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Welcome to CharliePage88.com!

For those that don't know, this is essentially a re-launch of my previous blog - charliepage.net. Sporting a new look and feel, as well as new features, charliepage88.com updates the old blog in a big way.

As well as the new look, you will see a lot more activity and a wider range of topics, from technology and TV to current events. Other than updates on web work and general life stuff, most articles will likely be TV or current events related.

All that said, I hope you enjoy the site. Feel free to leave a comment on any feedback you have, as well, feel free to also subscribe to keep up to date on the blog. Thank you!

- Charlie Page

North Korea may be preparing for its third nuclear test, a show of defiance as the United Nations considers new sanctions on the dictatorship for conducting an underground nuclear explosion in May, according to a U.S. government official.

The White House National Security Council would not comment on the assessment of a possible third nuclear test in the works.

Every so often North Korea does something - usually not good that gets people's attention, otherwise they're ignored completely. This time North Korea REALLY wanted attention, one nuke and 6 missile tests later, here we are.

Not as often North Korea also likes to essentially threaten war - this time it disregards the 1953 armistice and threatened "nuclear war" for even any minor incidents. (right) This is the first time in a little while that North Korea has freaked out this much but there are some interesting theories.

One of the most interesting I've heard has to do with the president, Kim Jung Il. Since his apparent stroke the "dear leader" has been in declining health. One theory is that Kim is in dire health and essentially making a distraction for transfer of power or a distraction for infighting due to the transfer of power.

It's all speculation, but certainly interesting because of the apparent randomness of the latest North Korean freak out. Of course the worrying part is if the truth is something close to that, the normally crazy (but rational) leadership could do things it normally wouldn't.

But as I've heard a few say on TV. It's completely understanding why the US/SK military has upped it's alert level, but in reality North Korea does what it does best - blow smoke.

Ask anyone following current events and everyone is worried about Pakistan and Taliban. When this latest war between the two started I was very cautious, waiting for some good signs or bad ones before saying too much. Unfortunately there have been some signs and they aren't good.

Starting out is the latest news and it's very bad. When Admiral Mullen (Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman) was asked if he had seen evidence of Pakistan increasing the size of there nuke arsenal he said simply "Yes". This is quite shocking to a lot of outsiders trying to follow the events in Pakistan. This along with the recent announcement by Pakistan that they do not need any more troops (therefore not removing any troops from the Pak-India border) is just terrible news.

Those two together paint quite an obvious picture - despite the movements by the Taliban, India is Pakistan's foremost enemy and top concern. Besides an International promise that India won't attack pakistan if pakistan moves troops from the border, it's astonishing with the Taliban in actual control of part of Pakistan and 60 miles away from the capital, India is still a much more important concern.

Worse, with the recent aid to Pakistan and proposed more of it - this story of increased nuke production has to make many people wary that this aid has/is going towards there nuclear programme instead of more important areas.

Unfortunately it doesn't sound like the war for Pakistan is going great. Despite there claims of 1,000 (out of 5000-7000 taliban fighters) taliban dead, US intelligence claims it's wildly exaggerated and just yesterday the Taliban attacked a police checkpoint, capturing four policemen.

Stay tuned here and The Long War Journal for updates.

For those that have been following the events of the latest Hamas-Isreal War, it's been apparent from the start boots on the ground would be required at some point and it seems this will happen quite soon.

Apparently the ground attack was delayed until better weather and Al Jazeera is reporting the invasion may be happening now, tanks are supposedly shelling Gaza as I type - however I'll wait for a better source.

Stay tuned.

With this post I'm finally ending the longest posting drought here. Ironically around the time of my last post or two I was frustrated I wasn't getting one a week, yet here's a span of two months.

Anyways I know I have a lot of catching up to do. I kind of dropped off the map a bit I suppose, I still need to update insane visions, pcr and a few others. Unfortunately my interest in programming and websites has dipped down lately, it happens every so often but not often like this. I'm hoping to get back into it with finishing and hopefully releasing a smaller than expected AdaptCMS 1.4 and getting AdaptBB 1.0 into beta.

Every so often I feel like a record player when I say this again "I need to trim down my sites". But I'm going to be getting a job very soon and am hoping to finally get into college in spring, so this time around it's forced. My interests have also changed quite a bit compared to the sites I have - I don't game much and my interests line in more with Current Events, Television and lately - PC Software.

With that I may try and sell GTA IV Universe, PCR (lots of space it occupies, just don't have the time needed for it) and possibly 24 quotes soon after the show starts up, maybe a few episodes into the season. If I can somehow find the time by spring, I'd also like to release one final version of OneCMS (2.6) that fixes the bugs found in 2.5.

If things go well I am going to be trying out a "software" website, basically reviewing pc software, blog, news (auto) and such. I've been doing a lot of pc software related stuff the past few months so I figured it'd be a good idea and it would be something easier to do than say an entertainment site or reviewing cms's, as well I could see my programming interest slide more to the pc side too. But I'm trying out on a sub-domain and going to write reviews and content first, then from there if the interest and capability is there, I'll get a domain and such.

I will be blogging more now, I may even post some software reviews if things get slow here. If you are a reader of this site - I'm back.

I've had TIVO now for a while and love it, but especially during recent times, the selection of TV Shows has been pretty bad. A few shows have come back from the strike that I like, but it's been very few.

Las Vegas? Canned. 24? No idea when it's returning. NCIS/The Unit/Cane? Have no idea. You get the picture.

So I figured I should checkout shows that were around when I was younger. I'm a big Sci-Fi fan and when I have nothing to do on late Saturday nights, I will sometimes checkout Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis, they're pretty good shows. It is one of those shows where there are enemies, people, friends, events that you don't "have" to know, but certain episodes could have you confused.

So I got Season 1 and on, I've been watching every now and then since! It's a great watch by the way, if you are a Sci-Fi fan. I think of it as almost a more realistic, current-day version of Star Trek. I'm now on season 4. :)

Continued...

For anyone that follows the news decently, you know all about Russia and our relations with them going cold-war low. I wish it could be an exaggeration, but in several years Russia has gone from "kind of" a democracy to a country that is looking, scarily, so much like the Soviet Union.

I am glad the US media has done a decent job of reporting on Russia and being pretty fair about the country. I know I was absolutely shocked to learn that Russian media is now state-controlled, that's no joke. I visit numerous politics/current events forums and one, I was amazed to see that the Russian posters practically brush aside the fact there media is state-controlled, numerous ones have the belief that Russia tried "Democracy" and it failed, so it's worth moving on and that the US is an empire threatening Russia.

It really opens your eyes and the events that have transpired these past several years only look very, very bad.  The main contention, has been and will be for a long time, is the US Missile Defense shield. The idea of the shield is pretty weak and I think would of totally been better to be a project somehow under wraps, that way if another country (like Russia) initiates development we already have the know-how and don't have to worry about being the one that is the instigator.

Continued... 

More updating on what's going on. I think I am finally getting used to the new apartment, we got a very comfortable couch, got a few chairs and table for the balcony and the big TV is now on a stand, the place looks real nice. :) Next up is a vacuum and futon bed (for me), though that will wait so some bills can be payed off. ;)

As for the new PC, my old one just has issues and I needed something reliable, so I welcome you to the "Dell Inspiron 1501". It's not top of the line but it does it's job, it's fast and cool. $529 and I just love it, I'm able to get more done with the laptop. I'll post pics of the PC, apartment, etc. soon.