On the edge of my seat for Battlestar Galactica!

Battlestar Galactica last-supper photo
Last night I watched what is considered the “mid-season finale” of Battlestar Galactica. The episode was crazy delicious! I was jumping off the walls as secrets were revealed and drama played out. At the end of the episode I was drooling for more… so I hit the electric ether to find out when the next episode is going to be. I was hoping it would be next week so that I wouldn’t have to wait two or three weeks to find out what happens next.

Well, the final 10 episodes are going to commence - horror of horrors - in the first quarter of 2009!?!? Are you frakkin’ kidding me!? What kind of sick game is this? It’s not even officially summer yet and I have to wait until after Christmas?! ARGH!

School: 1958 vs. 2008

I just got this in an email forward. I’m sure most everyone has seen it before, but I hadn’t and I found it to be cute, pithy, and too truthful.

Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.
1958 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2008 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.
1958 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2008 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1958 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2008 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1958 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2008 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse.. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1958 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2008 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Pedro fails high school English.
1958 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2008 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action laws suit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.

Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1958 - Ants die.
2008 - ATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.
1958 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2008 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

Ebola, Arsenic, Peanuts, Cyanide… Killers! (whatever)

Compassionate Disclaimer: Jesus loves everyone mentioned in this post. ;-)

So what’s the deal with these lethal peanuts? Not to sound old and cranky, but when I was growing up there was never such a thing as a so-called “peanut allergy”. No student was ever punished for bringing a PB&J sandwich to school… and surely no school kid ever got charged a felony for cookie crumbing his classmate’s stuff. Neither was any airline being sued for serving the proverbial “in-flight peanuts”. What the heck is wrong with kids today? Is something wrong with mothers’ breasts that their milk is poisoning their kids’ immune systems? Perhaps the mothers are watching too much Oprah! :-P

Being slightly fed up with hearing about this on the news (and feeling not-so-compassionate) here’s my pictorial ode to this problem:

If I had one wish, it would be to cover the entire planet in peanuts... so we can just get it over with already.

After further thought I noticed that there are lots of “disorders” and “conditions” - unheard of when I was young - that are lowering today’s kids on the evolutionary totem… like ADD and all kinds of autism. So what gives? Something has changed, for sure. Recently on a discussion board I read a school nurse’s personal observation:

[My] first decade of school nursing involved NO kids with food allergies. In 1998 the first child entered our school with a peanut allergy. Now, 10 years later, we have dozens of children with increasingly complex food allergies.

I agree that there is something very serious going on with the health of our children and instead of looking only at treating kids with allergies, we need to be researching the cause. 1998 is the same year we had our first autistic child, our first (ODD) oppositional defiance disorder, and all degrees of (PDD) pervasive developmental disorders. We invented a whole batch of new diagnostic names that had never existed before during the next couple of years.

There are questions I want answered: Why were these kids so different from our previous children? What happened to the kids who entered school in 1998 that was new to the human experience? What compromised and confused their little immune systems; and why were their bodies confused about healthy foods? If you take time to examine the history, you immediately notice these were the first kids who got Hepatitis B shots as newborn babies in the hospital nursery. [...]

Ya know, that’s a good point. The more people I talk to who have really delved into the “science” behind some of these vaccinations, the more I hear about how much “junk” is in that stuff. Now I’m not trying to stir up a scare… or tell you not to vaccinate your infant. But there’s a lot of coincidences… and if you talk to medical professionals (I live with one) they’ll relate lengthy anecdotal evidence for reasons to be suspicious.

Then again I got ALL my shots… and by ALL I mean the Army jacked me up with everything. EVERYTHING. Not to mention in high school I immersed my entire hand in a beaker of mercury. And look at me… I’m perfect fine still breathing. :-)

Roasting in Affluence

Most days I curse my swimming pool. It’s a pain… something is always breaking… it constantly needs chemicals and cleaning. Opening it is a hassle and closing it is a hassle. But on days like today - when it’s 94F and wicked humid - my little private pool is a wonderful reminder that I live in super-rich-America-land. I am luckyblessed.

Rambo

Wow, I justed watched Rambo and I was pleasantly surprised at the plethora of issues and principles put forth. I’ll have to post more about on this soon, but suffice it to say that third-world plight, pacifism and the use of deadly force, militant fascism, and “who would Jesus punch” were all addressed in some way. Oh yeah, and they showed what living in some non-free countries is REALLY like. And of course, Sylvester Stallone kicked some major arse!

A Small Town Response To Barack Obama

Small Town USAWill Manly, a reporter for the Hays Daily News (until he just joined the Navy), wrote an insightful small town response to Barack Obama. In “celebration” of Osama Obama’s recent conquest of his party’s nomination I’ve decided to repost Mr. Manly’s letter here in it’s entirety.

Growing up in a small town myself I relate to this letter. I empathize with the author’s feelings and frustrations. I, too, sorta’ shake my head and crinkle my nose at some of the screwy things I hear politicians say about “normal folk”. Read More »

Judge Orders Polygamist Kids Freed - I Told Ya’ It Wasn’t Right

Texas polygamist mother and daughterI had blogged that I was bothered by the Texas police raid on that polygamist compound, where it seemed ludicrous that the People’s Republic of Texas could go into these private citizens’ homes on an anonymous tip and take their children away with no evidence… and even the “tip” implied that it was only the post-pubescent girls who could be being abused (which were a small percentage of the 440 children stolen… half of which were under 5)!?

Well, all the kids are currently back with their parents. Now we can actually try using due process rather than fascism… what a novel thought!?

They Destroyed My Reputation Says Hooker (!?)

Ashley Alexandra DupreAccording to a story today, New York’s darling-est whore, Ashley Alexandra Dupré, is suing Joe Francis, the maker of “Girls Gone Wild” (GGW). If you don’t remember, I blogged about Ashley Dupré in March when she took down Eliot Spitzer… in the political sense.

Now, that GGW guy Joe Francis is scum for sure… but Dupré is suing him for $10 Million dollars partly for falsely advertising that she performed for their cameras. Except that - wait for it - she DID perform for their cameras. In fact I read that he has TONS of footage she willingly did for GGW (for some cash) back before she was infamous.

Anyways, Dupré’s lawsuit says that Francis “ruined her reputation”. What? Are you serious? Gee… I would have thought that it was taking your clothes off in front of a camera (and a crowd of drunk guys, also with cameras) and dancing around naked groping yourself that would have ruined your reputation. I would have thought that getting busted prostituting yourself out to strangers would have ruined your reputation… but what do I know? I think Francis (the scum) said it best:

It’s hard to imagine how anyone could actually ruin a hooker’s reputation.

This almost reminds me of Monica Lewinsky who after the VERY famous Bill Clinton scandal found refuge from various media questions by saying that comment on it wasn’t “appropriate”. Hmm… I wouldn’t have thought for her propriety was on the table… apparently neither would she, having spent so much time under it.

Now I’ve used some straight-forward language here… and it’s not because I think I’m immune to the pitfalls of this rock. But what I am big on is personal responsibility. My libertarian leanings tell me that we should be free to make choices, and then be responsible for the consequences… whether gain or pain, treasure or pleasure, shame or fame, embarrassment or harassment. [admit it, how many of you just pronounced harassment like the Brits so that it rhymed! :-) ...I love this too much] Well, since I’ve taken so much flak for not being compaaaaassionate lately I’ll add the following disclaimer.

Compassionate Disclaimer: Jesus loves everyone mentioned in this post. ;-)

Mini-Putt 2

Mini Putt 2 - Flash GameEveryone really seemed to enjoy the previous Mini-Putt game I posted. True, those simple little games are some of the most addicting… and who can resist the simplicity of mini-golf. So, without further delay - here’s some more putt-putt love. And (like the first one) this was written in a crude version of ActionScript, but it’s still a great time-killer. Enjoy!

[Click here to play!]

I have discovered Adobe’s Lightroom

I have discovered Adobe Photoshop Lightroom and I think I may be in love. Is that healthy? While processing our Cape Cod pictures taken on our new Canon G9 I decided to give Lightroom a spin… and it’s having two diametric effects on me. I am gigglingly delighted with the results… both the resultant photos and the silky workflow, yet I am sickened at how poor all my previous vacation photos now look. :-|