambassador Easley has a nice ring to it.

The Guv is on his way out, hope he enjoys clinging to Hillary and Bill while they fold.

Obama in 3D

Obama3D, originally uploaded by Watts4.

I lucked into tickets to see Barack Obama speak in Wilmington, NC yesterday. Next thing you know we're asked to sit up behind the stage! This was my first real outing with the 3D rig, more to come...

kitties

kitties, originally uploaded by Watts4.

This picture is a 3D anaglyph, best viewed with red/cyan glasses.

Our neighbor's cat, Whiteface, pulled open the door to our crawlspace and gave birth to these 4 kittens under our house. We kept them for a week before taking them back over there. It was great, for a week, glad they're gone now, though!

Studios Embrace 3D

DreamWorks and Pixar-Disney are serious about 3D movies, it's the future and it's coming fast:

"Clearly I'm putting my money where my mouth is and the company's bet on it," said (Jeffrey) Katzenberg (DreamWorks Exec)...

...Katzenberg, who plans to make all future films in 3-D...

This article's title says:

Disney previews 10 new animated movies, most 3-D

Yeah, 8 out of 10 will be 3D, wow! Most people don't see this coming....

Dabgummit, Roy

Lots of Carolina fans are in a tizzy over "the sticker".... I've even seen it referred to as "stickergate". I couldn't give a **** about that bird sticker right now.
Roy's a great coach, and I'm glad he was able to be there to cheer for the team he coached for 15 years. Maybe they'll finally forgive him for coming back to Carolina. Wish things has turned out better Saturday night, but for now: Congrats, Kansas! (let's be friends)

40 Years

John Legend performs PRIDE (In The Name of Love)
by ElectricArtists

Anaglyph Article Quotes Me

I was recently contacted for an article about 3D anaglyphs, and the article is online at the Columbia News Service:

Watts Carr, a 39-year-old real estate broker, uses the "cha-cha method" of taking one photo and then either moving the camera to his other eye or taking a step to the side. It is the cheapest way to make an anaglyph, but has a downside, since consistency can't be guaranteed. Johnson plans to use yet another method by rigging two cameras together and synchronizing their firing.

Today's anaglyph makers are a sprightly bunch, united by the Internet and inventing creative outlets to keep the art form from dying.

Three weeks ago Carr was inspired to try making an anaglyph after finding his daughter's Shrek glasses. "I just wanted to see if I could do the technique," he said. "I figured I already take pictures and the software is free, so I tried. And it actually worked!"

Since that first try, Carr has created more than a dozen other anaglyphs around his North Carolina home and can "spit one out" in as little as 10 to 15 minutes. Carr plans to use his new hobby to promote his real estate business, by providing glasses to clients so they can view 3-D images of homes online. "My wife thinks I am crazy," he said. "She keeps walking in on me in the home office and I have the glasses on."

Ha! I'm still doing the 3D anaglyph things and you can see my set here. And actually I've been using this rig more than the cha-cha method, but whatev...

NC State Finds Sport to Beat UNC

Congratulations to the Wolfpack fishing team for finding a sport where they can dominate the Heels:
"The Wolfpack was successful in its first trip to University Lake in Chapel Hill this past weekend. Five two-man teams each from UNC and N.C. State competed in what was Carolina's first-ever bass fishing tournament.
The Pack came in at 43 pounds, nine ounces, while the Tar Heels caught 16 pounds, three ounces. State's top team of Alex Freeman and Josh Hooks beat the Tar Heels single-handedly, catching more than 17 pounds of bass on the day. Freeman said it always feels good beating Carolina.
"I could never get tired [of] beating Carolina," Freeman said. "We may not be able to beat them in basketball, but we're definitely not going to lose to them in bass fishing."

Hillary fo VP (Republican Ticket)

Had Barry taken my advice, he could now withdraw his VP offer to Hillary. He could say that Hillary has made a good case for being VP, she certainly seems "ready to go". Unfortunately, it seems like Hillary is making the case to be McCain's VP. Frankly, she's off her rocker if you ask me: power hungry at any cost, even if it hurts the Dems and the country.

"Have you noticed the pattern?" Clinton wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "Every time our campaign demonstrates its strength and resilience, people start to suggest we should end our pursuit of the Democratic nomination. Those anxious to force us to the sidelines aren't doing it because they think we're going to lose the upcoming primaries. The fact is, they're reading the same polls we are, and they know we are in a position to win."

This is simply not true. Obama is up 60/40 in the polls here in North Carolina. Even if she did win 'em all....it's too late. Too late for a graceful exit, and too late to get the VP nod, unless McCain picks you.