NUKE THE WORLD!!!! (Not really...)

Okay, just a quickie, cause I'm mad.
First, I got this from CNN.com. I hate CNN.com. But I still go to it. I don't even know why. When I accidentally scroll to the end of an article, and start reading the comments, my faith in humanity drops by 80% every 10 seconds. It's startling.

Anyway, I saw this quote, in a letter from the 10 Republican senators-to-be, regarding the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia:

"One of the most important tasks of the 112th Congress will be to carefully consider measures that protect the national security of the United States," they wrote. "And few matters will more directly impact our security than arms control agreements like New START that would dramatically reduce the U.S. nuclear deterrent in a strategic environment that is becoming ever more perilous."

For background info, the deal with Russia would limit the number of nuclear warheads for each country to 1,550. I'll admit, I have no idea how many nuclear warheads we have right now. Probably because I don't have security clearance for that information, but even if I did, I'm pretty sure I don't want to know how many we have.

So, apparently, reducing our nuclear warheads would DRAMATICALLY REDUCE our nuclear deterrent. That's insane. Do you know how many countries there are in the world? Roughly 196, depending on how you count, and who you recognize. That's eight (okay, just 7.9) nukes for every country on earth. I just checked, and turns out Villach, where I live, which nobody outside of south-central Europe has ever heard of, is the 8th largest city in Austria. So if the US wanted to destroy the 8 largest cities of every country on earth, Villach would be on the list! How exciting!

So anyway, I have a quick piece of news for these genius senators-to-be. If 1550 nukes isn't enough to deter somebody from doing something, neither is 1551, or 2000, or 20,000, or 20 trillion. The fact of the matter is, even Kim Jong-il isn't crazy enough to use his nukes. The only people who are, are terrorists, and no amount of nukes will deter them if they get their hands on one. And with the treaty, we'd resume mutual inspections, precisely to make sure that they DON'T get their hands on one.

So yeah, that's what I think. Thanks for listening to my rant.

'European' Music

Okay, so it's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog. But that doesn't mean I haven't meant to. I just haven't made the time for it. Which isn't to say I've always been doing better, or more important things. Part of the time, that's true. But I've also been lazy, or rather, 'enjoying some downtime'. At any rate, one of the things I've been meaning to write about for months is the music here in Europe. And specifically, the music played on the radio station which is played throughout our company workplace. (Not in the clean room/labs, or the offices, but in the hallways, bathrooms, and other places it's nice to have some music.) Now, I don't know what I was expecting in the way of music before I moved here, but I've been pleasantly amused with the music that plays on the radio station here at work. I've kept a list on my handy handy's (cell phone's) notes app. (Sadly, my memory isn't such to remember all these songs off the top of my head!) I've made a list of noteworthy songs; either noteworthy for their awesomeness, hilariousness, or 'typicalness' of songs played on the radio. Listed in no particular order, they are:
1) The Fugees version of No Woman, No Cry
2) For Whom the Bell Tolls by AC/DC
3) Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio
4) The Ghostbusters theme song ('Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!')
5) Train's song 'Hey Soul Sister'
6) Soul Asylum's 'Runaway Train'
7) Unforgiven by Metallica
8) Some song by a chick leaving on Monday (played CONSTANTLY here in Europe)
9) Ke$ha's song about brushing her teeth with a bottle of jack. ('Cause when I leave for the night, I aint comin' back.) (This was the first song I heard when I arrived here...on the cab ride from the airport to my company apartment.)
10) multiple songs by Pink (Sober, and that song about '...it's electric, it's genetic...')
11) Toto's song 'Africa'
12) The Eye of the Tiger song
13) 'No Woman, No Cry' by Bob Marley
14) Crash Test Dummies song 'Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm' ('Once, there was this boy, who...')
15) A whole lot of songs by the 80's (early 90s?) band Extreme
16) 'Poison' by Alice Cooper (amused with myself that I knew this song)
17) Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin
18) Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA' (interesting dynamic hearing this song in Europe, with a bunch of non-Americans)
And of course...
19) 'The Sign' by Ace of Base (this is Europe, after all)

So, there you have it, a nice eclectic mix of old and new, awesome and terrible, hilarious and sad, songs which I've heard on the radio at work.