Last night we had some good thunderstorms roll through here. There wasn't any hail, but there was some lightning, hard rain, wind gusts, and even a tornado up near Oklahoma. I spent some of that time at dinner with my neighbors, but then came home and chilled in the hot tub to ride the rest of it out.
Now if sitting in a tub full of hot water outside while there is a T-Storm going on doesn't sound like a good idea, well....it isn't. I think my only saving grace is that the houses that are behind me are significantly higher and I think one of the guys is a HAM operator as there is a huge antenna and lightning road that must tower over my house by about 30 feet.
Anyway, I think we get entirely too complacent with our world. We get hung up in the politics (dems vs. Republicans, or libs vs. conservatives), the bullshit entertainment, our jobs, getting food at the grocery store, keeping up with the Joneses, etc.
What we forget to do is stop and smell the roses. It's an age-old saying, but it's so true. Last night I was able to block it all out and appreciate where I was, in the moment. My oak tree is budding out. It's beautiful in it's simplicity. I planted it with my ex-girlfriend when it was only about 7-feet tall and maybe an inch or so in diameter. Now it's over the house and providing enough shade to kill off the grass underneath it.
The sky was churning and turning all kinds of colors. Low clouds would whisk by at a high rate of speed all the while changing form and shape. The upper level clouds would lumber slowly while changing their hues and lashing out at the ground with rain and lightning.
My vines on the back fence were swaying with the wind and all around me new plant life was coming forth with the new spring.
For just a moment, all else was forgotten. Fierce beauty reigned supreme and I was just a small part of it.
Then again, maybe it was the Jack Daniels.....
Friday, March 30, 2007
Looking.....Looking
Lately, it seems less and less likely that I'll ever meet anyone that I am truly interested in. As much as I know that it's probably a perception issue, I just can't believe how disappointing the whole dating thing is.
Most of my friends will tell me that I am just too damned picky. I suppose that is true to a large extent. But, like playing golf, I just can't quite seem to get all the elements to come together. While there is a good percentage of guys that go for one thing or the other, I admit, I want it all. Why settle for less and be disappointed in a few years?
If I meet a cute chick, she is either dumb as a brick, too high maintenance, or lives in a fantasy world.
If I meet a smart chick, she doesn't do it for my physically.
If I meet a chick that I get along with and can talk to, I find that she isn't into the things I am into and while it may be a good friendship I don't see it going any further than that.
The ones that really confuse me are the ones that talk to you or contact you and then *poof* disappear like the dinosaurs. Maybe the "I love Midget Porn" t-shirt scares them off?
Most of my friends will tell me that I am just too damned picky. I suppose that is true to a large extent. But, like playing golf, I just can't quite seem to get all the elements to come together. While there is a good percentage of guys that go for one thing or the other, I admit, I want it all. Why settle for less and be disappointed in a few years?
If I meet a cute chick, she is either dumb as a brick, too high maintenance, or lives in a fantasy world.
If I meet a smart chick, she doesn't do it for my physically.
If I meet a chick that I get along with and can talk to, I find that she isn't into the things I am into and while it may be a good friendship I don't see it going any further than that.
The ones that really confuse me are the ones that talk to you or contact you and then *poof* disappear like the dinosaurs. Maybe the "I love Midget Porn" t-shirt scares them off?
Monday, March 26, 2007
Gore is a Hypocrite - How Surprising
I was reading in Forbe's magazine of Gore's flagrant use of electricity and energy.
According to this, Gore spent approximately $30,000 in electricity for his Nashville mansion. The entire estate registered almost 221,000 kilowatt hours. The average household uses less than 11,000. And of course, this is just ONE of his places and doesn't take into account his planes and all that stuff.
Another great example of "do as I say, not as I do." You would think that if he is willing to testify to congress how important the dangers of global warming are that he'd at least try to make some type of effort to mitigate his own impact.
I guess not.
According to this, Gore spent approximately $30,000 in electricity for his Nashville mansion. The entire estate registered almost 221,000 kilowatt hours. The average household uses less than 11,000. And of course, this is just ONE of his places and doesn't take into account his planes and all that stuff.
Another great example of "do as I say, not as I do." You would think that if he is willing to testify to congress how important the dangers of global warming are that he'd at least try to make some type of effort to mitigate his own impact.
I guess not.
A person’s Net Value
Bling! And I were out and having lunch. We happened to be sitting near two younger guys that had some interesting opinions about the world, but neither of us thought they had much in the way of substance.
In any case, Bling! And I started discussing politics and other things going on in the world. He and I don’t always see eye-to-eye politically, but that’s not to say that we don’t respect each other’s opinion. I always appreciate the fact that he has an intelligent, alternate point of view.
So while we were talking Bling! Indicates one of the things he thinks about and concerns him is a persons net value to society. So we explored this subject a bit and had some interesting ideas. Keep in mind that these are still fledgling thoughts and we didn’t take the time to work it all out. I’d also like to know if people have ever tried this before and whether or not they came up with a workable model.
What makes a person valuable to society, or the human race? I’m sure people like Al Gore believes he is pivotal to society at large, but is he? How do you quantify that?
One qualification might be whether or not you contribute to society economically. Are you a drain on society or do you promote the economy. As an example: Bling! Is an engineer working on the new Boeing 7E7. He is probably paid fairly well, though I don’t know the specifics. He owns a house, has a couple of toys and is married to Mrs. Bling! (who is self-supporting as far as I know).
It would be quite simple to take the simple approach and say that he makes X money, and spends Y money and arrive at a conclusion of whether or not he contributes financially to society. If that is all you look at, you are missing the bigger picture. Bling! Is contributing to a massive economic project – the 7E7. The 7E7 project is the reason tens of thousands of people are employed for one reason or another. It also will allow for travel, which is one way people conduct business.
Then you have to consider that Bling! Also spends money at the grocery store, buys toys, etc. All of which again contribute in some way to the economy as a whole. It’s not a cut and dried approach.
But if you could factor all this in, you would eventually arrive at a conclusion that what he does either is, or is not productive for society at a financial level.
But that is just one aspect. How about other factors such as morality, or a general pulse of enthusiasm or happiness? How do you measure those factors?
A comedian might rank low on the financial impact scale, yet rank very highly on the enthusiasm scale because he / she makes people happy.
A priest is probably high on the moral scale, and probably also high on the happiness scale, and again low on the financial scale.
One of my good friends is probably financially “neutral” but I’d say ranks fairly high on the happiness scale because he always makes people laugh.
A street bum probably doesn’t contribute to any category as an extreme example.
What I am getting at is that you can break it down to several factors:
1 - Financial contribution
2 - Moral contribution
3 - State of well Being (happiness) contribution
4 - And perhaps one for health contribution
I’m sure we could make more categories if we thought about it, but you’d want to keep things broken down to the basics. Even going with a health contribution may be a sub factor of well being.
But you take these factors, figure them all out and assign weights to them. Then, from there you take the mean score of a person and find out if they are an asset to society or if they are liability.
The bigger question, then, is what do you do with people if they are a liability? What is the next step? This is where things could get really scary.
I Shoped and Saved!
Over the weekend Bling! and I were out looking for a bike for Mrs. Bling! (she still hates that). We found some interesting deals, but I think I came away with a pretty good one.
I had been needing a new helmet for quite some time. You are only supposed to wear a helmet from 3 ~ 5 years because the foam liners that protect your skull break down over time. My old Arai helmet was easily at the 5-year mark and maybe older!
I found a new helmet that I liked, also and Arai, but it goes for about $650 and that is far more than I wanted to spend on a new lid. When I was at one of the dealers the Shoei representative was there and asked if I ever tried them. I had in the past, but they didn't fit my odd-shaped skull. He said they had changed some of the shapes and had me try one on. It fit pretty good, but again I was looking at $600+ for a new helmet. Forget that.
On to another dealer. They had a handful of these helmets on a baker's rack for 50% off, but nothing that would fit me. I started talking to one of the guys and to make a long story short he was able to let a few go for almost the same discount. I don't know if you can tell by the sticker, but the original price of this helmet is $692.00!!! I was able to get it for $415!! That's a savings of $277!!! I am not overtly fond of the paint scheme, but I couldn't pass up that kind of deal when I needed one anyway.Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Look Into My Eye!
Today is my birthday. I turn 36 today. Sometimes it’s hard to believe I have made it this far in my life. Sometimes, I get tired and I wonder how I am to go another 35+ years (should I be so lucky).
But over all, I love life. I don’t always like what it has to offer, but each experience is an experience. And I’m in a pretty good spot. I still have my parents and immediate family, I have some good friends, and I have a good job and a roof over my head. Things could always be substantially worse.
And yet, here I am….36. I wanted to go Sky Diving for my Bday. Maybe I still will. The weekend is coming up, ya know?
When the color of the night
And all the smoke for one life
Gives way to shaky movements,
Improvisational skills,
A forest of whispering speakers
Let’s swear that we will get with the times,
In a current health to stay
Let’s get friendship right
Get life day-to-day
In the forget-yer-skates dream
Full of countervailing woes
In diverse-as-ever scenes
Proceeding on a need-to-know
In a face so full of meaning
As to almost make it glow
O’for a good life, we just might to weaken
And find somewhere to go
Go somewhere we’re needed
Find somewhere to grow
Grow somewhere we are needed.
Find somewhere to go
Let’s go somewhere we’re needed
Find somewhere to grow
We grow where we are needed
…..The Tragically Hip
But over all, I love life. I don’t always like what it has to offer, but each experience is an experience. And I’m in a pretty good spot. I still have my parents and immediate family, I have some good friends, and I have a good job and a roof over my head. Things could always be substantially worse.
And yet, here I am….36. I wanted to go Sky Diving for my Bday. Maybe I still will. The weekend is coming up, ya know?
When the color of the night
And all the smoke for one life
Gives way to shaky movements,
Improvisational skills,
A forest of whispering speakers
Let’s swear that we will get with the times,
In a current health to stay
Let’s get friendship right
Get life day-to-day
In the forget-yer-skates dream
Full of countervailing woes
In diverse-as-ever scenes
Proceeding on a need-to-know
In a face so full of meaning
As to almost make it glow
O’for a good life, we just might to weaken
And find somewhere to go
Go somewhere we’re needed
Find somewhere to grow
Grow somewhere we are needed.
Find somewhere to go
Let’s go somewhere we’re needed
Find somewhere to grow
We grow where we are needed
…..The Tragically Hip
Jesus, Witches, and Global Warming
What would Jesus do? No seriously, I am not going down that path. But it is interesting to me that Global Warming is seriously starting to parallel witch hunts and religion. People believe the earth is in danger of Global Warming. They also believe that the Co2 output of mankind is solely responsible for this.
Let's talk about witches for a moment. During the early part of our history as America there were massive witch hunts. Leading members of science and the Church imbibed fear into us that these witches would do us great harm and were legions of Satan himself. It's a good thing that we had these people to lead us, as sheep, during these times because clearly we were not capable of logically understanding what a witch was or was not. And obviously, it was true, wasn't it? Since there aren't any witches today we can come to the logical conclusion that these people were spot on the money and eradicated all the witches.
So let's look at Global Warming. Despite that the entire scientific process of peer review has broken down, despite irrefutable evidence that Co2 is not the cause of warming, despite evidence that suggests a far more complicated model than we can comprehend, despite evidence that the earth has always had a dramatically changing atmosphere people still believe in Global Warming. Why is that?
How is it that conservatives, on the whole, can have faith and believe in Jesus and God without scientific proof, yet require this proof for Global Warming and don't believe the leftist media hype? However, if we look at the more liberal folks we typically see a strong belief in Global Warming DESPITE scientific evidence to the contrary, yet they also typically shun Jesus and God.
I find this to be a very frightening situation. You cannot prove, nor disprove, that God exists. Yet you can disprove the theories of Global Warming. So if people believe in it, with blind faith apparently, what is one to do?
What would Jesus do?
Let's talk about witches for a moment. During the early part of our history as America there were massive witch hunts. Leading members of science and the Church imbibed fear into us that these witches would do us great harm and were legions of Satan himself. It's a good thing that we had these people to lead us, as sheep, during these times because clearly we were not capable of logically understanding what a witch was or was not. And obviously, it was true, wasn't it? Since there aren't any witches today we can come to the logical conclusion that these people were spot on the money and eradicated all the witches.
So let's look at Global Warming. Despite that the entire scientific process of peer review has broken down, despite irrefutable evidence that Co2 is not the cause of warming, despite evidence that suggests a far more complicated model than we can comprehend, despite evidence that the earth has always had a dramatically changing atmosphere people still believe in Global Warming. Why is that?
How is it that conservatives, on the whole, can have faith and believe in Jesus and God without scientific proof, yet require this proof for Global Warming and don't believe the leftist media hype? However, if we look at the more liberal folks we typically see a strong belief in Global Warming DESPITE scientific evidence to the contrary, yet they also typically shun Jesus and God.
I find this to be a very frightening situation. You cannot prove, nor disprove, that God exists. Yet you can disprove the theories of Global Warming. So if people believe in it, with blind faith apparently, what is one to do?
What would Jesus do?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
The Ringing in my Ears
I have probably mentioned Dream Theater on here several times. They are one of my favorite bands, but there is another band that I really love called The Tragically Hip. They played in Dallas last night and I was there.
I hadn't seen The Hip in about four years. Me and my friends try to catch them every time they come through the area. Sometimes we'd even drive to Austin or another neighboring city / state just to catch them twice.
This was also the first time I have really seen a concert since having my eyes fixed and I can tell you it made a HUGE difference. I didn't have to take my glasses off from fear of them being crushed in the pit (even though The Hip is not a mosh-type-of-band) and I could clearly see everything going on. For me, that was a beautiful thing.....
The Hip hales from Canada. There, they sell out huge arenas and stadiums. They have a massive following and can pull of a great show. Here, nobody knows who they are. They often don't even sell out the small venues such as the one they played at last night. What this means is that you get to get up close and personal with a band that plays at a caliber far exceeding most "club" bands.
Every time we have seen them in the past they have put on a great show and last night was no exception. The only hard part was paying attention to the band instead of the incredibly cute brunette that was right in front of me and kept asking me about the songs they were starting to play. Too bad her boyfriend was also there.
But, even so we were just a wee bit off the stage and to the right. Almost underneath the huge stack of speakers and it was extremely loud. I should have had my earplugs in, but I think I'll be OK in a day or so.
They tore it up on the songs that were more upbeat like "Locked in the Trunk of a Car" and "Hundredth Meridian," yet were able to draw us in on slower melodies like "It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken," "Fiddler's Green," and "Sherpa High."
Could you feel it move through you? Could you? Because I could feel it move through me.....
I hadn't seen The Hip in about four years. Me and my friends try to catch them every time they come through the area. Sometimes we'd even drive to Austin or another neighboring city / state just to catch them twice.
This was also the first time I have really seen a concert since having my eyes fixed and I can tell you it made a HUGE difference. I didn't have to take my glasses off from fear of them being crushed in the pit (even though The Hip is not a mosh-type-of-band) and I could clearly see everything going on. For me, that was a beautiful thing.....
The Hip hales from Canada. There, they sell out huge arenas and stadiums. They have a massive following and can pull of a great show. Here, nobody knows who they are. They often don't even sell out the small venues such as the one they played at last night. What this means is that you get to get up close and personal with a band that plays at a caliber far exceeding most "club" bands.
Every time we have seen them in the past they have put on a great show and last night was no exception. The only hard part was paying attention to the band instead of the incredibly cute brunette that was right in front of me and kept asking me about the songs they were starting to play. Too bad her boyfriend was also there.
But, even so we were just a wee bit off the stage and to the right. Almost underneath the huge stack of speakers and it was extremely loud. I should have had my earplugs in, but I think I'll be OK in a day or so.
They tore it up on the songs that were more upbeat like "Locked in the Trunk of a Car" and "Hundredth Meridian," yet were able to draw us in on slower melodies like "It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken," "Fiddler's Green," and "Sherpa High."
Could you feel it move through you? Could you? Because I could feel it move through me.....
Thursday, March 15, 2007
How Connected do you Have to be?
I think I am finally getting a new phone. I've been asking for one for months, now. Because our phones are handled by corporate I can't just go out and buy one. Or rather, I could, but it would cost me a lot more.
Anyway, for some time I've been asking for a new Razor. In fact, I've been asking for one so long that they have the new versions of the Razor out. Finally, the girl at corporate said she would order me one and have it sent to me.
Then I get a call from her. She said that some of the higher-ups in the company are looking into getting Trio's for all of the instructors. I teach from time to time, so I fall into that category and she said she would get me one if I want it. I told her "no." She said the reason they were considering this is so that the instructors could get their emails faster and respond quicker. I explained that was exactly why I didn't want one.
Our company is bad enough with people getting upset because you didn't respond to an email within an hour. What would it be like if they knew I had a trio and were getting the emails immediately and that I could theoretically respond immediately? I really don't want to deal with someone being upset because I didn't respond to their email within .05 seconds due to being engaged with a client or having a coke, or even, god forbid, trying to breathe.
Up until I was about 15 years of age, the human race had survived without cell phones. Why is it that people now feel that we can't get by without one. And now, not only do you need your cell phone but it must be online at all times of the night and day so that people can send you crap and you can respond with more crap. I hate that. I just want a phone. I don't want to be "online" with my phone. I don't want the Internet, camera phones, or my email delivered to my phone 24 x 7.
As a friend of mine once put it, if you have one of those things you aren't important. Those are so that the important people can get hold of you.
Anyway, for some time I've been asking for a new Razor. In fact, I've been asking for one so long that they have the new versions of the Razor out. Finally, the girl at corporate said she would order me one and have it sent to me.
Then I get a call from her. She said that some of the higher-ups in the company are looking into getting Trio's for all of the instructors. I teach from time to time, so I fall into that category and she said she would get me one if I want it. I told her "no." She said the reason they were considering this is so that the instructors could get their emails faster and respond quicker. I explained that was exactly why I didn't want one.
Our company is bad enough with people getting upset because you didn't respond to an email within an hour. What would it be like if they knew I had a trio and were getting the emails immediately and that I could theoretically respond immediately? I really don't want to deal with someone being upset because I didn't respond to their email within .05 seconds due to being engaged with a client or having a coke, or even, god forbid, trying to breathe.
Up until I was about 15 years of age, the human race had survived without cell phones. Why is it that people now feel that we can't get by without one. And now, not only do you need your cell phone but it must be online at all times of the night and day so that people can send you crap and you can respond with more crap. I hate that. I just want a phone. I don't want to be "online" with my phone. I don't want the Internet, camera phones, or my email delivered to my phone 24 x 7.
As a friend of mine once put it, if you have one of those things you aren't important. Those are so that the important people can get hold of you.
Flooded with "Hits"
On the right side bar of the site there is a link counter. It's placed at the bottom of the side bar and if you ever want to see statistics on the number of hits this page gets and where they come from you can click on it and check it out.
On average, I usually hit a high of about 10 hits a day. At a low point, which it was last week, it was only 3 ~ 5 hits a day. Suddenly, it was at 60 hits per day!!!! Holy smokes? Must be something wrong, right?
So I click on the meter and start trying to find out where all these people are coming from. As it turns out, they were all googling the "Global Warming Swindle" which I had recently posted links for on here. Get this, at one point it hit ~ 200 hits in one day. Wild.
But the video is here, even if Blogger keeps breaking the link. And then I had a very pleasing thought..... word is finally getting out. People are finally starting to realize that this is a hoax, a sham as it were. Even Forbes had an article indicating that this is all a bunch of bunk. My guess is that the hardcore libs and environmentalist will not "believe" that it's wrong, though they will "believe" that it's right even though there isn't any evidence or science to back it.
Maybe it's not such a bad thing that people are finally waking up.....
On average, I usually hit a high of about 10 hits a day. At a low point, which it was last week, it was only 3 ~ 5 hits a day. Suddenly, it was at 60 hits per day!!!! Holy smokes? Must be something wrong, right?
So I click on the meter and start trying to find out where all these people are coming from. As it turns out, they were all googling the "Global Warming Swindle" which I had recently posted links for on here. Get this, at one point it hit ~ 200 hits in one day. Wild.
But the video is here, even if Blogger keeps breaking the link. And then I had a very pleasing thought..... word is finally getting out. People are finally starting to realize that this is a hoax, a sham as it were. Even Forbes had an article indicating that this is all a bunch of bunk. My guess is that the hardcore libs and environmentalist will not "believe" that it's wrong, though they will "believe" that it's right even though there isn't any evidence or science to back it.
Maybe it's not such a bad thing that people are finally waking up.....
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Great Global Warming Swindle
Thanks to my dad's blog, Political Angst In America, I downloaded and watched this BBC special presentation called The Great Global Warming Swindle. If you have seen Al Gore's movie, then I strongly suggest that you watch this. Then you will really learn what an Inconvenient Truth is - that the global warming theories are all shite and based on bunk science.
It's about an hour long, but it discusses many of the problems related to the hoax of global warming including how the theories are completely flawed, the data is flawed, the "conspiracy" behind global warming, and how these great environmentalists are oppressing the growth of 3rd world countries.
It's about an hour long, but it discusses many of the problems related to the hoax of global warming including how the theories are completely flawed, the data is flawed, the "conspiracy" behind global warming, and how these great environmentalists are oppressing the growth of 3rd world countries.
Unhappy Verizon Wireless Customer
Thanks to Bling! for sending this one in. Don't mess with engineers, eh?
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Bible Thumping Street People
Friday night, out on the town, we came across a young guy and a girl on the street. They were dressed nice, but casual and fairly clean cut. The guy had a sign that said something to the effect of "cash for commandments." He was paying cash to people that could name the 10 commandments.
Nobody could name them all! I was fairly surprised. Even the girl that this guy was with from the church couldn't name them all. I had the impression that she was recently "saved" and still learning.
For the record:
1 - Do not worship any other gods
2 - Do not make any idols
3 - Do not misuse the name of God
4 - Keep the Sabbath holy
5 - Honor your mother and father
6 - Do not Murder
7 - Do not commit adultery
8 - Do not steal
9 - Do not lie
10 - Do not covet
If you just take from five down, and forget religion for a moment, those are pretty good rules to live by. In any case, I asked the guy and the chick if they knew that the Constitution of the United States was founded on the guidelines of the Ten Commandments. They didn't.
So while we are standing there waiting on a few folks to grab some late night coffee the guy asks my friend, Young Blood, if he's ever lied, stole, etc. Of course, most of us have broken at least some of these commandments at some point in our lives. He admitted that he had.
So then the guy says "When you are standing before God to be judged and you are guilty don't you think he will punish you?" and then "What happens to people who are punished?" etc.
At this point I just couldn't take it anymore. I really, really, try to stay out of religious arguments because they are futile, but this cracker is fucking with my friend and it was pissing me off.
So I interrupt and ask the guy "Who are you to presume what God will do?"
and he is shocked. He doesn't know how to answer. I asked him if he thought he was better than God, or at least his equal. Again, the stammer. At this point the chick backs off out of the conversation and goes to sit on a bench. Finally he says the Bible tells him.
Ok, which version of the Bible? Huh? Which version of the Bible....and how do you interpret that? You realize it's fallible, don't you? Oh no! Can't be! It's the word of God. No, it's the word of MAN and man is fallible. You do realize that different versions exist due to political and social pressures of the church and crown back in the 15th century right?
This guy was not happy anymore. But I'll give him credit he was still going for it. So I finally countered on him....you believe because you have faith. What? Yeah, faith. That's really what it comes down to. You do have faith don't you? Yes. Good, because that's really ALL you have. Now the guy is totally confused.
He asks if murder is wrong. I explained to him it depends on your point of view. What? Sure, if you are Muslim and you are killing infidels it's perfectly acceptable. There isn't anything legally or morally wrong with it. We argue for a moment about how everything is relative to a viewpoint. So I try to drive it home by explaining that it's faith that drives him and religion. I'm not sure he got it.
The best part, a small crowd was gathering to listen to the argument. Now a few others finally say "he's right" and start in on the guy. It was amusing. I told the him thanks for the discussion and I really did like the cash for commandments gig. I left him with the other to discuss their thoughts.
Nobody could name them all! I was fairly surprised. Even the girl that this guy was with from the church couldn't name them all. I had the impression that she was recently "saved" and still learning.
For the record:
1 - Do not worship any other gods
2 - Do not make any idols
3 - Do not misuse the name of God
4 - Keep the Sabbath holy
5 - Honor your mother and father
6 - Do not Murder
7 - Do not commit adultery
8 - Do not steal
9 - Do not lie
10 - Do not covet
If you just take from five down, and forget religion for a moment, those are pretty good rules to live by. In any case, I asked the guy and the chick if they knew that the Constitution of the United States was founded on the guidelines of the Ten Commandments. They didn't.
So while we are standing there waiting on a few folks to grab some late night coffee the guy asks my friend, Young Blood, if he's ever lied, stole, etc. Of course, most of us have broken at least some of these commandments at some point in our lives. He admitted that he had.
So then the guy says "When you are standing before God to be judged and you are guilty don't you think he will punish you?" and then "What happens to people who are punished?" etc.
At this point I just couldn't take it anymore. I really, really, try to stay out of religious arguments because they are futile, but this cracker is fucking with my friend and it was pissing me off.
So I interrupt and ask the guy "Who are you to presume what God will do?"
and he is shocked. He doesn't know how to answer. I asked him if he thought he was better than God, or at least his equal. Again, the stammer. At this point the chick backs off out of the conversation and goes to sit on a bench. Finally he says the Bible tells him.
Ok, which version of the Bible? Huh? Which version of the Bible....and how do you interpret that? You realize it's fallible, don't you? Oh no! Can't be! It's the word of God. No, it's the word of MAN and man is fallible. You do realize that different versions exist due to political and social pressures of the church and crown back in the 15th century right?
This guy was not happy anymore. But I'll give him credit he was still going for it. So I finally countered on him....you believe because you have faith. What? Yeah, faith. That's really what it comes down to. You do have faith don't you? Yes. Good, because that's really ALL you have. Now the guy is totally confused.
He asks if murder is wrong. I explained to him it depends on your point of view. What? Sure, if you are Muslim and you are killing infidels it's perfectly acceptable. There isn't anything legally or morally wrong with it. We argue for a moment about how everything is relative to a viewpoint. So I try to drive it home by explaining that it's faith that drives him and religion. I'm not sure he got it.
The best part, a small crowd was gathering to listen to the argument. Now a few others finally say "he's right" and start in on the guy. It was amusing. I told the him thanks for the discussion and I really did like the cash for commandments gig. I left him with the other to discuss their thoughts.
Evil Bathroom Guilt Mongers
These people drive me nuts. The whole tipping thing is out of control. I think I've written about this before. I know that I've gone off on it several times. Did you ever see the movie Reservoir Dogs? In the beginning of the movie there is a great scene where Steve Buscemi's character goes off on the whole tipping thing.
I don't know at what point in time tipping became something that is used as a tool to force people to feel guilty and hand over money. There is a great rant on this by Foamy on his latest cartoon. I mean, c'mon folks. Do you really deserve a tip just for doing your job that you are already getting paid to do? Do you want every other industry to follow the restaurant business and stop paying minimum wage and benefits because they've figured out you are earning plenty of tips?
But that is a rant for another day.... What I'm really upset about is the folks that stand in the bathroom at a club and hand you a paper towel and expect you to throw something in their tip jar. Are you high? I really started noticing this at "gentleman's clubs" (which I am not fond of anyway). You go into the bathroom to take a leak and then there is some guy there with his paraphernalia spread all over the place. You wash your hands. He hands you a paper towel and acts like you are supposed to give him something for it.
Now they are showing up everywhere. All the other clubs and places are starting to have them. I was in downtown Ft. Worth on Friday night and two different places had these guilt mongers waiting for a handout. Now, I can certainly understand if you take some of their breath mints, or use one of their combs and stuff to fix your hair. Tip the guy, whatever. But the business provides a toilet, a sink, and paper towels ANYWAY. It's free. I used them before the tip monger showed up. Now that he is there and hands me one I am supposed to give him money?
Maybe if he held it for me, aimed, or wiped my butt after using the bathroom I'd say he deserves a tip. But not just because he is standing there guarding the paper towel dispenser. Maybe everyone really would be happier if the socialists got their way....then nobody would have anything and we'd all be on a level playing field. If the guilt mongers went away that just might make me happy.
I don't know at what point in time tipping became something that is used as a tool to force people to feel guilty and hand over money. There is a great rant on this by Foamy on his latest cartoon. I mean, c'mon folks. Do you really deserve a tip just for doing your job that you are already getting paid to do? Do you want every other industry to follow the restaurant business and stop paying minimum wage and benefits because they've figured out you are earning plenty of tips?
But that is a rant for another day.... What I'm really upset about is the folks that stand in the bathroom at a club and hand you a paper towel and expect you to throw something in their tip jar. Are you high? I really started noticing this at "gentleman's clubs" (which I am not fond of anyway). You go into the bathroom to take a leak and then there is some guy there with his paraphernalia spread all over the place. You wash your hands. He hands you a paper towel and acts like you are supposed to give him something for it.
Now they are showing up everywhere. All the other clubs and places are starting to have them. I was in downtown Ft. Worth on Friday night and two different places had these guilt mongers waiting for a handout. Now, I can certainly understand if you take some of their breath mints, or use one of their combs and stuff to fix your hair. Tip the guy, whatever. But the business provides a toilet, a sink, and paper towels ANYWAY. It's free. I used them before the tip monger showed up. Now that he is there and hands me one I am supposed to give him money?
Maybe if he held it for me, aimed, or wiped my butt after using the bathroom I'd say he deserves a tip. But not just because he is standing there guarding the paper towel dispenser. Maybe everyone really would be happier if the socialists got their way....then nobody would have anything and we'd all be on a level playing field. If the guilt mongers went away that just might make me happy.
Another Apple!
For the second time in my life I now own another Apple product. Not that I really have anything against Apple other than they consistently overprice their products. My first Apple was an Apple IIc. I thought it was killer back then and I saved all my money just so I could bump up the RAM to 512KB. It had a a 360kb floppy drive, and no color monitor. Just a little 10" green screen on a funky stand.
Now, many years later, I have bought another Apple. The infamous iPod. I'm sure almost all of you have been using them for years, but traditionally I stuck to MP3 players that had no moving parts and relied on memory, not hard drives, for their storage. IRIVER were my favorites, but you just can't get enough RAM in them to make them comparable to the 30GB iPods.
So I broke down and picked one up. Yesterday, I put about 200 miles on my bike with it. I'm still getting used to it, but so far it works great. I just have to "tweak" my music collection in the iTunes program so that it looks and feels like I want it to.
Now if they would just bring the price of their laptops down to something decent.....
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Don't Sell the Car, Don't Eat the Cake!
My neighbor's son is getting married this weekend down in Houston. Apparently the soon-to-be couple is having trouble paying for the expensive wedding. The bride-to-be is pressuring him into selling his car. He has a Viper. Aside from the obvious mistake of getting married this would be mistake #1.
The other mistake would be allowing the new bride to eat the wedding cake. I'm sure everyone has heard the joke that scientists have found that some substance in wedding cake diminishes a females sex drive significantly within the first couple of years of marriage. Mistake #2.But to sell the car and eat the cake? BIG mistake!!!
See, you have the car to get the chick. Then the chick has you and makes you sell the car. Then you both eat the cake. No car, and a chick that is married and doesn't want to have sex anymore. Now you don't have a car to go find other chicks with even if you get divorced. You also can't buy another car because you won't be able to afford it after the divorce.
I think this is a bad situation all the way around. At least keep the car.....
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Bruised but Not Broken
Yesterday was my last day to go snowboarding for a while. Dusty had managed to catch the 30” dump at Bridger Bowl so he was a bit indifferent to hitting a lot of runs. We decided to go play in the terrain park at Moonlight Basin.
The “terrain park” is really a human torture area. In this area they setup all kinds of rails, slides, and kickers (jumps). What you are supposed to do is fling your body at them in an effort to have fun and look cool to the ever elusive hot chick that might be watching you. We pretty much ran them over and over again, but never found the hot chick.
Dusty’s first rail slide landed him flat on his back in the snow. My first rail slide went fine, at first, and then I lost my balance and landed squarely on my right butt-cheek. Dusty is laughing at me and asks “did that hurt?” “Yes it hurt.” And of course everyone else around me is laughing now, too. There isn’t much better than being able to hurt and embarrass yourself all at the same time.
Not about to give up, we continued to hit jumps and torture ourselves even further throughout the afternoon. I got a few good jumps in, and even managed to stick a few of them. Since gravity does work, you always land….you just may not land the way you intended.
Dusty did manage to have one really bad wipe-out after trying to turn and watch me hit a kicker on a run. He caught his downhill heel edge and managed to slam himself into the side of the mountain at a high rate of speed. I knew it was bad when his took and goggles went flying in two different directions (i.e. yard sale). After a brief rest in the snow while he got his senses back we headed down to the lodge to get some liquid courage and continue to torture ourselves for just a few more floggings in the terrain park. I think he might finally be convinced he needs a helmet.
Today I am paying for it. My ass is bruised, and my hip-flexors are really stiff. My back is stiff and most of my leg muscles are sore. If I am lucky, I’ll make it back in April right before the resorts shut back down for the year. Too bad I live so far away.
The “terrain park” is really a human torture area. In this area they setup all kinds of rails, slides, and kickers (jumps). What you are supposed to do is fling your body at them in an effort to have fun and look cool to the ever elusive hot chick that might be watching you. We pretty much ran them over and over again, but never found the hot chick.
Dusty’s first rail slide landed him flat on his back in the snow. My first rail slide went fine, at first, and then I lost my balance and landed squarely on my right butt-cheek. Dusty is laughing at me and asks “did that hurt?” “Yes it hurt.” And of course everyone else around me is laughing now, too. There isn’t much better than being able to hurt and embarrass yourself all at the same time.
Not about to give up, we continued to hit jumps and torture ourselves even further throughout the afternoon. I got a few good jumps in, and even managed to stick a few of them. Since gravity does work, you always land….you just may not land the way you intended.
Dusty did manage to have one really bad wipe-out after trying to turn and watch me hit a kicker on a run. He caught his downhill heel edge and managed to slam himself into the side of the mountain at a high rate of speed. I knew it was bad when his took and goggles went flying in two different directions (i.e. yard sale). After a brief rest in the snow while he got his senses back we headed down to the lodge to get some liquid courage and continue to torture ourselves for just a few more floggings in the terrain park. I think he might finally be convinced he needs a helmet.
Today I am paying for it. My ass is bruised, and my hip-flexors are really stiff. My back is stiff and most of my leg muscles are sore. If I am lucky, I’ll make it back in April right before the resorts shut back down for the year. Too bad I live so far away.
Flu Epidemic Hits Bozeman
Friday, March 2nd, saw the largest flu epidemic in Bozeman in over a year. As thirty inches of snow slammed the Bridgers Thursday evening many residents were struck with the flu and unable to attend work on Friday.
Fortunately, I was in Kalispell, MT and far away from the plague that struck the valley.
Fortunately, I was in Kalispell, MT and far away from the plague that struck the valley.
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