24 February 2006

Ports, Dubai and Security

Recently, there has been a great uproar over a takeover of a British firm that controls certain ports in the United States. This in itself shouldn't be something to go batty over, but the takeover/merger is by the Arab emirate of Dubai. Ports all over the United States are handled by foreign companies and no one has yet to say anything about them, but the moment an Arab company buys the British company ( the Brits will still be controlling the port, their parent company will just be in Dubai and not England) everyone is screaming about national security.

It is understood on many levels that the ports of our country could stand to be more secure, but we mustn't be so closed minded as to think that this one merger will put our security in any danger.

The Washington Post and the New York Times have opposite stands on the issue. Make up your own mind.

I agree that we need to take steps in being more secure, but maybe we should not be picking on one of the few allies we have in that region.

Sam

23 February 2006

Big Damn Heroes, Sir

Those of you that really know me know that I am a closet scifi/action adventure fan. You know that I love shows like Buffy, Angel, and Fire Fly...and even some of the Star Trek series like TNG and DS9.

I also love TV in general, and I owe my very generic American accent and general inane knowledge to American television. I am never ever ever going to rag on TV. How can you not like something that gives you CNN, E!, Disney's, Discover, and the History Channel at your finger tips. I can learn about the world, history, celebrity gossip, and family friendly this is not the real world stuff. With satellite TV, I can even watch foreign channels!

There have been times in my life where I have been without TV access. (horrors) At that time I had to rely on recaps from a wonderful website called Television Without Pity. It is an awesome site and the recappers really love the stuff they do. Recently they put up a recap on the movie on the movie Serenity which is based on the show Firefly. Firefly was prematurely cancelled from the Fox Networks line up. The fan base was strong though so they came out with the movie. I saw the movie and it was enjoyable. TWOP has been kind enough to recap it here. I was so excited to see this, so I thought I would share. They have included just the right amount of snark and reverence.
enjoy,
sam

22 February 2006

I just came across this. It made me stop and think...maybe it will you too.

21 February 2006

The winter Olympics

It's sad that the winter Olympics doesn't get any respect (to channel Rodney Dangerfield), but seriously people...Curling? I understand that it is a traditional Scandinavian sport, but should it really be an actual competitive sport? Isn't it just like ice hockey but slower?

Also, ICE DANCING!!!!???!!!
I watched a few minutes of ice dancing as a friend and I were waiting for Grey's Anatomy to begin and I just don't understand how it figures into Olympic Sports. Granted the competitors were very fit, but the dancing was just that dancing. It would be like having ballroom dancing as a competitive sport for the summer Olympics. I love figure skating and I think that they are some of the most talented and gifted individuals I have ever seen.
To those of you who prefer Ice dancing to Ice skating I apologize for this rant, but I'll take a triple Lutz over a hot pink number danced to besa me mucho any day.

I still cringe when I think about our extreme snowboarding loss...sigh

sam