Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax

From WSJ.com: Economy:

Obama Plans to Keep Estate Tax: Obama and congressional leaders plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010.

Please, Mr. Obama, don’t do that. It’s just plain wrong for the government to take large parts of peoples’ estates after they die. The money has already been taxed (when it was first earned), and saved for the future generations of that family. My parents worked hard their entire lives, and saved for both their futures and mine. It’s not right that, after they die, the government takes this from them and their heirs.

Is 24 SciFi?

From SCI FI Wire:

Eight reasons why Fox’s 24 is really science fiction. Really!: Like you, we have long thought of Fox’s hit action show 24 as something outside our wheelhouse: Jack Bauer chases terrorists in real time, hour by hour, in the real world. No spaceships, no ghosts, no Hobbits, no magic.

After six seasons though, we are starting to change our minds. After careful consideration, we have come to a stark realization: 24 is SCIENCE FICTION!

The best reason?

3. Teleportation. Anyone who lives in Los Angeles knows Jack Bauer breaks several laws of physics to get from point A to point B in the time it takes for a commercial break.

You want proof? Here’s an [awesome map](http://www.wayfaring.com/maps/show/4698) that shows Jack’s movements around the LA area, and how he’d have to travel at amazing / impossible speeds for it to happen. I can’t believe someone took the time to put this together.

I can’t wait for the **24** season premiere. After reading that article… maybe it is SciFi, and maybe that’s why I enjoy it so much… nah… it’s just a whole lotta fun.

McKellan talks The Hobbit

From SCI FI Wire:

McKellan talks The Hobbit: Ian McKellan told reporters that he was to dine with The Hobbit director Guillermo del Toro on Thursday to discuss reprising his Lord of the Rings role of Gandalf the wizard in the prequel, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book.

“I’m having supper with Guillermo del Toro this evening,” McKellan said in a group interview on Jan. 8 in Universal City, Calif. “You’re asking me about 12 hours too early.”

Preproduction on The Hobbit is underway. “I’ve been promised I am [going to be involved],” McKellan said while promoting his upcoming AMC miniseries The Prisoner. “And as Guillermo del Toro’s directing it, I should be so lucky. And in New Zealand, a place I love, so it’s almost an ideal job for me.”

Are you getting excited yet? I know it’s still 3 years until the first film is to be released, but I’m already very excited. With McKellan back as Gandalf (can there ever be any other choice?), Jackson executive producing and writing, and del Toro directing, can it get any better?

I’m right where I was back in [[Let’s Party|1999]]… excited and a little nervous.

The Gospel of St. Titleist

This is great. If you enjoy this, take a look at [[Why Golf is THE Professional Sport]].

### Source Unknown

# Eighteen holes of match play will teach you more about your foe than 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. *-Grantland Rice*
# Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. *-John Updike*
# It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf. *-Robert Lynd*
# If profanity had any influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is. *-Horace G. Hutchinson*
# They say golf is like life, but don’t believe them. Golf is more complicated than that. *-Gardner Dickinson*
# If a lot of people gripped a knife and fork as poorly as they do a golf club, they’d starve to death. *-Sam Snead*
# Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness. *-William Wordsworth*
# If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. *-Dean Martin*
# If you are going to throw a club, it is important to throw it ahead of you, down the fairway, so you don’t have to waste energy going back to pick it up. *-Tommy Bolt*
# Man blames fate for all other accidents, but feels personally responsible when he makes a hole-in-one. *-Bishop Sheen*
# I don’t say my golf game is bad, but if I grew tomatoes they’d come up sliced. *-Arnold Palmer*
# My handicap? Woods and irons. *-Chris Codiroli*
# The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody would put a flag stick on top. *-Pete Dye*
# I’m hitting the woods just great; but having a terrible time getting out of them! *-Buddy Hackett*
# The only time my prayers are never answered is playing golf. *-Billy Graham*
# If you think it’s hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball. *-Jack Lemmon*
# It’s good sportsmanship to not pick up lost golf balls while they are still rolling. *-Mark Twain*
# Don’t play too much golf. Two rounds a day are plenty. *-Harry Vardon*
# Golf and sex are the only things you can enjoy without being good at either of them. *-Jimmy DeMaret*
# May thy ball lie in green pastures, and not in still waters. *-Ben Hogan*
# If I hit it right, it’s a slice. If I hit it left, it’s a hook. If I hit it straight, it’s a miracle. *-All Us Hackers*
# The difference in golf and government is that in golf you can’t improve your lie. *-George Deukmejian*
# Golf is a game invented by the same people who think music comes out of a bagpipe. *-Lee Trevino*

Edith Sitwell

From Motivational Quotes of the Day:

Edith Sitwell: “Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”

Woods faces ‘arduous’ route back

From BBC Sport:

Woods faces ‘arduous’ route back: Tiger Woods says he faces an arduous task to rebuild his game and is still unsure when he will be able to return after knee surgery.

The new golf season is almost upon us. I hope he makes it back by [The Masters](http://www.masters.org) in April. It won’t be the same without him there.

What’s Up at MacWorld?

The clock is counting down to the keynote at [MacWorld Expo](http://www.macworldexpo.com/), the last to be attended by [Apple](http://www.apple.com). The [Apple Store](http://store.apple.com) is offline and getting updated with new products. I wonder what’s going to end up there.

Personally, I’m hoping that there’s an iPhone software update to deal with a couple of the little problems that bug me.

Waiting with baited breath 🙂

Family Pictures

From the CarneyWeb Genealogy Album

For anyone out there that’s interested (mostly family members I’d assume), check out my [Picasa page](http://picasaweb.google.com/carneyweb/Genealogy) for scans of the pictures I found at the Carney estate in Weston, WV. If you’re interested, here’s the [RSS](http://picasaweb.google.com/data/feed/base/user/carneyweb/albumid/5287104041855529905?alt=rss&kind=photo&hl=en_US) feed as well.

There’s 265 pictures there so far, and all of the people that I recognized in the pictures have been labeled. I’m sure I made some mistakes, so if you see any, let me know.

I’ll be adding more soon. If you subscribe to the RSS feed, you’ll see the pictures as I add them to the album.

I’ll be sending an email soon to various family members letting them know of this album as well.

Enjoy.