tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79429732011-11-27T18:44:14.262-06:00“technocrat [TEK- nuh- krat], noun. 1. An adherent of government by technicians, specifically management by technical experts. 2. A technical expert, especially one exercising managerial authority.”OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.comBlogger381100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-9925781375511342322009-01-01T20:11:00.000-06:002009-01-01T20:12:06.745-06:00

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2009!It's a new year, and I decided to start a new blog. I wanted to change the name of my blog and have a fresh start. (I expect this to be the last "Technocracy Unleashed" post.) My new blog is called "Olio Engineer". Check out the first post.

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-10190644556328154092008-12-05T21:05:00.003-06:002008-12-05T21:27:51.593-06:00

8 TV Shows I WatchKath & KimPsychBurn NoticeBonesThe SoupThe OfficeNot Another Cable News ShowSpecial Report with Brit Hume8 Favorite RestaurantsChili'sOlive GardenTexas RoadhouseCarl's Jr.Arby'sApplebeesWhatburgerKrystal8 Things that Happened TodayI went to work.I worked.I came home.I watched some TV.I took out the trash.I watched a trailer for the upcoming Star Trek movie.I fed our baby boy,

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-36787949127546966372008-07-03T18:45:00.011-05:002008-07-04T14:28:47.318-05:00

To celebrate America's birthday, I've posted a couple photos.(By the way, I gave the blog a new header graphic, too.)Everybody have a safe holiday!

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-74327584910955941552008-04-27T00:57:00.002-05:002008-04-27T01:51:12.840-05:00

From Biblical Scholars Challenge Pelosi's 'Scripture' Quote:In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, "The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, 'To minister to the needs of God's creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.' On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children's children, that they will have clean

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-10336692777084076482008-01-26T18:12:00.000-06:002008-01-26T18:21:29.204-06:00

Magnetix are awesome! They're magnetic and shiny and geometric and soooo much fun!I have to give a shout-out to Mrs. Technocrat7 for getting me hooked on them.

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-15308215695002472412007-10-19T12:13:00.000-05:002007-10-19T20:55:53.550-05:00

For several months now, I been trying to spend some quiet time every morning reading a chapter from the Bible and praying. (For the first few days, I might have read less than a chapter, but on the other hand there were a few mornings that I read more than a chapter.) I'm not a morning person, so when I started this routine, I thought it would be a lot harder than it's been. In all of these

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-24737781057762269962007-10-19T07:03:00.000-05:002007-10-19T07:10:55.799-05:00

Glenn Beck has mentioned on his radio show that presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is going to be on his nightly Headline News show today (Friday, October 19). It's one of his hour-long interview episodes.I think Glenn has pretty much interviewed all of the Republicans running for President on the radio (except perhaps Ron Paul) and apparently has offered all of them the chance to sit down with

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-67195864178758630312007-10-10T12:24:00.000-05:002007-10-10T13:01:56.445-05:00

In the first hour of today's Rush Limbaugh show, he discussed a column by John Tierney called "Diet and Fat: A Severe Case of Mistaken Consensus". It's a very interesting article about the main idea of Gary Taubes's new book Good Calories, Bad Calories: that eating fat isn't bad.The article showed how scientific consensus can come to a faulty conclusion due to a phenomenon known to social

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-67275939862472615892007-09-12T12:36:00.000-05:002007-09-12T12:58:03.052-05:00

I'm a map guy. For as long as I can remember, I've always liked maps. And my favorite kind of map is the free kind. So I'm a big fan of Google Maps (of course, Mapquest and Yahoo! Maps were around first, so they'll always hold a special place in my heart). One thing that I really like about Google Maps is that it keeps on getting better.I don't know when they "made the magic happen", but I first

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-38602471751099171012007-08-02T00:42:00.000-05:002007-08-02T00:51:57.511-05:00

My wife started a blog of her own called "Created in His Image". (I'm pretty sure the title is a reference to Genesis 1:27, but I could be wrong.)

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-58245489403779831512007-06-16T07:38:00.000-05:002007-06-16T07:41:14.985-05:00

I've been reading the Gospel of Mark in the mornings, and I've noticed a particular perplexing pattern. Why did Jesus ask people to keep so many secrets (such as Mark 5:43, Mark 8:30, Mark 9:9)? I came up with an idea. I wonder if it was because He can't lie. (Was Liar Liar actually based on a true story?)Jesus didn't lie in His earthly ministry, and He doesn't lie now. (I believe that Jesus has

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-58240520361218974182007-04-24T19:51:00.000-05:002007-04-24T20:12:49.566-05:00

But don't pack your bags quite yet.Astronomers have finally found a planet outside of our solar system that might be somewhat similar to Earth. As far as we can tell from 120 trillion miles away.It's only about 20 light years away. And in galactic terms, that's close. But even if you traveled at the speed of light (which is supposed to be the physical speed limit of our universe), it'd take 20

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-74415154605366546222007-04-17T23:50:00.000-05:002007-06-16T07:41:55.343-05:00

My wife and I have decided that we are going to try to read the whole Bible in a year. Today, we bought a One Year Bible (ESV translation).We've already read today's passages. So far, so good. It's not the first time that I've started studying Joshua in the middle of the book (a few years ago, I started attending a church group while a study of Joshua was underway). Joshua might not be the easier

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1151033622377252422006-06-22T22:21:00.000-05:002007-04-24T20:13:19.504-05:00

I must be off my game since I just found out that scientists have discovered two more natural satellites of Pluto. Apparently, they were sighted many months ago, but I missed that news.In case you're wondering, they've been named Nix and Hydra.Don't get me wrong—Earth's Moon is totally awesome. But doesn't it seem strange that the tiny icy rock called Pluto now has three moons, and the best

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1149215664486549452006-06-01T21:17:00.000-05:002006-06-01T21:34:24.546-05:00

I've listened to K-LOVE for a couple years, but sometime I want a little more variety. When I've visited Wichita, I got to listen to K-LOVE's edgier sister station, Air 1. Many of the songs were unfamiliar to me, but the more I listened to it the more I wanted a station in my city. But I couldn't listen to Air 1 where I live ... until very recently.In May 2006, EMF (the parent organization of

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1144904064547768902006-04-12T23:45:00.000-05:002006-04-12T23:55:18.226-05:00

Glenn, I get it. On May 8, radio talk show host Glenn Beck brings his twisted humor to the tube on Headline News. On weekdays, the first run will be at 7 p.m. (Eastern) with a repeat at 9 p.m. The weekends will feature encores, also at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.Oh, yeah!

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1142713989283670112006-03-18T14:01:00.000-06:002007-04-24T20:14:07.118-05:00

Google isn't just a cute little search engine anymore. Besides being added to the English language as a verb, Google also has a popular e-mail service (the host of my current main e-mail address) and several mapping services (e.g. Google Local and Google Earth). Also, Google has gobbled up Writerly. I'm not sure what Writerly is, but if Google bought it, it must be pretty cool.But it's Google's

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1137543284895974832006-01-17T17:48:00.000-06:002006-01-17T18:14:44.956-06:00

Glenn Beck announced on his radio show today that he's going to have a TV show on the Headline News cable network. I think he said he expects it to start in March or April. It'll be on during primetime Monday-Friday (the exact time hasn't been decided and/or announced yet). It's not that I need to watch more TV every week, but I'm sure I'll check it out since his radio show is pretty good most

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1137388821932111662006-01-15T22:47:00.000-06:002006-01-15T23:20:22.020-06:00

I've been looking for a good free icon editor for a long time. Maybe I'm just too picky. Or maybe it's that I have no artistic ability, and it doesn't matter what kind of editor I use my icons will look terrible. Regardless of the cause of my lack of satisfaction, I've found some really nice editors in the past (such as LiquidIconXP, Ranfo Freeware Icon Editor, and Clic). But I keep on looking

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1137281620497929492006-01-14T16:55:00.000-06:002006-01-14T17:33:40.530-06:00

My favorite source of Science Fiction entertainment news, Sci Fi Wire, recently added an article about Tim Robbins working on a new movie adaptation of George Orwell's 1984. I haven't read it recently, but I have a vague recollection Orwell's classic science fiction novel. Either Robbins remembers the book differently, or he sees the present differently that I do. (I suspect it's the latter.)"In

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1121394842411231812005-07-14T21:30:00.000-05:002005-07-14T21:34:02.446-05:00

Friday, July 22, Firefly is returning to TV (well, cable actually). They haven't produced any more episodes but the Sci-Fi Channel is doing it Joss's way this time. It's kind of like the Director's Cut. Sci-Fi plans to show all of the episodes (includes the 3 that the Fox TV network didn't get around to airing) and even in the right order. First, they'll start with the 2-hour original pilot. Then

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1117254634342937252005-05-27T23:29:00.000-05:002005-05-27T23:30:34.346-05:00

I find the current income tax system to be an utter waste of time. I've heard of more than one drastic proposal that I think would be better than the current system. My favorite is replacing the entire income tax system with a national sales tax (it's called the "FairTax" by Americans for Fair Taxation). So I was sad to read Dick Armey being unfair to the idea of a national sales tax in his

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1114651467212142262005-04-27T20:22:00.000-05:002005-04-27T20:26:28.660-05:00

I've already blogged on Serenity, but that was before Universal Studios released a trailer this week. Wow! I imagined it would be terrific, but it was better than expected! It looks like science fiction set 500 years from now with Western action, Chinese culture, mystery, poignant characters, and humor all wrapped into one fantastic package. It worked so well in the TV show that I know it'll work

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1110003153359252562005-03-04T23:51:00.000-06:002005-03-05T00:14:51.703-06:00

A few months ago I stumbled upon RedState, a Republican/conservative community blog. There's a lot of interesting topics being discussed there. Every member gets a diary. The most interesting diary entries get promoted to a story.I haven't posted many entries in my diary yet since I've been wanting to get a feel for what the community is interested in before I get too many people ticked off with

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1105222296225084742005-01-08T16:09:00.000-06:002005-01-09T22:56:04.366-06:00

Have you been in a restaurant when someone is celebrating a birthday and noticed that instead of singing the popular "Happy Birthday to You", they sing some chant like "Happy, happy birthday, hope you dreams come true, ..." instead? Ever wonder why that is? It's probably due to copyright law. Sure it's possible that the waiters and waitresses can't carry a tune. But it's much more likely that

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1105213061850262292005-01-08T13:14:00.000-06:002005-01-10T18:22:51.596-06:00

Just the other day, I became aware of a terrific music file format called ABC. Apparently, it's been around for a many years, but I didn't even realize it existed. I haven't spent a lot of time using it, but so far it seems pretty cool. It reminds me of GWBASIC/QBASIC's PLAY command, but ABC is much more powerful. Apparently, it was originally created to describe traditional music (melody-only).

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1102133333654524562004-12-03T22:08:00.000-06:002004-12-03T22:36:52.120-06:00

Spoiler Warning This entry is about the Vulcan Arc in Star Trek: Enterprise (season 4). If you plan on watching the episodes The Forge, Awakening, or Kir'Shara, you should probably read this later because my analysis includes spoilers. I came up with this theory just from watching the episodes, but it seems so obvious to me that someone else must have already noticed this. The writers may have

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1099728631391447862004-11-06T02:09:00.000-06:002004-11-06T02:10:50.553-06:00

I don't know if John Kasich is contemplating about running in 2008, but I think he'd be a good successor to the GWB era. I saw him speaking on the O'Reilly Factor (I guess it was the Thursday edition) about what Bush should undertake in the next four years, and he appears to understand the conservative principals that led George W. Bush to win a second term. Some people have suggested that next

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1099374850363814252004-11-01T23:19:00.000-06:002004-11-02T00:06:03.793-06:00

I made some mistakes in my analysis of ObL's latest statement on Saturday. I didn't realize I was reading a small excerpt from a 18-minute speech. I thought I was reading the whole thing. Oops. First off, I'm less sure that he knows what's going on in America. He may be a subscriber to the New York Times, but it's more clear that somebody sent him a copy of Fahrenheit 9/11 (and he actually fell

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1099182351463676592004-10-30T21:08:00.000-05:002004-10-31T17:52:22.676-06:00

Osama bin Laden made a new home video to discuss the U.S.'s election next week. He denies the accusations of hating freedom. Yeah, right. He believes you're free to do anything you want, but he'll shoot you if it goes against the Koran. Also, he seems to be endorsing the administration of former President George H. W. Bush. The translation was unclear. I think ObL was trying to confuse us with

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1099185338041716032004-10-30T19:36:00.000-05:002004-10-30T20:15:38.043-05:00

The state polls seem to be hinting at another nail-biter of a U.S. election. At this point, butterflies flapping their wings and drops of rain can make the election swing one way or the other. Even if it doesn't rain anywhere in the country on Tuesday, George W. Bush can win it fair and square. But he fairly won the election in 2000, and it still took several weeks for Mr. Gore to conceed his

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1097361893432149962004-10-13T18:26:00.000-05:002004-10-13T18:26:51.680-05:00

Over the weekend, Australia re-elected John Howard. Hooray for Australian voters! Australia's Prime Minister John Howard says he is "humbled" after winning a fourth term in office. With 70% of the votes counted in Saturday's election, results indicate Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition has won an easy majority over Labor. I'm confident that Australian voters chose the best

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1095047846169929342004-09-19T20:46:00.000-05:002004-09-19T20:49:01.806-05:00

Democrat Sen. Zell Miller addressed the Republican National Convention a few weeks ago: And, no pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two Senators from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Together, Kennedy/Kerry have opposed the very weapons system that won the Cold War and that is now winning the War on Terror. Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1095010960652717702004-09-12T13:35:00.000-05:002004-09-12T12:46:17.110-05:00

From Arnold Schwarzenegger's speech at the Republican National Convention: If you believe that government should be accountable to the people, not the people to the government ... then you are a Republican! If you believe a person should be treated as an individual, not as a member of an interest group ... then you are a Republican! If you believe your family knows how to spend your money

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1094702475490311722004-09-08T22:16:00.000-05:002004-09-08T23:05:14.466-05:00

I've got a couple guesses on why Bush is ahead in the latest polls. Who speaks clearly about the defense of America? John Kerry at the UNITY 2004 Conference: I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history. George W Bush

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1093806475270479372004-08-29T13:56:00.000-05:002004-11-23T21:58:36.706-06:00

In the fall of 2002, there was a wonderful television show called Firefly. Only 15 episode were made, but each one was a work of art. I watched every episode from the first episode one aired to the last one aired. I bought the DVD set went it went on sale. I've watched each episode repeatedly, and I haven't gotten bored of them yet. Universal Studios is currently producing a new "episode" (

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1092457828775458602004-08-13T19:18:00.000-05:002004-08-13T23:36:56.053-05:00

What we have now is a mess. And it continues to get worse. Today's income tax system can't be understood without a PhD in accounting. A flat income tax rate for everyone would be better the current mess, but abolishing the income tax altogether would be better yet. Anyone who fills out their own tax forms every year (as I do) can tell you that the current system is a lot more complicated than

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942973.post-1092370532360673132004-08-12T22:57:00.000-05:002004-08-13T17:45:29.860-05:00

Did aliens save planet in 1908? Russians say they have found spaceship debris Members of a Russian scientific team researching the site of the Tunguska meteorite crash of 1908 say they have found remnants of an extraterrestrial spacecraft, report a variety of Russian news agencies. The object appeared to be a large metallic block, according to the reports. The researchers chipped off a piece of

OlioEngrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12396230891851846613noreply@blogger.com0