He Coulda' Had A Corvette

This is the kind of news you don't want to hear. Harold, my stepfather, was down in Atlantic City one Saturday a few weeks back. He had a comp card (I think that's what they call them), you use it in the machines you're playing and the casino tracks your gambling, I mean gives you freebies as you rack up points. Something like that. On this Saturday they would enter you in a drawing to win a 2004 Corvette. The drawing was in the evening, Harold went home earlier. A business associate of his was at the drawing and heard Harold's name called as the winner of the Corvette and the winner has one hour to claim the prize. He tried to get to call but couldn't get him that night. So that's it, Harold won a brand new Corvette but didn't win it cause he didn't stick around for the drawing. Don't think you'll never win anything, you never know.

225th 227th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

Every American should read this page from top to bottom.

"We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped."

Calvin Coolidge, speech on the 150th Anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence, July 5, 1926

As we continue to sink into pagen materialism.

Historical Maps of the U.S.

If you are interested in what this country looked like at different times in the past this is the site for you.

You're Only Off By A Couple Of Area Codes

I got a call tonight (on the local line, not 800 number) from a woman looking for her friends in Rm. 246. Vacant room. 346? Don't have that number. She doesn't even know the name of the person. It's the black guy and white girl on the second floor. Oh yeah, now I know! No, I didn't say that. I told her she must have the wrong hotel, we have 4 by the same name on this road, which one did she need. She asked if we were the one on Taimiami Trail in Sarasota. Sarasota? That's not even close. We're in Kissimmee, maybe 2 hours or more away. I gave her the correct number.

Where Does The Web Begin?

Apparently right here. I could find no other site claiming to be the beginning or start of the web or internet. I did, however, find the center. I guess all the action is at the end of the web.

Wait, you can take a Journey to the Center of the Web: Part I and Part II. This is alot more interesting than the first two. There are 13 root servers at the center of the web.

"The worldwide web is controlled from some tiny offices in southern California by what critics claim is a self-appointed group of people who answer to nobody. You think Chicago politics are something… "

Al Gore did not invent the web...somebody tell Apple...please.

This Is The End

Over at Mandarin I found this link to the end of the internet. Hmmm. Was that really the end. I was curious. I did a little searching and found this end. And this end. And this. This one. And this one (Fancy!). And this one. This one too. Are you getting tired? Here's another. And another (In Newfoundland, wow, I'd like to visit there.) And another. Here's a scary one. And, finally, because I'm out of time, this one wants you to turn off the internet.

Lunatics Teaching

The theory:

"The educational publishing industry follows very specific guidelines to ensure that school children are not exposed to words or topics that might be controversial, especially those that are related to gender, race, religion, or sex."

The practice:

"In Michigan, the state does not allow mention of flying saucers or extraterrestrials on its test, because those subjects might imply the forbidden topic of evolution. A text illustrator wrote to say that she was not permitted to portray a birthday party because Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in celebrating birthdays. Another illustrator told me that he was directed to airbrush the udder from his drawing of a cow because that body part was "too sexual."

"a well-known local writer for children sold a story to an American textbook company, along with illustrations. The U.S. publisher, however, informed her that she could not show a little girl sitting on her grandfather's lap, as the drawing implied incest. So, the author changed the adult's face, so that the little girl was sitting on her grandmother's lap instead. A contributor to a major textbook series prepared a story comparing the great floods in 1889 in Johnstown, Pa., with those in 1993 in the Midwest, but was unable to find an acceptable photograph. The publisher insisted that everyone in the rowboats must be wearing a lifevest to demonstrate safety procedures."

"When it comes to illustrations in textbooks, certain images--women cooking, men acting assertive, scenes of poverty, and old people walking with the aid of a cane or a walker--are likewise considered unacceptable. The specifications for photographs, I have learned, are exquisitely detailed. Men and boys must not be larger than women and girls. Asians must not appear as shorter than non-Asians. Women must wear bras, and men must not have noticeable bulges below the waist. People must wear shoes and socks, never showing bare feet or the soles of shoes, and their shoelaces must be solid black, brown, or white. People must never gesture with their fingers, nor should anyone be depicted eating with the left hand. Things to avoid: holiday decorations and scenes in which a church or a bar appears in the background."

"On the last administration of the Regents' English examination in January, the state (NY) asked high school seniors to write about a poem by Matthew Arnold. However, the examination did not mention the name of this famous poem ("Dover Beach"); it inexplicably offered only one stanza of the four-stanza poem; and it changed or misquoted an important line. Instead of Arnold's exclamation, "Ah, love, let us be true to one another!" it stated, "Ah, friend, let us be true to one another!"

It's a wonder anyone learns anything in public schools these days.

You can read the article here.

I tend to agree with Neal Boortz on this: "I learned that, in short, sensitivity sucks. It's a trap. Think about it - the truth knows no sensitivity. Life can be insensitive. Wallow too much in sensitivity and you’ll be unable to deal with life, or the truth.   So, get over it."

Point to ponder: Our Declaration of Independance, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights could not be written and passed through Congress today.

Speaking of Neal Boortz

I've known about this Commencement Speech for a while now and I don't believe I ever linked to it. It's about time.

10 Things to Celebrate

This is a great article, you should read it.

Why I'm an anti-anti-American by Dinesh D'Souza

Spam, Spam, Spam

Do you keep sending back "removes" to spammers, keep adding your address to "remove lists", but yet your spam volume only seems to be wildly increasing? If so this page is definitely for you.

Free Global Spam Removal List

Brought to you by The Spamhaus Project

Very educational.

Europe Endless

Pension systems across Europe will soon be running out of money as Europeans retire earlier, live longer and produce fewer children.

"There is a fear that just as the world is entering its most competitive stage ever, Europe will be less competitive vis-à-vis the United States and the Asian economies, which are much younger and are benefiting from what you might call a demographic window of opportunity," he said.

This means, given the historically low birthrates of "old" Europe, that a decreasing number of young people are paying into pension systems that have to support a larger number of people who, on average, will be in retirement for almost as many years as they worked to earn their pensions in the first place.

The changing demographic picture has produced political uncertainty and crowds of angry demonstrators in European countries whose governments, reacting to the shift from youth to the aged, are moving to reduce social services, including the pensions that millions have been counting on for their golden years.

Interesting: Across Europe, only 39 percent of men age 55 to 65 still work.

Another social experiment crashing and burning.

Europe is under alot of pressure right now. A high unemployment rate and aging population only add to the list and Europe also doesn't have a history of reacting well under pressure. Europe desperately wants to be the major player on the world scene and that only turns up the heat. Watch out if the economy collapses, alot of people may get hurt.

"Gross Human Rights Abuses"

"Thank you for contacting me, but I don't think this would work. I have a huge problem with the way that the Israelis take the moral high ground from their appalling treatment in the Holocaust, and then inflict gross human rights abuses on the Palestinians because they [the Palestinians] wish to live in their own country."

"I am sure that you are perfectly nice at a personal level, but no way would I take on somebody who had served in the Israeli army. As you may be aware, I am not the only UK scientist with these views but I'm sure you will find another lab if you look around."

An Oxford University professor has provoked outrage by rejecting an application from an Israeli PhD student purely because of his nationality.

As they meander through the educational system, some people are incapable of filtering out the crap that invariably gets passed on to them and as they approach the higher levels of institutional learning they become so full of shit they can no longer contain it and it comes spewing out all over the poor souls who have the misfortune of coming into contact with them.


On The Homefront

This morning I was thinking that I haven't been taking any pictures or videos lately. I was playing outside with James and he just struck me as having grown up so fast. He's not a baby anymore. He has conversations and he just acts so much more grown up. Now that Irma is back to work he takes his nap around 12:30 and he goes into his room and climbs into his crib without any complaints. He's about ready to get rid of the crib too, Irma wants to get him a bed. I need to take some video of him. I was laying on my bed looking into his room watching him go to sleep and he was so cute, singing and talking with his toys, I wish I had a video of that but as soon as he notices the camera he stops.

Later, I was looking out the window and saw a wasp carrying a grasshopper. I wanted a picture of that so bad but I couldn't get close enough without scaring it away. I've never seen that before.

Bye Bye Annoying Phone Calls

At least I hope so. I signed up with the Do Not Call Registry yesterday. It won't kick in till October though. As Spongebob would say, "I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, edy, edy, edy, edy!"

Detained Pending Expulsion

It seems as though we'll never hear that in the U.S. in regard to illegal immigrants. Not so the Netherlands: Netherlands opens first "deportation center'" for immigrants. Interestingly enough, but not without controversy.

How The United States Has Changed Since The 1930 Census

Here is a comparison of the United States between the Census years of 1930 and 2000. I am sure you will find it interesting. It's from the Census Bureau.

Total US Population: 1930: 122.8 million  2000: 281.4 million

Leading country of birth of foreign born:  1930: Italy (1.8 million) 2000: Mexico (7.8 million)

Life expectancy:  1930: 59.7 years    2000: 77.1 years

Median age:  1930: 26.5 years    2000: 35.3 years

Population of California:  1930: 5.7 million    2000: 33.9 million

Number of people age 65 and over:  1930: 6.6 million     2000: 35.0 million

Proportion of women in the labor force:  1930: 24% 2000: 61%

Percentage of households consisting of people living alone:  1930: 8% 2000: 26%

Average number of people per household:  1930: 4.1    2000: 2.6

Meteorite

I wanted to see if I could find more info on the meteorite that crashed into Siberia on September 25, 2002 and found some links but not alot more. No pictures. Here are some of the links.

National Space Center - UK

Channel News Asia

Very Large Meteorite Fell Down in Siberia

"Eyewitnesses said that saw very interesting and unusual things. People said that lamps turned on in their houses for several seconds, although there was absolutely no electric power that night. This means that the Vitimsky meteorite can be categorized as an electrophone one. Its flight generated a very powerful, albeit alternating, electric field in the atmosphere. Those people, who saw the meteorite flying across the sky, said that they had an incredible impression of it. Someone fell down on the ground on account of horror, someone thought that the doomsday came."

"The falling of the Vitimsky meteorite posed a lot of questions. First of all, all space monitoring means of the world failed to detect a huge meteorite that was rushing towards planet Earth. The meteorite fell down in the area, where no one lived, so there was absolutely no damage caused. However, things might have turned out totally different, if the falling took place in the densely populated Europe. It seems that Russian observing facilities turned out to be totally helpless."



This one is interesting in that it happened on the same day, September 25, 2002, but in Kansas City.

Darwin Award Winner

Man killed testing knife on bulletproof vest

"A police spokesman said: "The suspect and victim were trying to demonstrate their belief that this type of protective vest could withstand a knife attack. Obviously that was incorrect." Obviously.

Case of the Disappearing 727

The Japan Times has an interesting editorial regarding the Boeing 727 that took off from the Luanda Airport in Angola and vanished.

"The history of the missing Boeing is a tangled affair, with a cast of characters that includes marijuana smugglers and convicted frauds. Who took the plane and where it was taken are unclear, but the last owner reportedly replaced the seats with fuel tanks before it disappeared -- an ominous-looking move in the aftermath of 9/11. While this could be run of the mill criminal behavior in the Byzantine world of aircraft sales, it might be something worse. "

Only in Japan

Knife sets turn up across Hokkaido

"Hokkaido police are baffled. Since early April, more than 1,000 brand-new Chinese-made knives have been found abandoned all over Hokkaido, and no owners have come forward to claim them."

They are finding these knife sets in parks, under staircases, near train stations. In Japan, in my experience, when people see something someone left behind or lost they will usually ignore it (because it doesn't belong to them) and an official will pick it up eventually and put it in a lost and found. I've seen people ignore money (maybe the equivalent of $10.00) on the floor in a train station. They would walk around it or push it aside with their foot. I pointed it out to a man I thought had dropped it but no, it wasn't his. If it isn't yours you don't pick it up and walk off with it. I like that about Japan.

That's why there is such a controversy over these knives. I don't get the part about them getting into the wrong hands and used as weapons though. Everyone has knives at home anyway and you can buy them as easily as anything else, so why worry about that?

"In Sapporo, the response from police varies from police station to police station. While officials at the Sapporo Kita station say they are looking for the owners of the knives, the Shiraishi station said it will step up patrols."

If only we had these problems in America.

Arrogance

I like Dennis Prager. I've never heard his radio show, I don't think it's on in my area, or if it is it's not on when I'm in the car, but I use to watch his TV show years back. He's clear thinking and also communicates clearly and thoughtfully. Most of the time he is spot on as well. Here is his latest commentary: No arrogance like liberal arrogance.

I found this one in the archive. I like it, too: Monkeys and atheists.

The PowerPC G5 changes all the rules

Looks like some good news over at Apple.

"This 64-bit race car is the heart of our new Power Mac G5, now the world's fastest desktop computer," Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and chief executive.

It's a little too freaky knowing Al Gore has anything to do with that company though. That does not inspire confidence. No, it doesn't.

Anti-Semitism is Spreading

"It is anti-Semitism under the banner of human rights at a time when human rights is the new secular religion," Cotler said. "Israel is characterized as the human rights violator of our time, so that it emerges as a new kind of anti-Christ."

I wouldn't say Israel is perfect, but no clear thinking individual can say in a million years that Israel is "the human rights violator of our time." That's completely insane. What about (insert Muslim country here)? What about N. Korea or China? African countries? Do they count? Cuba? Getting better, but Central America, South America and Mexico? Israel is worse than all those? Israel is defending itself in a war. It's not even doing that nearly as strong as it could. Or should. They're bending over backwards to keep from hurting as many as possible. If Israel was "the human rights violator of our time" their would be no Palestinians to worry about. Iraq would have been glass a long time ago, as would Jordan, Syria and Egypt. Along with any other country who had it in there hearts to destroy Israel.

Israel, which is actually the nation of Judah in the Old Testament (The ancient nation of Israel was seperate from and sometimes at war with "the Jews." A nickname for Judah.), is not, in my opinion, God's country as it now stands (in the sense that God is with them, blessing them, protecting them and destroying their enemies.). The entire history of Israel and Judah in the Bible is one of failure on the part of the people to obey God and do as He said. They were often taken into captivity by other nations and many times killed. When they obeyed God they were blessed and when they didn't (mostly) they were left to the whim of other nations and not protected or blessed. It was that way then, as well as when Christ walked the earth (they didn't recognize the Messiah because they had gone off away from God, their own way, and formed their own religion based on their interpretations of the Scriptures. He didn't fit the mold they were looking for. He didn't do what they expected Him to, restore Israel. It's the same with Christians today, if Christ walked among them they wouldn't know him, would resent His teachings and would kill Him.), and it's that way now.

I'm not trashing Israel, no nation on the face of the earth is obeying God, Israel is not worse or better than any other in that regard. Israel, Judah of old, keeps God's Sabbath, a sign between God and His people. Ancient Israel stopped keeping the Sabbath and blended in with the gentile nations (actually taken into captivity over many years). Israel is singled out of all the nations of the world as "the human rights violators of our time." What else is new? The United States and Britain are not far behind on that list in the view of world opinion. It doesn't matter if it's true or not.

I'll step off now. If that didn't make any sense, don't worry, it's just me. I will return to regular blogging now.

Venezuela to replace US dollar with Euro

Venezuelan move to replace US$ with the Euro upsetting Washington more than Saddam's Euro conversion last November

They're lining up to convert. Who's next? This is something to be concerned about.

Land of the Giants

I'm not sure if the girl is really tiny or the cat is huge but either way it's phenomenal!




Imagine cleaning the litterbox.

World of Discovery

Ever wonder how icemakers work? Me too.



Something Completely Different

"In every human being, whether emperor or cowboy, prince or pauper, philosopher or slave, there is a mysterious something which he neither understands or controls. It may lie dormant for so long as to be almost forgotten; it may be so repressed that the man supposes it is dead. But one night he is alone in the desert under a starry sky; one day he stands with bowed head and damp eyes beside an open grave; or there comes an hour when he clings with desperate instinct to the wet rail of a storm-tossed boat, and suddenly out of the forgotten depths of his being this mysterious something leaps forth. It over-reaches habit; it pushes aside reason, and with a voice that will not be denied it cries out its questionings and its prayer."

--Bruce Barton, What Can A Man Believe?, 1927

Say What?

James had to go, you know? So, he's in the bathroom but he wants to shut the door and leave me outside. No, no, no that's instant trouble. "James, I'm not stupid, I know what you're up to." What does he say? "You're not stupid?" - Ok, maybe I am, a little.

Knowlton, NJ

In this northwest New Jersey town beavers have taken over and the town has finally given up after years of trying to get rid of them. An amusing little article but something else caught my eye:

This is a town that dealt with the discovery of several dead people by setting rules for body-dumping, complete with permit fees and bulk discounts. (They weren't serious, but the mayor says no one ditches bodies here anymore: "Just like anything else, once you regulate it they just go somewhere else.")

Welcome to the Dark Side

The article is 96 percent of cosmos puzzles astronomers

Observations in recent years have changed the basic understanding of how the universe evolved and have emphasized for astronomers how little is known about the major forces and substances that shaped our world.

What would we do without scientists?

"We owe our very existence to dark matter," said Paul Steinhardt, a physicist at Princeton University. And founder of the church of dark matter.

The nature of dark matter is unknown. It cannot be seen or detected directly. Astronomers know it is there because of its effect on celestial objects than can be seen and measured.

But the most dominating force of all in the universe is called dark energy, a recently proven power that astronomers say is causing the galaxies in the universe to separate at a faster and faster speed. It is the force that is causing the universe to expand at an accelerating rate.

Kirshner said it is clear now that dark matter and dark energy engaged in a gravitational tug of war that, eventually, dark energy won.

Kirshner said astronomers do not really understand dark energy. Albert Einstein first proposed a form of the idea, but discarded it later. Now, researchers know it exists, but its exact form and nature are mysterious, although it is thought to be related to gravity.

"What this is pointing to is a deep mystery at the heart of physics," said Kirshner. "We don't understand gravity in the same way we understand other forces."

At least they admit they don't understand. I think it's fascinating to learn about the universe, what's out there, what it's doing, how it works. The universe is like a wound up watch. It had a beginning and it's ticking down, deteriorating, wearing out. Radiation is proof of that. Science knows that. The most fascinating part is that the more you learn, the more you realize just how incredible it is that we are here. So many things have to be in complete and constant balance at the same time (and for such a long time) to sustain life here it's impossible for it to have just evolved. You can only miss it if you don't know or are on a vendetta to prove a creation without a creator or you just don't want to know. That's my opinion.

Isaiah 40:21-26
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. 23 He brings the princes to nothing; He makes the judges of the earth useless. 24 Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble. 25 "To whom then will you liken Me, Or to whom shall I be equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.

Why Do They Need To Kill Whales?

Japan to become pirate whaler?

There is no longer any need for anyone to kill a whale. We don't need whale oil, we don't need whales for cosmetics or any other product. We don't need to eat them and we shouldn't anyway. We don't need their teeth to carve things in or make things out of. They don't hurt anyone. They're just awesome creatures who mind their own business and it's amazing and wonderful to know they are out there. Why can't some countries let go of killing them? Economics? They need to get over it.

Meteorite crash site located in Siberia

The meteorites fell on September 25 (2002?) and I don't remember hearing anything about it. I saw a little piece on the local news about it and had to search to find this article. You would think this would be more widely reported. The Discovery Channel and National Geographic should be there. Especially with all the coverage they gave to this exact thing possibly happening and killing alot of people.

Aim High

Another funny picture. This one from Rebel Yell.

Orrin Hatch again

Remember what Orrin Hatch said the other day about remotely destroying the computers of people who illegally download music? Well, it seems his website is using unregistered software illegally. What a buffoon. Orrin Hatch: Software Pirate? 

Commentaries

John LeBoutillier: Hollywood Hates America

Edward I. Koch: No U.S. Troops to Israel


John LeBoutillier: Muslim Nazis

And There is No New Thing Under the Sun

Psalms 79:1-5
1 O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. 3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. 4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. 5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

Is There a Full Moon?

Tonight was the most hectic night I've had in a while. Most of it was just weird. One guest said their phone was broken, she couldn't call anyone. I put a new one in the room but couldn't see anything wrong with the old one. It dialed just fine and all the keys worked. Then she didn't have the number she needed. I called the main Disney information line but they were closed. (?) I couldn't find a listing for the Animal Kingdom Lodge so I called another Disney hotel to ask for the number.

Me: "Hi, can you give me the number to the Animal Kingdom Resort?"

Hotel operator:"Do you need to make a reservation?"

Me: "No, I'm helping someone call a guest at the resort."

Hotel operator: "I can transfer you there from here."

Me: "I work at a hotel and I'm calling to help one of my guests, I just need the number to the Animal Kingdom Resort."

Hotel operator: "If you give me the guests name I can transfer you from here."

Me: "I don't know the guests name, I'm a hotel employee trying to help one of my guests. I'll just give them your number and they can call you and you can transfer them, OK?"

Hotel operator: "Well, I'll just give you the number for the Animal Kingdom Lodge then."

Me: "Why thank you."

The phone wouldn't stop ringing, one guy was mad because the guy he was trying to call wasn't in the room. I guess people on vacation are supposed to sit in their rooms waiting for him to call, not be out having fun. Another guy said he stayed here a few nights ago and left something in the room. I asked what it was and he said he was embarrassed to say but I would have seen it. "Well, you'll have to call back during the day, I haven't seen anything." I said. Which was the truth. It sounded like a joke to me anyway. It's not unusual to get crank calls on this shift. Then he started to describe it saying it was purple and finally he said "Oh, Ok, it's my dildo." I don't remember exactly what I said, probably just to call tomorrow. I'm still pretty sure it was a joke and I think I know who it was, the voice was diguised but it sounded like someone I've worked with before. Whatever. I hope he had a good laugh.

A lady came in to look at a room, I got her I.D. and she took off for about 45 minutes. I tried calling the room, no answer. Finally she came back. She was out shopping at other hotels for rooms. I checked the room but it was unused. I had a girl come in once who did the same thing but was only gone about 5 minutes. When I checked the room I saw she used it for a quickee. I didn't expect that, it was the shortest I've ever seen.

As busy as it was it was mostly questions, directions, some reservations, and towels. Only 6 checkins.

It's So Slow

Tonight there is nothing happening here at the hotel. I'm just watching the Sanford and Son marathon on Nick at Nite. Nothing really caught my eye on the internet tonight either. Here's to Redd Foxx. Who you callin' ugly, sucka? That link does work but you might have to copy and paste the address into your browser. I don't know why. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/3309/gorilla.au

A couple of things:

An article by Neal Boortz on Socialized medicine.

Rush Limbaugh says Hillary's publisher is lying

Ice Storm

I don't know where he (Kim du Toit) got the picture, but it is priceless.

Just Nuke' em

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, "said Tuesday he favors developing new technology to remotely destroy the computers of people who illegally download music from the Internet."

Oh great, we don't have enough problems now with spam, hackers, persistant popups, and viruses. Of course, they promise not to sell the technology to China.

Metallica Rethinks the Internet

Three years ago they sued Napster, now they are offering free, unrestricted MP3 downloads of three concerts (if you buy their new album). Maybe this internet thing ain't so bad.

I Think

The recording industry reminds me of the American car manufacturers in the 70's. Instead of improving and updating their product and giving consumers (their customers) what they want, they insist on trying to remove the competition by whatever means possible and offering the same old (overpriced) crap.  

They're Creepy and They're Cooky

Good news and bad news for Adams Family fans in Gaza City, Thing has agreed to sign autographs... but no one has a pen.

Actual Phone Conversation

I answered the phone at work.

Caller: Transfer me to room 205 please.

Me: I'm sorry, 205 is a vacant room.

Caller: I know it's vacant can you transfer me please.

Me: 205 is vacant, there is no one in the room.

Caller: I know, I just need to be transferred to 205.

Me: Why do you want me to transfer you to a vacant room? There's nobody there. No one is checked into that room.

Caller: My girlfriend just checked into room 205.

Me: I believe you looking for a different hotel, no one checked into 205 today.

Caller: Is this the one by the Taco Bell?

Me: No, it's not. You want...

American Chopper

The Discovery channel as been doing some cool shows on motorcycles lately. My favorite is American Chopper. Luckily they replay it late at night so I can watch it at work. Here's a review of the show. I love the bikes and I'd love to make them too. I'm not into the whole Live to Ride, Ride to Live vibe though. That's great for some but other things come first for me.

Adopt a Greyhound

If you're thinking about getting a dog give some thought to adopting a greyhound.

Here's a state by state listing of adoption agencies.

Orlando Area: Greyhound Pets Orlando

Joe The Mailbox Killer

Joe the mailbox killer stopped by and paid me the 20 bucks it cost to fix my mailbox. He was honest about the whole thing and did what he said he would with no pestering. Good show! If only I knew the name of his company...Joe's Tractor something...I don't know. If you live near St. Cloud, FL and need someone with a tractor, look him up. Just hide your mailbox.

It's Hot!

There's a sign down the road displaying a temperature of 96 degrees. It was higher a little earlier according to a friend. I believe it's a little high but it's still killer hot out there. We were sitting on the front porch in the shade and there is a cool breeze but we have to screen it in because the bugs like the porch a little too much for my taste. Even better would be a screened pool in the back, now that's Florida living.

Words Cannot Express

how frustrating it is to be able to connect to the internet but not be able to connect to any websites. Server not found. I hate that. I tried and tried, disconnected and redialed, nothing. Rebooted, nothing. I started thinking something was wrong with my computer. I let it sit for a hour, then a few hours, but it still wouldn't work. This evening is the first I've been able to connect since my last post.

Oobi

James was sitting here with me wanting to play Oobi. He was asking all kind of questions like "What's this wire?" Power cord. Or "Look at the ant." The little bug icon on the Safari web browser that allows you to report bugs. It was at this point that he turned off my computer. Everything started closing and I couldn't stop it, like watching water going down the drain. Luckily it wasn't a long post. And he's not playing Oobi tonight, he knows not to touch the buttons.

Now he's supposed to be going to sleep but he's pulling out all stops to keep from going to bed. There are toys he has to put away and whatever else he can think of he has to do. He's giving me "the look", trying to make me laugh. Saying "tickle me dad." He has more energy than I do. I don't usually put him to sleep at night. Irma does that and she's not home. I put him in the crib for his nap and he is used to that but at night it's different. Irma lets him fall asleep in her arms on the sofa. He's just not gonna go down without a fight. I'm gonna have to get off the computer to get him to sleep.

One last thing...

Detour Along The Roadmap!

Limited Time Only

For those interested in authentic Mississippi Delta blues - Now available: R.L. Burnside- First Recordings. Recorded in 1968. There are 3 free mp3's to download, too.

Oops

your blog was not quite ready to be published yet. Please try again.

What does that mean? Blogger wants me to post more content? What did I forget?

Ok, fine. I installed my mailbox today and found it was more damaged than I thought. Somehow it was dented on both sides and the board it attaches to was broken in half. I used some dirt to refill the post hole, it's still alittle loose. As a bonus, I also dug up a fire ant hill. I hate those buggers. James carried the new mailbox out to the road for me and wanted to use the screwdriver. He's not strong enough for that yet. Joe said he would stop by some time in the next couple of days, let's see.

Irma and James went to Grandma's house after lunch and they are spending the night. I got some sleep yesterday and got up at 6:30 and mowed the lawn. All the rain we've been getting is making it grow fast. I'll go to sleep when I get home. I like sleeping first thing in the morning so I wake up in the afternoon early enough to do something if I want. Unfortunately I can only do that when no one is home.

Results Without Effort

I've been realizing more and more that Americans want results without effort. It's becoming a sickness. We want a healthy toned body while eating potato chips and soda laying on the sofa watching Survivor. Any amount of discomfort will cause people to abandon their newest exersice machine or dietary change. Our bodies can't take the processed foods we feed it every day. We fill ourselves with food our bodies can't use, get sicker and sicker, then go to the great medical profession for pills to make it better.

Scientists can't do it better than God. Scientists can only use what they know to make their medicines and vitamins. Unfortunately the vast realm of knowledge is like an iceberg. We see the tip and we use what we see to create our medicines and vitamins and process our food, taking out kernal of life in the food and replacing it with synthetic garbage. There is so much beneath the tip that we don't know about though. And we don't know what we don't know.

The same goes for the fertilizers we use to grow crops. The land is badly depleted. Synthetic fertilizers only provide the minimum needs of the plant to grow. They don't provide the wide range of vitamins and minerals we need. If it's not available to the plant it's not in the vegetable or fruit. The tomatos at the supermarket taste like cardboard, the watermelon is not sweet. The vegetables and fruits available today do not provide us with the nutrients our bodies crave.

Read The Bad News About Organic Food.

Read The Thesis of Body Mineral Balancing It's part of the New Zealand Health Information Network. Very interesting. Check out their Mineral section! Bookmark it, study it.

"The introduction of artifical fertilizers at the beginning of the last century greatly increased crop yeilds but put back into the soil only three nutrients:- Nitrate, phosphate, potassium, (NPK), Sufficient for crops to flourish but nowhere near enough for humans to flourish which is over 70, according to most nutritionists."

The Mailbox

I stopped at Home Depot this morning on my way home and bought a mailbox. The cashier said, "Your mailbox got hit, didn't it?" "Yes," I replied, "How did you know that?" She just smiled. Obviously she was guessing, I could have been buying it for my new house or just buying a bigger one or replacing an old rusty one. Who knows. All I know is Joe from Joe's Tractor something or other was working across the street and backed into my mailbox. ( I live on a very narrow road.) He was nice enough to tell me about it and told me he would pay for it. And my mail got wet. It couldn't take a break from raining one day.

A Few Things

I haven't bought any songs yet but I've looked through Apple's iTunes Store and it does look very promising and it's causing quite a stir. It seems some confidential details of the music service have been leaked to the public. It's an interesting read if you download music.

Palestinians living in Bagdad are not having an easy time of it now that Saddam is not paying their rent. It's funny how all the Arab nations rally around the Palestinians when it comes to driving Israel into the sea but want absolutely nothing to do with them otherwise. The Palestinians would be so much better off if they made friends with the Israelis and lived, learned and worked with them. And the Israelis would welcome it. Palestinians lucky enough to live in Israel have been treated so much better than Palestinians living anywhere else, especially Arab countries.

Scientists in Europe are searching for the so-called "God Particle." What they are doing is interesting, smashing protons and using particle detectors to find the collision of sub-atomic quarks. The article says, "Every second, it will generate a volume of data equivalent to all the information handled by the world's telecom companies in a year." That's remarkable. Also remarkable: the price, the size and the power.

They want so desperately to prove creation without a creator. The end of the article backs that up. " Although Dr Cashmore and his colleagues cringe when they hear anyone talk of the God particle, they are effusive on its possible discovery.

"What the Higgs does is give you a mechanism for generating a mass. It would be spectacularly good to find the Higgs," he said. "To get the mechanism or the underlying theory how this will work would be an enormous step forward. But let's leave God out of it."

They are also very sure of themselves. For instance, they know, seemingly precisely, how old the universe is. You see, astronomers have seen back to 300,000 years after the big bang, they say they can go back further.

"The astronomers are rather limited; they can only go back about 300,000 years after the big bang. It is only at that point that electromagnetic waves, and lightwaves propagate. We can go back further."

I don't know if they are right or not about the age of the universe. They may be right. I know better than to blindly believe someone just because this world has bestowed on them a scientific degree. The religion of science (I know they hate that, but that's what it's become) is as full of politics as any other government, religion or club. I do believe it's a little much to say, confidently, they can go back to about 300,000 years after the big bang.

What I know is this. Very simply, Genesis 1:1 says "God created the heaven and the earth." And Genesis 1:2 says (properly translated from Hebrew) "And the earth became without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." The amount of time between those two verses could be billions of years, it doesn't say. God creates perfection, not chaos. Something happened to the earth after verse 1:1 to cause a great destruction on the earth. The creation verses of Genesis do not describe the creation of the universe or the earth, they describe the re-creation.

That's all I'm gonna say about it (applause here). For further info go here.

Some Commentaries

These are from Neal Boortz and they are all worth reading if you're an American.

Racism defined ... again

America is a police state

Regulatory absurdity!

The Newest "Terrorist State"

There Will Not Be Peace In The Middle East

Not as long as there are human beings in charge over there. If you ever read a headline that says "Peace in the Middle East", get away from there as fast as you can because a truly horrific war is about to begin.

Written after reading this: The two faces of Arab terror

Odd News

The Underpants Bandit had his head in the right place.

Shhh, Just keep rolling.

I only have eyes for you...no...no, really! Trust me.

Last Beetle

It seems, after nearly 70 years, VW will cease production of the old style, aircooled VW Beetle (yes, they still make them) at the Puebla, Mexico plant at the end of July. I can find no news links yet but here's one from the DrudgeReport (it won't last long).

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday Mom! (slightly late, sorry) June 4 in history

And happy birthday to Joshua (today, I forgot that too) June 5 in history

Find out what happened in history on your birthday. This is much more detailed than the above links but you can't link directly to a specific day.

I got a package for the kids from Mom today - Thank you. They are some really nice books, I know they will love them, when they get home to see them. (James: tonight, Joshua: I don't know, maybe tomorrow.) They went to Grandma's house.

News You Can Use

It's not fainting goats but I'd like to see them in action: Self-milking cows boost dairy farm production. The Cow Milking Union is up in arms.

Welcome to the Hotel California: Basil Fawlty-style hotel owner 'locked up guests'.

Why the world needs Martha Stewart: Women's mag triggers oven explosions.

Woman thought she could not be arrested at home. You're only safe at home in baseball lady, not police chases.

Will it have glass floors? Hotel and art gallery to be built over mountain gorge.

Beer ice cream launched. Available now in 6 and 12 packs; kegs available later this year.

He wasn't wearing a helmut: Naked motorcyclist crashes after bee sting

Burden Of Proof On Saddam

That hasn't changed. WMDs: Don't Change the Ground Rules

Eco BS

Steisand is suing an eco-activist for posting photos of her estate online. Michelle Malkin goes into the details here. Wanna see what the fuss is about? Here it is.

What a bunch of crap.

Barry Manilow Broke his Nose

File this under strange but true. He bumped into a wall in his house and passed out for 4 hours.

"I veered left instead of right and slammed into the wall," said Manilow, 59.

He needs surgery to correct his nose. How bizarre is that. Maybe he passed out first.

Tax Cuts or Welfare?

I'm not sure why people don't understand this, I think they just don't want to. Ignorance pays.

The new tax bill exempts another three million-plus low-income workers from any federal tax liability whatsoever, so you'd think the nation's class warriors would be pleased. But instead we are all now being treated to their outrage because the law doesn't go further and "cut" income taxes for those who don't pay them.

Fainting Goats

You just can't make this stuff up. Quoting the site:

"Fainting goats?" you ask. "This must be a joke!"

"No," I reply, "they are definitely real." Fainting goats are a slightly smaller version of the standard goat, who, believe it or not, thanks to a genetic condition called myotonia congenita, actually seem to faint when they are startled.

If America Is Destroyed, It Will Be Done Legally

Dennis Prager is absolutely right, our legal system is killing us.

Send Your Bank's Name, Account Number...

Learn the finer points of stealing millions using only your email account. Join the 3rd Annual Nigerian Email Conference.

Playtime

Here's something else to play with online. First, take a look at what you can create and play with at the PuppetTool Zoo. You can drag the animals around with your mouse. If you catch a mosquito, it dies. If you're too rough with the rhinoceros beetle, it explodes. You can create you own animations with the online tool, if you have time to figure it out: PuppetTool

Did You Know...

Scorpions can crawl on the ceiling? Yes they can. I was sitting on the sofa with Irma and James looked up and said "Look, a bug!" I looked up and said "Holy shit!, a scorpion!" Then James began repeating what I said and Irma smacked me. I have no idea what it was doing or how it got up there. Since it's a vaulted ceiling I had to stand on the arm of the sofa with a broom to get it down and crushed it and flushed it. It's time to poison the environment with some serious spraying again. Oh yes it is! The funny thing is we've been bug free this year except for these scorpions. It's the second one I've found in the house but we've seen a few outside, previous years I saw only dead ones.

Finding Nemo

I took James to see Finding Nemo today. It's the first time he's been to the movies. Before the movie even started he was saying he had to get out of there. He watched it mostly but kept saying he wanted to go and kept getting up. At one point he took his ring off (Irma just put it on him this morning) and dropped it on the ground. We found it. He did enjoy it though and laughed a few times and I saw him hiding his face from me in the sad part. When we got home he said he wanted to see it again. I liked it, it was pretty good and I don't like cartoons.

They Want It All

Disney raises ticket prices again.

Some People Have Alot of Free Time

Good for a laugh: The Real Hussein

June 1, Hurricane Season Is Upon Us

National Hurricane Center: No active tropical systems at this time.

The History Buff

You'll find some historic recordings on this page. Very interesting. Some of these I had never heard before.

Cool Honda commercial

This is a pretty cool commercial, it was all done as you see it. There is one spot, when the tires are going uphill, that bothers me though. You can see the second tire on the ramp speed up, then keep going after it hits the other tire. Something fishy there.

Here's an article that explains the uphill tires. Or so they say.

"They do so because inside they have been weighted with bolts and screws which have been positioned with fingertip care so that the slightest kiss of kinetic energy pushes them over, onward and, yes, upward."

Python Boy

I really don't know what to say about this, it's bizarre. Please, do not try this at home. Really, do not allow children to play with large constrictors. Supervised or unsupervised, never. Even if he is the son of a dragon. They are so much stronger than you can possibly imagine and you never know when one simple movement or smell could set off an instinctive chain of events that cannot be broken until it is complete. The feeding instinct of a snake is very strong and like a computer program, once you hit enter it does each job in turn until it's done and there is no control-alt-delete on a snake. Boom-boom-boom. The finished product is a dead animal.

Speaking of Animals

Polar bear attacks submarine.

More animals

Funny Cats. I think it's a clip from Planet's Funniest Animals on Animal Planet.

I got the link from Karen, thank you Karen.

I found some funny animal pictures on this page too.

Irma Update

Irma has been staying with her Mother while she recovers. She had to got to the doctor Thursday morning so I had to go get her after work. I thought to take her van so I got in it Wednesday night and put my wallet in the dash pocket but noticed there wasn't much gas and I didn't want to stop that night so I decided to take my car instead. I left work at 7 am and got up there around 7:35 am. That's when I noticed I didn't have my wallet with me. Grrrr. James was happy to see me and immediately stated his intentions of going to the pool. No James, not now. I-4 was almost a parking lot going back to Kissimmee but we got to the doctor early (9:45) and believe it or not she went right in to see him. I started to read a magazine but fell asleep and dropped it, scaring another patient. Oh well. She came out soon after, it was a really fast appointment, and we went home and I made her some coffee and went to bed. The good news is, she is doing great. Her Mother came and picked her up in the evening, so I have to go back tomorrow to pick her up again. I'm getting some sleep first! She'll stay home Friday night since I'm not working.

On the Highway to Third-World Status

Ilana Mercer writes Downsizing jobs, outsourcing lives

The trend is growing.

The Threat Among Us by Cal Thomas.

One of the advantages our enemies have over the United States is that too many Americans don't take them seriously. We prefer the short-term comfort that denial brings.

Michelle is right: Myth of the Muslim hate-crime epidemic

I work for, talk with, and interact with Muslims everyday. I have for many years. There's a large Muslim population here. They are doctors, dentists, nurses, store owners/employees, hotel owners/employees, students, and friends, you name it. Never, never, never have I heard a single instance of a hate crime. I haven't heard of anyone being harrassed in any way. They are a part of the community and they are much more concerned with getting the tourists back here in large numbers again so business will go back to normal than they are with hate crimes. I've sensed a little fear of the possibility of problems, especially right after 9/11, but nothing happened. And life goes on.

That being said, they are a large and growing population. And secretive, you are not allowed into their services if you are not a member. And it is not inconceivable that at a point in the future when Muslims start becoming a majority, if trends continue, that they will be voting with other Muslims for the America they want. Don't lose any sleep over it, it's not an evil plot and it's a long way off, but it's something to be aware of. Every religion wishes the whole country shared their views, but most religions are not growing so fast.

Photos From Space

Check out this site: The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. There are alot of great photos to look at. I was looking at the photo of Abilene, TX, since I lived there for a year, trying to find the apartment I lived in. I can't remember enough to figure it out exactly but I can see the general area. It was on S. Clack (Las Brisas Apts). It was interesting to see Dyess Air Force Base since I worked there and have been on that tarmac many times. I was there when they introduced the B1 Bomber. It did some flyovers and parked for everyone to get a good look.

Mt. Everest

This is a cool site with a 360 degree view from the summit of Mt. Everest.

Other 360 degree panoramas are available at Panoramas.dk.

Here's one that has views of ground zero 10 days after.

The Man Behind The Wall

This guy spent 20 years living inside a wall cavity to escape Saddam Hussein. How do you live 20 years in a wall and not go crazy? It might have been a good movie if not so incredibly boring.

Back To The Pool

I took James back to the pool Monday and he just loved it. Surprise. He met a 4 year old girl and a 5 year old boy to play with. We stayed about a hour and a half, he would have stayed longer. I can see it now, everytime we go to Grandma's house he'll be bugging me to go the pool.

America Unmade

Diane Alden is sounding the alarm that America is destroying itself from the inside. Is anyone listening?

He maintained, "Government leaders and others believed for much of the '90s that the country was undergoing a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based one."

"Then the [tech] bubble burst, and we began to learn a very hard lesson and that is there's only a few ways to create wealth," he said. "You have to either farm something, mine something or manufacture something. The bubble burst. Unfortunately, our policy makers are acting as if it had not."

Unfortunately, however, there are still too many in Congress who still think taxes and regulations don't drive business out. They need to get a grip before they destroy this country.

Her article is too long, no one will read it. Who wants to think about such things anyway, just keep watching TV, our elected officials will take care of us. Never fear.

Perhaps Roger is right, we are Amusing Ourselves to Death.

The Swimming Pool

I took James for a walk to the pool at his grandmothers house and he wanted to go in so bad. I let him go ahead and play on the steps. That kid loves the water. Their were some older kids playing with a football in the pool and James kept telling them to throw him the ball. They started to play with him. James was standing on the side of the pool with me right there holding him and they were throwing the ball back and forth. He was laughing so hard. I don't think he really gets the age difference. He thinks he can just play with anyone he wants. Usually he does. He cried and carried on when it was time to go and he kept wanting to go back the rest of the day. Another day James, another day.

Mac OS X vs. Windows XP

I found a site that compares the 2 operating systems, in great detail, I might add. It looks like it does a pretty good job, too. You have to really be interested in this to read through it all though or you can cheat and read the final score. You can see it here.

The Hospital

The operation went well Friday morning and I spent the morning eating breakfast first, then reading .pdf books and playing solitaire. No internet access. The breakfast was terrible, undercooked, powdered scrambled eggs. Tabasco to the rescue. Irma got to her room at noon, still pretty drugged up. I brought some DVD's and watched some movies, Irma mostly slept. I went to the cafeteria for lunch but decided against it. It's very telling that some of the unhealthiest food you can eat is sold in the hospital. They don't even pretend to have healthy food there. I went to Long John Silver's, not much of a step up but Irma didn't want me to be gone long.

I stayed the night with her, sleeping in the most uncomfortable chair available. The hospital here in Kissimmee doesn't seem to have much security. I could pretty much walk around anywhere I wanted and no one would ever question me, except perhaps ICU and the maternity ward. When I visited my father in the hospital in Kearny, NJ, we could only go up 2 at a time with a pass, which a security gaurd checked and no cameras. I finally talked them into letting me bring the camcorder to show my father pictures of James, who was less than a year old. I think they only let me because he was dying. Even the nurse upstairs said something about the camera and I assured her I wasn't taking any pictures. I took pictures anyway, screw them. My fathers dying and I'm not allowed to take pictures? They're not trying to hide anything are they? This was prior to 9/11.

They let Irma come home today, I was so happy. It's good to be home. She has some pills for pain but she's walking around and doing great. Her mother came over and they decided to go to her house for the night. The idea was to take Joshua and leave me with James but James didn't like the idea and persuaded them to take him too. You should have seen the smile on his face when he buckled up! Bugger. I'll be going over tomorrow for lunch, maybe Abner will come too. In the meantime I'm gonna get me some restful sleep tonight.

Toe Socks

In the hospital Irma wanted me to put some socks on her and when I took them out they were toe socks. Freaky! At one point she got up and put on some sandals and the little toe was sticking out the side like it was broken, that just freaks me out. When I got home and had a chance to read some blogs I found some mention of toe socks at Aged and Confused and Yellow Jeep Girl.

Ultrex Nonstick Cookware Really Stands Up

Yesterday I left my frypan on the stove after cooking and forgot to turn it off. Smoke filled the house and I thought the pot was ruined. It already had a slight accumulation of black around the edges and now almost the entire bottom was covered with burnt crust. Since it's nonstick I figured if it doesn't come off with the sponge it's a gonner. What the hell, I used a brillo pad on it and it took off the burnt coating but the Ultrex coating was unharmed, almost as good as new. I couldn't believe it, nonstick pans don't stand up to brillo pads. Way to go Ultrex! I guess that demonstration they do with the drill sander is true. I got them from HSN. I would definitely buy them again.

Irma

Tomorrow Irma is going to have an operation. I have to get her to the hospital by 6am. I have to stay with her all day and now she is saying it may be all night as well. I hate hospitals. Her mother will be watching the kids. I'm bored just thinking about it, I hope they let you use a computer in there. She's gonna be home from work for a month afterward. No doubt she'll be wanting breakfast in bed every day, she's so spoiled.

Motor Oil Bible

I've added a link to the Motor Oil Bible because it's easily worth every penny of the 10 bucks it costs. It's full of information the oil companies don't want you to know. If your car is a keeper for whatever reason, you need this information. A free version is available.

Kids Are So Helpful

The lawn needed mowing and the weather was nice, cloudy and not so hot. So I let the kids ride their bikes and play in the yard while I mowed. I'm keeping an eye on them but I lose sight of them for a few seconds every pass. Joshua is supposed to be keeping a sharp eye on James. So, I come around the corner and James is headed for the road and Joshua is nowhere in sight. I grabbed James and went looking for Mr. Helpful. He was in the house getting a drink. From there he went to his room for the afternoon. I still had to mow so I just did the front while watching James and then told him to come with me and sit and watch me mow the back. He's not much for sitting still and was soon playing with the hose but I let him because it kept him occupied the whole time and he was never out of my sight, so it worked out OK. Joshua fell asleep. James took two baths, which he loved.

People Are Still Watching CNN?

CNN 'backpedals' on gun story: Admits it misled viewers in comparing different types of weapons. Gotta love CNN!



Japan - Soon To Become A Nuclear Superpower?

HTML 4

Yesterday James found a huge book I have on HTML and decided it was his favorite thing for the day. He carried it all over and read it regularly (it says "doggy, doggy, doggy"). This is a big, thick book, I wouldn't be surprised if it weighed 5 pounds. At naptime he insisted it had to be in the crib with him and at one point he was using it as a pillow. I thought he was sleeping but as soon as I got comfortable he popped up and announced he "woke up!" Kids! I made him lay down again and he fell asleep soon after. I got up at 2 and went to his room, he was still asleep. I tried to wake him and told him to get up so we could go pick up Joshua, but he wouldn't get up. I picked up the book and that did it! "Give me my book!" At least he didn't insist on taking it in the car.

We The People Of Europe...

Melbourne

We went to Abner's house in Palm Bay and had a barbecue. That was great. We met Miss Pauline, the woman Abner lives with (not that way). She is native to Florida and told us how it was way back when. She lived on a farm in Hialeah and had 65 cows to milk every morning starting at 2:30am before going to school. Hey, you can't walk to school 6 miles, uphill, in 3 feet of snow in Florida! Actually it was quite an education and I cannot imagine living here with no air conditioning. She amazed me with her knowledge of snakes (that's rare!). She knows what she's talking about and when she was young she used to go see Bill Haast of Miami Serpentarium fame and he would teach them (the kids who would go with her) all about the snakes.

She also has what is most likely the largest and most diverse private collection of seashells in Florida. She's been collecting them since she was a child and she has some amazing shells! Most of her collection were collected in Florida and I'll tell you what, you can spend a lifetime looking these days and you won't find most of the beautiful shells she has that she collected long ago. With dredging, pollution, dying reefs, and who knows what else, most of what you find are very common and mostly broken shells these days. She also has some egg casings from a conch. I had no idea there were egg casings. They develop inside them and come out a hole when they are ready. Her casings were dried, of course, but still had the little shells inside and they would fall out as you shook it. They are so tiny. I took some pictures of a small part of her collection and you can see them here. You'll have to sign up with Ofoto if you're not already, but it's free.

We went to Melbourne beach afterward and James just loved it. It was such a beautiful day, it didn't rain at all, although it looked like it might be coming. You couldn't ask for better.

What's The Point Of Having Caller ID?

70 to 80% of the calls I get say "unknown caller" or "out of area" and occasionally "blocked."

It's not smart enough to return long distance calls because it doesn't add the "1."

It's over $8.00 a month = Sprint is stealing money for a service that doesn't even work as advertised.

James Wants To Go To The Beach

Today we're gonna go over to the Melbourne area to visit Abner and go to the beach. James has been talking about going to the beach since we got back from Panama City Beach. I'll take some pictures. It's been a long time since we've gone over to Melbourne and it seems like it's gonna be a beautiful day. Joshua is with his grandmother, I didn't get the story because I don't speak spanish but I think he's going on a day cruise with them. I heard them talking about it but I didn't ask what was going on. Too busy eating.

Chiller Theater

You can see the six fingered hand from the opening of Chiller Theater (from WPIX, NY) over at A Small Victory. Unfortunately it doesn't work on my Mac (something about the compression), I'll check it out on the Windows machine when I get home. I used to love watching that at my Grandparents house in Kearny, NJ. I searched the net for another copy but couldn't find any. I did find the older Chiller Theater opening they used before the six fingered hand and you can find that here.

I found some interesting things while searching. These came from the Dr. San Guinary Weblab. Dr. San Guinary was a host of Creature Feature in Omaha, NE, I believe, I'm really not familiar with the show.

This is a short audio clip of the Dr. saying Roll that movie. (.au)

The following videos need QuickTime.

Here is a video blooper of the Dr. introducing "The Attack of the 50 ft. Woman." It was a little too "adult" for air in those days. Funny.

This one is the Dr. with Jerry Lewis at his telethon. Very funny.

There's more where that came from, if you like those go check out the website.

They Got It Wrong Again

The Wednesday night news said the eclipse would start at around 11:15 and continue past midnight. So when I got out of my car here at work at 10:50, imagine my surprise to see only a quarter moon. They were only off by about an hour.

Wildflower

I was walking with James the other morning and noticed a very beautiful flower on the side of the road. I wanted to take a picture but didn't have the camera, so I decided to come back later in the afternoon to get the picture. Later, when I went back all the flowers were closed up. I guess it gets too hot for them too. I had to wait till the next morning to get the pictures and I believe it was worth the wait. What do you think?

Reflections

My driveway is long, curved and narrow and alot of people have trouble backing out without going off the driveway. I'm used to it and it's no problem for me, even at night, but when it's raining and dark, the driveway disappears and it's hard to keep from falling off. So, I decided to put some reflectors along the driveway in strategic places. Well, about the second time down the drive after installing them, in broad daylight, I ran one of them over.

"Dear Kofi:
Now that we have conquered and occupied Iraq, may we please have permission to govern it for one year?" Signed: the US and Britain.

Viva la world community

And in related news...

UN And Globalism Condemned In The Bible

Kids Are Cruel

So I used the blower today to clean off the porch and driveway. They were nice and clean. Add 2 kids playing outside and a father going inside for a minute. Come back outside and...

James practically filled the porch with leaves while Joshua watched. I have no idea how he got so many leaves, it must have taken a few trips (or Joshua helped and won't admit it). A little later he found some clay pots Irma had laying around and he started throwing them up in the air and watching them crash down on the driveway. He got 3 before I could stop him. So we all had a cleaning party and swept it all up. Just as we got it all cleaned up, James says "Here Dad", I look and he's about to throw a pot in my direction. I'm about 15 feet away saying "Noooooo!" He threw it and it bounced off the driveway in front of me. It was plastic!

P.S.

While blowing the leaves I blew a fire ant hill away. That was fun, although it probably just pissed them off and they will regather and take over my entire property. If there ever was an example of a creature that deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth, it's fire ants. Fire ant lovers and appologists need only sit on any lawn in Florida for 5 or 10 minutes to be in complete agreement.

Wilderness of Stars and Galaxies

It's just interesting to see the images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Very interesting.

Hubble's deep view shows cosmic violence

HubbleSite


"any real grasp of the numbers of stars out there is beyond any human comprehension."

Melting at the Park

Saturday we went to the Kissimmee lakefront park and let the kids play on the playground for a while. Our friend, Abner, came with us. They had a great time and I took some video of them. The playground is covered by a huge tarp to protect from too much sun but it was so hot. We walked down by the water and almost melted in the sun. They have a new area with spraying water for the kids to play in and that is a great idea. There were alot of kids in there. It's way too hot to spend much time outside. I have no idea how people work outside in this sun. We came home and enjoyed the air conditioning and a cold beer.

Oops

For some reason I thought I was supposed to work tonight. I was wrong. I had slept in the evening so I couldn't go back to sleep right away. James came out here (living room) 3 times so far. First, he was looking for his mommy. I took him back to bed, but he got up again after about 10 minutes. This time he wanted to take his vitamins and play. I took him to lay down with Irma. A little while later he got up again and just wanted to play with his toys. I let him play a little while thinking he would get sleepy again. He wasn't getting sleepy. I took him back to bed with Irma and said if he didn't go to sleep I would put him in the crib and I haven't heard from him since. Now I want to go to bed but there's no room left. I'm still glad I'm off.

Hurricane hunter

This morning I heard on the news that they were opening a P3 Hurricane Hunter aircraft to the public at Orlando Executive Airport, so I thought I'd take James to see it because he loves airplanes. Once we found it we had a great time. We went to the airport entrance but the airplane was in the back of the airport at a different unmarked entrance. They were all prepared with maps and didn't even wait for me to ask, she knew what I was looking for, so apparently, everyone was doing the same thing. It would have been nice if the news let us know where it really was since I went way out of my way to get there and as it turns out where I needed to go was much closer to home.

There was a bus to take us from the parking lot to the aircraft and James loved the ride. It was his first time in a bus and he wanted to ride again. The plane had a steep stair (ladder) to get in but James took to it like a pro. He had fun sitting in the seats and looking out the windows. The crew gave him a patch and some stickers. We went back down and had a look around outside and took some pictures. After a little while James started running to the ladder again and I caught him at the bottom. I let him go back up, since he doesn't get to see many airplanes and he started acting like he worked there. He knew his way around and knew what he wanted to see. I took a few more pictures and headed out to pick up Joshua from school. He had alot of fun and wants to do it again. I put the pictures on my website, you can see them here, along with various other photos I've taken lately.

There is one kind of funny thing I noticed after looking over the pictures. The plane was full of electronics, all kinds of test equipment, radar, computers (Gateway), you know. James thought some of the radar screens were TVs, but I corrected him. But, in one of the pictures you can see a TV guide so I guess they can check out Surviver on the way to the hurricane. See for yourself.

What is an Artificial Blueberry?

I saw some blueberry pancakes in Publix today and bought a box because it's been a long time since I've had them and suddenly started craving them (comfort food). I used to pick wild blueberries when I was a kid. Anyway, I got home and made some (yes, they were good), but noticed it said the blueberries were artificial. What the hell is an artificial blueberry? Couldn't they just use freeze dried? Next time I'll buy frozen blueberries and add them myself. What is it about "mankind" that we think we can improve our food with artificial and synthetic ingredients?

Hot, Hot, Hot

James loves to play outside and he bugs me constantly to go out. Thursday I let him play outside earlier than usual, right after Irma went to work. We found a frog and he had so much fun chasing it around. Eventually it hopped up on a tree and climbed out of reach. Now it was time to ride his bike. He wanted to ride down the road and see the cows. It was so hot! The sun is so bright you can't even look up normally, I wish I hadn't lost my sunglasses. This is all before 10am. Finally he had his fill and I chased him home (he wanted me to get him). We had fun though. You just can't spend too long out there without some shade and drinks.

Fare Thee Well

Check out this online National Obituary Archive. I found my father and grandfather on the first try but didn't have much luck beyond that.

Bizarre Human Rights Commission

Baghdad Bob is Back

Now he's writing error: 404 pages because, apparently, the US forces won't arrest him. The 404 page is pretty funny.

Saddam Never Was

As the logic goes, since we can't find him now, he must never have been. Or is that just chemical weapons?

Failure to Find Saddam Proves He Never Existed

CNN is Irrelevant

It's very telling that Fox News and MSNBC are showing the President's speech and CNN is showing "The Royal Report" and commercials. 'Nuff said.

On Overeating

I went to my mother-in-laws house today and as usual she kept giving me more and more food. First some pancakes, then chicken stew and rice. Now I'm full but she wants to give me more. She brings me a bowl of farina. I tried. There was no chance of eating more. I'm still full. I feel like a snake, eating a huge meal and not eating again for a few days. She means well, I just can't eat that much anymore. Ever since I've been taking Seasilver I can't eat so much anymore. I believe it's because your body tends to crave food when it needs nutrients and the Seasilver takes care of that for you. Amazing stuff. Powerful.

New E-Book and Free Sample

Here's a useful resource that outlines step by step instructions on how to build your own online business in 30 days. I found it really helpful, and it can help you the same way it helped me. Click Here for more info.

Download a free sample here.

Spiders

Yesterday I saw a spider I'd never seen before. It was grey, hairy, with a couple of orange spots on the back. I took some pictures of it and it reared up to try to scare me away even though it was only about 3/8 in. long. A little later James was showing me a dragonfly. I thought it was strange because it was not flying away, but I couldn't see it too well because it was behind a pipe on the side of the house. Upon closer examination I realized it was being held by a larger version of the same spider I saw earlier. I tried to get a picture but couldn't quite get a good view.

New European Army To Be Formed Soon!