Movie distribution on the net

Actor Morgan Freeman is part owner of a new company that is going to be distributing movies on the internet. The first movie they will distribute will be Freeman's new flick Ten Items or Less. The movie hits theaters Friday and then in two weeks it will be available at www.cstar.com. I think this is a great idea, even if it may be a little ahead of its time. I just hope they have enough bandwidth for what they are trying to do. Freeman was just on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and at the end of Freeman's segment, they gave out the URL for the site. Having my laptop at the ready, I punched it in to see what this is all about. I wasn't able to pull the site up. I don't know if it got that much traffic when they mentioned it on the show or if there was another problem, but the only way they'll make this work is if they are completely flaw free when they go to release that first movie.

Procrastination will get you every time

After consultations with the lovely Mrs. Jib, I have decided that my combined Christmas/birthday/anniversary/Valentine's gift this year is going to go toward the purchase price of a snowblower. Over the long Thanksgiving weekend she kept telling me to go buy the snowblower that I wanted. I procrastinated. I figured I would just go to the place in town here where I got my lawn mower from when I was good and ready. I've now discovered that they've gone out of business on the eve of our first snowstorm of the year.

A DEVELOPING WINTER STORM IS FORECAST TO TRACK FROM THE MID
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY THURSDAY NIGHT TO THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES BY
FRIDAY. THE TRACK OF THIS STORM IS FAVORABLE FOR PRODUCING HEAVY
SNOW IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES FOR MUCH OF SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN. IN
ADDITION STRONG NORTHEAST WINDS MAY PRODUCE BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

Sitting here without a snowblower, I'm really, really hoping they're wrong about this one.

Update
I bought one and, thanks to my brother-in-law, got it home tonight (special thanks to Chris who offered to help me transport the snowblower as well). So this means that Jefferson County will not see a flake of snow from this storm.

She should have auctioned the space off to Golden Palace

Britney Spears joined up with Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton to form the rich trash trio. Apparently to join this club you must eschew bras and panties.

Britney Spears is behaving more like her soon to be ex-husband, Kevin Federline, than a pop princess on the verge of a career comeback.

Fresh from her split from the club-hopping Federline, Spears looked hip and wholesome weeks ago in a surprise appearance on David Letterman's show and while ice skating in New York's Rockefeller Center in a Gap sweater. But now she's unleashing her inner wild child, running around with party girls Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, sporting unflattering hair extensions and flashing her apparently panty-less crotch to the paparazzi. (Be prepared to cringe if you dare to view the uncensored photos, splashed unceremoniously across the Web).

If I've said it once then I've said it a hundred times. Spears ain't a high class gal, and anyone who expects her to be is setting expectations Spears is never going to meet. This is a woman who I really think would have been content to be living in an old trailer park in Louisiana with a guy she married in high school, all the while being almost continually pregnant. If she weren't flashing her cooter to paparazzi, she'd be hanging clothes on a clothesline wearing nothing but a towel that was two inches too short (it happens, I've seen it, folks.)

Faulty assumptions on higher education

The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at college education and graduation rates. There are a few portions of this article I'd like to comment on, but first let's look at the gist of the article.

For decades, college gates have opened wider and wider to the American public, with more whites and minorities attending than ever before. But that expansion is under strain in the face of rising costs and faster growth of minority populations long left behind in the march to graduation.

A new report released Monday from the National Conference of State Legislatures sounds the alarm: For every 100 ninth graders, only 18 will enter college and finish within six years.

"These results simply are not good enough," concludes the report, which was compiled by a bipartisan commission over 18 months.

To help more students earn diplomas, higher education and the states that oversee much of the system need to tackle spiraling tuition, poor college preparation, and the lack of help to keep students moving toward a degree, say experts.

Okay, now let's look at some of the particulars that really stuck out in my mind.

The financial burdens appear to be making it more difficult for low-income students to complete a degree. Of students starting at a four-year college in 1996, only 50 percent of those from households making $25,000 or less ended up with a bachelor's degree by 2001, compared with 74 percent of students from households making $70,000 or more.

I don't really get this one. The article discusses how reliant students have become on student loans. I was no different. I had a couple of small scholarships, but the majority of my schooling was paid for with student loans. I did not go to the top school that accepted me but rather the top school I could afford given my financing. I did not feel the pain of the tuition once during my college years. I felt it after my college years, no doubt, but not once during my college years. Still, a college education is one of those assets in life that are worth the debt. Given all of the college options available to students today and the ready availability of loans that do not have to be paid back until after graduation and the flexibility in repayment, I don't see how this can be an excuse unless students are poorly managing the financial options available to them or insisting on going to schools they cannot afford.

Working while in school also depresses graduation rates. In those same years, 65 percent of those who did not work graduated, while only 31 percent who worked full time did so.

Let's make sure we get the cause and effect straight on this one. Is working really the problem, or are students who are less into school more likely to find a job and prefer doing it to going to school? My wife and I both worked full time while in school, and while it was not easy, we made it work. I know other people who could have made it work, too, but they just weren't that interested in going to school and they ended up taking the job over finishing school.

Indiana is striking a bargain with its poor and lower-middle-class eighth graders: Maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average through high school, stay out of drugs and alcohol, and take the right set of classes, and we'll pay your in-state college tuition.

Hoorah for Indiana for its benevolence, but is this really such a good idea? First of all, by setting the floor at a 2.0 GPA, they aren't exactly motivating these kids to excel academically prior to college. Some of those 2.0 students I'm sure could do much better but they can coast and still get their tuition paid for, and coasting just isn't going to cut for them in college. Academically, they'll be totally unprepared for what is expected of them. Secondly, I shudder at the sight of kids that don't have to worry about paying for their own schooling. Many handle it well, and I mean no offense to those that do, but many others never take their college education seriously because they really don't have anything personally on the line. I saw many more kids who didn't have to pay a cent drop out my freshman and sophomore years than kids who had their own money tied up in their educations. Indiana's intentions may be good, but their methods are weak and I don't think this little experiment is going to turn out the way they expect. In fact, it may exacerbate the graduation problem.

Oklahoma offers a similar program. Texas has a variation on the theme: Finish college within five years and maintain a 3.0 grade point average and all tuition loans will be forgiven.

This is better as it incentifies students to excel and finish school, but at the same time I don't think full ride higher education is the responsibility of the taxpayer. There may be a return on investment argument that can be made, but I'm not sure how strong that argument is.

State legislatures also have control over the spending of public colleges and universities, meaning they could in theory drive down tuition increases by curbing spending. But higher education - both public and private - is under tremendous pressure to provide more amenities to students.

That pressure is much more internal and illusory than anyone wants to believe. In other words, most in state Wisconsin students are not going to choose a Wisconsin school over an out of state school because the Wisconsin schools have newer, prettier buildings. They are choosing those Wisconsin schools over out of state schools and in state private schools because of cost, proximity to home, and the programs offered. Instead, that tremendous pressure is in part a myth that university systems are glad to spread not because they are in dire need of these capital improvements but because they really, really want the things that the money is being spent on and the pressure story helps them get them.

I don't have much sympathy for many of the arguments in this story. If students want that college diploma and the career benefits that come with it, then they have to reach out and grab it, period. Even most poor & lower middle class kids should be able to overcome the financial part of the deal. I should know. I was on my own for my schooling. I passed up an opportunity for a full ride because I did not believe it was the right thing for me to do, much to my father's consternation. I worked hard, I accepted that I'd have debt throughout my twenties, got a couple of scholarships, and I made it work. You can only guide people so far towards all of the good things you want for them. At some point they need to want those things, too, and be willing to work hard and guide themselves to those ends. I know that I am brushing in broad strokes here, so you exceptions to some of the things I've discussed should not take it personally, but there are many others out there that probably should. Many people who do not graduate college don't have the system to blame but themselves.

Bonus early 2008 prediction

I normally do yearly predictions in December of each year, but today I'm going to give out a bonus early prediction: Hanging Saddams will be the hanging chads of 2007.

Squirrel invades home, gets hot greeting

I'm telling you, the squirrels are up to no good, folks.

One squirrel got a fiery surprise when it apparently got curious about a chimney. The squirrel fell down a chimney at a Two Rivers home and landed in a fire in a fireplace Monday night, said Two Rivers Assistant Fire Chief Gary Shavlik.

The squirrel escaped the fire and ran around the house, Shavlik said.

Firefighters later caught it and called Wildlife of Wisconsin, an agency that helps wild animals. The squirrel suffered from bloody paws.

There was no fire damage and the squirrel is alive, Shavlik said.

Never trust a tree rat and always keep a fire going.

Gil, the election is over

For the second time since the election earlier this month, I've seen a Gil Gutnecht for Congress ad on television, the most recent time being tonight during the Packer game on ESPN. I'd like to point out a couple of things

1. The election was weeks ago.
2. Gutknecht was running for a seat in Minnesota. This is Wisconsin.
3. He lost.

Gil, the RNC, Charter, somebody please stop showing that ad. Cancel future placements.

Tip toeing towards oblivion

Canada took another step today towards becoming a historical footnote:

Canada's Parliament recognized Quebecers as a nation within a united Canada on Monday, backing a controversial proposal that has already prompted one minister in the minority Conservative government to quit.

The House of Commons, Parliament's elected chamber, voted 266 to 16 in favor of the motion, which the government said it saw as a way to head off pressure from separatists who want to break away from Canada.

But critics said the proposal could actually bolster the separatists, and the pro-independence Bloc Quebecois said it would use the change to demand extra powers, including Quebec's right to speak at international meetings.

This heads off nothing. It is just a feeble attempt to avoid the inevitable, to put off until tomorrow that which would be better dealt with today.

So, a question for all of my readers. Should Canada one day dissolve, and should its western provinces then petition the United States for statehood (a possibility that seems to come up whenever Quebec's secessionist movement fires up), do we accept them?

The funnies

Normally I wouldn't be blogging during a Packer game, especially after their boneheaded coach called a running play on third down and goal from the ten, failed to gain anything, and then had the field goal attempt blocked. Normally I'd have already chucked the laptop at a Mike McCarthy cardboard cut-out. But I'm making an exception. The lovely Mrs. jib cut this cartoon out for me, and I found it so funny I had to share.


For more Get Fuzzy, which is typically more left leaning, go here.

Sun setting on the United Kingdom?

Late last week came news of Canada's slowly continuing movement towards breaking up. That's a story that has been ongoing for decades and should surprise nobody. Now out of the U.K. comes a story that frankly caught me off guard: Sentiment in England and Scotland favors the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

THE break-up of the United Kingdom became a stark possibility last night as thousands of English and Scottish voters demanded home rule.

Most people on both sides of the border want their countries to “divorce” after almost 300 years together, according to a poll.

It showed that more than half of Scots and three out of five English folk want the two countries to go it alone. And thousands more want breakaway governments for Wales and Northern Ireland, too.

The survey revealed that backing for Scottish home rule has hit 52 per cent among Scots and 59 per cent south of the border.

Two-thirds — 68 per cent — of English people quizzed want their own parliament, an idea supported by 58 per cent of Scots.

And almost half of English voters — 48 per cent — want complete independence.

The truce is over

No, not this one, although it was DOA, anyway. No, my truce with the neighborhood squirrels is done for. This fall I begrudgingly gave them their space because they were scaring away the blue jays, a bird I truly detest. My motto was my enemy's enemy is my friend, which put our ornery squirrels and I in a strange alliance of mutal interest. That alliance fell apart this weekend.

The lovely Mrs. Jib and I had purchased a couple of strings of LED Christmas lights for our backyard. I had anticipated that LED lights would be hot, and we bought ours early. We put them up the day before Thanksgiving and we were pleased with how bright the pine cone shaped lights were. Then on Saturday night one of the strands did not turn on. I found that one of the dumb assed squirrels thought the lights were actually a pine cone or nut of some sort and it had chewed one of the lights off of its wire. Unfortunately, it did this during the day and not when the lights were on. We've searched 3 Walmarts, only to find that they were all sold out of this variety of light.

I have since done a little amateur electric work to get the string lit again, but I consider this a direct violation of the truce. The furry, chattering little rats are going to regret the day they let the idiot amongst them try to eat my Christmas lights.

The Kennedy mystique

I'm watching a History Channel program on the Kennedy's, and I can't help but wonder how differently the world would view John Kennedy had he lived and earned a second term. His first term started off in bumbling fashion, and there is little reason to believe that the events of LBJ's Presidency would not have occured during a Kennedy second term. Instead, JFK's legacy was frozen in time during a period of popularity, aided by Jackie Kennedy who formalized the Camelot myth.

Pointless

Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to a cease-fire in Gaza. Why bother? The terrorists in Gaza never uphold the Palestinian end of the bargain.

Pope to 'likely' visit mosque in Turkey

I'm not Catholic, but I am very apprehensive about Pope Benedict's upcoming visit to Turkey. His decision to visit a mosque only increases my apprehension. This is a most dangerous trip for the head of the Catholic Church.

Black Friday After Action Report

Consider me older and wiser.

As a former retail employee and manager in a small town, I thought that if I went to a big box like, say, Best Buy, in a small city an hour and fifteen minutes before it opened, I might have a shot at a ticket that they were handing out for their big bargains. I knew I'd have no shot in a bigger city, but I was confident I'd do okay in a smaller city. I was oh so wrong.

We came rolling up on Best Buy in Janesville at 3:50. I already had a bad feeling because there was a lot of traffic and stores like Shopko had about 30 people in front of them. I was stunned at what I saw at Best Buy. The parking lot was full and the parking lot at the adjacent outlet mall was busy with cars. The line started at the front door and went down the side of the store. I still thought maybe there was a very outside chance I might get a ticket for what I was looking for. We parked and started trudging towards the end of the line. Little did we know that what we thought was the end of the line really wasn't. Towards the back corner of the store, the line made a turn and stretched behind the outlet mall. I'm not kidding when I say that the line was almost a quarter of a mile long.

As it turns out, and I'm sure some of you were already aware of this, at Best Buy the tradition is to ruin your family's Thanksgiving by starting to line up at the door during the mid-afternoon. The first guy in line at the store that we were at got there at 3:30 the previous afternoon. We ran into someone we knew who got tickets for all three (two?) computers that they had on sale, and they had gotten into line at 5 pm the previous afternoon. We talked to another person who had driven by the store at midnight and the line had already turned its first corner.

We stuck it out, though. The lovely Mrs. Jib got one of the doorbusters that she was looking for plus a slew of other things. As for me, I managed to maintain a pleasant attitude...until I got inside of the store. My temper started to flare as I got jostled, so I went to the car until the lovely Mrs. Jib called me to come back in and run the store for some things while she stood in line for one product.

One other notable thing about standing in that line. An enterprising gentleman had set himself up in line yesterday and he got tickets for almost all of the big sale items. As soon as he got them, he started up the line, selling the tickets to people further back in line for $50 a ticket. I'll give him credit for finding a way to make a little not-so-quick cash, but he is lucky that the Janesville crowd was in generally a good mood. A number of people were not so fond of his enterprising spirit, especially considering that he couldn't sell the tickets for some of the more expensive items because those who wanted them didn't bring cash, and thus didn't have the $50 for the ticket. He ended with several items that nobody ever got a crack at.

After that, my inside the store experience was nearly complete. I caught up on some sleep in one parking lot, went into one other store, and patiently listened to talk radio while the lovely Mrs. Jib did her bidding at other stores. We have both agreed that this may be the last time we do the Black Friday thing together again.

I'm coming, and hell's coming with me, y'hear? Hell's coming with me

I am accompanying the lovely Mrs. Jib shopping. I've had 45 minutes of sleep. Woe to all souls that cross me today.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'd like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving day. I will be heading to an undisclosed, secret location where I may or may not be dining with Vice President Cheney. Whether I am or am not dining with the Vice President, I can guarentee that I will not have access to a secure internet connection until tomorrow night. So I hope all of you out there enjoy your day tomorrow, give thanks for all the good things in your life, and can spend time with some loved ones. Oh, and let us all pray the Cowboys get their tails kicked by the Bucs, just because they are the Cowboys.

In re military drafts

Charlie Rangel's latest proposal of a military draft is dead in the water, but I hope nobody mistakes that to mean that the draft will never return. It will...someday. History marches on and American will continue to face threats to its existence. Our current threat, Islamism, we may be able to defeat with our superb volunteer military. Someday we will again face a threat that requires vast quantities of man and materiel, and when that day comes, we will be forced to bring back conscription. While I do not think we should or need to bring back the draft right now, I do get nervous when people discuss the draft as an antiquity. It will someday again be our present, and I hope Americans will be able to understand when that day comes that our back is against the wall.

The brains behind Jiblog

How to pronounce Ahmadinejad

I get a lot of Google search hits for this one, so consider this my public service. Ahmadinejad is pronounced as follows:

ah-ma-deen-ah-zhad

See, that wasn't so tough, was it?