Joseph J Miskulin died early Thursday morning at the age of 86.

In his life, he was a biker, a soldier, a craftsman, an outdoorsman, and a leader. To the very last moment, he lived his life with strength and dignity, inspiring those who knew him through his actions and convictions.

For those who knew him, no words are required to honor his memory. For those who did not, no words could define the expanse of his soul.

He died quietly in his home, surrounded by his family.

I have a hearing problem. I've had it for at least 20 years. I find it difficult to understand human speech in the presence of background noise. In my living room, I will be able to hear every word you say. In my car, your words are likely to get drowned out by the background noise of the engine and the road. In a club or a crowded room... I need to read your lips to know what you're saying.

I just went to the Apple.com trailer site to see what's coming out.

I've watched 4 trailers so far, and I have absolutely no clue what was said in any of them.

I've experienced the same thing when watching DVDs and when going to the movies.

Somehow, the background noise (foley, soundtrack, etc.) has become more important than the dialog. Words are quieter and less distinct than music and sound effects.

I can say right now, that there are several movies that I won't be going to see because I can't hear what's being said in the trailers.

It's not a universal situation. Half of the trailers I've watched were fine. I could understand the voices even through the music and sound effects.

The frequency range of human speech is very well cataloged and understood. It's very easy to punch the vocal track in a movie (and its trailer). ....So.... Why am I unable to differentiate the dialog from the score and F/X tracks on so many trailers? Why aren't studios more interested in making sure that the audience can actually understand the words being spoken?

Hello? Is this thing still on?

Just letting people know I'm still alive.

And taking the opportunity to point out something I just noticed. The ankle-biters are walking past the house on their way home right now. I see them go by every day, and I've noticed this before, but never really thought about how much I see it.

An amazingly large number of the kids are being walked home by a parent (usually mom). There are a whole bunch of moms that wait at the 4-way intersection downtown for their kids (it's one block from the school).

Nobody ever had a parent walk them home when I was in grade school. There might be a car waiting on rainy days, but being walked home every day? No way.

It's just one more symptom of our sissy nation.

This past week, I've been watching Babylon 5 again. I finally got seasons 4 & 5. During season 4, Capt. Sheridan is captured trying to save his father from the enemy. His father is used as a powerful leverage against him.

As frightening as it is to say it: this is a situation I have actually thought about on several occasions. The current administration tends to illicit such introspections.

Were I ever placed in a situation where I were forced to sacrifice my morals or my father, I would have 2 things to say: Good-bye, Dad. I love you.

It may sound cruel or heartless, but it's not. I know my father; I know where he would stand on this. He chose to put his life on the line against the Axis forces during WWII. He believes that being right and being free are more important than being alive. And I know that if I gave in to the enemy just to save his life, his anger would make Hurricane Katrina look like a pleasant breeze.

President Bush, along with his yes-men, is holding people in violation of both the US Constitution and international rules of war. He has thrown away hundreds of years of precedent and the rule of law. He has not only allowed, but encouraged torture.

65 years ago, my father was one of the American patriots who risked his life to defeat an enemy who thought such practices were acceptable. Today, the spectre of civil war simmers over the flames of civil rights, military tribunals, and an unrestrained Presidency. Should things come to a boil, I would like to think that I have the courage and commitment to risk everything I have in order to defend the Path of righteousness--just like my father did. I would rather rot in a cell, or die for my beliefs, than have him think me a coward.

Yes. I have been absent for several months. Let me assure you that this has nothing to do with federal prosecutors or South American dictators. For personal reasons, I have removed myself from the public spotlight (okay... public flashlight) and refrained from posting--particularly in the political categories of this blog.

Currently, most of my writing and creativity is going into work. Since the things I'm doing there actually pay the bills, they have to take precedence. I'm encouraged, however, by the fact that several respected professionals in marketing, advertising, and production have been impressed with the work I'm doing. I've never had any formal training in web design, marketing, or advertising, so even in a relatively small market like Madison, getting compliments feels really good.

I loved you, but had to leave. I found you again but you wouldn't accept my friendship.

Good bye.

I loved you but knew that you had to leave me to become what you could be. Your attempt at reconnecting scared you away.

Good bye.

I love you, but you only understand sex and I wouldn't fuck you.

Good bye.

I love you, but you're afraid of the world and need to run away.

Good bye.

There are enough real dragons in my life, I don't need any windmills.

Yes. I'm alive.
No. I haven't been posting--at least not here.

I've been busy with all the other projects I have going, and there hasn't been a whole lot to write about. My political writings are going on in other forums and blogs. My personal life amounts to little more than going to work and coming home to work on projects, so there's not much to talk about there.

I had a little time this weekend, so I did some maintenance to this site. My gallery hasn't worked for almost 2 years. So. I fixed it (Are you happy now, Heidi?). Well.. I sorta fixed it. Actually... I didn't fix it at all. What I did was install a whole new gallery and transfered the photos over to it. The existing one will vanish shortly (if it's not gone already when you read this).

This is my new gallery

There's even some new photos in there. I've uploaded the photos from my trip to the Dominican Republic over New Years. There's even a whole album from my SCUBA dive.

2 months ago I started a new project: JoeMiskulin.com

I've posted a couple "coming soon" messages but haven't had anything solid to show--until now.

I spent today prparing, uploading, and labeling the first batch of photos. About 130 photos are uploaded, and about 80 of them have been labeled. About half-way through I realized that my organization plan wasn't going to work, so I'm going to have to create new albums and rearrange stuff, but that's not a big deal.

"Preparing means taking a scan that has 8-10 photos on it, cutting and pasting each photo into its own file, rotating (if need be), adjusting brightness and contrast, saving, and then batch resizing.

"Labeling" involves finding the physical photo (in a stack of about 300) that matches the uploaded scan and typing in what's written on the back.

These images represent about one-third of the photos I have. And then there's the video. It's going to be a big project, but I think it's worth it.

About a month and a half ago I posted a CEPT (request for prayers) for a friend. At the time I wasn't at liberty to talk about the circumstances.

For those of you who care, I can do so now.

Sometime in August my father started to have trouble walking. He attributed it to a pulled groin muscle. After several weeks, it failed to get better--in fact, it got worse. In mid-October, he was unable to stand and was taken to the hospital. The discovered that he had actually broken his hip. He had a hip replacement and started to get better right away (the day after the surgery he pissed off the medical staff by refusing to lay around like an invalid--he got up and walked around).

In mid-November, however, something else was discovered based on tests of the replaced hip.

My father has cancer. It's considered to be terminal. It's in his hip and in his lungs. As of the time of diagnosis, the doctors have given him 6 months to live. Now... in all fairness to reality, given my father's health and disposition--he's a stubborn old man with the constitution of an ox--it's more likely that he'll live another 10 years. It does, however, bring the concepts of life and death very real.

I've had a lot of time to come to terms with the situation, and my personal views on life and death mean that I'm better able to deal with the consequences. Still, it's my father. It will never be easy.

I'm not asking for sympathy or help or anything other than understanding. I just felt that those of you who read this are entitled to an explanation for the previous post.

Just an FYI: I'm going on vacation for the next two weeks and will be out of touch for most of the time.