TBWAIN - AKA Jeff Svare's Blog

I was reading an AP story by Terence Hunt this morning about the historic election of Barack Hussein Obama. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but read between the lines of what was being said by others about this. Barack Obama : "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep." The read: It's harder to effect change than simply going around and saying, "It's time for a change!" Reality bites, don't it? Barack Obama : "We may not get there in one year or even in one term ... But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there." The read: OK, so where exactly are we going? Afghan President Hamid Karzai : "This is my first demand of the new president of the United States _ to put an end to civilian casualties." The read: OK, keep your promise, pull the troops out. That was easy. Let's see Karzai stay in power without the US to back hi...

I have, this night, exercised my constitutional right to franchise and voted. I stood in line for 20 minutes to do it, and counted it time well spent. So, if you want a right to complain about the election results, make sure you vote. And to the person who said, " For the first time in years, I'm voting with hope. " I say, don't worry, you'll get over it. No matter how partisan the politicians are, I am always amazed at how much more partisan the electorate can be. God bless America!

From Reuters News Service : Ex-president Carter slams Bush on market crisis "Former President Jimmy Carter said on Friday the "atrocious economic policies" of the Bush administration had caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s." And Jimmy would know. He was President during a period of double-digit inflation, an unstable housing market, a foreclosure rate that approached that of the great depression, the spectre of war with Russia and Iran, and what was lovingly referred to as "the malaise" even though he never used that word in his speech. "Carter told reporters on a stopover in Brussels that "profligate spending," massive borrowing and dramatic tax cuts since President George W. Bush took office in 2001 were behind the market turmoil and economic crisis. "I think it's because of the atrocious economic policies of the Bush administration," said the 84-year-old Democrat, who served in t...

On 15 September 2008 Rick Wright, keyboardist for Pink Floyd, passed away due to cancer. His influence on Pink Floyd's style was considerable, if not underappreciated. The BBC News report can be found here . Wish you were here .

Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, has been commissioned to write the sixth (and maybe final) book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Doug Adams, who died in 2001, stated once that he thought there should be a sixth book written, because "Five seems to be a wrong kind of number, six is a better kind of number." The book, entitled And Another Thing... is scheduled for publication in October 2009.

Or, how to make the people think they have a choice, without letting them know they don't. London's mayor, Boris Johnson, has been asking people their opinion on a pressing issue. When one woman responded with her choice, he responded, "me too!". Sir Antony Jay , CVO , creator of Yes, Minister , thinks its all for show. And he's right, I'm sure. Read about it here .

After three flights (Helsinki to Copenhagen, Copenhagen to Reykjavik, and Reykjavik to Minneapolis), I'm finally back where it feels like home! I love Minnesota ! Tomorrow I'll be home in Utah, where it's going to be much warmer than the places I have been.

Aargh. Three countries today! Sweden, Denmark, and finally Finland. Short trips, yes, but three currencies is going to play hob with my expense report. And it's raining here in Helsinki .

During the past few days I've had the chance to view events back home through different eyes. Here's some of my conclusions: If a person who speaks two languages is bi-lingual, and a person who speaks three or more is multi-lingual, what do you call a person who only speaks one language? An American. Or British, or Canadian. :-) Many people who watch American television shows think it's an accurate representation of life in America. That's really scary. The Democratic National Convention has attracted a lot of attention. Mostly because they think both parties are out to lunch/up in the night/out of touch/totally whacked. Pick one. It's providing a great source of humor over here. Madonna's statement comparing John McCain to Adolph Hitler has also caught a lot of people's attention. Mostly because they think Madonna's probably not sure who Hitler was, much less how he can accurately be compared to John McCain. A someone here observed, "Just ...

Another day, another city. Well, not exactly. It's Thursday afternoon for me, and I'm in Malm&#248 , Sweden. The last time I was here it was pouring rain. Today it's cloudy, cool, and mostly dry.

According to the clock on the wall it's 1:30 PM in Copenhagen , so it must be 6:30 at home.

It's 12:30 AM at home right now, so I must be in Reykjavik .

I'm in the lobby of the Best Western Dakota Ridge using their electricity to work on my laptop. There's a really nice restaurant next door, Al Baker's . The Chicken Gumbo soup is really good. And the staff is very friendly. I'm gonna have to try the walleye. Seven hours and 45 minutes until my flight leaves. :sigh:

Well, almost. I'm still in the US. I'm experiencing a return to insomnia absent my regular habits, and stressing over what was left undone when I left home. But, everything there will be fine. Won't it? Ja, it will. The good things. The wireless is working great on my Ubuntu 7.10 laptop. Which is more than I can say for the WindowsXP partition. It won't find any signal at all. Now I just need to get some work done.

Anyone can screw up. But to make a totally colossal mistake in a new an innovative way--that requires true genius. I am so smart I scare myself.

Hurra for Syttende Mai! Or maybe this year, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" Click on the picture to see the Aftenposten article.

I was riding the train into town on Tuesday and had the great misfortune to sit behind a young college student who was obviously majoring in communications. I almost went mad. Driven into a murderous rage by this man's language. I can only imagine what was happening to the person on the other end of the phone. Most likely he was equally articulate. No, it wasn't vulgar or foul--it was.... I don't know how to describe it. It was agonizing to listen to. Every third word was "ya'know." Literally. I sat there for ten minutes so obsessed by his inarticulate conversation that I actually began counting how many word he would say before he said "ya'know" again. He averaged three words before he said "ya'know" again. The most words he was able to say before repeating himself was eight. Here's a verbatim transcript of part of his conversation: "Well, ya'know, it's like, ya'know, we ya'know, really should, ya...

... or maybe ten. It's better than listening to Obama doing damage control for his "they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" comment. Perhaps Barack's been reading too much Karl Marx .

Today is David Gilmour 's 62nd birthday. I have a vivid memory of the first time I ever heard him play. I was over at my cousin's house, and they asked me if I wanted to hear this new album they had just bought. The band was Pink Floyd , and the album was The Dark Side of the Moon , and it was amazing. It's still one of my favorite albums to this day, and David Gilmour is probably #2 on my list of favorite guitarists. Eric Clapton is #1. Sorry, David. When I die I want Shine On You Crazy Diamond played at the viewing. Rock on!

The photo of Barack Obama in traditional Somali attire certainly has generated a lot of attention. I haven't heard anyone from the Obama camp say, "So what?" about it, so I guess they're trying to soak it for all it's worth, too. Popular opinion says it was leaked to the Drudge Report by Clinton staffers, trying to make Obama look bad. I don't know how they expect that to happen. Obama's father was Somali, so why can't he pay respect to his heritage by wearing these clothes? Since this plan, if true, seems to have failed, the Clinton camp is trying to do damage control by denying any involvement. The Reuters account, as published at Yahoo News on Friday, states: "Clinton's campaign denies authorizing the release of the controversial photo but says that, with 700 staffers, it could not be certain someone had not sent it out unofficially." Translated from politicalese into English, it says, "Of course we leaked it. We just won...

It is with great regret I report that Utah SB14 which would have prevented smoking in cars with children under five years of age, was killed in committee on the 18th of February. Stephen Sandstrom , a Republican from Orem, said this bill was "a slippery slope" that could lead to "telling parents of overweight kids they're not doing enough to prevent obesity." He may have been the same one I heard who said this legislation was "an invasion of privacy." Ten days later, the House passed HB140 which requires children under the age of 8 to be in booster seats. The reasoning, according to Tim Cosgrove , a Democrat from Murray, is that 34 children children between the ages of 5 and 8 died in crashes between 2002 and 2006. According to the National Cancer Institue , secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer, heart disease, ear infections, asthma, and SIDS . It can also increase the risk of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, nasopharyngeal cancer, leu...

In Cleveland on Tuesday for a candidate debate, Hillary Clinton whined, "Well, could I just point out that, in the last several debates, I seem to get the first question all the time? And I don't mind. You know, I'll be happy to field them, but I do find it curious." Her statement reminded me of an old saying, the first liar doesn't have a chance . Perhaps she was thinking the same thing.

If you are familiar with the BBC series, Yes, Minister , you may recall an episode entitled "The Challenge" where the Minister of Administrative Affairs, Jim Hacker , plans on implementing pre-set failure standards on local governments plans to determine if they are successes or failures. The criteria were to be described in the documentation for the plan so that everyone would know if something worked or not. I came across and interesting website today put up by the United States government called ExpectMore.gov . This website purports to show what government programs are " Performing " and " Not Performing ." I take it that there are some performance standards built-in to every government program that makes it possible to gauge if they are a success or failure. Programs that are "Performing" are rated as " Effective ," " Moderately effective ," or " Adequate ." Programs that are " Not Performing " are ...

When Senator Edward Kennedy announced his endorsement of Barack Obama he made the following statement: "With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion." Absolutely. We'll be turning to a brand new page of misrepresentation and distortion. Do politicians think we aren't paying attention? The Democrats accuse the Republicans of misrepresentation and distortion, and in return the Republicans accuse the Democrats of misrepresentation and distortion. This is nothing new. The fact is that everyone is so busy with misrepresentation and distortion that the truth is successfully obscured and we are given government statistics to accept as facts. All it does is rally the existing supporters, boost a few percentage points in undecided voters, and make it look like something is really going to happen, so that no one will have to do anything. And the universe continues to unfold just as it should.

... the candidates have taken to attacking the others in their party. It's really rather amusing, and would be even more so, if one of these people wouldn't end up being blamed for everything that's wrong in this country. That is, after all, why we elect a president, you know. The democrats still haven't signaled to Hillary Clinton that they don't want her. And why shouldn't they? She's probably the most polarizing candidate running. Mitt Romney is accused of flip-flopping, which is a negative way of saying "he changed his mind." Only a fool never changes his mind when confronted with evidence to the contrary. Unless of course, you can blame someone else for it. Hillary's qualifications are the stuff of legend: Whitewater, the gifts to the Rose Law Firm, the Chinese campaign contributions, grand jury subpoenas, Kenneth Star, the Lincoln Bedroom, Monica Lewinisky, her husband's impeachment, Gennifer Flowers, the failed campaign promise to...