transcript from The Horror of Dracula (1958)

The Parlor
Enter Harker

Woman: (appearing from behind door) Mr. Harker, you will help me?

Harker: If it's still possible. But, tell me, why is Count Dracula keeping you prisoner?

Woman: I cannot tell you that.

Harker: But if I'm to help you, I must know.

Woman: I'm sorry, it's not possible.

Harker: You make it very difficult for me. After all, I'm a guest here. If I'm to help you, I must have a reason.

Woman: A reason! You ask for a reason! Is it not reason enough that he keeps me locked up in this house, holds me against my will? You can have no idea of what an evil man he is or the terrible things he does. I could not...dare not...try to leave on my own. He could find me again, I know. But, with you to help me, I would have a chance. Oh, you must help me. You must! You're my only hope. You must!

Harker: (holding her in his arms) I'll help you, I promise. Please don't distress yourself.

Woman: Thank you (She bites Harker's neck.)

Harker: (Pushes vampiress away)

dracula

voip vendors don't like wiretaps

VOIP service providers, an alliance of civil liberties groups and technology companies recently filed a petition seeking a court ruling that the Federal Communications Commission "exceeded its statutory authority" when it adopted rules to ensure that law enforcement can tap Internet phone calls.

The petition was filed in the U. S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia and a variety of companies and organizations are the plaintiffs. The petitioners indicate that the FCC is extending federal wiretapping rules to technologies that Congress did not intend it to cover, and also imposes a burdensome mandate on innovators.

voip

big brother

is google getting to thin?

Google this, Google that. Everyday we hear about a new Google feature. Growth is not a bad thing, but is Google growing out more than it is growing up? Google is a powerful company, led by brilliant people, but the dominance of Google is still an infant. will they grow with the times?

When reading about Google, think about Netscape. Remember how dominant they were before they franly lost customers. Google is being hailed as the company that will kill Microsoft... so was Netscape. Google is branching out with new services.... so did Netscape.

Google may be taking on too much all at once. If they are they'll do what companies do in this case. Make big mistakes.

google

internet

prime numbers

79: Number of different, dialectical nicknames for the dragon fly in American English
105: Number of flights made by the Wright Brothers
2473: Number of sheets of paper used by Marva Drew to type out every number from 1 to 1,000,000

numbers

oil for food probe continues

More than 2,200 companies, including major concerns like DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and Volvo, made illicit payments totaling $1.8 billion to Iraq's government led by Hussein. This acording to a report released today.

The program, which began in December 1996 and ended in 2003, was aimed at easing the impact of U.N. sanctions imposed in 1990 after Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait.

iraq

Condi Rice demonized

USA Today manipulated a photo of Condi Rice, making her eyes look as if she was possesed by a demon. Michelle Malkin has an article about it on her blog. Check the link.

condi rice

Miers Withdrawls

Harriet Miers, whom the president announced on October 3rd to be the next nominee to the Supreme Court, withdrew her name from consideration earlier today. This was a shock to the Washington Beltway crowd. Miers had come under more and more criticism for U.S. senators on her lack of qualifications. President Bush said that he would fill the court vacancy in a timely manner.


harriet miers

World Wide Web may be related to Frankenstein

In an article by legendary Arthur C. Clarke, he relates when he wrote a story called, "Dial F for Frankenstein" he had a scenario about all the telephones in the world being connected to each other. This story inspired Tim Berners-Lee to invent the World Wide Web in 1990.

Clarke goes on to say that humans have a need to communicate and that computers in general will help us do that. With memories and bandwidth getting larger tasks will be simpler and faster to finish.

arthur c clarke

world wide web

state department to put rfid tags in passports

As reported on April 6, 2005 on westhamlet, the U.S. State Department was proposing putting rfid tags in passports. It was announced yesterday that rfid tags will be issued in passports in October 2006. The U.S. State Department reported that the International Civil Aviation Organization had outlined electronic guidelines for passports to aid in security.

The Bush administration could face an eventual legal challenge. A letter to the State Department from privacy groups (PDF here) says there is "no statutory authority" for the RFID passport because Congress has not authorized it. Over the last year, opposition to the idea of implanting RFID chips in passports has grown amidst worries that identity thieves could snatch personal information out of the air simply by aiming a high-powered antenna at a person or a vehicle carrying a passport.

rfid

big brother

apple adult beverages

Celebrate apple season with this trio of decidedly adult mixed drinks -- and leave the apple cider for the kids.

Apple Kir
1 oz. Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila
1/2 oz. Crème de Cassis
1 oz. apple juice
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Mix in a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Apple Pie
1/2 oz. Apple Schnapps
1/2 oz. vodka
1/2 oz. pineapple juice
Dash of powdered cinnamon
Shake with ice and strain into a shot glass.

Appletini
2 parts DeKuyper Pucker Sour Apple
2 parts VOX VodkaShake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.
Garnish with an apple slice.

adult beverages

anatomy of a blog

We do so much blogging, did or do we ever take time to study what a blog really is?
Structure, guts, look, workings... the list go on and on.
John Dvorak put together a good article on blog basics: Dvorak's Blogging Primer.
This gives the blog basics and more.

Look at Anatomy of a Blog for a good reference.

blogging

blogs

companies increase monitoring internet use

Companies are increasing the monitoring of employee Internet use for productivity and security reasons. Based on responses from 2540 U.S. business-technology and security professionals who participated in the
Infromation week/Accenture Information Security Survey.

Get more info on securing see: informationweek.securitypipeline.com

Internet

big brother

the art of jackie part II

More computer art from jackie!!

art

cats

cartoons

the art of jackie

My daughter Jackie, who is now 14, made these images when she was 10. Hope you like!!

art

Anti-Semitic series now airing on Jordanian TV

The Diaspora (Al-Shatat), a Syrian-produced TV series depicting how Jews, as ideology and religious conviction, are trying to subjugate the entire world, is now being broadcast for the third time in recent years on Arabic language Satellite TV.

The series includes horrific distortions of Judaism, including the presentation of the use of a Christian child's blood in preparation of Matzah for Passover, as religious necessity.

television

The Top 100 Novels

TIME Magazine has compiled a list of the top 100 novels of all time. Interestingly enough E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime is on the list. My son Derek produced and directed the musical Ragtime back in July, 2005.

There were some surprises for me, as I'm sure there are for everyone, but the list did make me think and I now have a larger "to read" list.

literature

Young Singers spread racist ideology

Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, and a music video. Lamb and Lynx are cultivating a much darker personna. They are white nationalists and use their talents to preach a message of hate.

Known as "Prussian Blue" — a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes — the girls from Bakersfield, Calif., have been performing songs about white nationalism before all-white crowds since they were nine.

Lynx and Lamb have been nurtured on racist beliefs. They were home schooled. In addition, April's father surrounds the family with symbols of his beliefs — specifically the Nazi swastika.

racists

Current events

prussian blue

Yahoo Hong Kong ratted out Chinese dissident

Yahoo Hong Kong ratted out a Chinese dissident journalist to the Chinese government, sending the journalist to prison for ten years. Yahoo founder Jerry Yang shrugged off the public outcry over this by saying that helping to send Yahoo customers to jail was just the price of doing business in China.

Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo wrote an open letter to Yahoo founder Jerry Yang criticizing Yahoo’s collaboration with the Chinese government.
“You are helping the Communist party maintain an evil system of control over freedom of information and speech,” he writes.

I wonder if China will ever have true freedom: freedom of the press, etc. ?
At this rate probably not.

china

yahoo

Wilma most intensive Atlantic storm ever

Wilma is gathering strength at a pace that is mind boggling. Winds are at 175 mph and it is a category 5 storm. ts confirmed pressure readings Wednesday morning dropped to 882 millibars _ the lowest ever measured in a hurricane in the Atlantic basin, according to the hurricane center. The strongest on record based on the lowest pressure reading is Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which dipped to 888 millibars. Forecasters said Wilma was more powerful than the devastating September 1935 hurricane that hit the Florida Keys, the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record.

wilma

data brokers

A growing number of data aggregators - otherwise known as data brokers - collect data on citizens' identifying information and sell it for profit. The buyers are law enforcement agencies. The practice of selling data gained interest when ChoicePoint acknowledged that crooks had duped the company out of personal information of nearly 145,000 people.

Data aggregators collect information from a multitude of public and private sources, and assemble dossiers on many, if not most Americans. Under the the federal Privacy Act citizens have the right to make sure data held by the government is correct. The information gleaned from commercial databases may not be covered by the act. Many data brokers admit that they collect everything.

David Newberger wrote in his blog that data will be the commodity of the future. Data may already be the commodity of the present.

big brother

data

Wilma strenghtening and turning

Wilma has developed a core and the winds are strengthening. Wilma could very well develop into a hurricane today.

wilma

Greenspan says flexibility is the driving force

Alan Greenspan has said economic flexibility is how to avoid recessions. Maximum competition has been the driving force to help the economy withstand a number of shocks. Since Greenspan took office in August 1987, the U.S. economy has undergone only two mild recessions, one in 1990-91 when oil prices surged after Iraq invaded Kuwait and the most recent one in 2001 when the bursting of the stock market bubble helped push the country into a downturn. Greenspan cautioned against government action to take away flexibility, such as by erecting barriers to protect U.S. industries and workers from global competition.

greenspan

economy

the key to energy is demand

Many of us are wondering about the price of "liquid energy" and seeing how we can save money. Do we just sit around and wish for the price to go down. Yes, but will that always work? Probably not. That's why we need to concentrate on demand. Our demand. Habits will have to change. This reminds me of the conservation tips I heard about in the 1970's. They're back!

The Big Picture sems to allude to the consumer and how the Fed will tighten money and this could give us a slow-down in the real estate market and the end result is a lower demand for fuel and lower prices. I have to ask if the consumer has the time to wait on the Fed. Probably not. Consumers need a break now and that's why good conservation practices are a must. Were you for the speed limit going back up to 65 mph after it had been 55 mph? I wasn't because of conservation needs in the country. Granted cars have better mileage than ten years ago even when they're going 70 mph, however the situation has abruptly changed. Conservation will bring lighter vehicles and that will bring more safety concerns. Can these challenges be hashed out in committee hearings throughout the halls of the U.S. Congress? Uh.... I think you know the answer. Their solutions won't make much sense to most of us. They rarely ever do.

My advice.... conserve. Start a plan and stick with it. Remember the word sacrifice?

oil

conservation

Opinion

cfo economy concern before Katrina

Even before Katrina hit the Gulf Coast...chief financial officers were concerned about the economy.
CFO's were less optimistic about economic prospects in the U.S. than they have been in four years. According to the Duke University/CFO Business Outlook Survey conducted in August, only 29 percent of respondents said they were more optimistic about the economy than the previous quarter. That's down from 40 percent in July.

Katrina is likely to further weaken the economy. It could cut 400,000 jobs and stunt growth by a full percentage point. Higher fuel prices also have a negative effect. CFO's had already ranked higher fuel prices as their biggest economic concern. The housing market was also high on the list in which a bubble could be ready to pop.

economy

cfo

oil

surveys

pakistani earthquake prologue

The help is starting to arrive but the devastation in Pakistan is so great that one wonders if enough help will arrive. The magnitude of the disaster is overwhelming. So far, international donors have announced tens of millions of dollars in aid. But, again echoing the tsunami relief effort, aid agencies were quick to draw attention to the shortfall which almost always occurs between pledges made by governments in the immediate aftermath of a disaster and the total money that eventually arrives.
Three days after the magnitude-7.6 temblor struck the Himalayan region, thousands of people in outlying communities waited for help and complained they had run out of food and water. Some organized their own expeditions for supplies. Get the real story.

Earthquake

two peas in an economic pod

lbjbush,

President Lyndon Johnson thought that the US economy could support a war and his Great Society program. He thought surely there could be an economic boom in the late 1960's like there was in the late 1940's.
There wasn't. Economic growth stopped.

Forty years later another Texan thought a war could be fought, taxes cut and serious energy conservation could go by the wayside with the help of an expansive economy. Inflation returned.

Johnson tried to provide guns and butter without raising taxes. George Bush tried to serve up large tax cuts without reducing spending or addressing the nation's rapacious thirst for motor fuels, particularly gasoline.

politics

NASA official foam loss theory

Workers may have accidentally cut or crushed a section of foam that broke off during Discovery's launch. The section in question was on the fuel tank. That is the leading theory for the cause behind the disturbing loss of foam insulation that cast a cloud over NASA's return to space, said Wayne Hale, the newly appointed manager of the space shuttle program. To NASA's horror, a 1-pound, 3-foot chunk of insulating foam peeled away from Discovery's external fuel tank during liftoff in late July. In addition to the big chunk of foam, several smaller pieces broke off, including at least one from an area of the fuel tank that had been modified after Columbia. Thermal tile was also damaged on Discovery's belly; one tile lost a 1 1/2-inch piece right next to the set of doors for the nose landing gear, a particularly vulnerable spot.

nasa

avian flu quarantine in the u.s.?

The topic was discussed on WLS-AM radio in Chicago this morning. President Bush said that if a quarantine had to be done that use of the military might be considered.

avian flu

bendable color e-paper

Fujitsu debuted bendable color e-paper xtreme ultra at CEATEC. The screen/paper/whatever won’t break or anything when bent, thus making it the ideal replacement for paper.

The new electronic paper features vivid color images that are unaffected even when the screen is bent, and features an image memory function that enables continuous display of the same image without the need for electricity. The thin and flexible electronic paper uses very low power to change screen images, thereby making it ideal for displaying information or advertisements in public areas as a type of new electronic media that can be handled as easily as paper.

Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace.

technology

dr dean tells a story

Scientists have long warned of a possible human pandemic if the bird flu virus mutates and becomes more easily passed between people. So far, the H5N1 strain of the virus has led to the deaths of more than 50 people in Southeast Asia and the slaughter of millions of birds.

Deano is not impressed by panicy situations. But he sounded scared on the radio about this bird flu thing. Currently the bird flu can only be caught by human exposure to an infected bird.

asian bird flu

asian flu

hurricane forecaster says busy october

William Gray, a Colorade State hurricane forecaster says get ready for a busy October. This year is the seventh busiest since 1950. Three tropical storms, two hurricanes and one major hurricane are predicted this month and the season does not officially end until November 30.

hurricane

oil infrastructure problems

The oil infrastructure in Iraq is not fit and able to get the oil to where it is needed.... the U.S. According to Smash Monster reports that poor leadership is one item to blame. The failure to re-build Iraq's vast oil fields have impeded production. Oil production remains below pre-war levels of 2.5 million barrels per day. In southern Iraq where most of the oil fields are, attacks against those installations have been light and the real problems seem to come from poor planning and logistics to resume oil production.

oil