Tonight I owned an iPod...for about an hour.

After getting it home and trying to plug it in to configure, I discovered that it didn't come with a USB cable. So I called the store...well, it was going to cost me another 30 bucks for a special super duper Apple iPod USB cable. I got the 10gb....the 20 and 30 ones come with the piece of FRIKKING NECESSARY EQUIPMENT to get it going, but not the 10. Why? Who knows. So I took it back and ranted.

Now, I expect to be able to purchase my toys, take them home and use them. Period. It's not as if 530 bucks is a whole heck of a lot more than the 500 (CDN...with many taxes...do not have a heart attack) that I paid for it. But a) if Apple has the damn cable, why not include it; and b) if Apple is soooo big that it doesn't have to, the store should have told me up front and sold it all to me at once.

So I returned it. Hell I even used a good Canuckian store rather than an inhuman box store.....well now I'm shopping on line for a good jukebox. I looked at the Nomad...cripes it looks like a thinner Walkman. For big bucks, I want good AND cute.

Any suggestions?

I haven't watched a full season of 'American Idol.' In fact, I didn't even know what Clay Aiken's voice sounded like until he performed the National Anthem at one of the World Series games this year (for the record, the guy has one hell of a voice) and I still don't know what Ruben Studdard sounds like.

However, I did watch the early parts of the show, because it's hilarious watching Simon Cowell give his opinions, which are very blunt. Some people would say he was downright mean. However, he was brutally honest. Some of these people have probably been told - untruthfully - by family and friends that they could sing and it probably took a verbal slam from Cowell to show them how they were being lied to.

Anyway, Cowell has written a book about the whole thing. You can read an excerpt here.

No volunteers for orgasm implant A scientist claiming to have invented a device which produces orgasms at the touch of a button can't find women to help him conduct trials into it. The implant, inserted under the skin at the base of the spine, triggers a reflex response to produce sensation.

Dr Stuart Meloy, from North Carolina, told New Scientist: "I thought people would be beating my door down." .....The US Food and Drug Administration has approved trials of the device, but this cannot go ahead until enough volunteers have been found.

In light of the 'Three's Company' DVD release, I am going to be doing an entry later on the three best sitcoms of all time. My criteria for choosing them were:

1. They're funny (duh!)
2. They broke new ground
3. They made their mark on popular culture.

List your own and we'll see how they compare to my choices.

It sucks that they had to wait for John Ritter to die before they finally did it, but Three's Company (the first season) is now out on DVD.

That's right. I am a huge fan of the show and I am sure all of you are fans of something that many other people think sucks the big one. Who cares?

I'm buying them.

Art Carney
1918 - 2003

Ever hear the phrase, "The law is an ass."?

Well, it fits in this scenario. A federal judge has shut down Rx Depot and Rx of Canada. They help customers here in the United States buy prescription drugs at lower prices from Canada.

The government argued that the company was violating the law and that it would put the public at risk.

Wow. What a beotch.

The facade some celebrities put on for the public is pretty amazing.

Anybody know of a website where there is information on this stuff? I always find those stories kind of humorous. I remember reading about John Travolta's entourage that included something like 75 people including his own personal chef.

I know a woman that was an assistant to Cybil Shepard (sp). At certain times of the day, she would lock herself in her room and only people with appointments could see her - including her own kids.

The Smoking Gun gets a hold papers that have these instructions for what the stars want in their dressing rooms, and what the help can or cannot do. Mariah Carey apparently requires DVD's of herself to be available. Anybody hired to work at Sylvester Stallone's house are required not to make eye contact with the actor.

If you know of a site, let me know and I'll post some of the better ones.

Is Jane still employed?

The blogosphere waits......

Why does Thomas Sowell have to whine so much instead of just making his dubious point? To wit:

Give credit where credit is due. The political left is great with words. Conservatives have never been able to come up with such seductive phrases as the left mass produces.

While conservatives may talk about a need for "judicial restraint," liberals cry out for "social justice." If someone asks you why they should be in favor of judicial restraint, you have got to sit them down and go into a long explanation about constitutional government and its implications and prerequisites.

But "social justice"? No explanation needed. No definition. No facts. Everybody is for it. Do you want social injustice?

The latest verbal coup of the left is the phrase "a living wage."

Has this guy ever read a history book? "Living wage" has been part of labour discourse for many decades...but then Sowell, the great academic pride and joy of colour of the conservative crowd, either does not know that or chooses to ignore it. Why would that be?

And what's with the claim that conservatives can't come up with great verbal rallying cries of their own? I give you three words: "It's my money." That has got to be one of the best and most effective phrases of 20th century America and I'm sure Lee Atwater is rolling in his grave at the thought of someone suggesting that only liberals can use the language so effectively.

Quite frankly, if you have to go into long explanations of your slogan, it sucks. And catch phrases like"judicial restraint" suck....maybe it's time for the linguistically-challenged to channel Lee Atwater instead of blaming liberals for their woes.

How many ways can four hunters break the law? It appears every which way....and they were likely bitching about not being able to hunt with a handgun while wolfing down Cheetos the entire time:

Four American hunters face several charges following a duck hunting trip near Nipawin [Saskatchewan].

Brian Petrar of Environment Canada says the men were charged with taking a protected species, failure to retrieve, killing over the daily limit, continuing to hunt once the daily limit has been achieved and hunting with toxic shot.

The men were also charged with hunting under the influence of alcohol.

Yes, it's true....the redoubtable Tim Horton's, the deep-fried Pride of the North, has fallen prey to American efficiency and costcutting. And reader Sean puts it best when he says:

The Tim Horton's scandal is indeed a national tragedy (at least judging by the amount of press coverage it's getting), but that's what happens when a homegrown institution is sold to a greedy American corporation that doesn't understand the high standards we Canadians have come to expect in our snacks. To executives raised in a culture where people actually choose to eat Cheetos, I'm sure refried donuts are perfectly acceptable. They're probably sitting in their offices right now, choking down their shabby treats and wondering what all the fuss is about.

I remember when I asked Jane to join The Daily Rant. There was some surprise by conservative readers about me sharing space with a pinko lefty.

Well, I knew it would be a good addition and it has been.

For those that don't know, Jane and I have 'known' each other for about 4-5 years now. We banged heads in a Yahoo club and then we found common ground in IM making fun of all the yokels. As time went on, she showed what a sweet person she was. She bought my son Michael a present for his birthday through amazon, which he loved. She once sent a bunch of goodies from Canada (the potato chips in a box RULED. The Cheezies were overrated), and she did so just.....well, because she knew my wife and kids were great. It had nothing to do with me really.

She just showed me again why she's a great person. I won't go into details, but even though I haven't yet met her (which I am sure will happen one day - she has an open invitation to come and visit the Sunshine state as a guest in our palace), I still consider her a good friend. Other people should be so lucky.

Mrs duToit and I may not agree on some things, but I always appreciate the fact that she thinks and that she's consistent in her ideology. And her thoughts on the current right-to-die circus in Florida are right on the money:

Here's the issue in a nutshell: Do you want the government (or family and friends) to get to decide these matters? And not just on this one occasion. These types of things set precedent. FOR ALL TIME, from this day forward, do you want the government or anyone with an opinion, to be able to decide for you and your spouse on these matters, thus making null and void one of the foundation tenets of the institution of marriage, that the couple decides for each other on these matters?

Once it was determined that the husband did not cause her injuries, then what he says goes. That's it. End of story. No other discussion. No weeping and wailing or injunctions from special interest groups, the friends of the parents, the parents, the children, or the association of the neighbors--none of it.

Amen.

(Via Acidman)

The seldom-read conservative Human Events on-line magazine has unleashed something far, far more horrifying than Richard Gere's singing in "Chicago":

EXCLUSIVE!!! Pre-Order Your Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure from Human Events

You read her column every week... now is your chance to be among the first to own the Ann Coulter Talking Action Figure. Each time you press her button, you will hear one of 17 "Coulterisms" Ann recorded especially for this Action Figure: "At least when right-wingers rant, there's a point!" "At the risk of giving away the ending, it's all liberals' fault." And many more classic Coulter statements.

If nothing else, it'll give any Bride of Chucky doll a run for the adult conservative toy dollar.

And then I found this gem....Annie visits her psychiatrist:

"Come in, Ann, come in. Sit down. Relax. That's good. Now, before we start, Security tells me that they caught you smuggling a two-by-four in your ass again. Do you want to talk about that?"

"It wasn't a two-by-four, it was a Liberal."

"How so?"

"He was standing beside me in Starbucks, chuckling at a Newsweek article about Rush Limbaugh's drug addiction. I mean CHUCKLING. About Rush's ADDICTION. He got up my ass."

"Why was that, Ann?"

"Well, wouldn't he get up yours? Like I wrote in my October 15th column, "After years of the mainstream media assuring us that Rush was a has-been, a nobody, yesterday's news – the Rush painkiller story was front-page news last week. (Would anyone care if Howell Raines committed murder?)"

"Are you suggesting that the NYPD would not investigate if Howell Raines committed murder because he is a liberal?"

"No, but nobody in the MEDIA would care."

"They wouldn't headline it."

"They'd bury it. Take it underground. It's all part of a treasonous plot, you know."

There's more....and it ain't pretty.

This is getting to be good.

Oliver has a chart comparing metrosexual stuff to real man stuff.

Take a look.

Just for kicks, I'll do something along the same lines with different examples.

I don't really care for reality television. I have watched a few episodes of 'The Restaurant' on Bravo, and I enjoyed watching the early rounds of 'American Idol', mostly to see Simon rip wannabe singers to shreds. But that's about it, unless you count 'Cops' which I'll catch from time to time. All the other crap is just that - crap.

One show that I didn't watch, but probably would have, had I known about it was 'Surreal TV.' This is a reality show based on MTV's 'The Real World', but the twist is, the producers take has been entertainment stars and make all of them live under one roof. The first season of 'Surreal TV' featured such stars as, Emmanuel Lewis, MC Hammer, Vince Neil, Corey Feldman, Mindy Cohn (Natalie from The Facts of Life) and a few others. I say it would have been worth watching just to see some interaction between Lewis and Neil. Can imagine the former singer of Motley Crue and the guy from Webster washing and drying dishes? Hilarious.

I feel for MC Hammer. He was called a 'sellout' back when he was big, tried to change his image, and everybody knew it was bogus. Now look what they're playing on MTV. The same kind of glitzy, sampled videos featuring fancy cars, beautiful women, and the artists wearing expensive flashy clothes. In other words, guys like P. Diddy are now making millions doing what Hammer did, yet he's shacking up with Natalie while Combs was out tapping Jennifer Lopez.

The reason I bring this up is because while listening to Jim Rome during lunch, he informed his listeners that the producers are going to be doing another season of Surreal TV and they have identified four of the cast members so far. They are:

Porn star Ron Jeremy
'Rapper' Vanilla Ice
Former 'ChiPs' star Erik 'Ponch' Estrada
Tammy Faye Bakker

That's just so funny. I couldn't imagine being in the same room with a disgusting pig like Ron Jeremy for more than 5 minutes. These people are going to live with him. And I hope they have more than one bathroom because it'll take Bakker 5 hours just to apply those coats of makeup she puts on her face.

It's one hell of a risk trying to make it in the entertainment industry. I'm thinking I'd rather have some mild success throughout my career than to have been a superstar at one point, but years later having to resort to living in house with a bunch of other has-been losers just to make a few bucks.

I wonder who else they are going to get.

I was so drained after watching that ACLS, that I just couldn't even bother blogging. Friday was a good day. I had off from work, so the lack of sleep didn't bother me. I was still floating somewhat as a result of the Yankees miraculous comeback, that it probably wouldn't have mattered if I slept for only an hour.

This time it was more fun watching. My wife likes when the Yankees win, but she doesn't watch. My parents were over this time, and since my Mom has become such a passionate spectator over the last few years, there were three of us going nuts during the game. My father and I were down those first few innings. I mentioned the reverse jinx that Bill Simmons had talked about and decided to give it a shot. It looked hopeless there for awhile. Even Giambi's homers didn't mean too much and when David Bleeping Ortiz hit that dinger off David Wells, I thought any chance of winning had evaporated. Then came the bottom of the eighth and Grady Little's decision to stay with Pedro Martinez. The Yankees came back. Mariano Rivera cemented his legacy as the greatest stopper in post-season history by throwing three innings of shutout baseball. Then Aaron Boone stepped to the plate. Earlier, my mother had remarked how she though Boone had come up with some big hits since coming over to the Yankees. My Dad and I looked at her like she was crazy. Aaron Boone? All I remembered were the strikeouts and weak pop-ups. This was a guy who was replaced in the lineup by Enrique Wilson for crying out loud. I expected nothing from Boone. And then Wakefield offered up his first pitch and Boone knocked into the left field seats. Aaron Boone had just belted one of the most important home runs in Yankees history. Aaron Boone.

I jumped around like a little kid with my parents, whooping and yelling early on a Friday morning. My brother called to scream and shout a little bit. We then spent the next 45 minutes or so giggling like schoolkids at what we had just witnessed. We started watching editions of Sportscenter over and over again, listening to the call of Boone's homer. We slept and watched it again the next morning. My wife cooked pancakes and bacon. It all tasted better. We laughed at what we would have felt like had the Yankees lost. Later that day I purchased a copy of the game from MLB.com because it was something I wanted to hold on to. As a fan, the most exciting moment I experienced was attending the clinching game of the 1996 World Series with my brother. Derek Jeter was the Rookie of The Year. 22 years old, but playing like a veteran. Mariano Rivera was setting up for John Wetteland. Pettitte pitched that crucial Game 5 1-0 nail-biter against John Smoltz two days before. This game against the Red Sox came oh so close to that.

My wife looked at some of the pictures of Red Sox fans that were posted on Yahoo the next day and she asked how people could still be fans of a team, any team that seems to break hearts every year. I don't know really. I'm not bragging, but as a Yankees fan I've been fortunate. They've gone to the World Series 9 times since I've been around this earth. They've won 6 times.

I guess the closest I can come to how Red Sox fans feel is from my experience with the NY Knicks. The last time they tasted bubbly was 1973. I was 3 years old. So from the time I started following hoops, it's been one disappointment after another. In the early 80's aside, from Bernard King we had to deal with guys like Pat Cummings and Rory Sparrow. Then Patrick Ewing came to town and everything was supposed to change. But it didn't. It became the Michael Jordan era. Then Pat Riley came to town. Everything was supposed to change. It almost did, and the NY Knicks went to the NBA Championship against the Houston Rockets. Pat 'Grady Little' Riley decided to stick with John Starks in Game 6, even though Starks was shooting like he wanted to lose, going 2-18 from the field. Riley left town with his Armani suits, and was replaced by Jeff Van Gundy. A guy who looks like a turtle and dresses like he buys his suits off the discount rack at K-Mart. He took the Knicks to the big show as well. Unfortunately, Patrick Ewing's leg was in a cast, and the Knicks just had too much to handle with David Robinson and Tim Duncan. Then Patrick Ewing left. The Knicks didn't even make the playoffs this year.

That's as close as I can come, but that's nothing compared to the Red Sox. It isn't so much that they haven't on in so long, but that they've come so close a few times. Cubs fans don't have that over Red Sox fans. Sure, they have a longer drought than the Sox, but they haven't even been to the big show since 1945. The Red Sox were there in 1967. Unfortunately, they had to face Bob Gibson three times. He won all 3 games he pitched giving up only 1 run in each of them. In 1975, the Red Sox faced the Reds. In what is perhaps one of the most famous home runs ever hit, Carlton Fisk kept the Sox hopes alive when he hit a game winning home run in the bottom of the 12th to take the series to 7 games. They led game 7, 3-0 through the 5th inning, but eventually lost in the ninth.

However, nothing can compare to 1986. For the casual fan out there, you might think losing to the Yankees in the ACLS is bad. That was to get to the World Series. In 1986 the Red Sox were one out away from winning the World Series. One out. Three strikes. A pop-up. A grounder. Anything. It didn't happen. In what is now a familiar site, Ray Knight rounds third and scoots home with the winning run after a weak grounder by Mookie Wilson goes through the legs of Bill Buckner. Mets win Game 6 and go on to win the World Series the next night. I hated the Mets. I hated their bandwagon fans. I hated that stupid lady that sat behind home plate making that twirling motion with her arms at Shea Stadium. I hated Doc Gooden's jerri curls. I just hated them. I hated them so much that I wanted the Red Sox to win. I wanted them to win just so every Mets fan would shut the fuck up and stop bragging about a team most of them hadn't paid attention to since 1973. But it didn't happen. I had to listen to Mets fans laugh at Wade Boggs who was in tears in the dugout after Game 7. I had to listen to them brag about their supposed 'dynasty.' It was nauseating.

Nothing was sweeter than seeing the Yankees kick their ass in 2000 to shut them up even though they still hadn't won much since 1986.

However, knowing Red Sox fans, they will never abandon their team. Though they probably wouldn't mind if the letter 'B' were removed from the alphabet (Babe Ruth, Bob Gibson, Big Red Machine, Bucky Dent, Bill Buckner, Aaron Boone), they are still going to cheer for their beloved Sox. Fenway Park will always be sold out. The Yankees will always suck, no matter how many World Series they win. They'll be out there. True fans.

As for The World Series, I have to say that I am not all that impressed. The Yankees looked flat in game one, and still almost won. Last night was a joke. There just seems to be a total lack of drama. Going into Pro Player stadium for 3 games is not the same as Wrigley or Fenway. I still want the Yankees to win. Don't get me wrong. But I just can't see feeling the same way if this one goes down to seven. That edge of your seat nervousness doesn't exist. Hell, I changed the channel last night when Pettitte left and Contreras was to come in and forgot to turn it back on. I wouldn't have done that if the Red Sox had men on first and second with two outs. No matter who wins, it seems as though the 2 best series in this years playoffs have already passed us up.

Finally, some good news about breast cancer research:

TORONTO - A major Canadian-led study has been stopped early because the drug being tested showed "striking" results in preventing breast cancer survivors from having a recurrence.

In the study, women taking letrozole (also known as femara) had half as many recurrences of cancer as those women on a placebo.

"I think these results are very striking," said Dr. James Ingle, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic.

The independent monitoring group overseeing the results recommended that the study stop, so the women on the placebo could start taking the drug.

This time somebody is suing a student at Princeton because he wrote a paper explaining how the copy protection could be disabled on a music CD.

I'll tell you what. I'd almost be willing to vote for Al Sharpton if he said he seek to repeal such stupid legislation.

Friday bureaucratic musings....what can this really mean? "As the department continues to move towards a more robust articulation of our strategic objectives and their concomitant successful execution, this position will play an integral role in the process."

Patricia Pearson on the news that McDonalds is going to produce happy, healthy Go Active meals for adults that will include "a salad, an exercise booklet and a pedometer meant to encourage walking.":

Isn't that FANTASTIC? Mind you, the skeptical part of my brain does wish to point out that McDonald's has now officially lost its way in the world of marketing, if it fails to understand that an exercise booklet makes a meal about as happy as being offered roast chicken with a free hair shirt.

Indeed. Even knowing that Oprah's personal trainer!!! was involved will not make this one fly.

The NY Times also has this editorial on the supposed 'epidemic' of teenage drinking.

I'd like to know in all of these studies and research, how many of these kids are actually 18 and 19 year old adults, who are not allowed to drink legally because of stupid regulations pushed through by Elizabeth Dole and Ronald Reagan of all people.

It kind of got off topic in my post about how the Gators are going to kick the holy hell out of the Vols this weekend, so I will post a new entry and we'll make it about television.

What current shows do you like to watch? I'm not talking about Law and Order repeats on TNT or Nick at Nite.

For me there isn't much. I don't like the reality shows. I watched the first few episodes of 'American Idol' this year because somebody told me it was great watching Simon rip apart people, and it was pretty funny.

I don't watch 'NYPD Blue' anymore. It lost its' edge when Sipowicz became this big cuddly bear instead of the mean SOB he used to be. 'Law and Order' suffers from the same thing. It's more glitzy and just about every episode seems to "ripped from the headlines." 'ER' is starting to repeat itself. It's basically run out of ideas.

I don't watch any of the comedies, and I don't watch any of the WB shows that have become hits like 'Smallville' or 'Buffy' before that.

That leaves that cable stations. I've watched ESPN's 'Playmakers', and while the acting is good, the story lines are just so cliche that you can predict what's going to happen pretty much every step of the way. Everybody knows my feelings on 'The Shield', and 'The Sopranos' so that's two. I also like 'Dinner For Five' which is on the Independent Film Channel with John Favreau.

But that's about it. I'm much more content watching 'Friday' again on Encore than a new episode of 'The Practice.'

Anyone else?

UPDATE: Cassidy reminded me of one prime time show that I do like (I watch CSI occasionally) which is 'Without A Trace' which follows CSI. Great show.

Every province has to be first in something:

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but it's still full of potholes in Saskatchewan.

The province has the dubious distinction of having the worst road in the country according to this year's Highway from Hell contest organized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Three other provincial highways were singled out for dishonourable mentions. "By far Saskatchewan was pitifully over-represented," David MacLean, the federation's Saskatchewan director, said.

Highway 47, which stretches from the U.S. border to past Yorkton, was the winner

These guys were just begging to be caught:

Two American anglers have paid a bloody big fine -- $580 -- after trying to smuggle hundreds of live leeches into Saskatchewan.

The two men, both from Williston, N.D., were caught Aug. 28 while attempting to cross the border at Port of Oungre with 30 dozen of the bloodsuckers.

According to Debbie Johnson, spokesperson for Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, customs agents were prepared for the Americans after receiving a tip from the Saskatchewan Environment Department. "We were watching for them," Johnson said.

Customs agents conducted a search and found two containers filled with live leeches. "The leeches were in their coffee Thermoses," she said. "They were undeclared."

Across The Atlantic has come up with a list of 20 things that supposedly make a woman melt. After reading it I'm wondering what planet he's from (or whether or not he's gay) because the women I have known (in particular my wife) would agree with only a fraction of this list.

What I've learned over the years comes down to a few things really. It's not as though this will necessarily make a woman melt, but it will certainly keep her from scratching your eyes out:

1. If she's upset, ask "What's wrong?" once. If she wants to tell you, she will tell you. If she says, "Nothing." just say "Ok" and move along like nothing has happened.

2. Just listen. Don't agree, or disagree when she's going off about something. Just nod and say "Hm." and never walk away until you are 100% sure she is finished. In fact, wait for permission. Women will often announce when it's safe to do an about face and leave. Do it before then, and you'll become the focus of her ire.

3. If you have young kids, offer to take them out to do something while she stays home alone even if it's just for an hour or two.

4. Never, under any circumstances buy her anything with an electrical cord as a gift. You can buy her a vacuum cleaner, but that you should just do out of the blue make sure it isn't given to her like "Look what I got for you honey!" but rather, "That vacuum cleaner we have sucks. We needed a new one." Don't present a Hoover for a Christmas or birthday gift.

5. Guys dread hearing "How do I look in this?" from their wives/girlfriends. But guess what? False flattery is not the way to go. That's right. Tell the truth. However, the 'truth' can be told with just a facial expression. Don't be dumb and say, "It looks like you're trying to fit a plastic bag over an elephant." Just pause for a second or two and make a face like you cannot decide. From my experience, she'll know it doesn't look good and you don't hurt her feelings in the process. ADDENDUM*: If she just bought what she's asking about, lie your ass off.

There's probably more, but those are the basics. As far as doing things romantic, you have to wing it once in awhile. Planned romantic things make it seem like you're going through the motions. You have to be careful with spontaneous bursts of romance as well. Pile it on too much and they'll think you've done something wrong.

I think women are comfortable (or just have given up hope) with the fact that men are for the most part are a gene away from being full blown gorillas. That's what we look like on Sunday's during football season. Lying on the couch. Unkempt. Stuffing our faces. Scratching. Farting. Burping. We're lucky they see past such stuff. I for one, would be disgusted.

That's my advice.

I have a confession to make. I love Three's Company. The entire premise of the show is ridiculous. 3 gainfully employed adults have to share a 2 bedroom apartment. One is male and the other 2 are pretty females, and nothing ever happens between them. Yeah right. Every single show was based on some stupid misunderstanding.

Yet, it was still great and mostly because of the character of Jack Tripper, played by John Ritter. There aren't many actors that can do physical comedy that well. Jim Carrey is one and of course there is Steve Martin (the sidewalk scene from the movie "All Of Me" is one of the best ever). John Ritter is right up there. My son, who is all of 6 enjoys watching 'Three's Company' simply because he gets a kick out of Jack falling all over the place. To be honest, I am amazed he didn't get seriously hurt with some of the things he did.

I guess what I liked about the show is that there was never any point they were trying to make. They never did a serious episode where they pretended to be doing a public service. All the show wanted to do was make people laugh and it did for 8 years.

John Ritter died last night when he was rushed to the hospital after he suffered a dissected aorta. Doctors were unable to save him. He was only 54 years old.

Rest easy Jack.

Go and read:

Or Lesley's very personal memories and her posts today.

Here are some images Jay made when he visited Ground Zero in September of 2002. (They're big)

Memorial

Memorial 2

Where The Towers Once Stood

Port Authority Memorial

Port Authority Remembrance

Alan has a post that is definitely worth reading. Just go there and scroll down. And down. And down.....

PLEASE NOTE: This post will remain at the top of the screen all day. If anything else is posted it will show up below.

Prior to 9/11, I didn't have a weblog (this one went live in December of 2001) and posted to a message board on Yahoo. Some of us created a website as an addition to that forum for things that couldn't be posted there.

After 9/11, we quickly created a site to discuss the subject. There were things we wanted to say outside of that forum. It includes some personal words as well as two flash presentations that I recommend you check out (word of warning - they are large flash presentations and will take a little time to load).

I didn't think it was still available to see, and it brought back a rush of memories from that day. It was brought to my attention by Trish of the weblog I didn't know she had - California Dreaming - until today. For some reason I noticed it in Jane's blogroll.

Thanks Trish for reminding of that. The memories of that day are not pleasant, but I remember how much we all wanted to express our feelings outside of a Yahoo club and I'm proud of that work.

The story is here.

I really would like to give a backhand across the head to the "Move on already! Get over it!" mopes that lecture others about 9/11.

Oh and while I am not one prone to censorship, if anybody brings up election 2000 as a comparison, I'm going to ban their IP for a week. It's an insult to every person who died that day to compare your fantasies about a 'stolen election' to the horror of 9/11.

Laurence Simon has dscovered one more reason to despise the phone company: "Somewhere, I wonder if this isn't a plot by Fortune 500 CEOs. They want to drive up the cost of living in America through "the death of one thousand cuts"-style fees, eventually to the point where illegal aliens think twice about crossing our borders."

Indeed.

This makes me ill.

Despite all our fine legal changes, and progressive talk about how rape is really "sexual assault" and how we must "protect the children", and how much we abhore child rape and incest and pedophilia, and how, no there's no racism in Saskatchewan, it still comes down to a variation of "the girl must have asked for it". So if you know a twelve year old girl, be assured that in Saskatchewan it's okay to sexually assault her if dad's been doing her, she "said she was older", and she's aboriginal:

Two years ago, a 12-year-old Cree girl was picked-up by some men near Tisdale. They gave her beer and the girl was later assaulted on a desolate country road. Three men were charged, but Edmondson was the only one convicted.

Judge Fred Kovatch said he couldn't ignore allegations the girl had been raised in an abusive home. That evidence, he said, supported the defence theory that the girl was the sexual aggressor.

The judge said while Edmondson was convicted of a serious crime, he suspects the aboriginal child was a victim of sexual abuse by a family member.

She was TWELVE. And if we are going to accept that twelve year olds can "ask for it", how about eight year olds? Five year olds? If we don't really believe that current consent laws are adequate, what is?

Phil Dennison, of The Third Kind details the debut gig of his band, The Fragments, in Alexandria, VA.

There's photos and sound clips. I haven't listened yet, but I will.

All I have to say is this: Phil, that shirt has to go.

For someone who commemorated the Donner family expedition by eating at a Sizzler in Truckee, CA , this is most interesting news.

Read this news article and tell me what you think.

I'm back from Nana's service and it was nice. We all got a chance to say goodbye and Mom, who didn't really want a viewing, understood for the first time, why it's sometimes good to have them.

There were tears of course, but for the most part, there was laughter. We didn't dwell on the fact that she was dead, but talked about all of the joy she brought to everybody in life. I got to see some people I hadn't seen in years and while it wasn't the greatest of circumstances, it was still good to see them. I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to allow such a long time to pass between contact. Even though Nana was 82 years old, life is still short and I don't want to have say, "It must be over ____ years since I've talked to you."

Thanks again to everybody for the comments and emails. I truly appreciate them.

Heidi Chaplinski 05-30-1921 to 08-23-2003

Rest In Peace

My grandmother passed away about 5 hours ago. It's a sad time, but also a time to breathe a small sigh of relief. She's been in and out of the hospital for the last year, and it lately she's just been getting weaker and weaker. So this time, when the doctors asked my mother if they wanted to resuscitate her, she let her go.

Blogging will no doubt be light for the next few days.

Especially when it comes to video games. Take football for instance. In anticipation of the upcoming football season, I went out and purchased Madden 2003 (2004 is out but 2003 was only $9.95). Look how far we have come. How many people remember what we used to have. Atari Football:

And this is what we have today:

It's a beautiful thing.

I hate to sound insensitive, but I am really having trouble believing that 10,000 people in France died because of a heat wave. We're talking about a modern (for the most part) western European country here, not some third world place where people are still living in grass huts. 10,000 people are the kind of numbers you see when a typhoon strikes Bangladesh.

And what about the rest of Europe? Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany etc. also went through the same heat wave, but there aren't reports of thousands of deaths coming from those nations.

Something just doesn't seem right.

Scott Chaffin eviscerates Jonah Goldberg's whiny, egotistical "the rules don't apply to me" account of a trip to Vermont with Mrs. Jonah and Precious Baby and Doggie.

Brilliant, and I couldn't agree more.

Can someone explain the difference between "civil union" and "civil marriage"? Forget the religious aspect, or historical connotations of the word "marriage"....is there actually any legal difference at all?

UPDATE: Kevin Frantz offers Bush some clever and pointed advice regarding the definition of "traditional marriage" (via Kevin Drum, who seems to think his wife might have a wee problem wtih all that "tradition").

I just can't take Mle Gibson seriously since I saw the Worst Movie Ever Made About Crop Circles, Aliens and/or God. And when I read this story, all I could think was, if this is a sign that Mel's going to debut his latest film anywhere near me, or that I'm going to have to fight off aliens (or Romans...ever the movie pessimist, I can't imagine the story of Jesus without some being locked in a pantry and a cute little Jesus relative for comic relief) with a substance that doesn't seem to affect them til people have stuck pins in their eyes rather than watch one more second of the movie, I have to move immediately.

Crop circles appear in a Wilkie field

WILKIE - Harvest is getting underway across the province and that means more time and attention is being paid to what's in the fields. What people find in their fields can come under a lot of scrutiny, and not just by food inspection officials.

Five years ago, Lyle Amy discovered crop circles in his wheat field near Conquest. He says the only reason he knew to report his sighting was because his neighbour had similar formations the year before.

"There was no way someone could have gone in there and done that … without leaving some kind of a trail."

...Saskatoon researcher Beata Van Berkom .... says Saskatchewan has the most crop circles per capita in Canada and the province has a reputation for being one of the least likely areas in the world to report a hoax.>

This photograph of the Wilkie phenomenon was supplied by CCRN

The lead statement in a news article regarding the power failure:

The big blackout of 2003 could have had a big impact in Saskatchewan if it hadn't happened so far away.

The mind boggles at what J-school produces.

Kevin Drum reports that Fox is, well, the sensitive network. I'd say that Spike Lee Syndrome is catching.

UPDATE: Cheap Laugh of the Day on Fox's mission statement: "It's not like they ever used it or lived it or anything."

At one point I had a Palm Pilot, and turned it back in because the only....only.....thing I ever found it useful for was playing solitaire. Everything else required too many add ons and uploads and downloads and whatever...it was easier to keep appointments and addresses elsewhere.

Now, I am known in certain circles as having a nose (and many tastebuds) for wine. I've driven all over Sonoma County seeking out the perfect Old Vines Zinfandel and have been known to want to put my destination as "Detox" after oh say five days in Detroit.

And how are these two things related? Because some genius...obviously knowing the wants and "needs" of the XY segment of the toy-buying public, has come up with...get this....The PalmPak Wine Enthusiast. Talk about yuppified excess.....here's a toy marketed so that men who remember every arcane sports stat in the history of the known universe and who plan and play arcane on-line games where they have to remember levels, characters, crapola they've picked up and all the rest will be saved from having to actually read and plan: "...the handy thing about having the information stored in your handheld is that it's always there in your pocket or purse [purse...as IF...this is a guy toy] -- no clipping and saving."

Yes, for 60 bucks you can stand at the Stop 'n Go reading reviews of E&J; Gallo vs. Boone's Farm. As if anyone who really gives a rat's ass wouldn't have done their homework before they went to the wine store, or would have half a clue what they like already, especially if it's 59 bucks a bottle like the example in the article.

"Old Vines Zinfandel"....Sonoma County...how difficult is that to remember? Well, before the consumption, pretty darned easy, and after, well, I figure a Palm Pilot isn't going to be any use unless it can dispense little ASA tablets and water. So I'll pass.

I've been away for the last day and a half at an expo in Miami. Raiders fans will like this. I was hanging out and drinking beers with Phil Villapiano, 4 time Pro-Bowler and former linebacker. He works for one of the firms that was at the expo, so it was pretty cool.

I have been reading the responses to this post and having a good chuckle at people denying the obvious and laughingly trying to say that a good segment of liberals in this country don't believe the items I listed.

Right.

I usually don't put these things together. Remember for awhile I had some links to buy things like the 'Spiderman' DVD. Well, if you purchased it after clicking on that link, I'd get a cut. Well, that stuff is just too much of a hassle for me, so I stopped. Heck, I had to be prodded to put up the Amazon tip jar.

In any case, Lawrence asked about an Amazon 'Wish List'. I didn't have one, but I threw one together quickly. I wasn't positive somebody would purchase a plasma television for me, so I left that off.

Thanks, rea, for pointing out the giant tire in Detroit...it's on my must-see-and-take-cheesy-pic-for-blog list.

Giant landmarks are so North America, and they're sometimes way over the top, and occasionally really cheesy, but somehow friendly at the same time....kind of like North American people. My personal favourites: the giant Ukrainian Easter Egg at Vegreville, Alberta and Paul Bunyan and Babe at Bimidji, MN (a giant among giant Bunyans). But my very favourite is Chatty-Belle, the world's largest talking dairy cow...nay, cow period.... in Neillsville, WI. I travelled to Neillsville just to see Chatty-Belle, and I can tell you it was well worth it. For a mere ten cents, you can hear Chatty-Belle talk about Wisconsin's dairy industry, and as an added bonus, there's a statue of her little calf Bullet. I've long regretted losing the commemorative fridge ornament with the real little cowbell, but maybe a giant tire souvenir can partially make up for it.

Early....early.....Thursday morning, I'm flying to Detroit for a few days. My friend Gal says she's going to throw a blanket over me and sneak me deep into the heart of conservative country, but I know there'll be a pink(o) aura around her vehicle and her neighbours will know something's amiss.

The visit's theme is eating, drinking, shopping, gossiping, and relaxing...oh and one visit to the Henry Ford Museum so I can claim I got me some culture while I was there. The only thing I've always wanted to see, but never have unfortunately, is Mel Farr's car lot. "Mel Farr Superstar" commercials were the first ones I ever saw on cable back in the 80s....now that's culture.

Will today go down in blogtopia (yes! skippy coined that term!) history as the fateful Day One of the Dachshund Wars?

It's Monday, and another beautiful summer day. So it must be time for another pic of the cutest damn cats in the universe:

Frankie Edozien of the NY Post actually chatted for a couple of minutes with the man who shot and killed James Davis in New York City yesterday.

Chilling stuff.

Emma has a most delightful story of how an abandoned kitty got named Lost-and-Found and, despite the thunderings of Emma's father that the cat would remain outdoors, by gum, eventually wormed its way into the family home with dad's blessing.

My experience with abandoned cats is with Mr. Poopy. Thirteen years ago, he was a homeless, starving kitty. We gave him a little food, but that was it because dammit we had a small apartment and no room for a cat. The next day, the brown blankie went out on the porch...so he'd be a little "comfortable" when he slept. The day after, we bought "Pounce"...after all, every cat needs a little treat or two. Within a week, Mr. Poopy was inside permanently, whereupon we discovered that he knew how to use a litterbox, but was tossed from the feline nest before he learned to cover up his foul-smelling leavings....hence the name "Poopy". When he became an adult and moved to New York to become a cockroach-chasing cat, he was renamed "Mr. Poopy" to reflect his new mature dignity.

He's prickly and manipulative and if he doesn't get his Fancy Feast, he waits til 2 am to meow his displeasure in your ear. But he's being really nice to me (well, "nice"....kind of like a scorpion is "nice") because he's my kitty-guest for the summer. And he still doesn't cover.

After reading Brent Bozell's latest on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", all I want to do is nominate him for a make-over. Lord, if anyone could use a dash of élan and style in his poor benighted life wherein he spends his time not understanding he has a channel switcher or off button, it's old Brent.

He's just outraged at the stereotyping. Poor Brent seems to think this is about gay sex and not about fashion make-overs. Well, Brent, here's a clue...."What Not to Wear" shows and variants are about fashion. White men aren't black and aren't oppressed and many really really do have terrible fashion sense. It's okay. If you ever took your head out of your ass long enough to watch "What Not to Wear" on BBC America, or, if you're a patriot, the American version on TLC (a pale imitation of Trinny and Susanna...get rid of that hetero loser in the 90s soccer shirt), you'd discover that a make-over is for white folks (chiefly women) too.

How much do you want to bet Brent's undies are a far cry from Calvin and he figures his 150 golf shirts hanging in the closet were okay for dad so they're okay for him, by gum?

UPDATE: I just watched the show and it is really, really good. Like Steve said in the comments, there's lots of fun banter, great practical advice....and the make-overee and his wife were just thrilled with the results. These guys do clothes, personal care, decorating and food and they're terrific...sarcastic, honest ("skanky clothing left over from the 80s"...got to love it), and really supportive.

Brian Linse is an atheist but has some sound advice for a group of atheists calling themselves 'Brights' who basically believe that since they do not believe in God, they're intellectually superior to those who do.

Finally....something fun for a wedding: custom temporary tattoos. Lord knows we all have seen enough mints wrapped in netting, rectangles of bad fruitcake masquerading as a cake far above its station because it's called "wedding cake", cheesy matches, even golf tees.

And they're not just for weddings. Maybe Acidman should order up a bunch of tattoos for the first thousand or so women to get lucky when his new bionic penis heals. Now that's a souvenir (no, the memory alone will not be enough if there's a cool remembrance in the offing).

I know this sounds mean. But the time has come for states to start implementing driving tests for elderly people and adding premiums to their insurance. This accident in California underscores the problem we have in this country when elderly people get behind the wheel.

This man isn't a criminal. But he killed 9 people an injured 45 others because he hit the gas when he thought he was hitting the brakes. I have talked to cops who have taken these reports. What happens is, the people think they are stepping on the brake, but it's really the gas pedal. When the car starts to take off, they step down harder, still thinking they're stepping on the brake pedal. And they keep the pedal pressed to the floor thinking they're on the brake the whole time. The only thing that usually stops them is an inanimate object like a wall or a tree.

It's dangerous. It's time to start testing people. I know that this could cause a potential hardship on some people who really need their cars to get around, but that's too bad. I don't want one of my kids to become a statistic because somebody is too old to realize their car is taking off because they're on the gas.

On July 12, the USS Reagan, the only second (thanks, rea!) vessel named for a living president, entered into service. And my longtime chat buddy, sgtbono, got to attend the ceremony!

He got to sit in the stern (no smart cracks if I get the terminology wrong...remember I'm a flatlander). His account:

Started out with the usual political speeches , Governor Alen, Sebator Warner, Vice President Cheney all stirring speeches then a few short words from the Captain, his Exec. and Operations Officer then the real reason we were there .The Commission Penant was run up, it seemed so small, and then the American Flag went up to cheers. The watch was set and Mrs Nancy reagan came forward to the Podium and stated the words , Man your ship and bring her to life. It got really impressive. A contingent of maybe 1000 sailors ran to the gangplanks and climbed the stairs to the ship at full speed, They ran to man the flight deck and all openings on the ship, the radars lit up and started turning, Lights came on a flight of four fighters made a low pass as the foghorn sounded. Really quite a show , it brought a lump to my throat. No real American could watch this without his patriotism showing.

If I were michele, I'd have a contest: Predict the type of vesssel that will bear the name "Clinton."

The USS Reagan:

And another pic:

View image

Who said that private industry does things so much better than government? I can only conclude that the Yankee capitalist company Fodor's is striking back at the inevitable:

No Yukon, P.E.I. on new maps of Canada

OTTAWA - A magazine published by the Canadian Tourism Commission to attract tourists contains maps that have wiped Prince Edward Island and Yukon off the face of the country.

Fodor's Travel Guides, an American company, produced the magazine, which is called PureCanada. The first issue appeared this month.

The maps identify several small towns, but overlook Halifax, N.S.; Fredericton, N.B.; and Brandon, Man. The maps also refer to Newfoundland and Labrador (the province's official name for two years) simply as Newfoundland and misspell Canada's newest territory, Nunavut as "Nunavit."

The tourism commission said Monday some of the errors were caught before the magazine was distributed and a page of corrections was inserted into every copy sent out.

The magazine is published twice a year and has a circulation of 270,000. Each magazine comes with a Fodor's micro-guide to Canada. It contains the same errors.

Corrected maps and the Fodor's guide will be sent out with the fall/winter issue of the magazine.

The tourism commission's partnership with Fodor will be reviewed at the end of the year. The commission paid $600,000 to have the magazine published.

I thought that the Dennis Miller/Fox News thing would get some reaction, but I can't wait to see the reaction to this (which has been confirmed).

Can someone tell me a) what possible use these are; and b) why anyone would pay 20 bucks for them? Bear in mind that they're advertised at Nordstrom's, so they must have a family-rated use.

View image

The lengths some people will go to to rant about diversity training and the like never ceases to amaze me. It's one thing to disagree with diversity and workplace practices; it's quite another to excuse a murdererer because you don't like diversity policies.

What, it's okay to be a raging racist and shoot your workplace up because diversity training sucks?

The fact that this guy was a) nuts; b) a racist who couldn't/wouldn't leave it out of the workplace; c) a muderer; d) nuts..did I say that? doesn't get in the way of the same old stuff from the anti-diversity crowd.

You think Acidman would be railing against employers who keep people like this employed, or the unions and employers who negotiate contracts that allow people like this guy to keep working. But no....let's tee off on our favourite topic, regardless of the fact that by doing so we're REALLY saying "it's okay to go murder a bunch of people at work because he didn't like anger management courses."

UPDATE: Oh cripes, now it's MY fault this guy in Mississippi murdered his co-workers. Yes, that's right....I am responsible for criminals' behaviour....especially a criminal two thousand miles away. When you don't have an argument, blame liberals....any liberals....even when you don't have a clue what they think of forced workplace diversity.

Bite me.

Recently, a girl in Toronto was murdered and dismembered. The man charged with her murder lived in her neighbourhood.

So, today there's this report:

TORONTO - Corrections Canada gave into public pressure Thursday and reversed a decision to locate a serial sex offender in the Toronto neighbourhood where 10-year-old Holly Jones was murdered.

Officials announced that they will relocate Walter Jacobson to a penitentiary until another halfway house can be chosen.

Several parents and other protesters had planned to begin daily demonstrations Friday outside a federal halfway house where Jacobson was living. They vowed to drive him out of the community.

The 61-year-old Jacobson has a 40-year history of sexual offences.

Two things here...first of all, what bobobrained bureaucrat decided to ocate a sex offender in Holly Jones' neighbourhood? And second....why are pedophiles seemingly never subjected to "dangerous offender" provisions? a 40 year history is more than once and it's obvious this guy is never going to reform. Adult sex offenders can and are so designated at times....why do child rapists seem to get out again and again and again? And reoffend again and again and again?

I am going away for a few days, where access to the Internet will be limited, so you won't see many posts, if any, until Sunday night.

Hillary's book is doing very well in the sales department. Great. But why does Simon and Schuster have to blow smoke up everybody's collective ass about how it is doing?

“What has been particularly exciting is the speed with which it has achieved such unprecedented sales levels,” Simon & Schuster executive Carolyn Reidy said in a statement.

The speed of these sales are not unprecedented. Howard Stern's autobiography 'Private Parts' sold over 1 million copies in two weeks. Rush Limbaugh's second book, "See I Told You So" sold something like 2 million copies in 8 weeks.

The sales of her book are strong. That's great for her and great for Simon and Schuster. There's no need to bullshit people about it's success.

And about time:

After years of delay, Ottawa will announce today a plan to use its marijuana grower in Manitoba to supply patients who have been given the right to use the drug for medical purposes, sources say.

Facing a court-imposed deadline, Health Minister Anne McLellan will unveil in Edmonton the long-awaited strategy on how the government plans to release the drug to individual patients who have received medical exemptions from Canada's possession laws, sources told The Globe and Mail.

Where would we all be if antibiotics carried the same social strictures that marijuana does?

Children being left to die in vehicle in heat.....unfortunately, too common a story. But....this time, the murderer is the FOSTER PARENT, who runs a DAYCARE CENTRE.

I can't wait for the union and department whitewashing of the social workers and regulators involved to begin. Prediction: "unfortunate mistakes were made." No, criminal negiligence. Who licensed this woman? Who regulated her daycare? Who the hell decided she'd be a good foster parent? I can see it all now: "She's never done anything like this before."

And as an aside, why did the article see fit to mention it was an SUV multiple times? It was a VEHICLE. With CLOSED WINDOWS.

It makes me sick.

When I was really into photography (I still am - I am currently saving up for a digital SLR - film is just too expensive for me these days), most of my best work was done on slide film for obvious reasons. The colors are more vivid, the images are sharper and you can make much larger prints.

The only problem I faced was that once I had a computer, I had no way to archive my slides. Sure, I could bring them to a lab and have them scanned but that was way too much money and purchasing a slide scanner was out of the question as they went for thousands of dollars.

However, now there seems to be a consumer market for scanners that handle slides and negatives, which I think is great. I have always wanted to share some of my better stuff with readers but never had the opportunity. I also have wedding photos and older stuff that I would love to get re-printed and by being able to scan negatives and simply inverting them in Photoshop, that's possible.

Does anybody have one of these flatbed scanners with the slide/negative adaptor? What are the results like? I know that I shouldn't expect professional results, but right now I can live with something that works decent.

Mr. Helpful has posted his experience attempting to take his daughter to see 'Finding Nemo.' Excerpt:

Dont misunderstand me. I am fully aware of what it is like to take kids to a kid's movie which is why I dont spend a whole helluva lot of time doing it. Still, it would be nice if the parents involved understood it too. This doesnt mean the ones who had kids who chattered constantly should have shut them up. I am talking about the woman two rows over who refused to do anything about her shrieking kid until said kid had ruined about twenty minutes of dialogue and, then, it seemed like a light bulb went on over her head and she decided it MIGHT be a good idea to take the youngster out to the lobby and deal with it there.

I know exactly how he feels because this pisses me off like you wouldn't believe. I don't often brag about my kids, but when it comes to how they behave in public, my kids are great. I never have to worry about taking them out to eat or anywhere else in public for that matter. They are extremely well behaved. It's probably why they're sometimes a living hell at home. They have to make up for it. But, I know that if they started to act up, I'd drag them out of any place we were at and make sure they understood the consequences of their actions.

It never ceases to amaze me the way parents will sit in a restaurant or movie theater while their kid is screaming his head off and refuse to do anything about it. The worst is when Mommy tries the soft understanding voice which is suitable for a 6 month old baby, but not a 5 year old kid. "Okay. We have to be quiet now sweetheart. Mommy doesn't like it when you cry like this. Let's see a smile ok?" Ugh. It's almost as if they're too embarassed to take the kid outside, but for some reason, allowing the kid to continue his blood curdling yells is better.

Maybe it's just me, but it appears that this Reuters article regarding the aftermath of the new 'Do Not Call' registry was written by somebody in the telemarketing business.

It comes complete with sob stories about widows, people delaying purchases, and single mothers, all of whom face the possibility of having to look elsewhere for work because I don't want them calling me in the middle of dinner.

I don't like to see people lose their jobs. But people who used to sell vacuum cleaners, magazine subscriptions, and encyclopedias door to door had to look elsewhere for work after those markets dried up and people started slamming doors instead of inviting them in. The times have changed, and people want the calls with somebody trying to sell them something on the other end to stop. It's as simple as that.

I love weekends like the one I just had. From Thursday afternoon forward, I didn't pay attention to the news. I didn't think for a moment about work. All I did was enjoy myself.

Thursday night was the last night my brother in law was down with his wife and their 4 kids from New Jersey (my kids and their two youngest 5 and 3 had a blast all week - swimming, playing, staying up late etc.) so we everybody hung out for the last night and had a good time. Friday, we went to my brother in law's house (a different one) for a July 4 barbecue, and then it was down to the beach to watch fireworks.

Saturday was a complete veggie day. I did nothing but play video games, watch tv, read, and relax.

Yesterday we took the kids to the beach (I often complain about Florida but it's nice living so close to the beach because you can go for a few hours and not have to make it an all day thing) which they love. I suspect we will be there almost every weekend. After that we went home. I cut the lawn and did some other odd jobs around the house I wanted to get to this weekend, and then the wife and I were rewarded with her sister offering to have the kids sleep over her house. Therefore, I didn't have to fight to get my kids to bed and just enjoyed the silence.

Weekends like that make having to go back to work that much easier.

I can't believe Jay left this for me to post...he must be out buying watermelon and hot dogs. In deference to the occasion, I will resist all temptation to include the post-CWD map of the US zoned for Canadian rule.

So...90 miles south of me, some bobohead tries to sneak an anti-tank rocket launcher and grenades and other bad things through the international border:

Weapons siezed at Saskatchewan border

NORTH PORTAL, SK - The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency says customs inspectors siezed what it calls a "significant" amount of weapons on Sunday. A 36-year-old American citizen entered Canada with a shipment belonging to various individuals.

The driver allegedly told inspectors during two interviews that he was not carrying any weapons. Inspectors eventually discovered 13 rifles and shotguns, most of them loaded, three loaded handguns, one anti-tank rocket launcher, four live smoke grenades and two training grenades, 4,300 rounds of ammunition, seven prohibited ammunition clips and one so-called "blackjack", a prohibited hand-held weapon.

According to the customs officials, the mover was transporting the goods to an address in Alaska.

Officials say they found a list of household effects that listed the rifles and pistols. They also found a copy of a Canada Customs and Revenue Agency brochure on the importing of a firearm or weapon into Canada.

Okay. The guy has a BROCHURE on how to import weapons? And still brings along a ROCKET LAUNCHER? Why in the name of all the dieties you do or don't believe in would some idiot think he could just slip in to the country, armed to the hilt, among the grain trucks and produce haulers and ma and pa back from a shopping trip in Minot (thank you, tanking USD!)?

How about NO JUSTICE WHATSOEVER? I believe that I have mentioned before that people in the United States have fried brains. READ THIS and tell me I'm wrong.

NEWPORT, Tenn. - The father of two stepbrothers charged with fatally shooting a Knoxville man and wounding a Virginia woman on Interstate 40 said Monday the family is "just in shock."

"We want to say that our hearts and prayers go out to the family of Aaron Hamel for the tragedy of their loss," said Wayne Buckner.

Killed Wednesday night was Aaron Everett Hamel, 45, who had recently moved to Knoxville.

Buckner also wished a full recovery for Kimberly Bede, a 19-year-old passenger in another vehicle on the interstate who was wounded in the shootings.

Charged as juveniles with reckless homicide and aggravated assault are William Buckner, 15, and Joshua Buckner, 13. "Our boys are good kids that made a very bad judgment," said Buckner, who retired recently as administrator of Baptist Hospital of Cocke County. "They are truly remorseful. They never intended to harm anyone."

Buckner also apologized to the family's friends in the community for the insecurity they felt while the shootings were being investigated.

"It's just unfortunate that it happened," Buckner said. "We're deeply troubled, and we're still in shock. You know, we're just praying and waiting for the next step."

The Buckners' attorney, Clyde Dunn, said Monday he spent a lot of time with the boys Thursday and Friday.

"The boys are terribly upset and grieving over what occurred," Dunn said.

My aching ass. VERY BAD JUDGEMENT is downing 26 ounces lemon gin and pink lemonade, not murdering. FRIKKIN SOUTHERNERS AND THEIR FAMILY VALUES.

But I live in Canada, not the Southern United States. I would have called the kids criminals, not good kids who made a mistake, and I’d have hired a lawyer who didn’t talk like the boys were innocent bystanders mourning the life of a frikking loved one.

And I would NOT have been charged with anything because dammit, those boys are over three years old and can damn well start taking some FRIKKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS.

That's what I like about Canada. And that's one of the MANY things I don't like about the Southern United States.

(Same Disclaimer, only this time it's my beloved Acidman who dumped on Canada. I only wish there was a really good female equivalent of "my aching balls").

Universal Stupidity

If I go out my front door, hop on Highway 6 and drive about 90 miles due south, I will leave the friendly confines of my home country and enter an entirely new world...namely the United States.

From the road, things dont look much different. The cities have buildings large and small, there are cows pooping in the pastures, telephone and power lines ring the streets in a dangerous fashion, the roads exist to allow cars to move back and forth and the natives live in houses that look a lot like ours.

I swear to you that it's all just window dressing.

Scratch the surface and what you find is a philosophy that has much more in common with Communist China or Mussolini’s Italy than good ole Canada just to the north. Worse yet, that philosophy is conducted by people who are literally insane. Theirs is the dream of an idyllic existence in which all mankind cohabitates in a glorious democratic unison of universal rights and achievement based on entrepreneuraial individual effort.

The reality is their economy sucks big fat rhinoceros dick, their cost of living is in the stratosphere, their people speak in a bastardized version of English that cant hide their British underpinnings no matter how hard they try (especially in the South), their conservatives are the equivalent of our conservatives (talk right, act left!) and nearly everyone looks to the government for everything. Political correctness isn’t some annoying phrase down in the US, it's a way of life which would be fine except we up here in Canada actually have to interact with the dumbasses from time to time which is definitely something less than a barrel of laughs.

There are some exceptions to my sweeping generalization, including Mr. Helpful. The rest of the Yankees are just plain out of their frickin skulls.

I usually do a pretty good job of not thinking about Americans. What brings them to the forefront this fine summer day is a front page story in the Washington Post.

It seems the Post, in the great tradition of muckraking newspapers everywhere, has delved deep into the cesspools of American life and come up with a whopper of a story clenched firmly in their teeth....a conservative, Republican president “hailing the "historic action" of expanding Medicare while raising a cool $3 million in a pair of fundraisers here and in Tampa today.”

Worse yet, according to the story, “Fifty seniors, mostly Cuban Americans, sat behind him on the stage, some blowing kisses. A banner proclaimed: "Mejorando Medicare/Mas Opciones/Mejores Beneficios." Bush told the seniors that to make medicine affordable, "I took some strong action."

I don’t know which is more pathetic....that a major metropolitan newspaper actually reports the President acting like Mao OR that someone in charge of leading a country can actually get quoted in a major metropolitan newspaper as saying they think this is a benefit to Americans.

You really have to work hard at being this moronic. Unfortunately, this is where the path of political pandering eventually leads when there are no guard rails along the way. If someone gets it into their head that somehow power and buying votes go hand in hand like a tongue and a dental dam then there is little or nothing that can be done to dislodge the notion.

The fact that the Bushies have been an incredibly successful team over the past three years years actually becomes a weapon in the hands of the intellectually uninquisitive folks at the Post as they report the pork to minorities and seniors without guile.

The poor, unfortunate Bush staffers just have to sit there and eat this shit. They cant say word one because anything they say will be immediately used as scapegoats and enemies of America and whatever theory Bush is working on at the moment. It falls on another team official to come up with some of the lamest comments this side of Hillary Clinton’s marriage defense in a desperate attempt to add some kind of sanity to this mess. Ari: “"The president thinks it's good for policy, and that's why he's here." Of course it is pointless because the Post really doesnt care what the team has to say...as far as they are concerned they know it’s all crap and they are going to trumpet it to the world.

The worst part about this is there are some people who will actually take it to heart. I feel so sorry for those kinds of folks that I would willingly give my left breast just to help them get their heads screwed back on straight.

This would all be funny except for the incremental nature of such things. Since it is printed in a major newspaper, it is assumed to have SOME credibility...print a few more stories like this and, all of a sudden, there will be a growing number of people who think government hand-outs are necessary simply because some dipshits in Washington voted for it.

The reason the big-government pork barrel will never go away is not because things continually get better for Americans. It will never go away because there are people who are unfortunately in positions to actually affect public opinion who insist on pretending there’s no socialism while piling on the universal medicare pork. Once you worship at the altar of “I’m entitled” then ANYTHING can be justified...just as long as you do enough studies and speak in a bastardized accent.

A bleeding, oozing pox on all of them too.

(Disclaimer: don’t even bother trying to accuse me of plagiarism like a gaggle of postgraduate nerds. I took Mr. Helpful’s anti-Canadian rant and turned it around for my own cheap thrills just to see how it played if it was about Americans. BTW, despite his misguided notions about Canadians, he’s one of my daily reads because, well, he’s so helpful.)

Fred's entry for Pet Blogging Day about Buster, a dog I'd gotten to know well from "Fragments":

"Named from Week One, when his sharp teeth discovered by good boots, and I hollered across the room "Watch it, Buster!" His official name is DammitBuster, because this was his epithet for the first 18 months of his life, until he got smart.

Buster's coming into our lives was the result of what I had hoped was a merely perfunctory question in passing to the local vet regarding the (very unlikely) availability of Black Labs locally, so as to appease the wife. As fate would have it, a litter was indeed available not a mile away, and just ready to be weaned. Buster was by far the biggest of the litter. He is four now, and weighs in at 90# of solid dog and as the breed books say of labs... he is 'involved in all family activities' here on the Creek."

Today, Fred begins a moving account of his last trip with Buster that made me cry:

Setting/Mood: Pathetic fallacy setting a pathetic stage, like today, when the northern band of tropical storm Bill spills somber, sodden low clouds and sheets of rain across pale monochrome fields of blue-green, and ghosts of fence posts and wet cattle disappear just beyond the nearest few.

Characters: You will write about only two. A man, and a dog. The man and dog are driving to town silently and joyless, along the same roads that, just yesterday made the man smile, smile because each bend offered familiarity and comfort and beauty. Today, he neither speaks, nor thinks, nor feels, merely reacts to each curve and gust of wind and passing vehicle with it's faceless driver. He struggles between the need to keep his psychic shields up against what it is that he must do, and allowing himself to be there, to the end, for his closest companion of years.

I'm making this list up, because I feel like it. There's no particular ranking here.

1. People who say 'We' when referring to their favorite sports team. (IE, "We're going to win the Super Bowl this year!") I am a diehard Yankees fan, but I don't say 'we' as though I am dressing up and sitting in the dugout. If you're a college sports fan, and you use 'we' when discussing a school you attended, fine. But I work with a guy who uses 'we' when talking about FSU, but he went to Colorado State.

2. When people say, "I liked the first one better" when asking them their opinion of a sequel. I touched on this briefly with 'The Matrix' but it still aggravates me. I can expect to hear it even more when 'Terminator 3' opens. Liking the first movie better, doesn't mean the current one isn't any good. 'Beverly Hills Cop 2' was nowhere near as good as 'Beverly Hills Cop' but I still liked part 2.

3. When candidates 'officially' announce their candidacy even though they've been running for weeks or months. Howard Dean recently did that. Why bother? Everybody knows you're running.

4. The Olsen Twins. Do I have to explain why?

5. Famous people who don't want photographers around because they want their privacy, but then turn around and hawk their photos for millions of bucks (ala Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones), or the ones who claim the same but have their publicists tip off the paparazzi to where they will be when their career is in decline (ala Sharon Stone).

6. Athletes who say, "I just want to win" and only to sign fat contracts with cellar dwelling teams (ala A-Rod. Yes people, Seattle was a much better team than Texas, but they were not offering as much).

7. Those who think Led Zeppelin, Steely Dan, Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull are people instead of bands.

8. People who say 'warsh' instead of 'wash.' It's like fingernails on a chalkboard for some reason.

9. Rabid fans of anything. Take movie directors for instance. Stanley Kubrick was a great director. But he has fans who believe everything he did was sheer brilliance. 'Eyes Wide Shut' was total garbage, but to say that to a Kubrick worshipper is like making fun of almighty God himself and you will get a tongue lashing. I had a friend who got like that with Reggie Jackson (my brother Matt will back me up on this). To him, there was no better player than Reggie. Ruth, Mays, Gehrig were not as good and every fault Jackson had as a player came with a built in excuse. It's nauseating.

That Supreme Court just keeps encroaching more and more on states' rights, doesn't it. (The states' rights nonsense was my favourite of a plethora of lame arguments in favour of continuing to discriminate against private behaviour between consenting adults.)

Jane is off buying herself candy and and wine now that she can swim. Please give a warm birthday wish to Jane! To help celebrate, I have provided a picture of her below so everybody can see how beautifully she has aged.

Smiling Jane.

Last fall, I couldn't swim. I could dog paddle, float, and tread water for ages, but I'd never taken the final plunge, so to speak...as a child, I always got hung up in "Advanced Beginners". So, since I hate golf, I took swimming lessons.

Today for my birthday (don't even ask how old...I plan on being peri-menopausal for at least twenty years) swim, I swam 22 laps, three quarters of which were the front and back crawl, and six of which were long course laps.

Tonight I'm celebrating my near-Olympic athletic status with this and this.

I grabbed the camera with me when I went to take the dog out for a walk and snapped a few quick pics.

The first one is of my neighbor's house. Dick's a great guy. Happily came over and introduced himself to us.

Then I grabbed one from the street, looking up the block. Our street is a big 'U', so it isn't used as a thruway to other streets. The only people who drive on the block for the most part are people who live there. It's great because the kids can ride their bikes and I don't have to worry about some idiot screaming down the street doing 50mph.

Finally, we have the Caruso home and that ends our very short trip around the neighborhood.

Kevin Drum had a post where he discussed the type of pasta sauce he was going to purchase. He wound up buying some Classico in a jar, which made me - an Italian - cringe.

Sauces in a jar are always going to contain preservatives and will always have some kind of corn syrup added to it. Yuck. I emailed Kevin and told him I would provide my wife's recipe for pasta sauce. It's simple, inexpensive but oh so good.

You will need:

2 cans of crushed tomatoes
2 (small) cans of tomato paste
1/2 medium onion chopped very small
2-3 large garlic cloves crushed (put them under a paper town and smash it with something to release the flavor)
2-3 leaves of fresh basil
2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons of extra virgin Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of sugar (the amount can vary depending on how you like it)

In a large pot add the olive oil and garlic. Make sure you add the garlic before the oil heats or else it will burn. Add the chopped onions and heat just until they become translucent.

Add the crushed tomatoes and fill each can with water and add that as well.

Add the tomato paste and fill each can with water and add that.

Add in the fresh basil and the Italian seasoning. IMPORTANT: Before adding the Italian seasoning, grind it around the palms of your hands. This will release the oils in the dried herbs adding extra flavor. Add the salt, pepper and sugar as well.

Bring to a boil and then let it simmer uncovered for 2 hours stirring occasionally. It makes a little less than 2 quarts.

That's it.

There is one other thing, and this is what really makes the sauce complete: meat. Whether it be sausage, beef cubes, or meatballs, it adds that little extra punch to the flavor of the sauce.

If anybody wants the meatball recipe, let me know and I will post it.

UPDATE: Steve has a quick and easy recipe up for a clam sauce.

I have much sympathy for SayUncle, who blogs about squatter geese who not only take over the property he pays for, but try to intimidate him and the dog into thinking it's their turf.

In my fair city, the urban park is a natural stopover for geese flying south and north, and a natural home for the filthy, squawking, pooping creatures all summer. But we go SayUncle one better....we have the unemployed welfare geese who stay all damn year long, winter and summer. I say quit feeding them and wait til midnight and wring all their necks.

From the land that brought us such significant cultural icons as Joe Millionaire and Anna Nicole Smith, Benjamin Ivry is all worked up over a French award to Iggy Pop for contributions to arts and culture. He sneers at Iggy and other winners such as Lou Reed and André Gidé, claiming that "In addition to a certain tone-deafness about a creative personality's actual work, the French proudly ignore the private lives of their cultural personalities."

Ivry slams the French for similarly honouring Roman Polanski and other pedophiles and bad people in the past. Hello? Academy Award for "The Pianist"? Americans celebrate trashy bad people too, Mr. Ivry....of course, Hollyweird and France are probably in the same international conspiracy to actually honour significant contributions regardless of private lives.

So what's his deal with Iggy? Well, it's not the self-mutilation that Ivry sees fit to mention....it's the quality of Iggy's writing! Oh right, a columnist that spends three quarters of his alloted space reporting salacious details of winners' personal lives is concerned about the quality of the work. I can only hope that Mr. Ivry realizes that Larence Welk will never.....never.....be named an Officer of Arts and Letters in France. But Eminem might.

Michele's revision of the rather dorky Twenty-Six Things a Perfect Guy Would Do unites left and right even faster than an ABBA-fest (and dont' anyone try to tell me you hate ABBA...it's simply impossible). Not only do I agree with all of her changes, but she's managed to whittle the damn thing down to 14 pithy things Pefect Men will do. A sample:

13. Stare at you.
I hate being stared at, even by my husband. Every time he stares at me, I say "What? WHAT? Do I have a booger hanging out of my nose?" It unnerves me. Judging from this chick's lists of requirements, I'm thinking that when her boyfriend stares at her, he's not staring at all, but he's retreated to that happy place he goes to whenever she starts yapping.

Bill Gates claims that Microsoft has declared war on spam.

But spam is worse than irritating. It is a drain on business productivity, an increasingly costly waste of time and resources that clogs corporate networks and distracts workers. Among consumers, it spreads scams, pornography and even computer viruses. Worse, spammers prey on less sophisticated e-mail users, including children, threatening their safety and privacy. And as everyone struggles to sift spam from their inboxes, valid messages are sometimes overlooked or deleted, which makes e-mail less useful and reliable as a channel for communication and legitimate e-commerce. In short, spam threatens to undo much of the good that e-mail has achieved.

Perhaps they do, but they don't block one piece of spam from my Hotmail inbox. Today, I have 211 messages in there, all spam. Mr. Gates may sincerely believe that offers to find me a Russian bride or increase my penis size never reach my inbox, but the fact is that, save for registration confirmations that I use Hotmail for because I dont' want my other email full of crap, I have not had a legitimate email appear in that inbox in years.

So that's very nice that Gates believes spam is a bad thing. But really, what is he going to do about it when he can't seem to devise a filter for his own product?

This is just absurd:

Abagail is 6-years-old and runs a lemonade stand. But, a few days ago she and her friends were put out of business by a neighbor, "We didn't have a permit, so she called the cops."

The Naples Police arrived and, because Abagail did not have a temporary business permit, technically a city violation, "We had to take down our lemonade stand."

Now some people have used this as an excuse to go off on the government and use it as another example of how government gets in the way of business and so forth.

Let's ignore that. The importance of this issue is this: What possessed a neighbor to call the cops on a 6 year old girl selling lemonade? There are some things we may not know. Neighbors often hate each other and who knows? This could have just been the latest in a ongoing dispute.

I am certain however, that it is not. One of the things I do not care for with all of the urban sprawl we have going on in this country, is the lack of a true community or neighborhood. Too many of us don't know our neighbors all that well. Hell, I've had some neighbors I have never even spoken to. It wasn't that way when I was growing up. Everybody pretty much knew everybody. I grew up in Queens. Lived on Barnett Avenue in Sunnyside. I used to play all the time on 45th street and 44th street. My parents knew just about everybody that lived up those blocks and because of that, I didn't have to stay within viewing distance. Nowadays parents don't want their kids leaving the driveway.

Anybody remember block parties? My cousin used to have them in Staten Island every year. I can't imagine doing that where I live now. People would complain about the noise, or get mad because somebody stepped on their lawn, or would gripe that we didn't have a permit or some such crap. It's strange. I go out of my way to be friendly with my neighbors and it seems like the only ones who respond well are people who come from New York or New Jersey, and lived in real neighborhoods.

I remember walking down my street at night during the summer when I was younger, or even in the apartment complex I lived in and the house I lived in NJ. People would be outside, sitting on their front steps talking or having a beer. I walk my dog at night and I can hear the traffic on the interstate which is about 2 miles away. This is on the weekends as well as the weekdays.

I don't know what it is. Maybe I am just getting older. Maybe it's just Florida. But it just seems like we're content to be strangers to everybody else around us. People are so petty and lame that they don't want little kids selling frigging lemonade on the street so they call the cops. It's sad really.

May the deities preserve me from young white people of privilege with big fat privileged mouths.

So....I rose from my sickbed this morning to swim a few laps. I walked into the change-room and into the middle of an encounter between a young WPOP and two sixtyish women from Azerbijan. The latter were saying, "you just don't understand what it's like there. There is no freedom." WPOP kept interrupting them, saying, "You're wrong. One person can make a difference in the world. We can change it there from here." The women responded with actual examples of actual oppression, one of which involved a nephew's school and the police. WPOP: "Why didn't the teacher do something?" (insert eye roll here). She talked over them and around them, bleating bullshit and making it perfectly obvious that she had never been out of her Canadian cocoon, and most likely never out of suburban Regina, Saskatchewan.

Another woman came in, rose her eyebrows, and I remarked, "It's a change-room political debate." WPOP: "It's not a debate. It's a dialogue." Me: "It's you being disrespectful of others' experiences. Her: "You don't know what you're talking about. I'm just saying one person can make a difference." Me: "Maybe you should shut up and listen for twelve seconds and learn something." Grateful looks from older women.

And I left.

I'd like to know why the parents of little Muffy or Buffy missed passing on the Clue Gene. Whether it's snotty little lefties about "freedom", or fascist little righties about "family values", they seem to be brimming with disrespect, ignorance, and an oh-so-fine sense of correctness and certainty of solution.

They're all bleating idiots.

Well, just wanted to report that the rest of my weekend went without incident. We're all moved in, and other than being very tired, I feel great. My father in law is fine - he even gave me a weed trimmer as a father's day gift - and he's still trying to help out as much as he can to prove that getting knocked upside the head and needing 9 stitches is not going to slow him down.

More later.

And yes, I drive a Ford Taurus. When you're the sole earner in the family (of 4), economics becomes an issue when it involves the mode of transportation. The Taurus (IMO) is just as reliable as a family car as the Camry or the Accord and costs at least $5000 less.

I had a day from hell. It fit perfectly into the aura of this particular date.

I will give details later, and I swear every detail is true. This day was THAT bad. It started off bad and got progressively worse, starting with a paycheck issue and ending with somebody having to get stitches in their head.

UPDATE: Here's how it started.

We're in the middle of moving so money was super tight. In fact, we were at a point where we were down to a few bucks in the checking account. Since today is officially the day we moved in, we had to do a bunch of things. Tomorrow we're moving the big furniture, but for the last two weeks we have been moving all the other stuff. My kids slept at my brother in laws house, so my wife and I were up early.

We left the house around 8:am to go and take care of getting the water turned on. I stopped off to get gas and I used my bank card to fill up (note: we have one credit card that we use only for big emergencies - credit cards are dangerous kids). Well, imagine how I felt when it pumped about a gallon and a half and stopped. I thought, "Uh oh. My direct deposit did not go through."

So we went to the bank and checked the account balance. Sure enough, after splurging on 2 bucks in gas, I saw that I had about 2 bucks in my bank account. I called work (I took off today obviously) and asked what the hell was going on.

Work: "Oh, well because the company name changed, the first direct deposit didn't go through."

Me: "Why didn't anybody tell me?"

Work: We only found out about it yesterday at 4:30."

Me: "I was there until 5:pm and you knew I was going to be out today. You should have told me. I have a million frigging things to do and I don't have a paycheck. I'll be down there to get it."

Work: "Well, they're not here. They're not going to get here until at least 10:30 when FedEx shows up."

Me: (pissed) "Fine. Call me when they get there."

Work: "Ok."

So my wife and I go over to the new place to have some breakfast. 10:30 passes. 11:00, 11:30. No call. Finally, I call at 11:45 and get somebody else on the phone and ask if the checks are there. "Oh, they came in around 10:30."

So now we trudge down to the office, pick up the check, cash it and go out to lunch. Our first stop is the water company. We get there around 1:40. That's when THEY go to lunch. So I suggested we go deposit the cash, hit Wal-Mart for the bathroom supplies and go back to the water co. We cross to the other side of town where the bank and Wal-Mart are. We pull up to ATM to make the deposit (the same one we went to in the morning) and it says:

This ATM Is Temporarily Unavailable. Sorry For The Inconvenience

So now we have to go back across town to a different branch. Now my wife deposits the money, but of course it's not going to go through right away. However, when shown the option go to get some stamps, she does so, and even though there wasn't enough to cover it, the stamps get spit out. Problem is, now we have a negative balance. I'm waiting to see if the bank hits me with an insufficient funds charge.

So we go take care of the water and get what we need from Wal-Mart. We head to the older house where we were going to switch cars (my wife has a Mercury Tracer and I drive a Ford Taurus which was practically on empty this morning. She had half a tank). Now, two nights ago, my brother in law and I moved the garage door opener from one house to the other. So for the past two days we have been opening the garage door at the old place manually. No big deal. It's a light aluminum door. This time however, I go to close it and one of the wires that runs down the sides breaks and now the garage door is all off because there is tension on one side and none on the other.

I tried to get the door to close, but as a result of the conflicting tension, it's off balance and the next thing I know, the wheels are coming out of the tracks and I'm about two guides away from having the whole thing come crashing down on me. My wife, who is about a foot shorter than me is using a big push broom to help keep the thing up while I am desperately trying to get the wheels back in. I finally did, but the garage door is still open. My father in law comes over and at we both were able to start guiding it down. However, it's till off and becomes stuck. My father in law breaks out his drill and starts to remove these metal plates that are in the way. The problem is, he took off the one that already had the missing wire (the wires were connected to these plates) and simply forgot that the other one still had the wire -- along with all of the tension -- on it. I saw what was going to happen as he started to take out the third bolt and started to tell him to stop but it was too late.

The bolt popped out and the force of the wire shot up and taking the plate with it - right into my father in law's forehead. The force of the blow knocked him back and blood just started flowing. My wife and my mother in law reacted like he was just beheaded, so not only is he hurt, but his daughter and his wife are shrieking like crazy, making him more nervous. I finally calmed them down and we got the bleeding under control with some ice rather quickly. The EMS folks came and by that time, he (he's a tough 76 year old Sicilian) was able to go down to the hospital to get his stitches with my wife driving his car. 9 stitches in total and a nice L shaped cut on his forehead. He was damned lucky that he got hit where he did. Anywhere else and it could have been a lot worse.

After that, everything got quiet, but what a lousy frigging day. We're just taking it easy now, and hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Good night.

Some of the most important judicial work being done in North America is that of the Innocence Projects. And I'm thrilled to tell the world that a relative of a dear friend of mine was just exonerated after spending almost ten years in prison for a rape he didn't commit:

A Macomb County man who has professed his innocence to rape and armed robbery from a prison cell for nearly a decade is likely to walk out of the Macomb County Courthouse a free man today, Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said Wednesday.

DNA testing of evidence, which was prompted by a challenge by the Innocence Project at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, has determined that an unknown person, not Kenneth Wyniemko, left traces of biological evidence at the Clinton Township home where a 28-year-old woman was raped repeatedly for four hours in April 1994.

Time and time again we're hearing of sloppy defenses, unscrupulous police and prosecution work, suspect evidence and the like resulting in convictions for serious crimes in states with serious, often deadly consequences. Now I'm sure that most of the people who are in prison belong there fair and square, but cases like this point out once again that the system is fallible. And someone pays with lost years and families and lives. No amount of cash can bring that back, but I hope he sues the ass off the state.

For the first time ever, I joined a males-mostly tech forum. Now I remember why I never bothered before....heaven forbid if you're a recent joiner (you get the appellation "kiddie scripter" like you're a high-cost special student). Heaven forbid if you post anything in non-techese in anything but the "newbie" area...special jargon is how the Boys make themselves important. Heaven forbid if you actually email them....it's the huffy reply like you're still dragging your girly knuckles on the ground.

If I ever need the info again, I'll register as "James Finch" and learn to spell everything with "en" instead of "ing".

Who could resist a headline like "Ridiculous Man-Hating Lesbians"? in the daily townhall.com offering? Not I....and, as I expected, it was a cliché-ridden item written by annoyed big college professor-victim Mike Adams, who is in a snit about Women's Studies.

Now I figure one of two things...either old Mike is an insecure guy who hasn't ventured out of his academic elite office since 1992 or North Carolina is a decade behind the times. Everyone who's anyone in the man-hating lesbian biz knows that "womyn" went out with leg-warmers. It's "wimmen", you cretinous patriarchal worm, and don't you forget it.

DNA is going to try and determine if Pat Garrett really did shoot Billy The Kid or if he is a murderer. Fascinating little piece in the Times about it, for those who are interested in that whole story.

Martha Stewart has been indicted.

A grand jury indicted Martha Stewart on federal charges of securities fraud and obstruction of justice Wednesday in an insider stock trading scandal that could bring big fines or even a jail term for the home styles guru known for impeccable taste. Stewart pleaded innocent to the charges.

Now, does anybody honestly think Martha Stewart is going to spend one hour behind bars? She pled innocent, but chances are they'll plead it down to practically nothing. She'll get off with a fine and her having a criminal record won't hurt any future deals.

The great thing about pets is that they all have their own little quirks or things that do that make them unique and set them apart from other pets.

My dog Casey for instance is a licker. A lot of dogs give kisses but this dog will lick anything. The moment something is in front of her nose, she licks as though it's something that is done automatically. We thought for a time it was just limited to people. But no. We're in the middle of moving and she walked past this cardboard box the other day and gave it a slurp. She's licked people's legs even though they were wearing pants. We moved a bookcase and she licked the wall.

Anybody else?

(Matt brought this on when he mentioned that big goofball dog of his. That's a compliment by the way)

The Muslim woman in Florida who objected to having her driver's license picture taken without her veil should move up to Commie Land. My province doesn't seem to even require a picture for valid photo id.

I forgot to get my Photo ID updated, and got a warning a month or so ago to get it done or my license would be invalid as of June 1. I promptly forgot again, and yesterday received another government missive that contained a piece of paper that I have to carry around with my paper license (this is in ADDITION to said photo card) that "serves as a temporary photo card", even though there's no picture:

View image

UPDATE:So...I went to get my picture taken and renew my license. I now have three pieces of paper: this years license, next years license, and yet another pictureless piece of paper that says it's Official Photo ID. I asked, why can't we have one license like the rest of the free world? Answer: Because people in Saskatchewan make so many changes like addresses etc. I asked, where's my picture? Answer: Oh we mail it out because our printer can only handle so many pictures.

Now if that's not a Close Encounter of the Bureaucratic Kind, I don't know what is.

An Australian academic has claimed that Jesus was gay. Not only did said academic use Biblical sources, but it seems astrology was considered a worthy source as well:

An Anglican and a qualified reader of astrological charts, Dr McCleary said the planet Uranus figured prominently in Jesus's astrological chart, as it did with many gays.

Via Making Light comes word of fine chocolate from twenty-one fabulous chocolatiers available on one handy website. The mind reels and the heart yearns.

It's pretty darned good, but the two makers of Chocolate Nirvana....Mrs. Sees and La Maison du Chocolate...aren't on the list. Thank the deities that they both offer on-line shopping.

Kitty cuteness.

Kiddy cuteness.

Jurors in a capital case consulted the Bible during their deliberations, and the judge consequently threw out the verdict.

I hope none of the Leviticus-consulters was wearing a cotton-poly blend.

It seems I have upset some people because I was a big meanie to Kevin Drum.

Well, my response may have been over the top, but like I said in the other comments, I don't react kindly to people accusing me (in a blanket sort of way) of wanting to the destroy the country. I don't care if it's Kevin Drum or The Pope. And why? Because I support cutting taxes? Because I support doing away with a wasteful government program even if it is for "the children?" Because I don't believe we have to waste time trying to appease psuedo-allies in order to further our goals against terrorism worldwide? That's called a difference in IDEAS, a difference in POLICY, a difference in IDEOLOGY. It does not mean I want to destroy the country for crying out loud.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and join my conservative brethren as we figure out more ways to starve the children. Good night.

How long ago did they find Laci Peterson's body? Well, however long it was, it didn't take long for the story to arrive on television. "Who Killed Laci Peterson?" is now on A&E.;

If we keep reacting to every doomsday disease story they way we have in recent years, we'll die of fear before the germs get us.

West Nile: "In 2002, there were more than 4,100 human West Nile cases in the United States resulting in 284 deaths." That's 284 deaths out of 300 million people. Forgive me if I don't immediately rush out and get an electronic mosquito zapper.

SARS: "Worldwide, the pneumonia-like illness has killed at least 634 people and infected more than 7,850." That's six hundred thirty-four people out of a frikkin world population of about 6.3 billion. I think I'll forego buying a mask and head on over to Lee's Chop Suey Take-Out.

Mad Cow: 125 people have died of the related illness. One hundred twenty-five. Mostly in Britain. Over a decade. More people die in a Texas heatwave, for heavens sake.

I'm sorely tired of it all. It's patently obvious that none of these things is likely to result in new careers for the "Bring out your dead" criers, but we react as though it was the second coming of the Black Death. Talk about a need for perspective.

UPDATE: Sean, you are correct. I don't even need to research the data to add shark attacks and murders of pretty white middle-class women to the list.

I like it when home schooled kids win these kinds of competitions because I know that it drives the public education mullahs crazy.

Well this should send the “only Hitler would ban smoking” crowd into a frenzy. All 192 member nations of the World Health Organization have signed the first-ever smoking ban treaty, which means that all signatories, including the United States under the Bush administration, are “now committed to strict curbs on the advertising, marketing and sale of tobacco products within five years”..

If nothing else, this should put to rest the claims that smoking bans are the fault of “liberals”.

How Dennis Prager took bachelorette parties with their plethora o’plastic penises and perhaps male strippers and leapt to women heading into to a private room to have sex with a male stripper I’ll never know. But he figures women are “deliberately confused about their sexual identity by feminism and the university.”

He argues that men and women are different, and that, unlike men, women don’t enjoy objectivfying gorgeous men. Prager acknowledges that stags for the bride exist, but thinks they'res unnatural. As Dennis opines, “What is untrue is the message -- that female sexuality is so similar to men's that women enjoy ogling male nudity and long to touch anonymous naked men.” Dennis seems to think it’s all well and fine for men…after all, it’s in their “nature” to do so. He doesn’t say a thing negative about males enjoying female lap dancers. And he bemoans a society in which women think they have to “act like men” to be equal to them…and we women are “angry”, hence the “anything you can do, I can do better” attitude of us poor benighted, brainwashed babes. Dennis finishes with a bizarre reference to “current phenomenon of the female sexual predator” (shades of one too many viewings of the rabbit get boiled? What’s he talking about?) .

Dennis, Dennis, Dennis. The myth that “women aren’t interested in that sort of thing” disappeared privately centuries ago, and publically decades ago. I think there’s nothing better than a good objectification or two...or an entire chorus line, for that matter…for men or women. How does that translate into feminists and academics convincing me that having anonymous sex with a male stripper is probable or desirable…or indeed achievable?

Besides if I pretended to be a man, I wouldn’t go to a strip joint. I’d watch “Jackass: The Movie”. And that, Dennis, is far scarier than a bunch of women sucking on penis-shaped ice cubes and cheering at some hunk in a g-string. And more entertaining than some two-bit moralist who thinks it's okay for men to have anonymous sex in strip joints due to "natural urges".

The NY Times is subtly ranking on Wal-Mart, this time because of their policies regarding what kinds of books and music they sell.

The big point is in these two paragraphs:

But with the chains' power has come criticism from authors, musicians and civil liberties groups who argue that the stores are in effect censoring and homogenizing popular culture. The discounters and price clubs typically carry an assortment of fewer than 2,000 books, videos and albums, and they are far more ruthless than specialized stores about returning goods if they fail to meet a minimum threshold of weekly sales.

What is more, the chains' buyers — especially at Wal-Mart — carefully screen content to avoid selling material likely to offend their conservative customers. Wal-Mart has banned everything from the rapper Eminem's albums to the best-selling diaries of the rock star Kurt Cobain. This month, in its latest bow to its customers' morals, Wal-Mart stopped selling the racy men's magazines Maxim and Stuff.

Well there you have it. The word 'homogenized' is often used to describe any big chain store, be it retail like Wal-Mart, or book stores such as Barnes and Noble (the censorship charge is just asinine). Many people do not like these stores because they feel as though these places blight the landscape and take away the charm of small town America. They also provide less customer service as anybody who is old enough can get a job there, go through a 2 day training course and be expected to answer customer questions, which we know is not always the case.

However, these places are always crowded, and always ringing up big sales because people get in one package what they want: to conveniently find decent products at a low price. Wal-Mart is one of the few places were somebody can buy a ceiling fan, underwear, a gallon of milk and the a copy of 'Toy Story' on DVD all in one place. Barnes and Noble discounts their titles. Plus they offer big comfortable armchairs to sit and read, and the best part is: you can actually return the books if you don't like them.

People have to understand that we live in a different world than we did so many moons ago. There is one thing that people don't anymore in abundant quantities: time. We're so busy working and doing so many different things that being able to shop at different stores for different items is a luxury these days. We don't want to have to special order items for our yard. That's why we go to Lowe's or Home Depot.

In addition, if Wal-Mart chooses not to sell Eminem CD's or Maxim magazine, who cares? That's more money for some other retailer.

Where would rightwing op-ed columnists be without the NY Times to kick around? Today's Townhall.com crop does not fail to disappoint as everyone except GWBs Barney weighs in.

Today, the "scandal" can be attributed to: a) Raines refusing to hold black people responsible for anything; b) moral dry rot; c) "allowing political agendas to drive its coverage"; or d) some of the editors (Emmett Tyrell needs to get re-indoctrinated...how did this sensible column slip by?).

And the best solution? Why, "Raines could work to diversify the newsroom by adding biblical evangelicals and orthodox Jews likely to produce stories that have a firmer foundation than just snappy prose."

Oh boy!

In other "news", "Libertarian Larry" Elder delivers a real knee-slapper as he announces with a straight face that he's joined the GOP because of, among other things, its commitment to limited government. Yes indeedy, even a cursory glance at the bloated pork-ridden defense and other appropriations bills in the hands of all three GOP entities...the President, Congress and the Senate.....shows that abiding commitment.

From Megan McArdle, yet another anecdote that tells a tale of getting better health care in the US than in Canada, which "proves" that one system is superior to the other. And some of the commenters have brought up the usual stories about Canadians travelling across the border in droves to get "better" service in the US.

I'm not interested in debating which system is superior, because it's apples to oranges. What I am interested in is if anyone can provide a reference to any.....any......comparative study, or study of cross-border health care access, that is based on verifiable data and research and not on anecdotal evidence and hearsay.

That Dean Esmay...there he is, stirring the pot again. This time it's ebonics, and Dean argues that it's a legitimate teaching tool and that it was a mistake to nix it. He goes on to say:

Before you tell me I'm wrong, might I mention that most people who tell me I'm wrong have never actually read up on the issue?

The variety known as "Ebonics," "African American Vernacular English" (AAVE), and "Vernacular Black English" and by other names is systematic and rule-governed like all natural speech varieties. In fact, all human linguistic systems -- spoken, signed, and written -- are fundamentally regular. The systematic and expressive nature of the grammar and pronunciation patterns of the African American vernacular has been established by numerous scientific studies over the past thirty years. Characterizations of Ebonics as "slang," "mutant," "lazy," "defective," "ungrammatical," or "broken English" are incorrect and demeaning.

The distinction between "languages" and "dialects" is usually made more on social and political grounds than on purely linguistic ones. For example, different varieties of Chinese are popularly regarded as "dialects," though their speakers cannot understand each other, but speakers of Swedish and Norwegian, which are regarded as separate "languages," generally understand each other. What is important from a linguistic and educational point of view is not whether AAVE is called a "language" or a "dialect" but rather that its systematicity be recognized.

As affirmed in the LSA Statement of Language Rights (June l996), there are individual and group benefits to maintaining vernacular speech varieties and there are scientific and human advantages to linguistic diversity. For those living in the United States there are also benefits in acquiring Standard English and resources should be made available to all who aspire to mastery of Standard English. The Oakland School Board's commitment to helping students master Standard English is commendable.

There is evidence from Sweden, the US, and other countries that speakers of other varieties can be aided in their learning of the standard variety by pedagogical approaches which recognize the legitimacy of the other varieties of a language. From this perspective, the Oakland School Board's decision to recognize the vernacular of African American students in teaching them Standard English is linguistically and pedagogically sound.

What's to disagree with?

Before you comment, please try and do so without mentioning Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Maxine Waters.

Damn that liberal media. Here are the latest "widespread outrages" I wouldn't know about if I didn't get the Townhall.com columnist highlights delivered to me:

Jesse Jackson had something to say about the new Crimson Tide coach.

The YWCA hired Pat Ireland because NOW and the YWCA are essentially the same organizations and young women have to go to the YMCA for their guidance.

The New York Times reporter "scandal" is due to: a) diversity; b) lack of diversity; c) campus political correctness; or d) a total collapse of standards.

Protesting job losses to Mexico due to NAFTA is bad.

No less than the Founding Fathers are posthumously outraged over Hillary Clinton's community help line proposal.

Thomas Friedman thinks it's all about him, him, him and is a patsy to governments in China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc. (Of course, the Virgin Ben thinks NoCal is a hostile foreign nation, but I digress).

Acidman doesn't care for my opinions regarding smoking bans. Well, I have only this to say to all of you who think the ban sucks:

What on earth is wrong with you Yankees??

I'm sick of the whining about tyranny. I'm tired of the bellyaching about rights. I've had it up to here with "property rights" and "my place, my rules" and "it's a bar...expect it" and all the rest. I haven't seen so much crying and wailing since that pissant Madison got his House burned down in 1812.

If it's so bad, why do you pay any attention at all to the ban?

Here in Commie-Land, we had one ansewr to the gun registration law. We ignored it. Plain. Simple. Easy. And guess what.....it's not being enforced!

Surely if a bunch of socialist sheep, 1/4 of whom are descended from cheese-eating surrender monkeys, can manage to take the teeth out of a law, you brave, strong land of the free types should be able to manage a stupid little ban on smoking.

Now I don't want to hear one more snivelling word from you anti-ban crybabies. Either light up in righteous defiance or forever more know that a bunch of pussified Commies have more of an idea how to keep their basic freedoms than you do.

The Canadian government has concluded that Canadians are losing their religion because 4.8 million indicated "no religion" on the 2001 Census form.

Well, 20,000 Canadians also said they followed the religion of Jedi. Just maybe both groups were telling the government "none of your business".

Fletch reports on doctors in Appalachia being turfed for supplementing their income and sex life by selling illegal prescription drugs to their patients.

The most horrifying thing is that most of them had been recruited to the region in the past two years. Recruitment is playing large in the news recently, but it's the usual rails against affirmative action or some reporter caught plagiarizing, neither of which are exactly life threatening situations. Yet obviously something's very wrong in recruitment standards for rural doctors. Were all these doctors exemplary professionals before moving there? Or were they protected by professional associations and given good references by hospitals and clinics just to get rid of them?

I'm sure that there are many fine doctors and other professionals who choose to go to less lucrative areas to practice. But the widespread problems reported in Appalachia indicates that not all of them are that altruistic or dedicated.

And PS....Fletch, when are you joining the Rocky Top Brigade?

Why is smoking whereever and whenver one wants to considered "freedom"? We don't get to drink where we want; eat where we want; drives as fast as we want; even have our cell phones on where we want. Yet I don't see anyone saying that their freedom is impeded by drinking bans in the workplace, or by unlicensed restaurants, or even by dry county ordinances. I don't see demands for no speed limits. So what's the difference with smoking?

Via Alex Knapp comes this story about how restaurants and bars in NYC are experiencing "tremendous losses" after smoking was banned. Well, I'd prefer to wait for something more than anecdotal evidence and a real study before I feel any pity for them.

The studies that followed California's smoking ban show little, if any effect on business, and improved employee health. A 1998 study showed that bartenders' lungs and other smoking-related conditions improved. A 2000 report noted that lung cancer deaths have declined since anti-smoking measures were adopted. The ban hasn't hurt tourism, either. And contrary to all of the dire predictions, bars and restaurants are surviving quite nicely, according to the AMA.

Smoking is not an issue of freedom in public places; it is an issue of health. In the case of bars and restaurants, it's about occupational health and safety, not "smokers' rights". I suppose that OHS rules don't much matter as long as yours and my work places are safe; so who gives a fig for wait staff and bartenders? The most laughable justification for smoking "freedom" is "they know what kind of places they're working in; they should expect it." Oh right....they tried that one with coal miners and grain elevator workers too.

Safety is safety.....and no one is impinging on smokers' ability to get up and nip outside for a smoke. Heck, smoke your guts out in your own home, or on others' private property....break a lung, so to speak. But don't try and tell me that only smokers patronize restaurants and bars, or patronize them in disproprotionate numbers to the point that smoking bans are going to wreck the hospitality industry. The evidence just isn't there.

UPDATE: I see my impeccable argument isn't winning over any of the infidels. So here's the final kicker: FRANCE allows smoking. Big time. Surely that's reason enough to ban it.

Madonna Happy in Britain Now She That Has Friends.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm having a hard time imagining poor Madonna alone in a little flat somewhere, isolated, friendless.

Ricky West and I are of one mind after seeing a piece of reality tripe that passes for entertainment. Our joint post:

Ricky: Last weekend, I was treated to something utterly astounding.

I have DirecTV & Keith called to tell me to turn it to channel 191, as I wouldn't believe what I saw. As I fumbled around for the remote, he started telling me it was something called "Ghetto Brawls" and that it was basically Cops, except it was relegated to poor black neighborhoods and amateur video of fights.

"NO", was my first response, as I couldn't believe that something like that could ever make it to my satellite receiver. Well, it was true. The whole "show" was a litany of 2 to 4 minute home videos of people in downtrodden black neighborhoods having fights. And folks, I don't mean just to people who happen to have black skin....this "show" exploited the racial stereotypes to the extreme. It was akin to an automobile accident, in that it was so surreal that I couldn't believe what I was watching, and then afterwards realizing that I had watched it. And I cannot emphasize the word "exploited" enough. This was something so abysmally obscene that I had to go get my wife to make sure that it wasn't some Hollywood production that was being passed off as fights'.

My wife simply shook her head & walked off, mumbling something....all I could understand was "I can't believe...."

I IM'd Jane Finch, as I know she has DTV as well, to get her input. She'll have something to say about this, as well. I could see how someone could think that the whole thing was a string of staged fights, as anyone who saw the parts where the (usually stoned out of their minds) males were fighting....well, fighting isn't really the right word. Let's say "screaming" and "flailing", because not one of them could actually fight. Maybe one out of 15 punches actually landed, as scraping and slinging around was what the video parlayed as 'fighting'. And talking consisted of little more than the n-word being used almost constantly...as a noun, as a verb, as an object, in almost every way imaginable. They could talk some smack, to be sure....they sure as hell couldn't fight.

The chicks? Now, those gals didn't play around. I dare say that I wouldn't want to mess with any of them, as they immediately went for the hair, and the violence was pretty extreme. The worst one was when one gal semi-bodyslammed another on the street and her head hit the corner of the sidewalk. I'm not exaggerating.

What was the most offensive about the 'video' was the people themselves. It's a running joke that "Cops" displays the worst of redneck culture...well, this displayed the worst stereotype of blacks in such a way that it could easily be assumed that it was created, produced and manufactured by the KKK. But, it was a black guy who was the producer!!!!! I don't want to underscore the exploitation of the stereotypes, as David Duke would've probably watched this and said out loud "oh, COME ON, this is just too much"....well, I'm guessing, because (thank God) I don't know how assclowns like David Duke think....and don't plan to learn.

Let me just say that with the mini-controversy over the movie "Barbershop" that came out last year, this thing has obviously missed the radar screens of the various civil rights groups, because that thing could be the most racially abusive thing I've ever seen in a long time (well, other than Friends exploiting a mythical white culture where everyone sleeps with each other & a black person exists once every 3 or 4 seasons).

Over to you, Jane.

Jane: I don't watch reality television. Oh I admit to watching 15 minutes of an episode of the first "Survivor", and about 15 minutes of the last episode of "The Bachelor". The first bored me to tears (real relationships are deadly boring unless they're your own or your best friend's, or involve celebrities, lots of cash and/or murder). The second made me yawn...stilted, stupid, sappy...in short, unreality television. I mean, whose eyes didn't roll when bimbo and bozo got a million buck check? And I don't even need to watch "American Idol" because it's obvious from the gossip that all the talented people got turfed because they had pre-AI Real Lives.

So when Ricky IMd me to get a load of "Ghetto Brawls", I tuned it in. After all, who can resist gawking at a car accident?

Ugh.

I couldn't believe what I was watching. Well, I could believe it, but I couldn't believe it was passing for Pay-Per-View "entertainment." Ricky's described it in graphic and accurate detail, so I won't repeat it. Sure, stereotypes are based on some reality. But I don't buy for a second that there wasn't some staging going on (no! you say, surely reality television wouldn't do that!). And what makes that so disgusting is that the violence was real, and being offered up as "entertainment" for America. Can someone tell me what is entertaining about filming stoned poor Black people?

And yes, it's a racial stereotype. But don't ever think our television honchos are racist; no, they're equal opportunity exploiters. Poor Black Americans....poor white Americans...hey, let's show how entertaining they are! CBS's "reality" hillbilly show is no better than "Ghetto Brawls", and a nod goes to public figures like Zell Miller who just don't see the entertainment or reality in this sort of exploitation. What's so funny or entertaining about poor white Americans in Appalachia? How many yuks are we going to get from seeing the yokels in Hollywood? I for one can't wait to see how long it'll take them to discover the poor folks on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...hey, watch the redskins drink, fight and brawl! Hey, let's move some Indians into, oh say Manhattan and yuk it up as we watch them cope with Big City life!

It's one thing to exploit a bunch of middle class greedy wannabe stars; it's quite another to exploit a stereotype. The first is good old capitalism. The second is bigotry, pure and simple. Reality TV, my ass...it's Bigotry TV. What is most interesting to me is that Bigotry Black TV is on PPV, but Bigotry White TV gets a prime-time network slot. And I don't think the former is on PPV because of any "sensitivities". Nope, the producers (and DirecTV) know full well that there'd be an outcry if it was on network television. But are they right...are we really that numbed to it all that somehow bigotry disguised as entertainment is more acceptable if it's featuring white folks?

It all sucks.

Kevin Drum has a post in which he discusses the very high salaries and bonuses that CEO's enjoy these days. He says it is high time to start changing the way a CEO gets paid. I don't agree with Kevin on a lot of things, but on this one I agree 100%.

I am a capitalist and I love the free market system. At the same time however, I believe capitalism is supposed to reward those who work hard and are successful. It's obvious that some CEO's are being awarded ludicrous amounts of money when they clearly do not deserve it.

We often tend to think of this in terms of business and industry, but it's prevalent all over. Anybody remember Michael Ovitz? He was a hot shot agent who got to be President of Disney for a grand total of 14 months and left with a severance package that included $38 million in cash and stock options that were worth $90 million. Not bad for a year's worth of palm pressing huh?

On the other side of the coin however, there are those guys who were worth every penny of what they received. Look what Lee Iococca did with Chrysler. Chrysler was about to go under when he took over in 1978. They had just reported their worst earnings ever. Over the next 10 years the creator of the Ford Mustang also came out with the minivan and nearly bought out Ford Motor.

In the entertainment world, many people from what I have read and have been told cannot stand Jerry Bruckheimer. At the same time however, people want to work with him because his stuff makes cash: Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Bad Boys, Crimson Tide, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and Black Hawk Down were all produced by Bruckheimer. He's also been a success on the small screen producing two highly rated and critically aclaimed series, 'CSI' and 'Without A Trace.'

Those two get results for their work (granted, Bruckheimer isn't really a CEO, but the comparison is fair), and other CEO's should have to produce such results to justify their outlandish pay packages.

Who knew!

Here I've thought I was living in a socialist paradise with zero rights to possess a private handgun arsenal or speak freely. I was under the oppressive yoke of universal health care and other forced programs.

Wrong. All wrong.

It appears that the US State Department has criticized Canada for caring too much for civil liberties. I can see why State complained: not forcing drug tests on prospective grocery store employees or detainng people without trial or access to a lawyer is indeed the sign of too much freedom.

Manish has the rest.

At last...Alex Knapp echoes my sentiments re Bill Bennett. Whether you call him a hypocrite or defend him as "no one is perfect", you are making a moral judgment about gambling. Bill Bennett was a prig before we knew that he loved the slots (who can resist WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!, but I digress), and he's still a prig. I'll pay as much attention to his pronouncements as I did before...that is to say, none. And I"m sure those who thought he was a moral compass will continue to think so, because as we know, people can explain away darn near anything that doesn't fit their moral codes.

And really, gambling is about personal choice. When it was illegal, people with gaming dependencies still found ways to gamble. Now that it's legal, whether in the form of slots, VLTs, lottery tickets, or day trading there will still be people who develop a dependency. But does that make it immoral? Hardly.

UPDATE: Having said all that, I am in no way trying to dismiss the very real problems faced by the families and friends of those with gambling or other dependency/addiction problems. I am referring to all of the criticism/defense I've seen on this that appeared to be based on previously-held views on Bennett.

In a recent column, Steve Chapman looks at the current debate over drunk driving (ie, over .08 or whatever the DUI law is in your locale) and open container laws, and argues that what is self-evident, ie that people with open liquor in the car are more likely to drive while drunk, is not always true.

Montana, the state 90 miles away from me, refuses to pass an open container law. Yet, as Steve, points out, the Legislature has passed tough drunk driving laws. According to him, the research is pretty evident that DUI and age limits do in fact help to save lives. He also says that researchers who looked at the states that ban open containers have shown that such laws have absolutely no effect on the rate of fatal crashes involving alcohol. Steve does note that states with no such laws do have higher rates of fatal accidents involving alcohol, "But that doesn't prove the laws account for the gap. It may just mean that in places where drunken driving is viewed with strong distaste, people are less likely to do it--and more likely to pass laws like this. Pacifists wouldn't buy machine guns even if machine guns were legal."

Indeed. If the law is .08, which means two drinks for me before I am in violation of the law, what difference does it make if one of those drinks is from a drive-through daquiri stand in Louisiana? And if I'm taking an open bottle of liquor to a party, how is that going to make me more of a hazard on the road?

No wonder I like 50 percent of the libertarian platform so much....butt out of people's lives when there's no compelling or proven reason to be intruding.

This account of the pain and joy of a blogger's first born son made me cry and touched me in a way I cannot describe. Even though I've seen the Right Wing Texan on various sites I peruse, our paths had not crossed in any way. But I am profoundly moved by his account of his son's life and death.

Start with the April 28 entry and work up.

Here's the headline and first paragraph in a story about telephone rates in Florida:

Late-night bill could make phone rates skyrocket

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., May 1 - In a session marked by a string of irreconcilable differences, Florida lawmakers found something they could agree on Wednesday: passing a bill that could produce the largest phone rate increases in state history.

The next paragraph says rates could increase $3.00 to $7.25 per month which isn't all that cheap. However, it isn't until you get near the end of the article that you learn the increases will take place over the next four years.

That means the increases will be $.75 to $1.81 per year. Kind of takes the fuel out of that skyrocket.

Rachel Lucas reminds me again of why I think she is smart and sensible. Even about Hillary. And why her rants are so much fun to read.

Exposure to excessive traffic pollution can lead to weakened and lethargic sperm in men, researchers in Italy reported Tuesday.

Eric at Antidotal is outraged on two fronts, and I don't blame him a bit. Blogger links are as usual not working, so scroll down to:

Taking Over Iraq--The Very Bad. Eric has some harsh criticism of the demonstration in which 13 protestors were killed and not an American soldier was injured (there's a surprise).

Nothing Earns you Lefty Street Cred like being Ashleigh Banfield and having the guts to criticize the sanitized war coverage and being threatened by your big media boss as a result. Yes, yes the lefty media that's really run by conservatives but leaves its lefty reporters alone to ruin the country...uh huh. And what's this about Michael Savage calling her a slut? Talk about insightful political commentary.

And Eric...five or six bucks a month gets you your own server space and away from that infernal Blogger.

Eric has a good post about grading in school and the difference between math and sciences and humanities.

He gets an 'A' for content, but an 'F' for spelling. The real world, not in Soviet Canuckistan, spells it L-A-B-O-R not L-A-B-O-U-R.

There's so much frigging snow up there, they can't get out into the real world. They're worse than any backwater inbred hicks in the states. Ever see Deliverance? It was supposed to be in Georgia, but they filmed that damned thing up in Canada.

A Chapters store in Calgary has rehired a man with Down syndrome after the company had said his $36-a-week salary was adversely affecting their bottom line. And they've given him a raise.

Bowing to a public outcry, the country's largest book chain said the manager of the store made a terrible error in judgment when she fired Stephen Whiteside two weeks ago. Whiteside had worked at the store for five years, stacking books and magazines for 12 hours a week, at $3 an hour. It was a wage his mother agreed to, to facilitate her son's employment. "I like working there so much," Whiteside said.

But Chapters told Bess Whiteside that budget constraints meant they had to let her son go. Another man with a disability was also fired.

I'm sure the thirty-six bucks (that's about a twenty-seven USD) a week savings made all the difference in the national book chain's profit margin.

Why is it that some are all for giving people a leg up, encouraging independence, favouring a diverse work place until it's their work place? My local Safeway has hired a young man with Downs Syndrome and the manager told me he's gotten a lot of grief about it (and some compliments). What is with that? Chris earns his money and is a damn sight more pleasant and enthusiastic than some other employees I run across there. And why shouldn't he and the Chapters employee have an opportunity to earn a living and enjoy some independence?

It's Easter weekend and I am at my Mom's house where the kids are running her ragged (which she loves), and the wife and I are just relaxing.

Little to no posting until Sunday night.

Happy Easter!

I wish we could have such a great president, who truly believes in democracy and freedom. We only have an old corrupted politician who doesn't care about his own country anymore. Help us getting out of this hell!

Heck, I thought they meant Chrétien, but no....it's from a new forum where Americans and French can civilly discuss issues together (there's also a button on the right that you can click on).

Check it out...but check your freedom fries comments at the door.

Via Michel Dumais.

In an American Prowler article that is highly disparaging of the French, George Neumeyr writes, "No wonder their magnificent churches remain empty. You won't even find kneelers in them. They are basically just museums. A country built by sword and cross has neither now, and is very proud of it."

Where do these people get this stuff?

I’d be interested in seeing George's sources, because in my experience, his statement is not borne out by the facts. Although state-supported, cathedrals in France most decidedly function as houses of worship. When I visited the cathedral at Amiens, there was both a regular religious service and a wedding. Later that evening, throngs of people came out for a laser depiction of the original colourized cathedral porticos. St.-Eustache, Notre Dame, Chartres, Strasbourg….all are great cathedrals with regular and well-attended services.

Maybe Geoge should sit down and re-read that Bible passage about splinters, eyes and removal.

Via zogby, which posted this as fact. Tsk.

I swear, Monica Lewinsky is like herpes. Disappears for awhile and then comes back without warning.

Eddie Murphy said, "You keep that shit forever, like luggage."

I wish somebody would lose this luggage.

Blog owners get to go first. Jay:

The beautiful dog pictured below is Casey. She's a black lab mix that we got from the Flagler County Humane Society. She chose us really as we went there to look around, and they told us there was a pen of puppies out in the back. When we got there, they opened the gate so they could come out. All of the pups came over to us but then started wandering off, sniffing around other dogs and just exploring. Not Casey. She immediately rolled over and wanted her tummy scratched and would not go away. We knew that she was the one.

My kids, who were deathly afraid of dogs until we took her home, adore her. Especially my daughter Ally, who is pictured running with her loving pet. We were going crazy trying to come up with names. Trying to get a 4 year old and 5 year old involved doesn't make it easier. Casey just happened to be a name my wife threw out and we all liked it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Jane:

The Cutest Cats in the Universe are my ragdoll kitties, Phil and Izzy, who are one year old today! I found their two-week-old pictures at the site of a Calgary breeder; they arrived June 21 via Air Canada, scared to death. They got over it, and really got over any cat attitude they may have developed in October when Mr. Poopy the cat and Maxine the dog came from California for an extended visit.

Phil is orange and white, and got his name as the result of an evening in Las Vegas under the influence of alcohol and persuasive Tennessee friends. "Jane, he's orange and white! You have to name him after Phil Fulmer, the Greatest Coach in the Universe!" And so he is, and so I did.

Tortoiseshell Izzie got her name because when I shared Phil's name with a friend, a die-hard LSU fan, he was horrified. "But you've MET Mike the Tiger!! How could you!!" And on and on. Knowing that unlike Vols fans, LSU fans are easily fooled, I said, "Oh Phil is short for King Philip of Spain, and I'm naming the girl cat "Isabella", "Izzy" for short, after Queen Isabella."

So Phil and Izzy it was. Although now that I know them, it should have been Dennis (the Menace) and Margaret. There's something to be said for sociobiology.

Buffy owns belongs to Tricia D of Debategate. Buffy permitted Tricia to tell us that "Her name resulted from her habit as a kitten of licking my neck or under my ear and then gradually working her way into trying to nurse. She is also sometimes called Buffalo Gal because when viewed from behind as she walks with her tail held high, she possesses an amazingly wide butt...we ask her if she's wearing her fat pants!

This is how she came into my life: My son was at work one day at the the bowling alley, and a kid brought in this tiny bedraggled runt of a kitten that he had found abandoned in the parking lot across the street. Cary didn't tell me about the kitten when he got home; instead, I saw the hopeful expression on his face and said, "Okay....what have you done?" He pointed under the table and I saw her...she couldn't have been more than 4 weeks old.

I had to feed her with an eyedropper for awhile until she learned how to eat...that's why she always tried to nuzzle my neck, because she wanted to nurse so badly. It was funny...I would tell her "Buffy, stop it!" and she'd freeze, sometimes her tongue in mid-lick...then very slowly, hesitantly, she would start again. (I guess she thought I wouldn't notice.) I'd tell her "Stop it!"
again...she'd freeze...then decide it was worth trying again.

Buffy lived on my shoulder, for the most part for the first couple of months. She liked the warmth and coziness there, I think. When I would sit at the computer, she'd be right on my shoulder, tucked up under my ear, and in bed, she would snuggle under my chin, purring away."

------------------------------------------------------------

Ted Barlow shows off Ramona, the official dog of Freedom. He writes, "My fiancee saw "Ramona" in a book of names that she keeps for her fiction, and she liked the association with Ramona Quimby. I liked it because it reminded me of the Ramones. We got her from a breeder north of the city." Employing the Daily Rant's impeccable research skills, we surmised that "the city" is Houston. What a cutie (Ramona, that is...we've never seen a pic of Ted, but we assume he's a cutie too).

---------------------------------------------------------------

Pooka, Fergus and Maggie permitted their indentured servant Mary LaCroix to submit a group photo Mary entitled "pussies_hot_tongue_action.jpg." We like Mary's humour, but we digress. Mary says, "Pooka (black moggie): got her from a pet store on impulse after we already had two cats because I couldn't bear seeing her locked up. She has been terribly, terribly grateful ever since.....She turned 13 years old on Valentine's Day, but still chases and catches her tail on a daily basis. Given her habit of galloping up and down the apartment hallway at 2 AM, she was named after the ghost horse of Celtic legend.

Fergus (brown British Burmese): after reading about mellow, cuddly Burmese, we got Fergus from a breeder. Within *one week* of bringing home the 12 week old, 1 pound fluffball, he was beating the crap out of our two full grown cats (11 and 13 pounds each, although Pooka dropped from 11 to 8 pounds and stayed there for several months from sheer stress). It also took us 4 months of solid discipline to teach him not to bite and claw us whenever he felt like it. At one point in this process, we ran across a cat book that warned us that some British Burmese can be rather aggressive and have been nkcknamed "Rottweilers". Oh. Happy ending: at age 7, he still beats the crap out of the other cats, but much less frequently.....BTW, Fergus is another Celtic name: it means "of manly strength".

Maggie (red/grey tortoiseshell tabby): former alpha cat of the house, deposed by Fergus, but still swats around Pooka whenever she bloody well feels like it. Got her from a pet store the day after we got our chunky, stolid, patient Siamese Winston (named after Churchill, but died a lot younger than him). The sweet, sleepy tabby kitten my husband fell for woke up in her carrier and started crying, and when he put his face up to an airhole to comfort her, she lashed out with a very sharp set of claws and almost turned him into the guy from the Hathaway shirt ads....We named her after Thatcher, of course. (We're fellow Canuck liberals, Jane: it just seemed appropriate). Going strong at almost 14, but was the incredible glowing cat last summer after she got radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroid."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Luke and Gus are part of Say Uncle's home defense system. He says that Luke "just showed up one day" and Gus came from a breeder. Jane figures he could trade both dogs and the big gun in on one 10 pound cat and a staple gun and save a fortune in kibble and ammo, but knows that suggestion will fall on deaf, dog-loving ears.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Pidget makes Julia do her bidding whenever she wants. Julia says that "Pidget is a Hemingway cat, with seven toes on each paw, so her previous owner, a (spectacularly unpleasant) coworker, called her Digit. My previous cat, Pyewacket, had to be put to sleepafter I'd had her for twelve years, so I wasn't anxious to start again right away. I figured I'd wait for a cat to find me, like Pye did. Said unpleasant coworker sent an email to the company list saying that if someone didn’t adopt his cat, he was going to have her put to sleep. It turned out that he’d abused her (he never took her to the vet when he broke a rib kicking her) and that she used to urinate on his stuff (go figure). Now he sells antiques in the Hamptons, which probably isn’t quite punishment enough, but it’ll do til something else comes along.

Not too long after she moved in with us, she escaped out the bathroom window onto the backyard picnic table and away. She didn’t come back for two days, even when we called for her, so we started taking walks in the evening to try calling her further away from the house so she’d hear us. HM, my daughter, couldn’t say digit yet, so she became Pidget.

In this picture, our sentry cat (guarding the home against all enemies domestic and foreign) susses out the Christmas decorations."

------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Capozzola is so proud of his dog Mildred that he shared 100 things about her at the lighter side of Rittenhouse. He sums it up by saying "Yeah, she's a pain in the neck and certainly the "dud of the litter," but I wouldn't trade her for anything or anyone else. "

We think she's adorable.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Besides, humans, Kriselda's multi-species household consists of Sabaka (top picture), Tasha and Piper (Piper's the cat). Kriselda writes, "Sabaka is a half-black lab/half-who-knows-what that my husband and I adopted from a local shelter when he was about 6 weeks old. His name is an English transliteration of the Russian word for “dog”. No communist leanings here, I just thought it was a real “pretty” sounding word. g. We usually call him “Baka” for short, which ended up being unintentionally humorous when he started making noises (like when he’s begging to go outside or wants a treat) that sound more like Chewbacca from Star Wars than anything else.

Our other dog is Tasha, a half-black lab/half-border collie (we think) that we adopted through our vets office. Her first family had divorced and neither partner could take her with them. They were boarding her at the vets office, hoping someone would take her, but after a couple months had decided that if no one took her by the end of the week, they’d have to send her to the pound (she was 13 months old at the time)....I don’t know where her name came from as we decided to keep the one she had been given by her first family, rather than try and change it (which might have been confusing for her).

The cat is Piper, who I actually named after my favourite character on Charmed. We got her from a friend of mine who’s cousin’s cat had just had a litter and they were going to take them to the pound. I don’t have any interesting stories about her, though, because she mostly just sleeps and hides in paper bags. She’s a sweetie, though. (Can you tell I’m more a dog person?)."

That's okay, Kriselda, Jane forgives you that particular tresspass.

--------------------------------------------------------

Sugar (top) and Elvis run the Deb household. Deb says, "The little one, the Snowshoe Siamese, is Sugar. We acquired her after our other cat, Tinker suddenly died. She was the runt of the litter, and this picture was taken just after she’d tasted ice cream for the first time. We call it “brain freeze” lol The name is obvious, she’s sweet as can be. She’s a little wisp of a thing - barely pushing 5 lbs. fully grown. The tabby’s name is Elvis. Just look at him. Could he ever in a million years go by any other name?? My youngest daughter brought him home from school - he’d been dropped off, and the students had been feeding him McDonald’s cheeseburgers for a week. He was a scrawny thing when we took him in. Weighs a hefty 16 lbs. now. Still loves cheeseburgers... So...there they are - our kitties in their glory. We have dogs, too, but the hell with ‘em."

Jane concurs as Jay gasps.

--------------------------------------------------------

Speck is a V.I.P. (Very Important Pet) at the Scott Chaffin ranch. Scott's story: "Speck was acquired approximately 2 months after moving into our current domicile. Having a back yard that consists of a swimming pool, an acre of brick decking, and a couple of dinky bushes, I was sad about not being able to have a dog. I had had nothing but regular-sized dogs my entire life, and the thought never entered my head to have a yappy house-sized dog underfoot. One day, the wife arrived home with a furry critter that was roughly the size of a malnourished rat, and that relieved itself where ever it found itself at the time of need. I was severely unimpressed, and avoided having anything to do with the silly thing for the better part of two months.

Then one day, the silly thing fell into the aforementioned swimming pool when I was the only one home. By this time, he was approximately the size of a well-fed NYC rat, but he was able to swim to the steps and bark enough for me to rescue the little thing. It’s a good thing he was small, because I was able to hold him in one hand, and the blowdrier with the other one. We bonded that day, and now he’s the best dog I’ve ever had because he’s so ridiculously goofy. He’s a frequent visitor to the ranch, but cannot run as free as he’d like, for I fear that a hawk or an owl will swoop down and make dinner out of him. He’s still only about 10-12 pounds, but he is an accomplished swimmer and often joins the kids in the pool when it’s hot. And yes, he is a yappy pain in the ass that barks at anything and everything that moves.

We named him Speck after (what else?) Pee Wee Herman’s dog in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Plus, he’s just about nothing but a speck of a dog. But he tries hard, so I give him an A for effort."

Jane will refrain from editorializing about Scott's comments about the family cat.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Bubu is the pot-bellied pig with a face that only a mother, or in this case Emma and her family, could love. Excerpts from Emma's most entertaining post (Blogger isn't working....again....scroll down to "Bubu and the Bath"): "He was a birthday gift to my sister three years ago. A tiny little bundle of piggery, all soft and sleepy, with a look in his little eyes and a fat tummy that resembled Yogi Bear's buddy.

Well, my sister married and moved into a third-floor one bedroom apartment, and we do have this big yard, so guess who got stuck with the pig? Not that I mind. Bubu's idea of a hard day is to play chase with my Mom around the yard in the morning for fifteen minutes, then collapse in exhaustion under the oak tree until dinner time, then sleep some more on his bed sheet in the porch until sleep time. A good eight hours in his blanket in the family room, breakfast, and he's ready for another hard fifteen minutes. If you are sitting near him he might deign to ask for a tummy rub, but he's not fanatical about it. High maintenance he is not."

Bubu's activity level makes Jane's cats look hyperactive in comparison.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Alan sent along a picture of Tubbs aged 16. Alan says, "He is named for the character,Tubbs, in the early 80's TV series, Miami Vice. He had a litter mate, Crockett, a chocolate point Siamese, who passed away two years ago. We obtained them from the owners of their mother, who had gotten out while in heat and found a lover of less than pure Siamese breeding.

So Tubbs is a "love-child"!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ross sent in a cute-as-can-be picture of Louis. Louis is no Frenchie dog; as Ross says, it's pronounced "Louie". "We named him in honor of Louis Armstrong. We adopted him two years ago. Best $50 we ever spent."

--------------------------------------------------------------

Zoe rules the feste roost. Feste tells us, "Zoe's a Abyssinian cross. I adopted her from the local SPCA shelter last summer...this little waif-ish face was impossible to resist. I named her Zoe cuz that's the name that popped into my head when I first held her. I am not one to posit that such things are entirely happenstance."

------------------------------------------------

Angus and Emily provide species balance to Matt and Vicky's home. Matt writes, "The dog picture is Angus, our 2 year-old Jack Russell. We acquired him when he just showed up on my friend’s doorstep after being abandoned. We chose the name because he’s just so Angusish and Angus McDrachenberg had a nice ring to it. As a Jack Russell, he is, of course, completely insane. He’s loves his cats and is extremely protective of the house and everyone in it. He also eats vegetables whenever he gets the chance, which I find a bit odd.

The cat is Emily, who go her picture entered under the “Age before Beauty” rule. She’s almost six. Vicky got her when she lived in Dallas, rescuing her from being abused. She just barely tolerates the other cats (Finnegan, Adhi and NBC) but has a bond with Angus and her teddy bear."

We think that Emily is perfectly cute (as is Angus) and would love to know how NBC got its name.

-----------------------------------------------------------

David Hogberg sent us a picture of his snake, and rather tersely tells us its name is Bubba and that he bought it in a pet store. Bubba......hmmmmm.....could there be a Clinton connection in David's past?

Of course, we can't tell who is who in the picture.

----------------------------------------------------------

The Vogons delivered Laurence Simon in time for him to send in a picture of Edloe, whom he sweears is not a Giant Furry Alien Kitty. Laurence says, "Edloe is named after Edloe St. in Houston, a street my wife lived on a long time ago. It's the street next to Compaq Center/The Summit. Edloe was from a litter of kittens my wife and her sister ended up getting from one of their cats 11 years ago. She wanted to keep one kitten, but her sister gave away all the wrong kittens and Edloe was the one left over. All Edloe's siblings were adopted, I think most are still alive."

We hope Laurence told Piper and the others that daddy was constrained by our space limitations and not playing favourites.

--------------------------------------------------------

Shorty is Chris Ruzin's brand new mini-dachshund. He got him from some rich woman who didn't want the dog any more....he says, "He's about 1 year old and has a great personality. Her loss. My gain."

Indeed!

--------------------------------------------------

Marble, Chestnut, Rusty and Scooter give the orders at the home of Leigh-Anne and Phil Dennison. Leigh-Anne writes that soon after she and Phil were married, they both wanted a cat.
"We “rescued” Marble from a petstore—i.e. we bought her. Chestnut chose us. We were just saying hello to all the cats at a PetSmart adoption day picking up pet supplies. We gave in and held her and that was all it took. She mewed her way into Phil’s heart and despite having Marble and Sunshine (now deceased) at home, we couldn’t leave her behind...we adopted her.

When our Sunshine died unexpectedly during a “routine” dental, we began consoling ourselves by volunteering at a local rescue. Rusty was there for about a month and had been taken home and brought back when the adopter find herself highly allergic to him. He had grown attached to us and vice versa, so eventually we were unable to imagine leaving him there in a cage...waiting for someone else to see his charm.

We discovered Scooter as a 4-wk-old in the sewer grate outside our terrace-level appartment. We began feeding her and over a year she got more trusting and came closer (to the patio door) to eat. After not seeing her for a week or so last February (2002), she showed up with a wound. Her injury weakened her resolve enough for us to trap her inside the apartment while she ate, and we got her medical care. She’s stayed with us ever since, and we’re still working on her trust issues. She may always be partially feral, but we love her just as much as our lapcats.

Marble and Chestnut were mostly named for their colors. Rusty was already named when we adopted him and Scooter was named because whenever we got close to her, she “scooted” (ran low to the ground) away."

Jay thinks you'd be better off with four dogs, but we agree they're fabulous pets! (Marble and Chestnut are in the top pic, Rusty and Scooter in the bottom)

---------------------------------------------------------

Jody sent along a picture of her Great Dane, Jake. "His nameis Jake because ever since I was twelve years old I have wanted a blackGreat Dane named Jake. Almost seven years ago I made it happen. I did a lotof research on the net and made a lot of phone calls before found areputable breeder with a puppy available. And voila!"

Jake is pretty darned cute....errr, handsome (wouldn't want a Great Dane mad at us). And from the info at Jody's site, we see that she's waited quite a long time for Jake to join her family....isn't there an old adage about all good things coming to those who wait?

------------------------------------------------

Tadoka is a lab/malamute mix belonging to Scott Pulver. "His name is a Native-American meaning "friend" or "companion". I took him in after some friends rescued him from a homeless teenager that really wasn't prepared to take care of him.

The photo was taken after a romp through some Bear Grass blooms where
he received a healthy coating of pollen. The black spot on his tongue
is a birthmark."

We think Tadoka rates pretty high on the Cute-O-Meter.

-------------------------------------------------------------

And Scott Pulver keeps his relationship happy and healthy by forwarding a pic of his girlfriend's cat. Furt is a gorgeous long-haired tortoiseshell (not that Jane is biased) belonging to Christina Hulbe.

-------------------------------------------------------------

A canine archeologist? Ishtar appears to be intent on her historical reading, as her owner Marduk explains, "This studious dog is Ishtar, named after the Babylonian goddess of love, procreation, and war. She (the goddess, not the dog) is armed with a quiver and bow. Her temples have special prostitutes of both genders. She is often accompanied by a lion, and sometimes rides it. The Eanna in Uruk is dedicated to her (the goddess, not the dog).

We just went to the breeder and picked the cutest puppy of the litter. However, I do believe that she picked up the predisposition for archaeology from me."

Pretty darned cute, Marduk!

----------------------------------------------------------

Rebecca Myer submitted pics of Tony and Dixie, her handsome and distinguished bull terriers. She tells us, "Tony (the top pic) is the white bull terrier in the Kangol cap. He's named after Tony Gwynn. Like his namesake, he's built like a fireplug. Dixie is the black brindle bull terrier. She's named after a Carl Perkins song ("Dixie Fried"). She's not very bright, but she is sweet. Both Tony and Dixie were acquired from a local breeder. Dixie is Tony's niece, if dogs can have such familial relationships."

We don't know about those familial relationships....Jane can't keep track of the various configurations on Lifetime and Jay refuses to watch it.

--------------------------------------------------------

Simba and Loki are the masters of the Odie domicile. Odie tells us, "These are our two boys, Simba and Loki. They’re one year old this month! Simba’s the gold-ish colored guy, Loki’s the grey one.

We rescued Simba from a shelter last May when he was only about four weeks old. He got his name because his color and temperament reminded us of a little lion king.A couple of months later we decided that Simba needed a buddy to hang out with while we were at work all day, so we went back to the same shelter to look for one. When we walked in the first kitty we saw was this little grey guy almost the exact same age and size as Simba. When his cage was opened he jumped into my arms and we knew right then that he would be the perfect “brother” for Simba. Upon bringing Loki home, he and Simba became best buddies after a few cautionary sniffs, and ever since then they’re hardly ever apart.

Loki got his name because he’s a mischievous little devil. He likes to do things like pushing paperbacks off the bookcase and he likes to jump into your seat just as you're about to sit-down."

Jane's cats are also celebrating their one year birthday this month....too bad Loki and Simba don't live close enough to come to the Kentucky Fried Chicken party! On the other hand, knowing cats and their, shall we say, reluctance to accept the presence of strange beings of cuteness, it's better this way.

-------------------------------------------------------

It's Houdini the Wonder Cat! Mommydoc, Houdini's personal assistant, writes, "This is Houdini (the Wonder Cat) who is 15 years old as of the 4th. He’s had me since he was 5 weeks old, after his mother was eaten by Topanga Canyon coyotes and I found the neighbor’s dog playing with him in the middle of the (deserted) street. He is the only survivor of his barn kittie litter; the rest of his sibs met the same fate as his birth mom by the time Houdini was 6 months old. He imprinted on me immediately, and to this day sleeps with his head on my shoulder, nose in my ear, and paws in my hair.

He got his name because of his ability to disappear from one place and reappear in a totally different place. As a kitten, he figured out how to open the sliding screen door on the second-story balcony of my townhouse, walk across a 10 foot long inch-wide decorative strip, climb over the neighbor’s chicken wire-enclosed balcony and go through their dog door to play with their two dogs. He can also turn door knobs (if they’re loose) and open doors (if they open out), and turn on the water tap (if it’s loose enough). He has been seen to turn the TV on with the remote, watch it for fifteen minutes and then turn it off before leaving the room. Is it any wonder that he’s now lobbying for his own blog?

Houdini can be co-blogger at the Daily Rant whenever he wants!

------------------------------------------------------

R. Vennes (R for short) sends in pictures three Great Danes. Angel (small black female), Smokey (small merle female) and Boomer (large black male). The girls are 4.5 months old and Boomer is 3. Their names came as they got to know them. Each dog starts out as Puppy until they get to know them.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Tom from the World Wide Rant submits Porkchop the cat.

"I got her at the Montgomery, Alabama Humane Society, and I named her Porkchop because I was listening to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band one night, and the introduction to "Don't Feel My Leg" came on with the narrator shouting to the rest of the band, "Hey, fallas! You know that little bust-out joint across the tracks, Pokechop Willy's?"

I thought to myself there and then, "That'd be a great name for a pet."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Bill Schmidt of Debategate sends in Sandy (L) who was a Father's Day gift 14 years ago, Maggie (r), a Kroger dog. She was found in the parking lot after midnight.

What kind of parking lot, Bill won't say.

--------------------------------------------------------

Fred from FragmentsFromFloyd offers up Buster.

"Named from Week One, when his sharp teeth discovered by good boots,
and I hollered across the room "Watch it, Buster!" His official name is
DammitBuster, because this was his epithet for the first 18 months of his life,
until he got smart.

Buster's coming into our lives was the result of what I had hoped was a merely
perfunctory question in passing to the local vet regarding the (very unlikely)
availability of Black Labs locally, so as to appease the wife. As fate would have
it, a litter was indeed available not a mile away, and just ready to be weaned.
Buster was by far the biggest of the litter. He is four now, and weighs in at 90# of solid dog and as the breed books say of labs... he is 'involved in all family
activities' here on the Creek."

-----------------------------------------------------

Just John is a Kevin Smith fan. His dog's name is Banky, after the character Jason Lee plays in 'Chasing Amy.' John and his family brought him home from the pound because he was the friendliest. John says he brings in the morning paper! John also says, "He is darn near as un-photogenic as I am." Somehow we doubt that very much. :)

----------------------------------------------------

Matt Traylor submits Dirt and Max.

"Dirt is the tortoiseshell. She earned her name through her superior ugliness. When I first met her, I remarked that she looked like a little ball of dirt with feet. This hasn't noticeably changed. She hates the world and everything in it, with the occasional exception of the futon, which is her domain.

Max is the fat black one. She was named Maxine by an ex-, but we have gradually realized that Maximum is a much better name. She's a small framed cat that weighs well over 18 pounds, giving her the profile of a furry bowling ball, and she delights in jumping from great heights onto the most sensitive parts of your body.

Believe it or not, Dirt and Max are sisters from the same litter, and came from a
rescue in Denver, CO. I adopted them from the foster family, who happened to close friends of mine. They were born on the 4th of July, and will be 6 this year."

----------------------------------------------------------

Oliver Willis sends in CK The Weiner Dog Of Enduring, Infinite Justice.

"His name IS NOT from Calvin Klein. His name IS from Clark Kent, aka
Superman. I bought him because big guys and small dogs are supposed to hang out with each other..."

---------------------------------------------------------

Andy of The World Wide Rant has two dogs, Sydney on the left, Eddie on the right.

"Sydney came from a friend with her name already attached (because she is
part Aussie Shepherd). Eddie got his name because we couldn't think of one
and I once asked him, before leaving the house, "Ready Eddie?" And it
stuck."

-----------------------------------------------------

Court's dog is named Puppin (short for Puppinheimer).

"He's half black lab, half terrier and all trouble. He can open doors to
go outside and can even open the refrigerator and Kraft singles.

He got that name because my GF at the time wanted it. Bad. She sang this
song over and over until I caved on the name. But I grew to love it.

I got him from a crazy lady running a "shelter". I went on the web looking
for adoptable dogs and ran across her website. It looked semi-professional
so I called her and we set up a time to go up there. When I got there I
realized it was just her house filled with strays. I have a sneaking
suspicion that she told her husband she wanted to run a shelter so that she
could keep lots of pets around because she was very reluctant to let him go."

----------------------------------------------------------

No cats or dogs for this shot! Robin sends in two hens, Madeleine and Gilda.

"We use a "what to name the baby" book, and just file through until we find something that sounds right. We keep two hens, inside the city limits.
Madeleine, the black one, who is probably about 8 years old, was the
last survivor of a flock owned by a roommate of a co-worker of my
husband's. We got her about 5 years ago. Gilda belonged to my
co-worker's mother, who gave her flock away when she moved out of the
country, into town. Gilda escaped the first round-up, and got given to
us, since we were short a chicken (Ingrid, her predecessor, was
regrettably killed by a marauding but resourceful raccoon.). She's
lived with us for 2 years, and was a couple years old when we got her.
Gilda lays super-big brown eggs, and Madeleine lays small green ones."

Inquiring minds want to know....are the eggs edible?

------------------------------------------------------

SK Bubba, a southerner, likes German dogs. He submits Gretchen.

"It was the first German sounding name (after all she's a Schnauzer) that came to mind. On reflection, Heidi might have been cuter (but I think I saw somewhere that it is the #1 name for Schnauzer girls).

We got her via an ad in the paper from a backyard/hobby breeder. Knowing what we know now, we probably wouldn't have done that, but she is six years
old, happy, healthy, and pretty much the perfect specimen, so we got really lucky (and so did she, being the most spoiled puppy on Earth)."

-------------------------------------------------

David Sherman said he was submitting the cutest picture. Then Jay saw that it was a cat and almost deleted the email but Jane wouldn't let him.

"Her name is Cow Cat. The reasons should be obvious - her markings are just like a cow!

She sorta kinda hung out at the house about three doors down from...and we started tempting her with tuna and cat food. Within about three or four months, she came over permanently."

-------------------------------------------------------

More cats! [You say that like it's a bad thing.--Jane] Lesley has two, Emma and Jane.

"The tortoiseshell tabby is named Emma. The grey tabby is named Jane Eyre (Jane for short). I named both of them after my two favorite books (Emma by Jane Austen, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte). At the time I got Jane, she was a tiny grey thing, and since Jane Eyre was a slight woman who generally wore grey, I figured the name fit. Had I known that she would grow up to look like a linebacker, I would have named her L.T. instead. Emma, the character, was a beautiful, willowy woman, so at least Emma the cat grew up to fit her name.

I got both of them at the same time, although they are not related (Emma is about 3 weeks older than Jane). I got both from a representative of Friends of Animal. Both had been abandoned by their previous owners. They are both now on the verge of being 13 years old, and I have had them for about 12 1/2 years."

------------------------------------------------------

Beth Edwards says her cat Latte attempted to fly.

"She's nine years old and recently decided to use up 8.4 of her allotted lives by leaping from the four-story roof of my apartment building. I named her Latte because when she was a kitten the top of her head resembled (in color, if nothing else) the crema that tops your basic caffeinated frothy drink. Yes, I'm a caffeine addict. In touch with that. I got her on my 21st birthday."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Kevin is confident!

"Cutest cats? Pleeeeeze. Got 'em right here.

Jasmine. Why? We asked our friends' kids to come up with a name, and this is
what we got. Where from? PetSmart.

Inkblot. Why? Pretty obvious. Where from: Laguna Niguel animal shelter."

---------------------------------------------------------

Choo Choo owns Ursula, and Ursula wouldn't have it any other way. She writes, "Choo-Choo, age 7, was adpoted 3 years ago from The Anti-Cruelty Society here in Chicago. I had initally had a girl name picked out, but since I ended up adopting a boy cat, I just kept the name he already had, Choo-Choo. It's totally grown on me. As his mommy, I know I'm quite biased, but he's quite adorable and just a joy all around!"

Well, we think he's quite adorable too.

------------------------------------------------------

Nathaniel Freedman told us all about his dear departed dog, Shelli. "She is a Black Labrador mix. She died a few years ago, but will alway be fondly remebered for being a very stupid hyper dog that liked people and chased mice and moose. Her name was originally Sherri, for reasons unknown to me, but she was renamed Shelli after my parets hired a babysitter whose name was Sherri. She was the runt of a litter, and my parents had really wanted to adopt her but someone else got her first. Then the family that owned her, of whom the husband was in the Air Force, was transferred and could not bring Shelli with them, so by a twist of fate my parets did end up adopting Shelli, who was brought to meet me at my parents new home less than a year after I was born. I believe several subsequent years were spent trying to ride her."

----------------------------------------------------

Bella is Katja's dog. She tells us they chose "Bella" because it means "beautiful". "My husband flew from Colorado to Washington DC for a business trip, spent a day at the breeder's, and brought her home on the airplane, poor little crying puppy in a plastic carrier bag (she's happy now)."

We'd cry if we were in a plastic carrier bag too!

Sometimes in the middle of tumultuous times, we need to chill out a little. Take a break. The war has brought out some ugly stuff in the blogosphere these days, with tempers being short and the rhetoric reaching shrill levels.

We wanted to lighten the mood here at The Daily Rant, so we have decided to host 'Pet Blogging Day.' How does it work? It's very simple. You send us a picture of your pet and we will post it. We are going to run with this thing on April 14, so please have all your submissions in by the 13th if possible. This is open not only to other bloggers, but readers as well!

There are rules for this little project, so please be sure to follow them in order to have your pet included!

1. If you have one pet, you can send a maximum of one picture. If you have more than one pet, you can send a maximum of 2 pictures. That's it.

2. Picture sizes must be kept to a maximum resolution of 400 X 300. That means your picture can have a maximum width of 400 pixels and length of 300 pixels. That's about 3 inches across and 2.5 down. Remember, we have server size limitations and we can't be loading pics that are 1.5MB in size and we don't have time to edit your pictures. Now we're not going to reject something that is 401 pixels wide so please use the numbers there as a guide - but a strict guide.

3. We need to know the names of the pet(s) and how you chose that name.

4. We need to know how you got said pet(s).

That's it!

Send your submissions to the following email address:

pets@jaycaruso.com

The SARS outbreak is spreading, inlcuding to my province of Saskatchewan. Scary.

Fleischer just came on and said that Bush would address the nation in 30 minutes. The bombs have started to fall.

With all the crap going on these days, it's nice to see some good news.

Elizabeth Smart, who disappeared from her home 9 months ago has been found alive and unharmed.

The new PC is home waiting for me to get there and start it up! Of course, installing a Windows OS is always an adventure, though I can say that my experiences with installing XP have so far, gone very well. Therefore, I will likely be around to terrorize you liberals for the weekend. With the forecast calling for crappy weather (ie rain), there will be more weekend posting than usual.

I've also tried out the new dotNet server that MS is releasing and that just blows away NT4 and W2K.

....to Canadian World Domination. A global study of the best cities to live lists Vancouver at number two (damn that number one Zurich).

Five Canadian cities are in the top 30......"The rankings are compiled with New York City as a baseline, and they compare such factors as political stability, international relations, economic freedom, culture, transport and access to schools and health care."

It's a sad day in the neighborhood.

From The Daily News:

PITTSBURGH - Fred Rogers, who gently invited millions of children to be his neighbor as host of the public television show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" for more than 30 years, died of cancer early Thursday. He was 74. Rogers died at his Pittsburgh home, said family spokesman David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on the show. Rogers had been diagnosed with stomach cancer sometime after the holidays, Newell said.

"He was so genuinely, genuinely kind, a wonderful person," Newell said. "His mission was to work with families and children for television. He produced not only these thousands of programs, but these books and records. That was his passion, his mission, and he did it from day one."

Well, instead of watching an edited version of The Godfather II (better than The Godfather btw!), I am going to watch the Grammy Awards. Michele is waiting for somebody to make some kind of anti-war statement, but reports it hasn't happened yet. I will keep watching here and update on any good stuff and just offer some comments about the production.

11:20 - Norah Jones just won Best Album. Ok, I've had enough of this shit. I'm turning this off. I am going to watch 'The Usual Suspects' and go to bed.

11:10 - 'The Clash' tribute. Good stuff. How much longer is this on? I am starting to get tired.

10:53 - Best New Artist award. Very often the kiss of death for many acts.

10:50 - Hmm. I was wrong about Crow. And thankfully they didn't do 'Picture.'

10:41 - Norah Jones has won record of the year. I've about had it with folk singer throwbacks. If I want that, I'll go and get a frigging Carole King album.

10:40 - Aretha Franklin is on stage with somebody else but I can't see who it is because Aretha is taking up the entire screen. Oh..there she is. It's Bonnie Raitt.

10:39 - Eminem was great.

10:29 - Anti-war drivel is sure to come as Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock are going to perform the awful (and I really mean this. I like much of Cheryl Crow's stuff and I kind of like Kid Rock for whatever reason but this song really really sucks) 'Picture.' Blech. I am sure Crow will be sporting some kind of anti-war slogan on her shirt.

10:19 - N Sync is going to do a tribute to The Bee Gees. I think I will go stick my hand in the garbage disposal.

10:00 - Holy shit! Erika Badu's afro has a larger circumference than BB King's waist!

9:55 - Bruce Springsteen just hit the stage. Eric Alterman had an orgasm. I am not the biggest Bruce Springsteen fan, but I must say this his performance tonight with the E Street Band is light years better than any of the other shit I've been subject to since I started watching.

9:44 - Of all the people to make the first anti-war statement, it had to be Fred Durst. Hilarious. This is a guy who was able to get DMX, Method Man and Redman to do guest spots on his albums.

Now he's writing songs about Britney Spears blowing him off, the pussy.

You know other stars are sitting around going, "Oh my God. This is the first one to speak out against the war?"

Yes. The credibility just went down the drain. Good work Fred.

9:29 - Now I am watching Avril Lavigne. Some had referred to her as the 'anti-Britney Spears.' I could honestly do without either one, though I'd rather watch Spears jumping around on the stage. Lavigne sounds like Alanis Morrisette light.

9:27 - Christ, this is frigging BORING. Robin Williams won for Best Comedy Album. He made a Trent Lott joke and a few others. That's it.

9:09 - The New York Philharmonic is doing a song from 'West Side Story'. I think this has something to do with Glenn Miller who was mentioned. Now the vastly overrated 'Coldplay' is performing with the orchestra. How long is this show?

8:54 - The Dixie Chicks are doing Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide.' Zzzzzzz.....

8:47 - Eminem just won Best Rap Album and ticked off a list of other rappers who inspired him.

8:44 - Ok, I just found out orange shirt's name is John Mayer since he just won Best Male Pop Vocal. He still sucks.

8:38 - There's some guy in orange shirt playing an acoustic guitar and trying to sound a lot like Dave Matthews. He sucks. I know I have heard his name before, but he isn't good enough for me to remember. He was followed by the great James Taylor playing along with Yo Yo Ma, who in my opinion is just as famous for his name than his cello playing.

My wife and I are sitting here watching 'Family Business' on Showtime. It's about a guy, his mom, and his cousin who run a porno business.

This is funnier than the Osbournes!

Right at this point, the cousin is doing a casting call with a guy, and the guy has to have to have a woody. Well, he's having trouble and he's sitting there looking at a magazine while cousin Joe or whatever his name is, is sitting there pacing around while this guy strokes himself.

It's hilarious.

My son Michael was born. 6 years. It's amazing how fast time flies as you get older. It's even faster when you have children. I know it sounds cliche but, it does seem like only yesterday that I was driving him and and my wife home from the hospital.

I remember clearly the first time he started to realize (at like 3-4 mos) that his legs could move and I lie down on my back, hold his little hands while he went nuts kicking and getting a thrill when he would push off my chest.

His first word was "Winnie" after the Winnie The Pooh toy his uncle bought for him. However, it came out "Nuh-nah-nie"

The latest great memory was a few weeks ago. The kid wanted to hit the ball of few times with his big red bat. He was getting frustrated because he was missing or hittle little dribblers. He wanted to stop. I told him him I wanted to throw one more and that I wanted him to watch the ball all the way to the bat. He did, and proceeded to whack the ball all the way across the yard. The look of satisfaction and happiness on his face is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Of course, at that point he wanted to keep going. He hit a bunch more that way. He was still thrilled, but nothing will replace that first look he had.

Happy Birthday Michael!
Love, Dad

This sounds like a winner:

Coming to a home or office near you could be an electric Internet: high-speed Web access via ubiquitous power lines, of all things, making every electrical outlet an always-on Web connection.

If it sounds shocking, consider this: St. Louis-based Ameren Corp. and other utilities already are testing the technology, and many consider it increasingly viable.

This truly plug-and-play technology, if proven safe, has the blessings of federal regulators looking to bolster broadband competition, lower consumer prices and bridge the digital divide in rural areas.

Get moving guys.

You have to take a look at this video. Amazing stuff. It's for precision hits like this that I don't take seriously the idea that a military conflict with Iraq will result in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi civilians.

I don't want to sell my laptop. I love using it to post items for this blog while sitting on my comfortable sofa. But I have to sell it because I need to get a desktop.

I am going to be doing some video editing soon as well as some serious photo editing, and I need more HD space and a bigger screen. Anyway, here's what it is:

Gateway Solo 1450
1.33 ghz Celeron processor
128 MB RAM
30 GB Hard Drive
Internal CD-RW
Internal 56K modem and 10/100 NIC card
14.1" screen
It has Windows XP Home edition and a ton of other software including Microsoft Office XP - Professional Edition on it as well.

It's only 5 months old and has 7 months left on the warranty.

It's a good machine. The battery is good for about 2 hours worth.

I paid close to $1100 for it. I would like to get $850. I will pay for the shipping costs.

If you are interested, or if you know somebody who may need one, just email me.

It's a little strange that it takes something like the Columbia disaster to stir up a debate on space exploration. I admit that while always being fascinated by the solar system and space exploration, I never really got into the details of all of it, so you will have to forgive my ignorance with regard to some of what I am going to say and ask.

Via Glenn, comes a piece by Charles Krauthammer where he writes:

That is a fantastic risk. It can be justified -- but only for fantastic journeys. The ultimate problem with the shuttle is not O-rings or loose tiles but a mission that makes no sense. The launches are magnificent and inspiring. But the mission is to endlessly traverse the most dangerous part of space -- the thin envelope of the atmosphere -- to get in and out of orbit without going anywhere beyond. Yet it is that very beyond -- the moon, the asteroids, Mars -- that is the whole point of leaving Earth in the first place.

We slip the bonds of Earth not to spend 20 years in orbit studying zero-gravity nausea, but to set foot on new worlds, learn their mysteries, establish our presence.

I have seen quite a bit of this commentary over the last few days.

Venturing into space for a couple of weeks must be incredible. I remember the first time I rode on an airplane and wondered at how everything looked from 30,000 feet. Imagine seeing the earth from the moon. Yet, wouldn't a commitment to explore new worlds require astronauts to stay out there for months or even years at a time? And what about beyond our galaxy? We could never explore there without somebody willing to remain there for perhaps the the rest of their lives. Even then, we don't have the capability at the time for spacecraft to travel fast enough to even get to another galaxy. Warp speed is 'Star Trek', not the real world.

Am I wrong?

How much more can our space program accomplish beyond what it has done so far?

NASA has lost contact with the space shuttle Columbia. An NBC affiliate is claiming it has exploded.

Very interesting article in Slate that says recordable DVD's will not last. Excerpt:

The Internet will prove to be the technological nail that seals the homemade DVD's coffin, too. The conventional wisdom has been that recordable DVDs would replace the VHS cassette as the media of choice for archiving TV shows and movies. But that vision seems pretty shortsighted. The more logical next step is for digital videorecorders to be networked to the family PC. TiVo is already taking a step in this direction: At the annual Consumer Electronics Show a few weeks back, the company announced a $99 software upgrade that lets subscribers pull photos and music off their PC and onto their television, as well as transfer video from one DVR unit to another (provided they're registered to the same user). Thus begins the inexorable march toward allowing users to transfer TV recordings to their PC and vice versa. (Some hackers have already figured out how to do this, but Joe Six-Pack's understandably reluctant to crack open the top of his DVR and poke around the circuit boards.) Soon enough there won't be a need to burn a DVD of cousin Moira's wedding—or those Simpsons episodes you swiped off LimeWire. A direct connection between PC and DVR will eliminate the hard-media middleman.

I've heard great things about Tivo, but haven't made the leap yet to purchase one. Is it worth it or is it just a fancy way to record television programs? I don't watch much stuff regularly. IE, I don't tune into 'Joe Millionaire' like my sissy brother. I watch 'The Shield' and I have become a big fan of 'Without A Trace' (CBS Thursdays), but other than that, if something comes on that looks interesting, I will watch it. What's the verdict? Interestingly enough, the linked article in that excerpt says Tivo is headed for extinction as well.

Warning! Don't let your kids take that Flintstones vitamin to school. It could get them suspended.

I am starting to despise the term 'zero tolerance.'

Link via Acidman

From this week's Carnival: this gem from The Raving Atheist, who informs us that "An elderly, life-long bachelor who has never experienced an intimate personal relationship with another human being of either sex yesterday condemned loving unions between gays as "inauthentic"."

You may not agree with the Atheist's sentiment, but you should appreciate his wit.

Trust me to discover a neat blog just before the blogger takes a hiatus.

Mrs. du Toit has a great tribute to Ziegfeld Follies star Thelma White, who was sidelined from active performing by a disease she got in Africa while entertaining US troops in there. White carried on in the business as an agent and manager, and sounds like she was one hell of a woman.

I don't use KaZaa because of all the spyware it hits you with, but I like the idea of them filing suit against the movie industry and the recording industry. Excerpt:

The owners of the KaZaA file-sharing network are suing the movie and recording industries, claiming that they don’t understand the digital age and are monopolizing entertainment. Sharman Networks Ltd. filed its counterclaim Monday in response to a copyright-infringement lawsuit brought by several recording labels and movie studios.

Chances are it won't get very far, but I am interested in seeing what it does to the debate over the digital medium.

According to this guy - www.fancymilk.com (he must be a fucking blast at parties), reading The Daily Rant, what he calls "a smarmy pro-Republican blog" is the same as shoving an icepick up your ass - ie, like having a "bleeding anus."

Nice visual.

And it's 2003 genius.

Michele (one 'L!') offers some apologies for the United States.

I know people have probably read about this elsewhere, but I still wanted to post it anyway. A man who used a legally purchased gun to protect his family from a career criminal, and he's facing jail time. Why? Because he didn't get the paperwork into the state before some thug tried to break into his home where he and his family were sleeping.

So now a Navy veteran, working two jobs to support his family and pay for a home may have to go jail. If he takes the idiotic plea Charles Hines has offered, he'll have to give up the job he works on weekends. If he goes to trial and is convicted, he'll face a year of jail time.

Now some people might think it would be a good thing for him to go to trial where he'd probably face an acquittal. Problem is, he now has that arrest stapled to his resume for a long time (until he could get the record expunged) even with the acquittal which could cost him any jobs that require security clearance checks.

Total lunacy.

A couple of weeks ago, I commented on Glenn Reynolds' and Robin Goodfellow's skewed views about Japanese interment during World War II. Eric at Antidotal has far outdone me in his post on the same topic.

Eric, who incidentally is an Asian Canadian, has an intelligent, impassioned, and detailed response to Reynolds and Goodfellow.

I'm hoping that both can rise above their political punditry to read what Eric has to say.

Fred, who writes the delightful Fragments from Floyd has a very interesting post about regional accents and speech, and how we discriminate based on what we think they say about the speaker. (via Meryl Yourish, who's hosting the great Carnival of the Vanities , a compendium of posts from across the blogosphere, this week.)

Fred says, "If, in my work, I came across a 'education professional' that didn't use "broadcast English" in his or her work setting, they lost esteem points quickly. "Educated" people didn't talk like the locals! In language realms, you'd better shift language-gears and rise above your raisin' or else suffer mild derision or outright dismissal as a bumpkin. Passing judgement on dialects starts early. Children were especially hard on the 'new kid' from Jersey whose language set them immediately apart from the 'normal' kids."

Examples abound. I've noticed that southern drawl means the speaker isn't as bright as the rest of us. An English accent (broadcast English that is) denotes culture and authority. A Brooklyn accent signifies lower class New Yorkese. Valley Girl speak is....well, Valley Girl speak.

Fred asks his readers: "What 'funny words or phrases' would I hear if I heard you speak? What words that you use every day in your home would seem strange to this Alabama boy living in rural Virginia?"

As a Canadian, you might hear me say "toque", and "pasta" with a broad a. I'd say "house" and "mouse" with what is termed Canadian-raising...it almost sounds Scottish. I'd speak of "loonies" and "Indian burns" and "lieutenants" pronounced "leftenants". I drink "soft drinks", not "soda" or "pop". And "you betcha" that I might say "ay" at the end of a sentence. I buy "homo" not "whole" milk. I eat "chocolate bars", never "candy bars". And the plural for "you" is "you".

Well, that's IF I had an accent. Which of course I do not...you all do.

So what's unique in your neck of the woods?

To the idiot with no life who is signing comments Tery and using Terry Hinshaw's email address, I suggest you cut the crap. One of the nice thing's about Movable Type is that the IP ADDRESS is recorded when you leave a comment, so I know where you are idiot and I can trace you back.

Having exchanged emails with Terry and seeing him post comments here before, I know he is a partisan just like me, but I also know that he is not the kind to call a woman a c**t, and as soon as I saw that, I smelled a rat.

Grow up and get a fucking life loser.

I type "Russia", "Boy" and "orphanage" into Google, and my goodness, the next thing on my screen is a two year old child being raped.

Hey, if Pete Townsend says it happened to him.....

Two blogs contain quite different, but very personal and moving tributes to old friends who have died.

In a stylish tribute, Jim Capozzola remembers his friend, hairdresser Richard Silbert. We enjoy very personal relationships with the people who perform personal services, albeit it in a professional and public setting, and Jim captures the essence of that. I want a hairdresser who serves wine instead of bad coffee!

In a series of moving posts, Acidman talks about his friend Steve and what that friendship meant to him. I think the wake they have planned is the classiest tribute they could give.

Ok everybody. I can understand when a reader posts a URL in the comments section and doesn't apply the HTML tags. You bloggers should know better.

Every time you post a URL, it doesn't cut it off and go to a new line. It stretches out and screws up the way this site looks. Then I (or Jane) has to go in and edit the thing and then rebuild the files to get it back to normal. I like the side comments thing. It's a great way to see the latest, but I don't have time to be fixing these entries. PLEASE do the following when posting URL's in the comments section:

The link is opened this way:

<a href=

Then you put the url of the website you want to link to:

"http://www.jaycaruso.com">

Then finally put the text you want hyperlinked:

Click here

So it will look like this:

<a href="http://www.jaycaruso.com">Click here</a>

Finished product will have:

Click here

Looks like The Religion of Peace™ left a peace offering for their Parisian Christian neighbors to blow them to pieces so they'll rest in peace:

Police in Paris today evacuated the Sacre Coeur basilica, one of the French capital’s most famous landmarks, after an explosive device was found inside.

The device, apparently home-made, was put together with gas bottles and flammable liquids, police said.

A tourist found a black plastic bag containing three bottles of natural gas, a gallon of petrol and four containers of detergent at the church.

Anti-terrorist police were leading the investigation.

Sacre Coeur, which sits high on Montmartre hill, is one of the most visited tourist sites in all of France, drawing eight million visitors last year

Now come on. This wasn't terrorism. I figure that the local Muslim population was just trying to contribute to the local cuisine, using a time-old Algerian method of preparing French fries. Using real French, no less.

A few appetizers here, a few side sishes there, and all of our gooses will be cooked.

Check, please.

(This has been today's post in the Amish Tech Support Blog A Day Tour. If you'd like to volunteer your blog for inclusion on the Tour, wander by Amish Tech Support and let Laurence Simon know you want to join in the fun.)

The US pilots who killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanstan face their first day of testimony today.

I'm not sure if the guilt lies with them, or further up the ladder as they claim, but I do know that their website is such a piece of crap. The likes of "Oh yeah and isn't it terrible four people are dead" as an afterthought is typical of the self-serving tone of the site. They may be heroes in their media campaign, but they're heroes who were on amphetamines and who have come up with creative stuff like blaming the way vehicles were parked for their actions.

This should be interesting to see if they can reconcile their later acocunts of what happeend with the radio tapes.

I saw "About Schmidt" on Friday.

Save your 10.50. I give it a 5/10 at the most because:
a) at the end didn't know a damn thing about the characters or their motivations that I didn't know at the beginning of the film; and
b) it snickers at working class America. Who WERE those people except for objects of our pity/derision?

My conclusion: yet another vehicle for Jack Nicholson in which he gets to play a superficially pseudo-interesting guy and that's all about him, him, him.

Update: There's an excellent review at Blogcritics by David Weinberger.