Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote, invest, educate our children and now die, I think the Republicans have done a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives. (Source: Sunday Portland Oregonian, and repeated at Middletown Journal's Sound Off for June 19, 2005) ...

In Grade 12 I read the story the French Lieutenant's Woman. It takes place in the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Victoria. One of the themes in the novel was the rise of the middle class becoming the upper class. The so-called "new money" of the 18 hundreds. These were people who worked hard and became very successful. The capitalists of their day, one might say. This was contrasted by the upper class of the time. It was seen as being uncivilized to have to work for you money. The upper class managed their estate, but took little interest in its operation. They didn't ...

While ready a review of the Bad Astronomy in Star Wars III, I learned something that was new, and interesting: Also, a point I like to make, even though it's not mentioned in the movie: re-entering ships don't heat up due to friction. It's actually due to the object compressing the air ahead of it. Compressing a gas heats it up (think about how warm a bike pump can get when you use it), and a ship entering the atmosphere is moving really quickly. It compresses the gas a lot. That is what actually heats up the Shuttle, and meteors, and Republic warships.(Source: Bad Astronomy: Star Wars III) ...