Here's a NEWSFLASH for people who constantly attack corporations and capitalism: corporations are made up of people, just like yourself. Just because laws consider a corporation to be a separate entity doesn't mean it is somehow granted "life" or "personality". Get ready for some deep thought provoking answers.
A corporation is made up of many different divisions, wings, shareholders, and some have thousands of employees. Many times one division doesn't agree with another division. Other times they don't even work with other divisions: see FOX News and FOX Sports. Comprised of many individuals with different roles, functions, and opinions, it's incorrect to label every employee of a corporation as "evil" or "good".
Granted, corporations are steered and motivated by charismatic CEOs who try interpret what the shareholders want. But CEO's and Board of Directions can be replaced. A corporation is not a static entity. Directions change.
WalMart is one of the most controversial corporations because of their stranglehold on the retail and food markets, and the fact that they built the Great Wal*Mart of China. Most of their employees don't care or know about the impact of the WalMart culture- and why should they? It's a job and the products are cheap. Welcome to the Machine.
It's true, once you start deconstructing corporations and labels, you can apply it to everything. For the majority of people creating labels and entities is easy. This lazy thinking enables us to see the world as black and white, with no gray. It enables us to place blame at corporations and point fingers at THEM. It also forces us to feel sympathy for "victims". We enjoy defending groups that are really illusions our minds create. Illusions! It makes it smoother for us to get all worked up and to target entities, like "Washington", "the French", "Wall Street", "liberals", "Republicans", "the rich", "Haitians", "taxpayers", and whatever group we'd like to attack or defend.
Describe Colors to the Blind and the Taste of Honey
Deep thought provoking questions: How can you describe colors to a blind person? What does honey taste like? Would you say it's sweet? Like maple syrup? What's that? As you can see these are a couple of examples of how the human language had limitations. You may say, yeah, okay, so what? However language limitations have a greater impact than you may believe.
It seems as if we really so much on words that we can't see reality for how it is. Attachment to language clouds perceptions and creates a skewed reality where we must label everything. Once things are labeled and organized, it becomes easier to make snap judgments, stereotypes, and generalizations. Yup, the limitations of language enable make it easier for us to be close-minded individuals.
I guess you can see why lying is looked down upon is all of the world's major religions. It's bad enough we have issues with the Truth; lying just makes things even more confusing and stressful.
The bottom line is that you can never truly describe the color blue to a blind person without a frame of reference. And no matter how many words you use, explaining the way honey tastes can never substitute the subjective experience.
That's why I like the Enneagram and Buddhism as guides in this crazy world: both are subjective schools of thought that work for me, and I couldn't care less if you personally think they aren't logical.
I have embraced Facebook and Twitter only because I'd be stupid not to. Anyway, back in September, I posted a Facebook review. Unfortunately, nothing has changed since then; all of my initial Facebook reactions remain the same. Perhaps the most disappointing and ironic nature of Facebook is that after years of disconnect with school or day camp friends, I found out that we have nothing to say to each other. Some just accept me as a friend and never even e-mail me.
Here's a little secret about my Facebook experience: of my 74 friends, I've only had a handful of personal messages (I'm not talking about family or friends in real life who communicate with me outside of Facebook). Most people just ignore me or tag my wall with crap. My good news is that I was able to know my half-brothers, well, actually just one of them. I guess the other one is busy uploading photo albums.
Many of my former co-workers or work associates are just gossip mongers who interpret everything I say to be related to Tashman Technologies, so even with privacy options, I simply don't say anything meaningful on FB.
Regarding society as a whole: I think Facebook ruins dating and relationships. The most powerful weapon a woman has now is her "Facebook Relationship Status". This is where you see if your relationship gets downgraded from "In a Relationship" to "It's Complicated" to "Single" and then back to "In a Relationship" (with someone else). Your girlfriend will also get pelted with 100 compliments from guys a day, after all she is posting photos that show her body below the neck.
I think there is no privacy on the default settings and there are too many holes in Facebook's Terms of Service. Farmville, PetVille, PetSociety, MafiaWars and other Facebook games KILL production. Facebook disgusts me; that being said I log in every day to see what's happening.
Twitter is a website that baffled me at first, especially since I could never follow when someone responds to a faceless person. It's like listening to the end of a conversation, and is a waste of time. As it stands now, I like Twitter because Tony Vahl and I can communicate instantly. From the marketing standpoint, Twitter is great because you have a voluntary audience. Of course, how many Twitter followers are "real"? Most are simply robots who are powered by an API to spam the bandwidth. Twitter has become the gathering ground for Internet Marketing wanna-be's. Here's a #newsflash, friends: unless you send me a direct @dailyskew tweet, I don't read your crap. If you are selling the "mom finds out how to get white teeth" ad, I know you're a spammer.
The mainstream MEDIA likes to give credit to Twitter for the Iranian "revolution" and locating Haitian earthquake survivors. Whatevah. It's such a simple interface, that you have to wonder what Twitter 2.0 will be like. Why do I have the feeling Twitter will become irrelevant within 5 years, and the robots will find another place to play?
Facebook and Twitter never cease to amaze me when athletes and celebrities (and wanna-be celebs) get in hot water for tying something stupid. Although they bring fans closer to celebrities (the nobility of the modern age) I wish famous figures would exercise a little caution and knowledge about the lack of privacy of their comments.
The level of trivia and insignificant daily updates on Facebook and Twitter is tiring as well. Here are some actual status messages from friends:
"I'm walking to my next class at school and I DEF smell weed!!! Lol"
"We just finished dinner and it was yum yum good!!!!!"
"Spent the evening playing with my new toy. I really like it ;o)"
"Click Herefor the Secret Blueprint Everybody Was Waiting For... Learn How A Super Mega Affiliate Makes 7 Figure A Year"
It's 2010, and online degrees have become a growing trend as technology increases, people are forced to work and continue their education, and schools deal with budget cuts. Indeed, the way we view traditional schooling and education will never be the same with the popularity of online classes and online degrees. Of course you have to be aware of the accreditation of whichever online school you choose.
What will 2010 hold for the world and you? Well, 2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger. Does that mean Tiger Woods will make a blazing comeback? Just joking. Let's use the Enneagram Personality Types to predict 2010. There are 9 Types, yet 2010 isn't 1-9, it's "0". This will be Year Zero, a reboot year. How our lives will be rebooted is another question. Will the economy improve? What about our health or the health of love ones? How about society's spirituality? Will there be more wars in 2010? Or maybe it's not a reboot year. Maybe it's Zero Hour- Earth Zero all over again. Maybe it's the end. Oh well. Or maybe we see the world as Snapshot Joe, just to give it meaning. You don't think every previous modern generations thought that the next year would be something special and that they existed in a pivotal time in history? Folks, everything is an illusion- sorry to break the news to you.
However if you are looking for 2010 predictions you don't really care about those things. So here GUARANTEED LOCK PREDICTIONS for 2010:
There may be rumblings with China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and North Korea, but there will not be a World War in 2010.
No aliens will be discovered in 2010.
Animals will not revolt against mankind (dang).
Now here is a DailySkew prediction that is shocking:
Lady Gaga- currently one of the best pop singers who churns out hit after hit, is at the peak of her popularity- and she will start to lose her momentum some time in 2010. In other words, it doesn't get any better for her right now. By the end of 2010, you will see dents in the force that is Lady Gaga.
Back on November 19, 2007 I wrote a Youtube rant that most readers disagreed with, and will continue to disagree with today. I've also been known to bring many craigslist crimes to light, and how Lazy Man Ethics (LME) rules supreme about copyrighted material, prostitution, and adult videos being made readily available for children on the Internet. Although I don't want to "re-debate" this issue, I just want to give some quick updates about YouTube and craigslist since that post.
YouTube has even more viewers now, and the only real change they made has been instituting displaying advertisements to videos that use copyrighted songs. This was a compromise that some record labels agreed with. I noticed YouTube reads metatags and keywords to determine instantly if the music theme is copyrighted or not, and will put an iTunes advertisement on it if it is. Others are still strict and demand those music videos to be taken down. When it comes to movies or TV shows, some networks or studios enforce their copyright, yet others do not. (Everything is self-monitored.)
YouTube hardcore porn has been getting phased out but the softcore porn is still available, and sometimes not flagged, so kids at the school or library can be exposed to it. In terms of hip-hop videos, violence, animal abuse, and other R-Rated material, I come across many of those videos without the age verification (which is a joke, anyway).
With the so-called Generation Y and Generation Z being so techno-savy, resourceful, and lacking a fear of authority, parents simply cannot supervise or limit surfing the internet. Therefore the trend of underage sex and teenage pregnancies will continue to grow, as will the desensitization of death, violence, and curse words.
It's no secret that middle schoolers know all of this anyway, heck even when I was in elementary school in the 1980's kids knew about this and sneaked into movie theaters or had access to VHS porn. It's just that with today's modern digital technology it is 100% more easy and there is much more out there.
Statistics from Google show that the British flag more videos than any other country, especially when it comes to gang members flashing guns around. It makes sense since much of our Western (if not all of our) traditional family values come from Victorian times.
Youtube is still the place for psycho teens to post their manifestos before shooting up their school.
A Youtube spokesman says it best:
“In terms of outside regulation verses internal regulation, this is a very new world, so the people who are closest to that world are the ones who understand best. We have a vested interest in making this site a place that’s safe for advertisers and good for the community. Regulators coming from the outside would not have this deep understanding.”
“We are not a broadcaster,” he said.
I'm very glad he said "this is a very new world". It's called Earth#Flush.
Now let's talk about craigslist crimes; craigslist has forced U.S. escorts to pay for their ads with their credit card. They removed "erotic services" and replaced it with "adult services". This scares some off. So they went to Backpage. This was predicted by a couple of DailySkew readers. However, there is no such requirement in other countries, so craigslist still enables sex tourism.
Craigslist crimes have gone up since I first attacked them here on the DailySkew, adn are reported by local news outlets much more. As more people get exposed to craigslist, fraud, muggings, hackings, and rapes increase, especially with the recession. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and craigslist are pretty much suing each other because McMaster said that they didn't do enough to stop prostitution.
Based on the comments from the various forums around the net, I would say the majority of surfers don't want craigslist or Youtube to be regulated or any part of the Internet to be regulated. This was a trend that could not have been stopped because users continue to be their own moderators. Google has been a trendsetter in this since the beginning: they want all data to be freely available without moral judgment and rely on the users to keep the info safe from kids.
I'm not promoting regulation because that would be impossible from the enforcement to the sheer number of growing websites. However, I will not defend peer moderation or peer flagging because why would I give the "masses" any benefit of the doubt when time and time again public opinion is revealed to be fickle, uniformed, and simply herds of unhealthy sheep?
Back in the day, it was reasonable to lay the responsibility SOLELY with the parents because there were at least one parent or grandparent at home. In fact, school and church were merely extensions and not crutches. Nowadays, both parents have to work, TV and computers are the babysitters (started with Generation X- a gift from the Baby Boomers), and the internet is mobile.
The lunatics are running the asylum my friends.
The mutants rule and anyone who talks about morality, standards, or uses the word "ought" is deemed a....a.....CONSERVATIVE. OoooooOOOoooooOOOoohhh!!
Why do men trust mistresses*? (This article is in response to the news about Tiger Woods and his 7 known mistresses; Tiger Woods stands to lose $300 million because of his habit.) Men who cheat and have "affairs" are generally irresponsible egotistical scumbags who make it bad for everyone else. I know multiple men who had cheated on their wives and have had affairs with "mistresses". I swear, I think they all were influenced by The Godfather and think that it's their God-given right to have a mistress who should just shut up and service them.
Here's a list of different reasons why guys think they will never get caught:
1) The mistress loves them.
2) The mistress understands how crazy his wife is.
3) The mistress doesn't want to get married.
4) The mistress gets money and gifts, so what's the problem?
5) Since there is some sort of sugar daddy agreement upfront, the man thinks the mistress will honor their "work for hire" verbal contract, and not complain about him leaving.
It's a bunch of self-delusional crap that men use to rationalize their cheating ways.
Here's a #newsflash: mistresses always wind up spilling the beans for exposure, book deals, and more money once they realize their run is up. If you are a guy and you think otherwise, you also probably think you can grow cannabis out of your house in Port St Lucie, make $150,000 a year, and you will never get caught. Prisons are full of drug dealers who have said they "would have never gotten caught if it wasn't for [insert excuse]".
Most mistresses want money. Others have low self-esteem and love to compete with "The Wife". Others love the power to manipulate a man with this secret to feel an emotional rush or power and eventually engage in emotional or monetary blackmail. Others are groupies or stalkers who want a famous man's attention. Spurning any of these types of women will only result in career and marriage suicide, not to mention losing half of your fortune.
By the way, I used to know a few of "the other women" as well- and they will never admit it's about the money. They usually say that they felt sorry for the man because his marriage was on the rocks, and they had hoped that the man would divorce the wife and have a steady relationship with them instead. You see, the mistress must also rationalize the affair so she feels motivated about being spurned and to justify the TV appearances, newspaper interviews, and TMZ documentaries.
*Only the MEDIA calls these women "mistresses" or "lovers". This is because if the MEDIA called them "whores", "tramps", "sluts", "hookers", "escorts", "concubines", "harlots", or "prostitutes" they wouldn't get the exclusive interview.
With the bourgeois flying to Copenhagen and driving their limousines to discuss the future of the United States converting the world to being carbon neutral at the tax payer's expense, ladies and gentleman, Mr. Al Gore:
One thin September soon A floating continent disappears In midnight sun
Vapors rise as Fever settles on an acid sea
Snow glides from the mountain Ice fathers floods for a season A hard rain comes quickly
Then dirt is parched Kindling is placed in the forest For the lightning’s celebration
The shepherd cries The hour of choosing has arrived Here are your tools
Thanks, Al Gore. Your poetry reads like a Dark-Truths.com parody.
As the late Michael Crichton had demonstrated: being Green is a business. And even today with the Global Warming Hoax revealed, legislation, tax benefits, and corporate "initiatives" have already gone into motion and will continue to dominate our lives.
We live in a world where THEY created terms like "carbon footprints" and "carbon neutral". THEY make you feel guilty for using a computer or burping. Meanwhile THEY practice "do as I say, not as I do".
At first I imagine corrupt multi-billion dollar corporations hated the Green movement because of the regulations and costs, but thanks to tax breaks and the benefits of saying "Our company is carbon neutral" or "Our company is green", even the most devious corporations get defended by THEM for complying with carbon neutral protocols. "Yeah sure Company X may have exploited child labor in India and defrauded shareholders, but they have a low carbon footprint."
We've already seen government bids incorporating Green standards. The special interest groups have won, even with the Global Warming Hoax, because the machine had already started.
Now, me, I'm a tree-huger and vegetarian, but I never agreed with the stats behind global warming or the world governments getting involved to force Green.
Generation Y and Generation Z are taught about carbon neutrality and global warming as an accepted fact in school.
Generation X vs Generation Y vs Generation Z- DEEP THOUGHT PROVOKING QUESTIONS
DEEP THOUGHT PROVOKING QUESTIONS about Generation X vs Generation Y vs Generation Z: I personally don't like cut-off years and labels about "generations"- it makes no sense if you think hard enough about it. Neither does the so-called "Greatest Generation" or the often used "Baby Boomers". Most of, if not all of these labels and year ranges come from magazine articles, authors named Howe and Strauss, or Wikipedia.
Like other labels such as "Third-World Country" or "Superpowers", they really have been accepted by social commentators, which in turn plant these labels in our heads like they mean something tangible. Yet they are all generalizations with nothing scientific about them. There is so much overlap and so many exceptions- not to mention it being so American- that it's hard to take seriously. It seems to be totally skewed to modern times as well, like the world didn't exist before radio or TV. Even history books show that the United States started to shape a national cultural identity in the 1950's thanks to TV. So heaven forbid people that existed in 1833 have a "name".
If nothing else, using terms like Baby Boomers and Generation X just create another class war, this time based on age and "shared cultural experiences". One problem with this is the influx of immigration in the U.S.: many immigrants haven't experienced many shared U.S. events. Perhaps they might have listened to some of the same music as I did in 1986, but there is no doubt that their home county had local stars I've never heard of, and events such as U.S. sporting events or U.S. disasters lose all meaning.
When I was a kid I had problems with people saying "generation" because most of my friends had different aged parents, grandparents, and most didn't have great-grandparents like I had the honor of having. Also, my grandfather was born in 1919, and my grandmother was born in 1925; according to most year ranges, they come from separate generations- which is ridiculous.
Another problem with generations is that some "expert" changes the time-line, and does some retroactive continuity. When I was a kid, I never thought of myself as "Generation X". I was born in 1977. Experts have it from 1961 to 1981, which is mind-boggling. Meanwhile, some define Generation Y as children born in 1982 to 2001 (the onset of DailySkew's Earth-Zero). Again, all of this is fun, but not scientific.
So I spent so many paragraphs ripping generations to shred- does that mean they are without any value? It seems kinda crazy to define generations based on if one grew up with Pokemon vs if they grew up watching He-Man, but ultimately there is some value in this when trying to predict future trends.
In the past, with technology like radio, telephones, cars, and TV, citizens of the U.S. had shared cultural events due to limited MEDIA outlets, a more homogenized cultural base, shared value systems, in addition to events that shook the U.S. like World Wars and famous assassinations.
Generation Z, the post-9/11 generation- the sons and daughters of Generation X- however- they have no identity and are bombarded with information at the speed of light. Members of the so-called Generation X and Generation Y fall into this category as well. Generation Z is totally digital and everything about them suffers from ADD (attention definite disorder). Baby boomers to them are authority figure dinosaurs from a time not recorded by Youtube.
My grandmother always tells me that things changed in the 1960's when it comes to children lacking fear or respect for their parents. It could be that every generation has a brash cockiness about themselves, and this may have been amplified with how easily Generations X, Y, and Z grasp electronics- from programming the VCR in 1984 to surfing the web in 2009.
Yet despite all of the education and technical mastery that new generations have, it appears on the surface that they generally don't have a curiosity about expanding their vocabulary (they type very casual and everything gets shortened thanks to texting/IM'ing). This started with Generation X's use of computers, calculators, and spell-check. The laziness will continue with people simply looking up something on a search engine or wiki, accepting the first result, and moving on, as opposed to researching or digging further. With so much data to digest, the ADD aspect kicks in as well.
The ugly charactiture of Generation Z was perfectly demonstrated by writer Jim Krueger in Earth-X, where earth's future tyrant is a young boy who doesn't even know who Adolf Hitler was, and had no sense of spirituality, cultural identity, history, or morals. I hope that future doesn't come true.
Of course, I grant everything I just said generalizes and provides little or no real evidence- that's the problem with trying to discuss generations coherently.
Anyway, food for thought regarding which direction we are headed.
Since the topic of racism will never go away in our lifetime, you may be interested in taking Harvard/Yale/Washington's IAT Racist Test (actually called the Race Implicit Association Test) which I have linked at the end of this article.
Race ('Black - White' IAT). This IAT requires the ability to distinguish faces of European and African origin. It indicates that most Americans have an automatic preference for white over black.
Anyway I point to prehistoric man and the current animal kingdom to see the roots of racism and why people feel more comfortable with their own flock. Living beings trust their own tribe, kind, or group. It's a survival mechanism born out of fear of other tribes. In other words, I believe racism, discrimination, stereotyping, and prejudice are biological and humanity's true nature. It doesn't give people an excuse to indulge, but I think it takes effort not to have racist tendencies. It's the same with unchecked sexual pleasure that leads to cheating on your spouse- we must rise above our evolutionary instincts.
Over time, anthropology, psychology, and sociology provided different reasons for racism. If you throw scientific racism (whites are superior to blacks) and political correctness (blacks and whites are equal in every way) the reasons for racism becomes further muddled.
To me the prison life is a good showcase of human behavior although it is also a great mockery of humanity because it is a mentally unhealthy place to be. But in prison - which is survival of the fittest- humans revert back to their prehistoric selves. Blacks stay with blacks. Latinos stay with Latinos. Asians stay with Asians. In the absence of sexual intercourse with the opposite sex, homosexual behavior is accepted. Might makes right. So much for the condescendingly enlightened Western civilization. The sad part is my high school was just like this, and almost every office in the U.S. is like this.
Many people in today's era like to give reasons or excuses for racism, because they don't want to conceive that it is in our genes and our human nature to be racist:
1) We learn it from our parents 2) Portrayals of stereotypes from TV, movies, music create our perceptions 3) Low-self esteem causes us to lash out or blame others to feel superior 4) Ignorance of the way other people live- we don't like cultures that we don't understand 5) The attachment people have to label things- we have a longing for the world to be simplified 6) Racial justice- Blacks and Native Americans are allowed to "get revenge" on the white man 7) A bad experience: if a purple man beats you up, all purple men are evil
All of the above reasons may aid in unlocking our racist selves, but they don't cause it. Racism is biological, just like body odor and facial hair are evolutionary throwbacks to prehistoric times. Thankfully, we can have the ability to learn and educate ourselves to overcome it. We can intermingle and be friends with other races and learn their cultures and world view. We can marry outside of our race. Indeed, in 2010 and beyond it could be argued that the day of the "pureblood" is over, and that is impossible to have "race" anymore. And that is a good thing.
On a final note for this article, I would like to use the Enneagram Personality Types to show how how some people I know view racism. (In my view, healthy people can overcome our racist tendencies). Please note this is totally unscientific and may be a small sample size.
Enneagram Type 1: Generally prefer their own kind because they are influenced by a belief systems and authority figures, which usually promote one culture. Enneagram Type 2: They don't like labels or being judged, and open-minded about dating other races. However others simply are a product of their childhoods. Enneagram Type 3: Usually think that their race is superior. Enneagram Type 4: Tend to stay with people they see similarities with, whatever that may be. Enneagram Type 5: Well, they can literally be racially blind because they hate rejection or they can come up with weird racist theories out of fear. Enneagram Type 6: Males seem much more open-minded (and some may "switch" racial identity) than females, who tend to distrust much more. Enneagram Type 7: Notoriously racist, sorry. Enneagram Type 8: Don't get them started. Enneagram Type 9: Very much into stereotypes and very sensitive to race relations and what other people are thinking.
I believe that the current generation of students (the so-called Generation Z) have a super-advantage when it comes to education thanks to the Internet. In the United States, depending on your grade level, homework assignments and book report due date calendars are online. You can take an LSAT prep course online instead of hiring a private tutor. And of course, you have Wikipedia and essays online.
This editorial is in response to my partner Tony Vahl's two articles on Michael Savage and Rihanna.
We are fortunate to live in a society where we can debate like in this forum. My issue with the Michael Savage controversy is that he is an entertainer (i.e. not to be taken seriously), who makes a living on radio ratings, website hits, books sales, fueled by free publicity thanks to his controversial personality.
The reason I used the pro wrestling/Tito Santana "injustice" analogy is because it's all a work and there was no true injustice, just like Michael Savage getting banned is not a true injustice. The price of freedom of speech may be hateful statements, which are generally non-criminal, but the price of hateful statements for the sake of self-profit is bad karma, i.e. you will be isolated from many groups, be threatened, sued, advertisers will leave you, local stations will drop your show, and you may be banned in certain places. Savage loves the ban because the newswires picked it up, and he painted himself as a victim. It was better than when Obama made a comment about Rush.
Savage loves this...he was probably hysterical laughing and then hacked into a coughing fit, that's how happy he was, when Jacqui Smith(who most English citizens can't stand) in the U.K. put HIS name on that list. Instead Savage said he was angry and depressed. I doubt Savage would make a stink of this if Uruguay banned him - it's not marketable enough: "Banned in Uruguay". Savage can't travel to the U.K. Neither can an anti-gay preacher or a terrorist. No sweat off my back if I get banned from the U.K. because of a blog post.
Jacqui Smith is like a version of GW Bush: she's trying to impose cultural standards and ban hate mongers from visiting the country. I don't agree with her, but U.S. rule of law does not apply in the U.K. As far as Savage not literally saying to take up arms and overthrow the government, to me that's being semantic. If someone listens to him every day (and believes his speech- after all Savage is never out of character) they may buy into his theories and decide to "take matters in their own hands" when it comes to some injustices Savage rants about.
Therefore I cannot defend Rush, Beck, Maulkin, Hannity, Olbermann et al when they spread the fear, hate, and anger every day as entertainers. They want it both ways. They want to push people, but not take responsibility. The LDoTR (Last Days of Talk Radio) will not happen as long as ratings are high and advertisers are happy. If a deranged Rush fan does something dumb and tells the world he did it because of Rush, well, maybe Rush will lose some radio outlets.
Usually the ACLU helps people like Savage, but Savage hates the ACLU, so why should they help- that's the price of venom:
"If I had the power by executive order, I would round up every member of the ACLU and of the National Lawyers Guild, and I'd put them in a prison in Guantánamo and I'd throw the key away. Or I would reopen Devil's Island and I'd put everyone in the ACLU into -- onto Devil's Island."
And what does Savage himself say about freedom of speech?
"Deportation, not re-education. You can take C-A-I-R and throw 'em out of my country. I'd raise the American flag and I'd get out my trumpet if you did it. Without due process. You can take your due process and shove it."
Or freedom of religion in the U.S.:
...in order to "save the United States," lawmakers should institute an "outright ban on Muslim immigration". Everything about Savage is a "work".
He wants to sue the U.K. for defamation, yet he compares Obama to Castro and Obama to Hitler all the time. It's all a big joke like The Comedian from Watchmen, so I don't really think this particular case should be used to defend freedom of speech. Savage is actually a poster-child for freedom of speech in the U.S. since he gets away with so much. He is part of the de-evolution of society as well, just like Howard Stern. Maybe one day society will rebound. (ha!)
I'm sure the U.K.'s decision will be reversed. If this happened in the U.S. (as in Savage was expelled or imprisoned) then I can see the issue as being "real". I believe- for the most part- the U.S. has a good system when it comes to allowing freedom of speech, and if the U.K. doesn't- well, it is what it is.
Regarding your deep thought provoking questions based on censorship and Rihanna: I don't dig the song either...wouldn't want your daughter to listen to the song. I think with songs, books, TV, and movies society dictates what is offensive and what is acceptable. Since our society continues to devolve and sink to lower depths, the standards are gone and more and more things become accepted.
Like socially acceptable sexual acts on a first date.
There was much more censorship in the past, and it has been proven to be wrong time and time again. All we can do is exercise our freedom of speech by pointing out our misgivings about songs like Russian Roulette, perhaps protest or boycott things which offend us. Unfortunately, we get into situations like craigslist, where the lunatics run the asylum because they have no standards. We get into the silent majority and LME (Lazy Man Ethics tm) when it comes to accepting the de-evolution of society.
So keep up the good work my friend and call people and systems out and spread your messages.
Deep thought provoking questions have always been prevalent throughout my entire life. It has been both a blessing and a curse. Why? (tm) I mean, is ignorance bliss or is ignorance just ignorance? Whoops, there I go again asking deep thought provoking questions. Before I get into a list of deep thought provoking questions that are covered in two fantasy books called Dream Seeker: The Velvet Mask and Dream Seeker: Return of Joshua, let me just give you some background.
Concepts and beliefs must pass the "smell test" with me, and I do not believe in one source of knowledge. So, throughout my spiritual journeys in life, I have come across many different belief systems, theories, philosophies, and methods. I try most of them out, and discard some that are no longer practical. Deep thought provoking questions have always been my guide. Perhaps my personality was already formed during conception. Perhaps it was because I didn't trust people as a kid. As you can see deep thought provoking questions are all over the place with me.
Deep thought provoking questions cause me to digress; I guess that's why I have thousands of blog posts and articles all over the Internet. Believe it or not, I am not that much of a snob- just because I like to talk about deep thought provoking questions doesn't make me intelligent or wise. Who knows? Maybe talking about deep thought provoking questions is just a product of my setting and era (21st century United States of America). Would I ask many deep thought provoking questions if I was a Neanderthal woman thousands of years ago? Would I be obsessed with deep thought provoking questions if I was born in 1765 in one of the King's colonies in the New World?
Let's get to Dream Seeker: The Velvet Mask. Here are some deep thought provoking questions in that novel:
Do dreams have meaning?
Why do we dream?
Are there beings or things that exist which we cannot experience with out senses?
What is the affect of time on our human perceptions?
Is energy immortal?
Why are nihilists so passionate about denying belief in God?
Return of Joshua has deep thought provoking questions such as:
How would society react if Jesus returned?
Does the world need a savior?
Are good and evil concepts?
What is morality?
Does the MEDIA overstep its bounds when it comes to reporting information?
A former classmate of mine once e-mailed me that feelings are merely chemical reactions and don't really "exist". Indeed it is a struggle for humans to overcome the wave of emotions and focus on logic. However, I believe that by labeling the human experience with numbers chemistry dehumanizes us. As you can see there is no end to deep thought provoking questions and I went on a tangent again.
If deep thought provoking questions are your thing, check out the Dream Seeker series. It is loaded with deep thought provoking questions (and answers) on politics, psychology, sociology, and much more.
"Do You Have A Dollar?" That's what the African American youth with dreadlocks on a bicycle asked me and my family as I was unloading WalMart groceries in front of my house. I just stared him down, and we all shook our heads "no" since we come from New York where we all know the moment you reach into your wallet is the moment it's gone. I had given this teenager a buck a year-and-a-half ago, but that's when I had a buck to spare. Guess he remembered where I live. Sorry, bud, but I'm not going to be held hostage again.
Obviously the kid lives in the area, and obviously he gets a lot of mileage out of that bike- he probably collects a dollar from people all day to afford those $150 sneakers, XBOX360, and cutting edge cell phone.
You know what I heard? I heard that the Weed Man is all dried up in South Florida. I heard the cockroaches are coming out of the woodwork now, and they are getting antsy. I heard things are going to be boiling over very soon. I guess some people are getting desperate or are maybe getting more bold in terms of robbing.
I mean, I would never, ever ask total strangers for a dollar without giving a logical explanation (i.e. I need busfare, my wallet was stolen, I have to make a public phone call, etc.). This guy just felt entitled for me to job out for him. Last time he at least made up a story about school fundraising for his football team. But now he judged me as someone to ask free money for, so I feel I can judge him as a street punk with no white guilt that my peers have.
This post can be filed in the same category to what Tony Vahl said about a woman dressing up in a nurse's uniform to robs things to buy food, and when Vahl and R.A.W. talk about crime, drugs, and economy. This is from the perspective of someone that doesn't even have a dollar in his pocket to give to total stranger, and how I would not have given him the dollar anyway. It's another example of the new economy. I can't even say "Get a job" like Sean Hannity does, because I know that there are none. So I nodded my head now, and he said "Aight" and disappeared in an instant. He was an expert with those pedals.
Why is microwaving popcorn considered an art? Why do so many people continue to burn microwave popcorn after the first time they ruined it and created one of the most foul smells? Which personality types are best suited for microwaving popcorn efficiently? Before we that, let's examine why it is do darn hard for people to microwave popcorn:
Microwave power and settings vary. So your microwave at work may be underpowered compared to your microwave at home.
There are many different brands of popcorn, and they have different instructions. For example, some bags give ranges like "1:30 to 2:00" or "press the PopCorn button". That being said, every popcorn bag has the instructions BEGGING you to stay nearby and listen to the pops to avoid overcooking.
Contrary to popular belief, cooking popcorn in the microwave is not hard, folks. So let's analyze the reasons why humanity has a less than perfect microwave popcorn success rate:
We are "too busy" and multi-task everything. So we put the bag of popcorn in the microwave, hit "2:00", and have the confidence that we will hear the pops while we perform another task. Other tasks include: taking a dump, feeding the kids, watching TV, surfing the web, writing an e-mail, blog post, or comment, talking to someone on the phone, walking your dog, or something else like that.
We live in an ADD society. Now, I may not even believe that Attention Deficit Disorder exists in the sense that it is a disease that needs to be treated with medication, but I know as a society we suffer it. After all, we can't even stand in front of a microwave for 1:30. Many people actually forget the popcorn is in the microwave!
Now, let's examine this microwave popcorn burning phenomena by Average Enneagram Personality Type:
Enneagram Type 1 (Reformer): Would rather undercook than overcook; does not burn. Enneagram Type 2 (Helper): Totally forgets how to use this modern technology. Enneagram Type 3 (Achiever): Enneagram Type Threes don't burn popcorn. Enneagram Type 4 (Individualist): Type Fours "get burned" once and vow never to get burned again. However, they may get hung up if they don't read the instructions for a new brand. Also, if they are feeling rather self-absorbed, they will "forget", and then create a blog called "I Burn Popcorn" and relish in it. Enneagram Type 5 (Investigator): Distracted by something else, maybe their non-stop internal monologue, they have been known to stink up their apartments by burning it, Enneagram Type 6 (Loyalist): Enneagram Type Sixes have the world record for burning popcorn in the microwave since the machine requires their full attention, and focus is very important to Sixes. Enneagram Type 7 (Enthusiast): This is where we see personality differences between men and women; Type 7 men know what to do; Type 7 female will mess it up because they were distracted by a shiny object. Enneagram Type 8 (The Boss): Although you would think an Enneagram Type Eight dominate the microwave popcorn efficiency scale, they at first suck at this technology. After they eventually find out how to use it, they will be proficient at it, and be sure to yell at you and treat you like a kid for not understanding the nuances of microwaving popcorn. Enneagram Type 9 (The Peacemaker): Enneagram Type Nines have been known to almost burn down offices and houses because of their lack of instincts/awareness. You see, everything is an emotional struggle for them. Heaven help them if there's a lot of stuff going on in their lives. Add laziness to the equation for some Nines, and the microwave will explode.
Did you hear about the Clash of the Titans remake in 2010? Oh, you didn't know? Well, the Clash of the Titans CGI looks fantastic, and I see a few familiar actors in there. Just based on the trailer, the Clash of the Titans remake looks pretty cool. So why can you detect my underwhelming excitement?
Could it be...that there was no reason to have a Clash of the Titans remake? Yeah, that could be it. Here's another one: is the plot going to be the same? It looks so based on the trailer. So all we will have is enhanced graphics, better music, and maybe some sex.
Am I being jaded? How long before Clash of the Titans 2010 will be streaming in the Netflix Instant Browse section?
Remake, remake, remake. Because you demanded it. You demanded a King Kong vs Godzilla remake, so you're going to get it.
What, a new generation must experience Clash of the Titans in full CGI HD? They can't enjoy the 1981 version? Or is that a myth: perhaps children and young adults actually watch and enjoy movies and TV shows pre-1998?
By the way, what's the difference between watching the 1981 Clash of the Titans on DVD or TBS vs. going to the movie theater in 2010? Why must be spend $10 per person to experience the same story, but with "updates"? It's the whole Madden 2010 syndrome. Newer = better in our world.
Why are we as a society so attracted to the new, shiny, gold jewelery that someone is dangling in front of us like a pendulum? Why do we drool and say "that's awesome" when we see CGI. Twenty years from now this "cutting edge CGI" will look like those Styrofoam rocks in Star Trek: The Original Series. Okay, so I'm exaggerating, but I'm just sayin'. WHY (tm)?
Okay, it's cool. But was it necessary to create a Clash of the Titans remake? If you ever watched the original (which I suggest you do if you haven't) did you ever say, "Man, I wish they could remake that movie." Can we get Chris Rock to play Calibos?
Titans. Will. Clash. Wow...sounds like a WCW pro wrestling pay-per-view from 1990: Sting vs Ric Flair, this time in a CAGE.
Hollywood marketing and ideas board room meeting (various voices):
"Any new ideas?"
"Well, I was with my girlfriend last night, going through the channels, and I saw this old movie- Clash of the Titans. I don't know it must have been made in the 1960's or something. But it was pretty cool. I was thinking- with the success of 300 and Beowulf, we should do a Clash of the Titans remake."
"Sounds great!"
"Yes, let's get May and Manfredi on the phone and see if they can come up with a screenplay!"
"Liam Neeson would be a great Burgess Meredith!"
"Who?"
"Nah, cast Neeson as Zeus."
"Sam Worthington should be the lead."
"Perseus?"
"Who?"
"Perseus- the hero!"
"Get Worthington's agent on the phone."
"Worthington was excellent in Terminator Salvation."
Is it Wrong to Bring Your Own Food to Restaurants?
Welcome to the NEW U.S. economy!
I was at Wendy's the other day (I had to use the BATHROOM for FREE) and I saw two guys eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and drinking their own plastic mugs of water. They were just sitting there and did not have any Wendy's yellow napkins or Wendy's food tray as evidence that they bought something there. As I sat down on a chair to take in the FREE air conditioner, I had such a grin on my face; management didn't care that these two guys were freeloading. No one cared.
The next day when I went to McDonald's to use the bathroom for FREE, I was cracking up when I saw two guys were running a call center there- no joke! They had their laptops plugged in the wall (free electricity), and their BlueTooth cell phones hooked up, and they were SELLING, SELLING, SELLING. I had no idea you can use McDonald's as an office. These two guys were obnoxious, too. The younger white dude was pacing back and forth trying to close a deal, while the older white guy was using his Wi-Fi connection to look for shipping information for a client. They were at it for the 30 minutes that I was there checking out who was walking in and out of the restroom, while enjoying the FREE air conditioner and some ketchup bags. A lady walked in and SAT DOWN next to them without going to the cashier- she had brought her own sandwich and thermos. Everybody make yourselves comfortable!
My next story occurred in Burger King- an older Latino was dressed in a fancy suit and was wearing a bunch of rings, and had a laptop, portable white board, and a cell phone. He was telling his client to meet him at Burger King for their business meeting. He didn't even get french fries, salad, or drink. In comes in a young black dude that looked like a rapper from an MTV video, and they sat down in the booth and conducted a business deal with no food. I couldn't contain my laughter.
Back in the day, it used to be a major issue if you brought small fruit drinks into a movie theater to give to your kids. Now, thanks to the recession and the hopelessness of the economy people are conducting business at fast food restaurants and they bring their own food to restaurants.
And I love it. :-)
I endorse it- I don't know if it's legal, but I endorse it: BRING YOUR OWN FOOD, bring your laptops, bring your cellphones, use Burger King as your office space. Welcome to 2009, I hope you enjoy your stay.
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Sometimes people who speak English as a second language have some funny mispronunciations. For example, I know someone that mixes up rugs and rags. So she once said, "It's a rugs to riches story" or "Use the rug to clean up the spill". You have to wonder if "rag" and "rug" some from the same root word origin. However the most embarrassing is when she mixes up the letter P and the letter F at a hockey game.
Yeah, yeah I know- nothing is "free"- it comes from county taxes. Whatever. It's free. If you remember the library was a big part of your American education- from elementary school to college. Although much research can be done online, I find it amazing how citizens would rather buy books or movies instead of borrowing them from the library for free. Then there are segments of the population that cry about not being able to afford a computer or Internet access to look for jobs. Check out the library, folks. It doesn't bite.
"Why do girls mature faster than boys?" has been a long accepted question; it is a given that teenage girlsmature faster than boys. The text book answer is that girls normally start puberty earlier than boys. I've been studying in a library recently and the library is connected to a middle school and high school, so here are my observations:
I can't even tell the ages of the girls- they all could pass for 18. So...they are physically mature.
The boys look younger because they have no facial hair and they are generally thin.
But let's talk about mental maturity- which is really the implied notion when people say "girls mature faster than boys".
Whereas boys like to be disruptive and do stuff like- play tackle football in front of the library, tease girls, disobey the sacred rules of etiquette at a library (shout, laugh, cell phone), threaten each other, the girls have nothing to be proud of either.
Two weeks ago I was within earshot of four girls who came to the library after school waiting for a ride from one of their fathers. Their idle chatter was non-stop, and such topics included: a cute teacher, making fun of boys, their desire for someone with a car, how their Internet phones are too small to see, being too fat, covering up zits with makeup, bras, what to eat tonight, and talking about killing two hours. In other words, pretty normal stuff for their age, but definitely not "mature". The sad part is I know adult or middle aged women that talk about and do the same things. So if that passes off as "maturity" I guess my bar is too high.
Not one of those girls wanted to pop open a homework assignment or read.
Granted one boy tried to hit a girl in the table in front of me, but immaturity is expressed in different ways. Boys have much more energy to convert and need to release it, whereas girls just talk amongst themselves and value socializing, no newsflashes here. But both ways make my stomach hurt.
The Facebook phenomena is a reality and it looks like it's here to stay (uhm...maybe, because Americans are a fickle lot- MySpace, anyone?). Here's Damian's Facebook review:
The Good
You can easily connect with relatives and stay in touch in a fun and efficient way with family members.
The quickest and cheapest way (it's free) to connect with former co-workers, classmates, or friends.
Privacy options allow you to share your life and photos with only the people you choose.
Free marketing if you are so inclined.
Facebook ads have a great target audience if you want to make them (paid).
The Bad
Facebook apps. I will not accept any of them due to virus threats and resource hogging. Not to mention most are really advertisements, and I try not to advertise for free.
Stalkerville
Watch what you say- default settings enable friends of friends to see your page, so before you know it your boss is reading your hate journal.
Embarrassing photos that the world can see.
Addictive games that everyone is playing and trying to get me to play- Mafia Wars and Farmville.
The Ugly
When someone doesn't accept you as a friend.
When someone removed you as a friend. If a relative does it this could mean a cold war.
People that are on all of the time.
If your mom posts stuff on your page.
Twitter lite: people post the most lame things.
Welcome to the new way of communicating and socializing. We hope you enjoy your stay in the Matrix.
Damian's Facebook Fun Facts (small sample)
Most people have friends of the same race or nationality.
Yes, there are black people on Facebook.
Most people don't leave their hometowns or states or wind up returning to them.
Those who graduated from an ivy league school or Top 20 school are employed and doing well.
Conversely there are some people that just keep going to college to further and further and further their educations and pretty much are university researchers or alumni and somehow support their habit.
Students who were at the top of my classes are doing well.
I had expected to get into deep online conversations with long-lost friends, but I only had a couple of chats and I only have frequent e-mails with my half-brother.
Friday, June 5, 2009- On the heels of Memorial Day, traffic was light today. Only three workers are at Tashman Technologies so far, and the business next to Tashman has zero cars in their parking lot.
Is today an unofficial Day Off?
Is everybody tired of working post-Memorial Day? I know putting in fours days is tough.
I don't know if it's limited to my own little world, either.
I got this message from a client:
Out of Office AutoReply I will be out of the office from June 4 through June 7 with no access to e-mail or voice mail.
What great way for a woman to lose the baby pounds than with a baby jogger stroller? Seriously, down here in Florida I see mothers using these innovative strollers all the time. The jogging strollers keep their balance are are easy to steer, plus they are fun for the babies. In this world of multi-tasking, baby jogger strollers fit right in.
I really think our prehistoric ancestors would laugh at modern society before destroying it. Humanity has become sedimentary, overweight office workers run by monetary greed and the myth of "winning" at the end.
Anyway, since we are forced to work for a living, some people get addicted to work. I speak from experience and my friends' experiences. It doesn't matter if you are a Wall Street broker or a postal worker- it appears that being a workaholic is widespread. With the growth of computers, these machines dominant our workplaces AND our leisure time.
So, here's a handy guide to spot signs you are a workaholic. I'm not trying to attack anyone, point fingers, or make light of it. Here's a general list:
Not asking for help at work. You think you will lose time to farm work off to someone else because 1) you have to stop and train and 2) you think everyone else is usually dumber than you.
Arriving at work early, leaving late, skipping breakfast and/or lunch, not having good meals, etc.
Taking work home with you to "catch up".
Getting a "headstart" at work by doing your assignments at home.
Looking down upon people who do not share your level of "motivation" and "enthusiasm".
Multi-task and overcommit.
Unable to relax because they feel unproductive.
Mentally plan the future (after all you are working towards The Ultimate Goal tm) while losing focus of the present- you know, little details like paying bills, hygiene, paying attention to your spouse and family, going to the doctor, socializing, etc.
Zero- repeat- zero separation of work and home. Especially prevalent with people that use the Internet for their business, and created by people who bring work home. Also, if you are into selling Amway or similar things ("I work for myself"), your time is DONE. You don't see 5:00PM (or whatever the end of work is for you) as the end of the work day.
Your sole (or major) form of happiness occurs when you do something at work.
Work is more important than family or leisure time (thank goodness for cell phones and portable computers, right business people?) There's nothing better than working on vacation! (not)
Your social life is dependent of work-related gatherings.
Before you go to sleep, you think about duties at work or ways to improve it.
Your boss is on speed dial or you text him or her all the time.
All you do is talk about your job. Doesn't matter if it's a wedding, funeral, after sex, etc.
Remember when Michael Moore went to Cuba in his documentary SICKO? Moore got on his soapbox and "proved" how great the medical care and facilities were under Fidel Castro's regime. He rubbed it in when U.S. veterans received free treatment in a Cuban hospital, coverage which they were denied in the United States. Moore said that all the bad things we've heard about Cuba were from the right-wing U.S. propaganda machine and MEDIA.
Moore has been challenged by his critics that called that portion of his documentary a staged event by the Cuban government. Moore has maintained that this was an "average hospital" and the incident was "normal".
Even as I watched SICKO I knew Moore was being used as a propaganda tool by Castro. After all, Moore and his crew just waltzed right into Cuba and went to a hospital. I was happy that the people got the medical help they needed, but not happy that it was done as an anti-American publicity stunt by the turncoat Moore.
So either Moore is a liar, or his hatred of the U.S. government (masked as libertarian patriot) is so great that he is totally skewed.
All you need to do is check out this website to see the Real Cuba. This page has been confirmed by someone I trust, who managed to escape Castro's 1984 socialist and communistic military government as a kid. The bottom line: tourists from rich countries get (slightly) better treatment than Cubans. Tourists named Michael Moore get full treatment as long as the cameras are rolling. The myth about socialized medicine and proper care in Cuba is a lie. Most "patients" get no help, in fact they get worse. And heaven help you if you have HIV or AIDS. You get sent someplace else... Check out the Real Cuba link for the stone cold truth (with real photos and experiences).
Michael Moore, fraud. Not that we needed more proof, but I figured I would focus on Cuba's LACK OF A TRUE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, sanitation, or prescription drug program, something SICKO refused to say.
Years ago I had a friendly co-worker named [fake name] Joey C. He was ex-Navy, older than I, loved women, and made funny crude jokes. He seemed very enthusiastic about his work, and since I was a wide-eyed young supervisor at the time, I liked him, and never thought he had a dark side. I was friendly with his daughter, who also worked with us, and everything seemed cool.
One day he invited me over his house because his wife was celebrating her birthday party, and a whole bunch of people were there, mostly Latino. For some reason that seemed so innocent then, but painfully obvious now, Joey didn't have a car available that day, and needed transportation from work to his house (we were working Saturday overtime).
However, on the way to his house, Joey asked me to make a little detour- no questions asked. He didn't give me an address: he was giving me directions on the fly like "turn here" and "go up to Powerline".
I saw the neighborhoods were taking a turn for the worse, especially for two white guys in a white Geo Metro, so I made some jokes about our destination, but Joey just quickly laughed it off, and provided no further details.
It was then I realized something wasn't right, and I'd better keep quiet.
Under his direction, I pulled up in front of (what should have been a condemned) apartment building. I saw loose dogs, little black kids running around in front of an open fire hydrant, and black men riding kid's bicycles.
Joey seemed to know this place very well, as he got of the car he said, "I'll be out soon". My heart was pumping now. What's going on? Is he really...? Maybe it's a woman...(this was before craigslist). Yeah, I was scared to be alone in a parked car in this place.
Perhaps 15 long minutes later he came out, all smiles, with a brown paper bag.
"Thanks, bro!" he chirped.
He was talking pretty fast and was back to his old self. At the party, I kinda lost track of him. He was usually behind closed doors in his bedroom or bathroom.
We never talked about it ever. But I suspect Joey C. has a crack addiction because he began to miss work, owed co-workers hundreds of dollars, and never answered his phone. Even his daughter was AWOL. I hope Joey C got the help he needed to stop using drugs.
This past week, I've been under a little bit of stress because my dog Stormy wasn't feeling well. I also have a doctor's appointment for myself today at 2:00PM. Add the full moon to the mix, and you have a possibility of weirdness. Add Friday the 13th (many Hospitalers were killed on that day) to the mix and you have potential for explosion.
Road Rage
Thus this morning, I was in a right turning lane (no light) on Pine Island and McNab. There was a split second where I could have turned but there were still cars speeding, and I didn't think it was worth the risk to jump into incoming traffic.
The SUV behind me had a different idea, and took exception to my caution (and my breaking) by beeping me. Normally I just let it go, and I may have let it go today but...
When I turned after the traffic was clear the SUV (driven by a stocky white man in his late 20's or early 30's and a passenger that was his double) was once again speeding and tried to pass me on the left lane that I legally passed into. So I beeped MY horn. I had put my turn signal on, and paused a few seconds to get into the left lane, but he tailgated me, and then quickly passed me. He looked at me and gave me the F-finger, and went in front of me. He looked like a craigslist beer guzzling college football loving closeted homosexual fishing closed minded redneck message board mutant trying to show his macho bravado, and impress his buddy in the passenger seat.
So I sat on my horn...for a while. My adrenalin was pumping. I was ready for him to stop, and I was going to fight two men that could have teared me apart. Like my little dog Stormy who barks at German Sheppard's, I didn't care. I lost control.
Seems like I scared these two fat white guys because they passed the car in front of us, went into another lane, and sped as far away from me as possible. He didn't even pull right next to me, roll the window down and threaten me. I was ready for that...and I was ready for more. I didn't slow down, and I didn't avoid him. But he was running away from me.
I guess he figured this little 120-pound man must have been crazy (or packing heat) to bully back two bullies. I guess they were right.
Unfortunately so did my wife. While this was happening, she torn my right forearm to pieces while I was hitting the horn. I got marks all over it now. She got scared and panicked, so we had some words about expressing emotions, but everything is okay now. You have to understand my wife has better morals and ethics than I do, and she doesn't think that I should have went down to their level. Wrong time to say that while I wanted to see them squeal and see their blood.
How did my trip to work end? I was on Hiatus and Commercial. I was in a left turning lane (green light with no arrow, with incoming traffic from the highway). The white haired man behind me didn't like the fact that I wasn't inching up in the intersection to wait for an opportunity to turn. So he actually went around me and waited for the traffic to stop. I wound up tailgating him to put pressure on him, but I let him off easily because at least he didn't beep or give me the finger. My heart was still pumping a mile a minute when I got out of the car.
Anyway, after I got to work I pumped some iron to capitalize on the adrenaline rush. It's 10:30AM and my blood pressure is still high.
I'm not saying I would break the law and fight, but I probably would have bluffed my way in a shouting match, but if those assholes stopped and got out of their car, there's no telling what I may have done with my wife in the car. This was broad daylight in heavy traffic with coppers always around, so I wasn't that worried about a physical altercation that much, but I was ready to stand up.
I don't feel proud of this. I'm not boasting about it. I don't feel guilty about it either. I'm okay with being wrong. I'm glad no one got hurt and no one got arrested. I'm glad they sped away. It is what it is.
Computer games, video games, and Internet addiction
Speaking of addictions, I want to give a first hand report about addictions I saw first hand recently. First of all, this is no rip against the people in case they read this. It's just that I am a bit concerned, and want to use this as a teaching lesson to DailySkew readers.
I went over a friend's house and saw that his two nephews were in a computer game zone. It was a two-story home, and they were upstairs in the same room. One nephew (we'll call him Nine) had networked a computer and his brother (we'll call him Five) and he were playing World of Warcraft.
My friend pretty much had to embarrass Nine (who I met before and hit it off well) to come down and say hello. It was an awkward 20-second greet before I joked that he is "dismissed" and can go back to him room and play games (because I understand, and didn't want him to get called down).
I was over my buddy's house for three hours, and just saw Nine and Five again when they made a pizza run in the kitchen after my buddy called them down again. I saw Five- he was bone thin with glasses and kinda avoided eye-contact. They took their food upstairs. Socializing with a real human being was not in their programming anymore. My pal told me that they play World of Warcraft for 16 hours a day, and he hardly sees them. The parents weren't home.
These are not kids. These are not teenagers. These MEN are 22 and 23.
He also informed me they dabble in "other things" while they play to" enhance their gaming experience".
Again, I don't want to piss them or their uncle off if they read this. Or the tons of DailySkew readers that engage in similar activities. Whatever floats your boat, ya know? I'm not judging. They are good people. They don't mean any harm. Their parents are rich, and they're under no pressure to go to school or to look for work. It's not their fault, per se. It is what it is.
But the looks on their faces and their eyes left me concerned.
I've been there.
I can admit that I like to escape reality every now and then and get into a game. But I know it's not mentally or physically healthy to be so engrossed in an online computer game all the time. Ya have to budget your time. Give yourself an hour or two- TOPS.
I know the excuses already: they will say it's not "all the time", and it was just a small sample that I'm basing these observations on. But their uncle told me the truth.
It's easy to lecture or make judgments on the parents or the nephews themselves, but you know talk is cheap. We just have to hope one day they can get motivated to reintegrate themselves back into society- either school or work.
I guess it could be argued - in a perverse way- that if both parents are rich and let it happen than these men should just continue to like the Pizza/GameStop/Smoke lifestyle. However, it just seems that when the time comes for them to be independent and self-sufficient they may not hold up every well at all on their own.
Online gaming is one of the fastest growing addictions, and it's a sign of the times and statement about today's society. These guys are very cool and perfectly harmless. I guess they don't dig the sick world we live in, and enjoy living in a virtual world of sci-fi fantasy.
Solutions?
1) Godzilla 2) Animal revolution 3) 9/12 4) Ozymandias 5) Anti-Matter cloud 6) A legislation that reward and motivates parents and students to go to college and get an education.
Overrated athletes, bands, literature, people, things
Overrated! Overrated! The term is used all the time, usually used to rip or attack someone whom the MEDIA, establishment, or society approves of. Many times attacking someone who is "overrated" is a straw man's argument, i.e. there is no "THEY", the mysterious group of people who rate people, movies, music, culture, sports, and historical figures. However, our society has a habit of making lists, creating rankings, rating systems, displaying sales charts, inducting people in Halls of Fame, and lionizing people. So, saying someone or something is overrated can actually be a true statement if you have the right list.
Thanks to the Internet, I can can read about negative comments from "smart" posters who attack even the most immortal names in sports, entertainment, and history. In other words, no one and no thing is sacred. I wanted to finish that sentence with the word "anymore", to imply that today's modern era of sitting in front of the computer in your underwear and attacking artists and famous figures is a product of today's generation, but I hesitated to. I mean, for all we know, people ripped and criticized the caveman that discovered fire back in the day.
You see, the problem with the word "overrated" is that today's society equates it with the word SUCKS. So not only is Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter "overrated", Derek Jeter must "suck".
What cannot be denied is that the Internet enabled a global forum for complainers, armchair quarterbacks, amateur historians, and snobby critics to have their say. What was limited to your local neighborhood pub is now world wide.
So...without further ado...here's some stuff I found on the Internet regarding some of the best sports figures in history.
PART I
Is Michael Jordan overrated? Yes, because there is a mythology that Jordan had this aura or dominance to make his teams win. Yet, his teams won 7/15 seasons. What happened to the magic in the 8 seasons they didn't win. Why is winning rings a criteria anyway? Bill Russell's teams won 11/13 championships. I also found out Wilt Chamberlain was more dominant with scoring and the rules were rewritten to limit his dominance.
Is Babe Ruth overrated? Yes, because he played in a segregated league. Some of the best players were in the Negro Leagues and Cuba. Baseball during his time was still kinda bush league, and the players weren't athletic. Ruth also corked his bat sometimes.
Is Tiger Woods overrated? Yes, Jack Nicklaus had all of the other great golfers like Player, Palmer, Trevino, and Watson. Tiger can't be in the same league with Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones when his only serious challenge in a major championship came from the winless Bob May.
Is Jerry Rice overrated? Regarded by many to be the best football player who ever lived, I found out that almost half Jerry Rice's catches were off 2 yard patterns, and his success was due to the 49er scheme, not individual talent. Due to NFL rule changes, it seemed like anytime Rice was touched it was a penalty. If he played "back in the day", he would have gotten creamed.
Is Rocky Marciano overrated? Of course. It took him 9 rounds to beat an old man Joe Louis. Rocky fought in one of the weakest eras in boxing, and didn't have tough opponents, which is why he had an undefeated record. Half of his opponents weighed less than he. He was only 185 pounds anyway...he would get beat up today.
"Lifecasting" is a hot trend, and a symbol of humanity's growing infatuation with social networking, video, reality TV, and watching other people's lives. The irony is, of course, that all being "social" online is a contraction.
JustinTV, founded in San Fransisco, CA, with a Linux box and a mobile streaming camera, is constantly growing and evolving. It was originally one channel- the life of Justin Kan walking around 24/7. Now it has many lifecasting channels, not to mention unauthorized live streaming of sporting events, satellite channels, TV shows, movies, etc. With live chat, you can read and post comments while watching whatever stream is on.
You can also watch other people play video games online. 2,385 people are currently watching birds eat in a cage. I KNEW I should have brought the cameras to see Pan's World.
And, of course, it is the place to chat with live underage teens for free.
It's Youtube, MySpace, craigslist, reality TV, reruns, and The Truman Show all rolled up into one. And it's FREE!
The rules: no nudity (not enforced). Copyright? Copy wha-?
By the way, it's NOT cool to mention the JustinTV suicide while chatting there. That kid cried wolf so many times, it's not even funny. No trolling! LOL Well, gotta run. I gotta watch people sleep on JustinTV. If I get bored, I can always change the channel and watch Star Trek channel, which plays every episode from every series. That's over 400 hours of enjoyment right there. I can also check out the boxing or wrestling channels. But there are no commercials or pause button, so you have to urinate in a glass.
JustinTV: keeping people at home one day at a time.
Welcome to the Matrix, I hope you enjoy your stay.
Nuclear war, Great Depression, Obama, News Headlines
Random news headlines from our Earth:
Oprah Took Millions From Obama Foe
California Couple Arrested in the Alleged Kidnapping and Torture of Shackled Teen
Woman Found Barely Alive, Infested by Maggots
Pop Tarts: Geri Halliwell Parties Panty-Free at Children's Awards Show
Nuclear or Bioterror Attack on U.S. Likely by 2013, Panel Warns
Rwandan Pop Star Gets 15 Years for Role in Genocide
Gunman on the Loose After Shooting at Philadelphia Kmart, Schools on Lockdown
1 in 5 Young Adults Has Personality Disorder, Study Finds
Australians See Smiley Face in Night Sky
Why Isn't She Enjoying Herself With You?
Cruise Ship Attacked by Somali Pirates
Tourists Warned to Stay Away From Flooded Venice
Huge Stash of Marijuana Found in Ancient Tomb
Rice flies to India to ease tension with Pakistan
Generals to urge quick action on torture by Obama
Pakistan offers 'joint investigation' into Mumbai attacks
Chained teen shows up at Calif. gym; 2 arrested
Christmas tree ornament banned at White House
Who Can Stop the Pirates?
Report of Buyout Interest for Yahoo
Microsoft to roll out Vista SP2 beta to more users
Giants Suspend Burress, End His Season
Avery suspended indefinitely by NHL
Braves, White Sox near Vazquez deal
TV, Internet Causing Kids Harm: Report
Vitamin D Is Good For The Heart
We get bombarded with so much news info, MEDIA commentators, health studies, and headlines. And they all seem important, but a quick glance at previous headlines shows the more things seem like they are changing or getting worse, the more things are the same.
Will India blow drop a nuke on Pakistan? Will the economy turn around? Will a new technology make our lives easier? What horrific crime has been committed? How can we live longer? All of these headlines already happened already. Humanity will never change. People will always kill and rape and lie and avoid reality. Countries will always be at war or threaten war. Economies will always falter and boom. Stock markets crash. Presidents come and go. Sports...are sports.
It's fun to speculate, predict, and have an opinion, of course. It's important to be aware of current events and local and world news. But it's not fun to give into the panic and fear. It's like some unseen hands are building up a story-line leading to World War III or something. Yeah, right. It's like the MEDIA wants the United States- the world's last superpower- to crumble like the Roman Empire did.
Death, suffering, violence, warfare, conspiracies, disease, and injustice have all happened since the beginning of humanity, and will be there at the end. We can only accept these things, do our best to do more good than harm, and try to be happy.
Always put things in perspective; try not to have a skewed outlook on reality. It surely doesn't help that TV, internet, radio, newspapers, and other forms of MEDIA are trying to sell "The End is Nigh" to us everyday.
Boy, it seems that the Watchmen movie couldn't have come at a better time!
You know, I thought I knew all the "happening" websites, but I had never head of JustinTV.com (basically it's a web forum with streaming webcams) until Chuck at work told me about a 19-year old boy from Pembroke Pines, Florida OD'ed streaming live.
The comments posted were edging him on, and then he pretty much fell asleep and never woke up. Chatters made fun of him and many thought it was fake.
This is another sad story in the ongoing saga of the Internet blurring fantasy and reality, and anti-social people using the Net to express their suffering. The callous reactions of the suicide are all symptoms of the underlying desensitization of the world we live in today.
Not only were the chat comments bad while it was happening, but people made fun of this guy after the fact, too.
Here are some comments I found today:
"who the f--- would OD on a webcam? that's the most boring way to film a suicide ever. what a loser."
"Too bad you didn't post the link while it was fucking happening!"
"why do I always miss these when they're live"
"That kid has made multiple attention whoring suicide related threads on the misc and it was sadly just a case of boy who cried wolf."
"You will only see more of this s--...oh well"
"link to video is dead, any others? No, I don't give a s-- that some guy died, yes I'm a terrible person, no it doesn't bother me in the least to admit that."
"Don't you think it's a little creepy to watch some teenage dude kid on his webcam? Could you not find a better use of technology or time? If you're gonna watch a cam why not watch some chick..."
"F-. Missed it."
And here's what the JustinTV CEO said:
"As for the broadcaster incident last night, we don’t comment on individual videos, however, our policy prohibits inappropriate content on Justin.tv. We rely on the community to flag videos that they feel are objectionable. Once a video is flagged, it is reviewed and quickly removed from the system if it violates our Terms of Use."
DailySkew will not post the chat transcript, pics, or videos of this suicide (the pic in this post is a typical JTV chat room). You can find them yourself if you are morbid enough.
A show of independence ("we don't need men") but clearly having dependence of the other members in the group of girls.
Seeking attention from guy strangers (to increase self-esteem) and girls (to make jealous).
Borderline bi-sexuality.
Peer pressure.
Having "fun" with friends of the same gender.
A clear double-standard. Wives generally don't tolerate husbands hanging out at bars until 3:00Am, now do they? Husbands are generally more tolerant for a couple of reasons: 1) He has no choice and 2) "Away time". Anyway, we live in a progressive society where spouses don't "give permission" anyway.
For a guy to even assert any resistance is just as offensive as looking through your girlfriend's pocketbook or Myspace e-mail account.
Not having any guys tagging along with the girls is supposed to make it non-threatening and "innocent" for boyfriends and husbands who may be worried. However, by banning guys from hanging out, it is sexist.
Long before Desperate Housewives, women and girls have always used a Girls Night Out to show their female unity and empowerment...which of course is shown by simply ACTING SILLY in public.
Of course, to a girl, all they see it as is "having fun", why should they stay home?
The demographics for my blog is 70% women vs 29% men and 1% other. So I don't want to offend my fanbase. I'm just taking a swipe at an accepted social institution, okay? As long as you act responsibly, there's nothing wrong with a Girl's Night Out (GNO).
I just want to offer women a word of advice:
1) Single guys at bars and clubs love GNO's; a man sees you like an antelope herd, and the man is a lion. The predator analyzes the situation and targets the weakest one. So be careful.
and
2) Everything you do will be digitally photographed and uploaded on MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, or craigslist the next day. In other words, the entire world can see you posing. The entire world includes your family and co-workers, not to mention your stalkers and other perverts out there. So don't do anything embarrassing.
3) Perhaps the thing that frustrates me is that girls know about #1 and #2, but enjoy doing it anyway. In fact, it's like being photographed and looked at is their main goal anyway.
That's kinda why I just will never get he female mind.
I'm an old fashioned guy, and I approve this message.
2008 Year of the Rat, Final Crisis, Enneagram Type 8
2008 has lived up to its billing so far. After all, 2008 is the Chinese Year of the Rat (conquering, destruction, etc.) and the DailySkew Enneagram Year of the Type 8.
Although the world is not "coming to an end", nor is it at the brink of the Doomsday Clock, there are signs that this world will never be the same.
Of course, I'm not worried. After all I survived Y2K.
Hey, guess what? I heard at the water cooler today that the China Olympic Opening Ceremony was the most amazing spectacle of all time. Yup, it seems whoever saw the "flat screen the size of a football field" just marvels at how the Chinese are how presenting the Olympics.
You should have heard my co-workers gush about how England shouldn't even attempt to follow up this ceremony, and about how efficient the Chinese are.
Yup.
There will be no Skew.DailySkew.com coverage of the Olympics. My stance on China's human right violations is clear and on the record.
Only my Cuban co-worker realized how all the millions spent on the ceremony could have been used to help the citizens that have been crushed and exploited for their entire lives. It's all about grandstanding and pissing contents. What did they really accomplish by showing off? Joe Water Cooler looks past the slave labor and human rights violations? All a PR stunt? That's fine. Whatavah. Continue to visit Skew.DailySkew.com if you want to cut through the MEDIA hype.
I have hotmail and yahoo e-mail accounts and part of the daily ritual is reading the MSN or Yahoo headlines and social stories. Sometimes I resist clicking on the crazy headlines, like "WAS George Washington the first president?" and "Why it's better to rent than to buy", but other times I can't resist. Since I have been ranting about how American love to spend money on luxuries like the iPhone, I clicked on 12 new 'needs' that drain your cash.
Before I go on, I just want to say that most of the Yahoo and MSN articles are really paid advertisements or promotions for new books or websites. That being said, this list was pretty solid. I will give my comments after each one.
1- Daily latte (Starbucks). I agree with this. Is it necessary to get "special" coffee at Starbucks or now at the freakin' corner gas station? Home brewed not good enough for you? How about skipping on coffee all together and drink tea or something else which is a lot cheaper?
2- Cable TV. I agree with this. If you HAVE to get cable (or satellite) you'd better get basic. The premium channels are a rip-off, especially that you can rent all those cool HBO or Showtimes TV series on DVD. Cable bills kill families.
3- Manicures/pedicures: Suggesting to your wife or girlfriend to stop doing this is a one-way ticket to the dog house. But seriously ladies...just think about cutting it down and doing it yourself.
4- Botox: Truthfully, monthly Botox treatments seems to be a filthy rich thing and I don't know any middle or lower class people that spend money on that.
5- Bottled water: I agree. If you live in a city that has clean running water, you are wasting your money. If you live in a city that warns against drinking tap water, boil it first and save tons of money.
6- The second car. Probably the most controversial thing on this list so far. It takes a lot of planning to just have one car in a marriage (and with kids), and many times it is truly a need. Granted, two cars does drain the monthly budget, but this one takes a lot thinking and planning about- and would probably cause a lot of arguments.
7- Cell phones. Regular DailySkew readers know that I am against cell phones. Some families have 4 of them. Time to think about prepaid ones.
8- Lawn service. Average cost is $65 to $90 per week. You may want to...gasp...do it yourself?
9- Clothes. They last a long time. So why do we keep stockpiling them? Again, try telling your woman to stop buying new clothes, shoes, or handbags, and see what happens.
10- Private school. A huge myth that is worth $8,000 to $35,000 a year.
11- Expensive birthday parties for your kids. Some kid parties get out of control. You need to plan fun activities without throwing cash into it. Kids don't care!
12- Pet grooming. Pet's vet bills are astronomical, so you can save by doing your own grooming.
Of course, if you don't have a family of your won or pets you don't have to worry about a lot of them. I don't predict any changes in the habits of Americans any time soon, regardless of the state of the economy. However, it is good to at least THINK about where your money goes every month, and if you really NEED something.
Sex Tourism Thailand, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Cuba.
Many men like to engage in "sex tourism" in foreign countries. You can say it's the global outsourcing of sex. It's about slavery, control, manipulation, and pedophilia.
Although United States federal law says that "any citizens who engage in international travel with the purpose or effect of having commercial sex with a person under the age of 18, or any sex with a person under the age of 16 is subject to prosecution", it is rare any gets in trouble for this. Pornography filmmakers do this too. Fools only get caught if they took pictures of the kids and saved them on their laptops.
So where the law can't protect people, it's up to the sex tourists to stop on their own, and for us to spread the word, and not to encourage the exploitation of women and children around the world.
If only these perverts could see the consequences of their actions, and all the negative karma they spread.
If you are a sex tourist, let me list the negative things you're causing:
1) You're showing these women that sex has no meaning, and no love, and that their bodies can be sold. 2) You may be spreading or catching STDs. 3) You cause emotional and physical stress and baggage that they will carry for the rest of their lives. 4) They will continue to engage in sex acts and continue to be in the sex industry (web cams, stripping, brothels, etc.). Having a normal relationship after being treated like a sex slave is virtually impossible. 5) Many girls are under 18. You are raping them, and destroying their innocence. 6) You may believe that you are "helping" these girls short-term by giving them money, but you are destroying their lives...and yours. 7) It teaches men to view women as sex objects. All women are harmed by this.
***
So what can we do?
If you have friends that are thinking about taking a trip somewhere, and are boasting about "how many women" they can have or "how cheap the women are", you need to open your mouth and tell them how much damage they can inflict on these girls. You need to tell them to work on their own real relationships. They need to find another "hobby". Don't laugh when they talk about all the things they are going to do in these countries. Don't condone it. Embarass them, and tell them the seriousness of it.
When I was a kid living in New York, July used to mean so much to me.
#1 NO SCHOOL #2 DAY CAMP #3 Can go to sleep whatever time I wanted #4 Went to Yankees Stadium and Shea Stadium #5 No winter coats, mittens (!), scarfs, ski caps, or goulashes (!) #6 No runny noses
As an adult living in South Florida? July is just another month. I'm serious. I don't have any kids, and don't go to school, so the whole "July = vacation" thing just doesn't mean anything to me anymore. I keep reminding myself that school's out when I'm driving and see kids/teens walking around during school hours.
At my day job, I just meet production deadlines. I have a white board with red markers indicating job codes and due dates. I rush to gets projects out to meet each month's billing cycle. So July 31 has the same meaning as October 31.
In terms of weather, in Florida it's always hot, sunny, and rainy. (Yet in July, the rain can get pretty bad at times.) In New York, July = beach. In Florida, one is hard pressed to see the season changes.
In many ways, I always associated July and summertime with youthful innocence, excitement, and not having responsibilty. But once one becomes an adult, it's just another month.
In high school, I started to see how July began to lose its luster: some of my classmates who were around 15+ began to get summer jobs or went to summer school to get more credits. I finally gave into the nerd peer pressure to be productive during summer vacations, and that was the beginning of the end for July.
July 4th? Fireworks? ONE DAY OFF? Big deal.
I wouldn't even have known it was July if not for work due dates.
I know, you couldn't resist buying the original iPhone. But if you were afraid of the price tag, you went ahead and bought the iPhone 3G. Of course, since AT&T's mandatory 2-year plan has increased by $10/per month (and if you aren't "upgrading"), there is no price break. That's something Apple doesn't advertise.
So, let's say you got duped and bought it anyway. I assume (tried) to cancel your existing cell phone, otherwise it would be awfully redundant to have two cells phones, right? Can't get out of that Verizon contract, huh? Awww...
Well, by now (assuming you got past all the red tape and stress to actually sign up and ACTIVATE your new iPhone) you should have noticed that although the interface rocks and is simple, the consumer irreplaceable BATTERY loses power awfully quickly.
I keep reading and hearing about a struggling economy, yet it seems so many people are quick to use their credit card to "upgrade" and fork over $200 (8GB) or $300 (16GB), with 24-month AT&T contract worth around $70-$100 per month.
It is very important to note that if you aren't upgrading than the price is actually 400 dollars. And if you do not want to hack the iPhone (see various message boards) and use it on another network the price of no-commitment contract is $600 dollars. WOW.
Also consider this: there are cheaper clones and more capable touch screen phones out there.
There is no doubt there are cool applications on the iPhone, and it's very easy to surf (but do you REALLY think all your favorite web pages will display properly? Not.) But you really need to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror to justify why it would be that important.
I mean, I'm sure you HAVE Internet access at home. So why pay twice? I'm sure you already have a cell phone. You may even have a REAL GPS (iPhone doesn't have real-time- it uses Google Maps- HA!) And a better camera. And an iPod or mp3 player that can display photos and video. Or a laptop.
But you just HAD to get this, don't you. (By the way, be sure not to DROP this little guy.)
You don't care that Apple is using you like a tool with an upgrade and "price drop" every 6 months, right? Who says peer pressure is dead?
You know, I could understand it if you're making $70,000 and your wife is too.
But you're probably not, and if you are, you probably have so many expenses that you still live from paycheck to paycheck.
Do you REALLY need portable Internet at your office?
I could be persuaded to understand it if you were on the road all the time.
Other than that it seems more of a vanity thing than a practical thing.
Hey, I'm just trying to save on your monthly bills every month.
Because I really do care about you and the economy.
Just chew on this, for something that suggests it's an all-encompassing entertainment (Internet/phone/music/GPS hand held computer):
No Flash player for rich media content (Apple hates Adobe?) Can’t send pictures in instant messages No mobile TV No replaceable battery No flash memory card No Linux compatibility You're going to be dropping hundreds of dollars on upgrades for years
I love kids...I have millions of fans around the world.
I thank you for your continued support.
Remember, if you send me $19.95 through paypal, I can continue to look for Nicole's killer, and I will send you my autographed boots. And be sure to check out my OFFICIAL myspace.com page. Finally, once these bum charges are dropped against me, I will be facing Jose Canseco in a celebrity mud-wrestling match in Las Vegas on November 17, only on Pay-Per-View. For my older fans, expect the next installment of my adult entertainment streaming video.
When O.J. Simpson was on the spot in 1979, he wore Spot-bilt for that extra step. In fact many other athletes used Spot-bilt to get out of jams as well. It's unfortunate for O.J. that he wasn't wearing Spot-bilt in the 1990's or 2000's.
The preceding alternate earth message was brought to you by Pete Rose:
And promotional consideration was paid for in part by Central City, California:
My wife saw an American documentary filmed in China about the production of Mardi Gras beads.
Since China became a free market just about anyone can set up shop there as long as you follow some "rules".
Chinese teenagers who dropped out of school (they listed the need to make money for their family and the tough coursework as reasons) can work at a factory compound in the mountains.
The compound is surrounded by barbed wire, and they sleep there.
They work 6 days a week, 12-14 hours a day, with Sunday being the only day where men and women can intermingle in a social setting in the compound. However, any romance is punished.
If the production quotas are not met, the workers see a reduction of food rations (they already stand in long lines, and food is dropped into their tray, similar to the prison movies you've seen), a decrease in their hourly wage of $0.10 (ten cents), or their monthly salary is completed withheld.
There was no official threat of violence from the factory owner and management- the threat of losing the wage and barb wire is enough.
The teenagers are happy to have employment and didn't complain.
They are allowed 2 weeks off for the Chinese New Year where they spend some of their money to head back to the mainland and buy gifts for their family. One girl bought her young brother a watch, and was scolded by her mother for wasting her hard earned money.
The owner of the "factory" gets around $1.7 million dollars from the American company that ordered the production of the Mardi Gras beads. He lives like a king in China, providing toys and luxuries for his family. The guy was not a villain- he simply is a product of his culture. And which company enabled this? The company was Walmart, which sells the beads for $1 to $20 dollars.
When the film maker showed pictures and video of the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebration (the beads were tossed around, thrown in the street, wasted, and used by naked women) the Chinese teens were shocked. They were also informed that the beads sell for $1, and "special" ones sell for $20. How would you feel?
The film maker also showed the woman dancing in the Mardi Gras the film, and she felt guilty; she did not know the conditions that lead to the creation of these beads.
Are $0.10/hour workers in an overpopulated country a necessary part of this global economy? What happens if these people ever became free and demanded rights? Could Americans afford to pay $50 for beads? Would they want to produce them on their own?
The Chinese believe that Americans can't be productive and meet the quotas, and that this is the global economy.
Like Buddhism says, every condition arises from previous conditions, and every thing and every one is related to each other.
Can we judge other cultures? Is globalization a good thing? Is this slave labor? Does survival of the fittest dictate that we let things be? Is this the product of capitalism in a communist culture?
India Earthquake, No Ice in North Pole, Al Gore Global Warming
Al Gore: For the first time in human history, there will be NO ice in the North Pole. Just let that sink in a little bit. Right now, reports are coming in that a 6.7 Indian earthquake has been registered. There is no word on the amount of damage of human casualities, but if China's earthquake is any indication, it will be tragic.
And this comes full circle back to what I have been saying for so long- global warming is real. Global warming, which is caused by big business and irresponsible politicians, is destroying our planet. And we need to stop it.
And now, I will retreat back into my cave of obscurity, whilst the geniuses continue to ignore my seemingly prophetic words and suggestions.
Jessica’s Law, if passed, would require a 20-year sentence for rape of a child under 12.
However, MA Democratic Representative (and defense attorney) James Fagan said that he would “rip apart” 6-year-old victims on the witness stand and “make sure the rest of their life is ruined, so when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep; when they’re 19 years old, they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody. It's a knee-jerk legislation and every time the Legislature has named a law after somebody, it has been a failure.”
In my opinion, the criminal justice system (specifically the penal and correction facilities) should do more to reeducate and rehabilitate criminals than to simply punish them. I think if found guilty of a crime, the perpetrator should serve the full sentence based on criminal code (no bills) unless the criminal shows a complete change.
THAT BEING SAID, as an elected official, James Fagan's comments are inexcusable, and he needs to be held accountable.
Juneteenth was born during the Civil War. It is an unofficial holiday, more of a footnote in history to mainstream MEDIA.
On June 19, 1865, Union (North, Yankees, blues) General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to take possession of the state and enforce President Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation of it slaves. While standing on the balcony Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”
"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere."
And there was much rejoicing.
Juneteenth is celebrated with a large feast served as an all day meal in a park or outdoors by descendants of slaves.
I guess the irony is that Juneteenth has been celebrated for over 200 years, yet you never heard about it before until now.
Here's a great clip about a case of mistaken identity, how the Internet makes everything a small world, and how people make snap judgements. Actually, it's pretty scary, and opens wide legal ramifications of posting incorrect information on the Internet. It also shows how people use search engines like they drink beer- it's a natural instinct now.
For those of you who are sending David Lawson hate mail...think twice about it before you hit send.
Police give Jen Moss tickets for walking around in a thong, and pasties over her breasts. She now may face prosecution for public indecency.
She says:
"Nudity is natural, but a lot of people are uncomfortable with it. It's OK for children to play video games where they are killing each other, and it's patriotic to murder people in a war. But women's breasts in public? You better watch out! They are charging me with putting on an illegal performance or show. I stripped my clothes to speak the truth, but I was legally covered."
Moss may face a charge for taking off her clothes, down to pasties and G-string, outside the a Catholic church, as parishioners were leaving Mass because "there are so many bad people who are hurting and destroying the Earth, and many of them are religious people."
The city of Ojai, California is divided.
With the power of the Internet, the entire world can have an opinion now.
Just to show you how popular some sites are, once word got out that Firefox was releasing Mozilla 3 today, their site was overloaded and crashed.
The Mozilla blog said:
The outpouring of interest and enthusiasm around Firefox 3 has been overwhelming (literally!). Our servers are currently feeling the burn and should be back to normal shortly. Download day will officially commence once the site goes live. The 24 hours period will be clocked from that moment. Thanks for your continued support.
Mozilla had a great marketing campaign: on May 28 they set out for the Guinness World Record for the most software downloads in 24 hours with its Firefox 3 browser. Of course, there is no world record for software downloads, Mozilla just wanted the pubclity- and it worked, probably a little too much- server down!
Rumor is that Ianare hit their site 1,323,499 times today...with no 'bot!
On the heels of Iowa's desruction, the rotten tomotatoes scare, the shocking death of TIM RUSSERT, George Bush visiting France, Marvel's shares dropping because of the disappointing $62.6 million Incredible Hulk box office, Al Gore endorsing Obama after Hillary gave up, a painful victory for Tiger Woods, gas prices over $4 per gallon, and Yankees ace pitcher Chien-Ming Wang breaking his foot, now emerges...
More than 400 city blocks and 3,900 homes were flooded in Cedar Rapids, where early estimates put property damage at $736 million.
Bush is in Paris.
Citizens have evacuated, and volunteers have been stacking up sandbags to preserve the University of Iowa.
The U.S. Coast Guard has deployed 30 people to Iowa City to conduct search and rescue missions.
Levees have broken.
The rest of the country is focused on movie box office results, Iran, sports, Father's Day gifts, California gay marriages, and the death of TIM RUSSERT!
Will Obama or McCain work on rebuilding levees and U.S. infrastructure to prevent this from happening AGAIN? Can we use our MODERN TECHNOLOGY to help? Can we get a break from insurance companies? OR WILL WE CONTINUE TO THROW BILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON THE WAR IN IRAQ, IRAN, AND NORTH KOREA INSTEAD OF HELPING OUR OWN CITIZENS?
This surveillance video shows how someone can snap at an office. This violent outburst is wrong. It's a shame that the workers just watch without trying to stop him. The response time of security or police is bad, too.
Anyway, I've felt like this sometimes but never acted it out. There's no reason to go to prison because of your office.
Former WCW professional wrestler Disco Inferno was on Main Event Radio and had this to say about Internet message board fans:
All Internet wrestling fans are basically critics. You don't see a lot of praise online. Not even only wrestling forums, but you look at political forums, sports forums, any type of message boards and it just breathes a very negative atmosphere. I'm convinced that what people do is that they cut promos against each other. A message board or forum is a free way to go online and basically argue and cut promos on each other. The problem that I have is that some of the ideas that people talk about online have a snowball effect and so many people start writing about them that they become fact. To me, they become erroneous facts.
The fact is...he's right. I have a lot of hobbies (probably too many), and every time I go on a message board forum or blog (including my own), I see some similar themes and patterns:
1) There are apologists and bootlickers who support the website administration. 2) There are posters full of hate, anger, and frustration. 3) They usually get into illogical "SHOUTING" debates with the apologists. 4) No one actually wins these "arguments". 5) The "facts" are all wrong, and generally change as you keep reading a thread. 6) Tony Vahl and Damian Hospital believe that most of the posters are sock puppets. 7) Being anonymous is an addictive feeling, and leads to people to be impolite, sarcastic, and mean. The person that rants, raves, and is "confrontational" online is teh same geek that can't even look at you straight in the eye in real life. 8) Having an "online identity" HAS to be hazardous to one's health. 9) The atmosphere is extremely negative. 10) If there is a positive thing about message boards, it's that they easily unravel scams and tear apart conventional or mainstream thinking: NOTHING and NO ONE is sacred from criticism. Although most of the time, it is unwarranted, occasionally it can be very helpful. 11) Another positive aspect is that people with similar interests can swap information and get questioned answered very quickly, and it's a great place for like minds to stroke each other's ego. However, back in my day, people did this in "real life". We as a society are headed down the road (or may already be there) where human interact becomes secondary.
Here are photos of inside the gallery, which has been shutdown and banned from the public:
Does anyone have a problem with the art exhibit being shut down and Yazmany getting carted away? Once again, we have an issue with freedom of expression versus public decency and the risk of offending people. Law enforcement agencies claim they wanted to protect two senators from harm.
I'd like to know what makes Obama and Hillary so special that we can't rent office space and display "The Assassination of Hillary Clinton" on our windows. Last I checked, some people choose to fly Nazi flags on their porches, without the police taking them away.
Frankly, I'm tired of law enforcement being able to make court decisions on the spot.
I can understand Joe Water Cooler (tm) not having an ounce of sympathy for Yazmany, and the MEDIA may accuse the artist of being a publicity hound, but he should have the right to lease space and put that sign up. He says:
“It’s art. It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media. It’s about the media. The Secret Service had to do a whole questionnaire with me. It was about an hour of questioning. They asked if I owned guns, if I was a violent person, if I had ever been institutionalized. I’m renting that space; the space was allocated for an exhibition and it’s my right to put those words up. They said it could incite someone to do something crazy, like break the window. The Secret Service asked me if I would voluntarily take down the exhibition title from the window. It’s terrible, because they’re violating my rights. If someone breaks a window, they’re committing a crime."
The police said:
“Why would we question him? Well, we want to determine what his motives are. Obviously they could be interpreted as advocating harm to protectees; both of the senators, of course, are now being provided Secret Service protection, that’s why the Secret Service was interested; both of them are federal employees, so, ah, of course it is a concern to federal authorities as it is to ourselves. Our lawyers are researching it and will determine if there are any violations of law; right now he is being questioned.”
The SS said:
“We did not shut down that exhibit or request that anybody else shut it down. This was brought to our attention, we went out there and had a conversation with the individual, but we did not shut it down.”
Man can't ride airplane wearing TRANSFORMERS T-Shirt (Megatron)
A security guard at a London airport threatened to arrest Brad Jayakody for wearing a Transformers T-shirt featuring Megatron because of the gun.
Why does riding an airplane entail suspension of civil rights? Seriously. Was he stopped because he wasn't a WHITE Englishman? Do airport security guards take their jobs too seriously? Are they afraid to get fired if someone was "offended" by this man's cartoon robot shirt? The Transformers are a WORLD-WIDE phenomena, this t-shirt did not have some obscure character on it.
Who CARES if a passenger would be offended? Sounds like this guy was being singled out. He should sue.
The next time you're driving on the highway or languishing in traffic in a city or town, you may be watched...by a billboard.
No, this is not a conspiracy by George W. Bush, President McCain, or the other reptilian overlord, it is being done by high-tech advertising agencies such as Quividi and TruMedia Technologies.
Consumer habits are tracked on the Internet, no matter what your security is, so within advertising circles, these billboard camera systems are seen as a long-awaited answer to the problem of how to measure the effectiveness of billboards, and how to figure out who is seeing them.
Of course...if the general public knew about this, they would protest their rights to privacy.
One driver that passed it was then interviewed by a reporter and had this to say:
“I didn’t see that at all, to be honest. That’s disturbing. I would say it’s arguably an invasion of one’s privacy.”
Indeed, having one's face stored on a computer network and used for marketing purposes does sound weird. Also, law enforcement agencies can issue a court order to review the digital images. I'm not surprised, but I just wanted to give this Public Service Announcement so everyone knows. Like I've been telling everyone- advertisers rule this world, and they can- and will- do whatever they want. No reptilian conspiracy necessary.
So, what did we learn from the Virginia Tech Massacre?
1) The MEDIA will cash in on whatever they can. 2) American school systems are STILL in need of reform. 3) Society will never change unless each of us hold each other to better standards, starting with parents raising their children the correct way. 4) Nothing.
George Lucas' Star Wars fanbase is truly pathetic: they complain, nitpick, and moan about everything but willingly fork over hundreds of dollars (or more!) over their lifetimes to his product each and every time he released more commercialized crap.
The sad part is, pre-Internet, I had no idea that this love-hate relationship even existed, or perhaps it was created by Internet message boards themselves- I don't know. (As a kid, I knew that Trekkies were nitpickers of Star Trek, but were loyal and worshiped Gene Roddenberry and the actors; and they would at least try to come up with Stan Leesque No-Prizes.)
I do know that the first trilogy was not critically acclaimed- only A New Hope is ranked by filmed critics, but still can't hold a candle to 2001 (according to film critics). But the fan base- the kids and teenagers of the 1970's and 80's perceived the three movies as the greatest works of art, and even saw them in a religious sense. The epic films spoke to them. The characters became icons and were lovable. Darth Vader was a villain that was adored. And they were correct, and I was one of them.
Fast forward to the dawn of the new millennium: what happened? These same fans, who willingly contributed so much time, effort, and emotion continued to do that- but in negative ways! They still saw all 3 movies (multiple-showings, too), got the DVDs, boxed sets, video games, and merchandise even though they will swear to us that the movies sucked and Lucas sold out. (I believe I only know one person who refused to see Episode III at the time in came out, and I was pretty frustrated with him.)
Perhaps with the Internet, we know more about Lucas' "issues", and we as fans are exposed to all of the contradictions of the six movies. Perhaps it became more apparent that Lucas has been cashing out all of these years, using geeks as "tools", and made statements that left us confused ("My dream was to make documentaries"). Perhaps we had such an emotional and spiritual connection to the original trilogy that any retroactive additions revealed in the second trilogy were seen as unnecessary or offensive. Perhaps fans got older and saw that the dialog is "comic booky". Perhaps the boys from the past were unable to share these nerdy experiences with their girlfriends or wives with the new movies when they were 30. Perhaps the fans themselves read the novels, fan-fiction, and were actually exposed to better quality professional sci-fi, to realize that 1) Lucas is unoriginal and likes to "borrow" and 2) there are MANY better talented writers than Lucas- some have made "it", and others who are blogging for free. Again, thanks to Internet, everyone can be a journalist (just ask Drudge), sports general manager, franchise owner, President of the United States, pro wrestling booker, scriptwriter, novelist, or director.
In many ways, Star Wars spawned an entire generation of unhappy sci-fan fans who put their money where their mouth isn't. Sure comic books fans have always done this since time immemorial, but as you can see now, the comic book industry has been dying as the prices increased and because they are so many other entertainment options today.
And that's what makes the new trilogy irrelevant to the next generation of fans- the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Spider-Man Trilogy, Disney movies, and other sci-fi and fantasy movies will be seen just as good or better than Star Wars as the years march on. You see, no matter how Lucas tries to restore and modify the original trilogy, the scene of someone from the future watching all six in a row and feeling emotionally rewarded is a pipe dream.
At this point, I personally know only a handful of loyal fans that enjoyed the second trilogy. I am one of them. For those who hate the new trilogy, perhaps there is a nostalgic factor that the original trilogy is held in such high esteem, while the new trilogy is seen as junk. I can see both sides of the argument: that the new trilogy lacked the charm, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness, and some things were just best left alone, like Stormtroopers being Boba Fett clones.
As a consumer in this economy, if I don't like a product, I have to send a message and not buy it. I guess the love/hate fans just had to see how Episode III ended, even though they claim they hated Phantom Menace and/or Episode II. And, since they are completists they just had to get the DVDs. I guess they showed their "loyalty". Or perhaps they still had faith Lucas would go out great to their liking in Episode III.
With Lucas announcing a new Star Wars project, so far the Internet message boards have been buzzing and very excited about it; in fact, many 30-year old men loved the original Cartoon Network's Clone Wars animated series, so they'll probably watch this while their wives and girlfriends are doing something else, maybe record in on TiVo, or leach it off BitTorrent. Of course, for those Star Wars geeks who don't have a girlfriend yet, well, Lucas loves you.
I guess at the end of the day, Star Wars just isn't important to me anymore. The Star Trek universe has much more depth to it (although it's not an apples-apples comparison). I haven't watched the Star Wars in two years, whereas Star Trek episodes and movies from all the different franchises are more enjoyable to me at this stage.
I'd like to thank the critics, message boards, parodies, and spoiled fans for tainting my love, and giving me the correct perspective that debating continuity of Star Wars is utterly meaningless, and to do so would be giving George Lucas free advertising. It's just not fun anymore, and they can never truly be pleased. There is no avoiding it, either. I'm not pitching that you, the reader, agree with me. I also don't want to come off like a snob or look down upon a hobby (since millions of people are Expanded Universe fans and are still loyal to the franchise) because I have my own peculiar hobbies, and still get very enthusiastic and obsessive about my hobbies, which are just as "meaningless" as Star Wars. But for me, knowing that there will not be another trilogy set after RotJ featuring the true hero of the story- Luke Skywalker- means the spin-offs, and animated shows just won't cut it. I've seen all 6 movies more times than any other movie. For me, there's not much left to say about them. I had a great time viewing each one at the time I saw them, but I can't help but hear and read (and agree with) very convincing arguments showing that Lucas and his product are overrated and severely flawed. So, this is me, Damian Hospital letting go of the attachment, and bidding farewell to all things Star Wars (for now).
Thank you for being newsworthy, Carmen Kontur Gronquist.
Thank you for putting me back at the top of the Izea RealRank Top 1% again, Carmen Kontur Gronquist.
For the last couple of days, since you got kicked out of office, there has been a renewed interest in the Carmen Kontur Gronquist photo that was posted on myspace a while back.
You see, like most Oregon mayors, you kept out of the spotlight, and were a complete unknown until you posed in lingerie and posted it on myspace. It became a national story a while back. I got some decent traffic then. Then you got kicked out of office this week, and I got around 3,500 hits Thursday by Internet perverts who want to see the Carmen Kontur Gronquist photo.
Some things amaze me:
1) That people can actually spell "Carmen Kontur Gronquist" or something remotely close to it. 2) That the entire world is searching for "Carmen Kontur Gronquist photo", and 3,000 of those netizens wind up here, especially since Google knocked me to PR0. 3) From the smallest towns in Hicksville, USA, to Latin American Populist countries, to the coldest spots in the former Soviet Union, to Asian countries, people have been searching for Carmen Kontur Gronquist since she got kicked out of office.
Not that I'm complaining. On the contrary, thanks for the hits, Carmen Kontur Gronquist. I broke my all-time Izea Real Rank championship for one night at #106! For one day, I was champ again, after being written off at #989. Of course, it's only downhill from here, but that's okay. I made the comeback, no matter how brief. I did it! I won! For one day only, but I still did it!
We truly live in a new technological era where the court systems are setting new precedents.
It has been ruled that sending a MySpace friend request is a violation of an order of protection, which states "no contact allowed".
It is amazing that one click of the left mouse can cause criminal charges like that. For those of you not in the social networking world, a friend request in Myspace, Friendster, Facebook, or wherever is one of the most mundane things on the Net.
Culture Shock So many people say, "The Japanese are so weird." I say that EVERY culture seems weird to an outsider. THAT BEING SAID, I want to put you on a Japan Acid Trip right now. The first video is in Japanese, and the second is the English translation. Ultraman is VERY, VERY popular in Japan. The theme song has been officially been ripped from Dr. Wily's stage in Mega Man II. The sheer amount of obscurity is geekiness would be 10/10 in the USA. Sign me up.
It was revealed that 26% of all airline flights were late last year. Between the security hassles we have to deal with TSA and customs, not to mention parking or the sub par meals and "services"- like fighting for blankets and pillows, this shows how pathetic the US Airline industry is.
I really love that reality show Airline, which shows all of the hassles and problems that travellers experience every day. I wish something could be done about making our airline experience as simple and hassle-free as possible.
Research, sponsored by mobile phone companies themselves, revealed that using the cell phones before bed causes people to take longer to reach the deeper stages of sleep and to spend less time in them, which in turn interferes with your body's ability to repair damage suffered during the day.
This was published by MIT's Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium and funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum.
Dr William Kohler of the Florida Sleep Institute said:
"Anything that disrupts the integrity of your sleep will potentially have adverse consequences in functioning during the day, such as grouchiness, difficulty concentrating, and in children hyperactivity and behavior problems."
As Tony Vahl and Damian Hospital have been saying for years- mobile phones is this generation's cigarette smoking, meaning that the physical damage done is horrific, but the general public casually engages in this behavior with no regard to the consequences.
By now, everyone knows about the controversy with the Golf Channel personality (and friend of Tiger Woods) named Kelly Tilghman. In response to her co-anchor's joke that younger players should "gang up" on Tiger Woods during the golf tournament, Tilghman said that they ought to "Lynch him in a back alley". She was innocently laughing during the exchange, and Woods' agent was said he didn't think there was any ill intent.
MEANWHILE, the so-called Rev. Al Sharpton starting making his protests and demands, like he speaks for the black community. Anyone who lived in New York during the 1980's knowns that Sharpton is a fraud, self-promoter, and should be working in the WWE.
So, thanks to the MEDIA, Tighman had to be suspended for two weeks.
Dave Seanor, editor of Golfweek, wanted to use a cover to draw attraction about this controversial story, about how the Golf Channel got "caught in a noose". There was a debate, but he decided to go with the noose. He needed to meet a deadline and forgot to run the final copy by his boss.
Well, once again, thanks the MEDIA and PGA, Golfweek fired Seanor.
If all of this sounds ridiculously oversensitive, politically correct, and bowing to the perception that advertisers would pull from their products, you are correct.
Look-
Kelly Tilghman made a bad joke.
Tiger wasn't offended.
Is there any evidence that black viewers were offended? I mean, did the Golf Channel get phone calls, e-mails, or letters from blacks demanding justice? I doubt it. But the MEDIA ran with it, like it was a big thing. Same with the Golf Weekly magazine cover.
No one speaks for "the black community", especially a scammer like Al Sharpton. Dave Chappelle is more in touch with "the black community" than Sharpton.
What is "the black community" anyway?
Offending blacks (or any other group) is the least concern of the Golf Channel- advertisers are. Let's face it, advertising and commercials make the world go 'round.
Thanks to the MEDIA saying the Golf Channel employs a racist, the Golf Channel had to act to show the advertisers that they respect all demographics. This is all about money. As Batman asked in Identity Crisis, "Who benefits?"
Now, is there anything wrong with bowing to advertisers? NO, of course not! But let's just be honest here. IF...IF an advertiser called the Golf Channel and said, "I'm pulling my commercial now" the Golf Channel should have told the MEDIA that. But I doubt any golf advertiser would pull their sponsorship on the GOLF Channel!!
Now the MEDIA doesn't agree with the suspension even though they CAUSED it! You can never please the MEDIA. The just want a STORY and a SPIN to make money on advertising, too!
As far as the magazine editor getting fired for reporting this event, this whole saga is one sick, sad parody!!! Many WHITE "journalists" like to jump on the bandwagon and say how the noose symbolizes the KKK and racism, and that a noose should never be on a golf magazine, since golf has been a racist "sport" for years. Read the freakin' byline on the cover- in what way is the magazine promoting or endorsing racism? What if TIME magazine ran a cover with a swastika with the byline "Is Nazism dead?" It's just a STORY with a visual image for you to buy the magazine!
TONY VAHL SAYS:
More political correctness run amock. More lies.
It's obvious that the PGA Tour pressured Golfweek to fire their editor, even though they claim they wouldn't pull advertising. What. No one is allowed to cover the PGA in a critical manner? Are they ashamed of the country club racism that only recently has begun to go away? I guess they don't want too many reporters investigating Augusta National in Georgia!
And the announcer on the Golf Channel should not have been suspended for two weeks. The MEDIA give Al Sharpton the power he has, and viewers of said MEDIA.
It seems like anytime a scientist works on another cloning breakthrough, the MEDIA, Christian Wright, George Bush and company, and the masses in general make condemning or ignorant comments about the science of cloning. The general consensus is that mankind "shouldn't play God". MEANWHILE, we play God every day. Is not God supposed to be around us and one with us anyway?
You know darn well that people want to live longer and not suffer from sickness and diseases. Well cloning cells or growing new organs can help with that.
Don't people want to prevent more animals from becoming extinct?
A few pet peeves of mine:
All of a sudden people campaign for the rights of "cellular material". All I have to say about that is- eggs and sperm are wasted all the time.
People have this Hollywood and sci-fi notion that cloning is bad, like Dr. Frankenstein's experiments. But when has Hollywood ever lead us straight in terms of predicting future technologies? Sci-fi (ironically enough) generally warns against the abuse of advanced technology. Hollywood and sci-fi books have been feeding us giant computers that rebel against their masters, artificial intelligence that takes over, and aliens that are humanoid and speak English. With clones, they've been feeding us clone armies, clone harvesting, and clone impostors.
Enough is enough.
The benefits of clone research outnumber any of these riduculous fears.
The question of ethics always arises as well- does a clone have rights? Of course he or she would have rights! Twins are clones of each other- their genetic material is duplicated, but they have different personalities (or as some would say, souls).
Besides, it costs so much money to do clone research, it would be impractical and impossible to build a clone army, harvest a human body, or replace people. Why would you even harvest a full body when you can grow new organs just by taking a tissue sample or DNA from yourself?
ANYWAY, enough with this mass hyseria...or dare I say- sheep-like mentality?
Yet another fatal car crash occurred this weekend, as Roger Avary, who is a Hollywood screenwriter and producer was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence after a passenger, Andreas Zedini, in his car died. Roger's wife was injured in the car wreck, as well.
Roger Avary is best known for his work with Pulp Fiction, although it is disputed how much work he actually contributed to it. He most recently co-produced Beowulf.
Once again, it's amazing how people think they can drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs and believe that they can get home in one piece. Once again, another life is lost. I mean, look, Roger Avary and Jim Leyritz have money to hire a cab or get a designated driver, but they chose not to. You would think harsher penalties would exist or some other method we can use to "encourage" people to not DWI.
Everyone is buzzing about online Presidential candidate matching programs. They are just fun games, which attempt to match issues like abortion, gun control, the Iraq War, Iran, the death penalty, and other issues to each candidate and compare them to your own beliefs. Most of these "programs" then give you a score showing which candidate closely matches your values and beliefs.
Many serious minded journalists, bloggers, and talking heads seems to be against this because they are afraid that people will cast their votes on something that is so unscientific.
Of course, a question of ethics may occur if the "programmers" decide to rig these calculators or assign incorrect weights to each value system and issue. But..who cares? This is the Internet. No one checks facts. EDIT: I heard the Fox News Candidate Calculator doesn't exist, and they use this candidate calculator.
Personally, I don't see what the whole controversy is. It's ultimately the responsibility of the voter to make his or her decision based on numerous factors.
By the way, I was an 82.98% match to Obama. Guess I know whom I'll be casting my vote for. {JOKING.}
It is amazing how something that has existed for hundreds or thousands of years can eventually become "trendy" due to a TV show, marketing gimmick, radio spot, celebrity, grainy Youtube video, or Internet post.
For example, did you know that some restaurants are serving very hot peppers now- such as Red Savina pepper and Naga Joloki? Everyone who has studied the hotness of peppers knows that this is serious, serious news.
Do you care that Naga Joloki pepper displaced Red Savina pepper as being "hotter" in February 2007, according to the Guinness Book of World Records?
And did you know news of this has spread as quickly as the infamous and Miley Cyrus licorice picture?
Apparently, you DO care, because it's coming up in search engines a lot! Too bad you will forget all of this within a week!
I truly think this buzz is caused by the same people at your office that believe all of the chain letter spams, spiritual and religious inspirational miracle e-mails, yet get drunk at Jake Melnick's Corner Tap on Friday nights.
The Inside Scoop on Solar Cycle 24 Seems like the Internet and radio outlets are BUZZING about a phenomena called Solar Cycle 24. Thanks to Coast to Coast AM radio, the panic is beginning to spread, as the term solar cycle will soon reach a full peak in upcoming months.
What shows like CoastToCoast do is capitalize and cash in on speculation about the end of the earth, a giant government conspiracy, or how reliance on technology will lead to your undoing. You'd think that with the X-Files having been off the air for a while now, shows like this wouldn't still be in vogue, but...heck, it's great to listen to if you work 3rd shift.
Anyway, here is the straight dope on solar cycles and the infamous "Solar Cycle 24":
According to the Associated Press, all the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration saidwas that the first sunspot of a new 11-year cycle has appeared in the sun's northern hemisphere. Based on previous stats, it can be predicted that sunspot activity will increase. (This does NOT necessary mean that Solar Cycle 24 has officially begun.)
It doesn't help that the NOAA spokesperson Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr said that an intense solar storm could create magnetic disturbances on earth, and hamper the effectiveness of "electrical grids, airline and military communications, GPS signals and even cell phones".
It's amazing that solar cycles have happened since the beginning of the earth's formation, yet we are supposed to be concerned now, in 2008.
For the record, all of this comes from an April, 2007 panel of "solar experts" forecasting that Solar Cycle 24 would start in March 2008, "plus or minus six months", and the "panel" was split between those predicting a strong or weak cycle.
But here are the facts:
The first sunspot region with Solar Cycle 24 polarity was numbered by the Space Weather Prediction Center on January 4 at 3:00 P.M.
This does not mean the new cycle has officially started- it is merely a prelude to an increase of sunspot activity in the future. SEC / NOAA's own stats predict that the solar activity is forecast to reach a peak in 2011 or 2012.
Take a look at the official government report for today:
Clemens was accused in the recently released Mitchell Report on steroid use in Major League Baseball of having been injected with steroids and human growth hormone 16 times from 1998-2001 by his trainer, Brian McNamee.
When asked by Wallace if McNamee had ever injected him with any drugs, Clemens responded, according to the release: "Lidocaine and B-12. It's for my joints, and B-12 I still take today."
Clemens then calls the accusation that he used steroids or HGH "ridiculous" and says he "never" used any banned substances.
"Swear?" asks Wallace.
"Swear," says Clemens.
For those of you who don't know, 60 Minutes is a taped show, and Roger Clemens was interviewed today, which will air on Sunday.
Please keep in mind- steroid use doesn't mean jack to me. The frustrating part is that Roger just won't admit he did it, and Roger has a history of being one of the biggest conceited and violent jerks in baseball.
Let's pretend for moment that you were a baseball player who took [vitamin] B-12 and Lidocaine [a pain-killer] injections (perfectly legal). Wouldn't you have TOLD Senator Mitchell and MLB's investigators when questioned originally? Wouldn't you have told the MEDIA this last month when your name came up as taking illegal substances such as HGH and steroids?
If you follow Roger's logic, and use the details from the Mitchell Report this is the logical extension of his lies: ~~Roger told his trainer that the substance he was shooting him with was steroids, not B-12 I guess so he wouldn't look like a pansy? Roger also knew the feds would be after him in the future.~~
Uh-huh.
Does that make any sense?? There is no need to be neutral or give Roger the benefit of a doubt. Those who have followed his career know his history:
He asked his manager to come out of a 1986 World Series game, which the Mets eventually won.
He was ejected in the 1st inning of a 1990 playoffs game for continuing to yell at an umpire, costing his team the win.
He is known as a HEAD-HUNTER in the game (a pitcher who aims for the head).
He twice attempted to murder Future Hall of Fame catcher Mike Piazza- once with a head beaning, and once with a bat.
He and his agents have always gotten the highest contracts and endorsements, and always played things on HIS terms, not the team's. His ego and cockiness are LEGENDARY. He scammed the Yanks out of millions last year, and then left a playoff game injured.
The guy is a businessman who like to keep his fake image intact all the time, like Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, and The Realtor.
The bottom line is Clemens and this trainer were TIGHT. Real TIGHT. Clemens got this guy a job with the Yanks, after he was traded from the Blue Jays. They remained TIGHT until last year. Roger's best buddy Andy Pettitte already confessed his sin with this trainer, yet Roger doesn't make any apologies- he never had or never will.
Roger's hand-held palm-pilot looks something like this:
-Get up at 4:30 AM and jog 15 miles - Do 100 sit-ups - Eat a hardy breakfast - Call my agent - Call my attorney - Have the kids do chores - Lie to my wife - Lie to the MEDIA - Lie to my fans - Check on new restaurant - Give a speech at a local school about staying off of drugs - Leave Andy Pettitte another message telling him he's a pansy for telling the truth - Do another 100 sit-ups - Check bank account to see if royalty checks from Cingular are still coming in - Meet that Brazilian stripper that keeps calling my cell - Hint to MEDIA that I'm coming out of retirement again - Pay a visit to my restaurant and give a pep talk to the lowly workers - Sign an autograph for a kid, as long as his dad takes a picture, and puts it on myspace.com - Do another 100 sit-ups - Hunt some animals in Texas with some old fishing buddies - Attend celebrity gold tournament - Perform another 100 sit-ups on the gold course
One of the reasons why I was always stand-offish regarding Michael Moore's theories is the way he totally disrespected Charlton Heston at his own home in Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine". Moore thinks he "won" this "debate" with Heston, but he really didn't.
I agree with our constitutional right to bear arms. And it may sound like a right-wing slogan, but guns DON'T kill people, people kill people. Gun control is another unwinnable war, like the war on drugs, and the war on terrorism. It is so idealistic! Criminals will always get their hands on them. It's as simple as that.
We have the freedom to be responsible or irresponsible, that's what makes democracy so great. If Joe Blow puts a loaded gun in his closet, and his little kid finds it- Joe Blow needs to held accountable. Period.
Quite frankly, this interview is a great reason why Moore comes off as a sniveling, deceptive pig. Heston is just being honest here. He comes from a different era.
Dr. Hoffman: Oh, please call me Richard, you know me long enough.
DailySkew: All right, Richard. Thank you.
Dr. Hoffman: No problem.
DailySkew: Today, I'd like to speak with you about the cosmetic surgery, which gets a lot of buzz. In your professional opinion- yay or nay?
Dr. Hoffman: First of all, I'd like to define the term "self-image", because we hear that phrase tossed around a lot, don't we?
DailySkew: Yes, we do-
Dr. Hoffman: Well, it's a perception of how we believe we appear to others. So people who are happy with the way others see them, are much more likely to be self-confident, outgoing, and successful in work, social situations, dating, and- and just an overall high level of comfort in their relationships.
DailySkew: I see...
Dr. Hoffman: Yes, and those who are at the other end of the spectrum- those who are dissatisfied with their self-image tend to be awfully self-conscious, shy, inhibited, and less effective in these same types of situations.
DailySkew: Huh. So you're saying that if someone got breast implants or stapled her stomach, she can do better selling car insurance over the phone?
Dr. Hoffman: Actually, yes. Plastic surgery, which in itself is a general term anyway- let it be a cosmetic enhancement or reconstructive surgery- encourages and promotes a positive and strong self-image which translates into a major change on the personality. In fact, a small change on the outside transforms into an ever larger change on the inside of a person's subconscious psyche, which translates into climbing the healthy ladders of the Animalgram or Enneagram or Maslow's Pyramid.
DailySkew: Wow..it's hard for me to believe that, but-
Dr. Hoffman: Well, you don't have the field work, first of all. But I've seen numerous and numerous women- and even men- go through a small cosmetic or reconstructive procedure. And from what I've seen-without exception, mind you- is that these small changes greatly allow the self-confidence inside of a person to flourish. It truly is like a spiritual reawakening. You see, I truly believe that early on in our childhood, perhaps even at birth, that we create our own self-imprisonment. Many times, only with cosmetic surgery can we get back to the time in our lives when we truly felt confident and not self-conscious. DailySkew: Whewwww....Okay, well, this is a lot to digest. Why don't you tell me how you fit in all of this?
Dr. Hoffman: Well, I pre-screen patients to make sure they are ready to undergo these procedures, so they can sign some forms for insurance purposes. I've been working with Dr-
DailySkew: Hold on, Richard- no name dropping please. I want everyone to be clear that this is not a sponsored advertisement.
Dr. Hoffman: Okay, okay, no problem.
DailySkew: Good.
Dr. Hoffman: Actually, it is a problem.
DailySkew: I'm sorry?
Dr. Hoffman: I thought you said that I can plug Dr-
DailySkew: NO!
Dr. Hoffman: Excuse me?
DailySkew: No, I'm sorry, this is an educational post ONLY.
Dr. Hoffman: Can I say it's out in California?
DailySkew: That's about it.
Dr. Hoffman: How about the e-mail?
DailySkew: I'm sorry, Richard, I have to go now...
Dr. Hoffman: What about my new book?
DailySkew: I'm sorry, I'll speak to you later. Thank you for you time.
Dr. Richard Hoffman is known for his work with the National Enneagram Council and founded the Animalgram Society. He has a PhD and Masters Degree from the University of Southern Fla. He was been a regular fictional contributor to the DailySkew.
MEDIA spinning Fox News and other MEDIA outlets are reporting that a Seventh Day Adventist passenger who was riding a Texas bus was escorted off it for reading her Bible too loud to her kids on the way to church.
I can see many special interest groups jumping to her defense, and attorneys at law smelling a civil suit.
However, I'm using this news story as an exercise showing that you shouldn't jump to conclusions.
The Texas Department of Transportation has a policy:
Any passenger who is speaking too loud and disturbing either the bus driver or the other passengers- can be asked to leave the bus. (As a side-note, when I was in Hong Kong, I saw that questioning the bus driver or disrespecting any bus policy is TABOO.)
Until we get the facts- statements and witnesses saying that she was too loud and disturbing, we should withhold judgment. As the spokesperson said from the Department of Transportation: it doesn't matter if she was reading "Moby Dick" or the Declaration of Independence too loud- disruptive passengers speaking too loud are in violation of transportation policies.
I know, I know- it's a better MEDIA story to pitch that we live in a moral bankrupt society, yet a woman can't even read the Bible to her kids on a bus in the way to church.
But guess what folks, have you even ridden a bus when someone is SHOUTING AND PREACHING THE WORD OF THE LORD ABOUT HOW WE ARE ALL GOING TO GO TO HELL FOR THINKING IMPURE THOUGHTS AND NOT LETTING OUR LORD JESUS INTO OUR HEARTS? IT'S ANNOYING, NO MATTER WHAT THE MESSAGE IS.
Seriously Christine, if I'm on a bus, I just want to get to my destination with as little hassle as possible. Save your LOUD RANTS for the message boards.
However, if you truly were not being LOUD, I hope you to get the support to file a civil suit, and please accept my apologies for mocking you. I am trying to keep an open mind, I really am, but in my experiences bus drivers don't get their supervisors unless a passenger truly was unruly.
2007 Skew Review Damian Hospital 12-31-2007 Going into 2007, Tony Vahl and I had high expectations that the Year of the Pig would be a year of chaos and unpredictability. Sure enough, we were correct. Below is a list of some events from 2007:
Politics
The battle for Presidential nomination started at the earliest point ever. Candidates have been using the Internet more than ever to spread their message, and live debates gave YouTube all the recognition and validity it needed to be an instant way to reach out to the people.
New Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sure set expectations high that the Democrats would put this nation back on course after taking over Congress.
Senator Larry Craig got busted in a men's restroom, and denied making homosexual advances to an undercover policeman. Former male prostitutes or other men Larry came onto in the past have since come out, to verify that he is gay, but Larry stands firm that it was all a misunderstanding.
President George W. Bush: his popularity is the lowest for any president, and many senior advisers resigned from his administration. I will not waste anymore space talking about all the things GW and his cronies did this year.
Crime
Shootings grabbed headlines- from Virgina Tech to children's school to a mall. In all cases, the Internet played a key as a forum for the killers' rants. And the MEDIA had a field day with it.
The MEDIA still focused and gave way too much attention to missing persons and alleged kidnappings for certain families. The MEDIA has continued to pick-and-choose who gets the coverage. MEANWHILE, thousands of others never get MEDIA attention because they are not marketable enough.
Craigslist and MySpace's murder, rape, kidnapping, and prostitution rates have increased.
Global
China has been accidentally poisoning and exporting toys and dog food to the United States.
China has been testing long-range missiles, and space weapons.
China continues to execute government officials and dissenters.
The military regime in Myanmar severely beat and arrested protesters, many of them monks. The world shrugs.
The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, continued to have a pissing contest with the West over its right to harness and produce nuclear energy. He had threated to destroy Israel several times, but always denies it when speaking to Western reporters. His public Iranian speeches always contain his threats that he would destroy the West, but he seems to change his tune when talking to the U.N.
An earthquake in Japan released 300 gallons of radioactive water into the sea. Can Godzilla be far behind, now?
Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and two Oscars for spreading the word about the dangers of Global Warming.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf was forced to step down as military leader, but was sworn in as a civilian president. He has been losing control all year.
The death tolls and unrest due to the war in Iraq has increased.
Bombings in Iraq and Israel are commonplace.
Boris Yelstin passed away.
So did Jerry Falwell, Lady Bird Johnson, Tammy Faye Bakker, Ingmar Bergmann, Tom Synder, Bill Walsh, Hank Bauer, Joel Siegel, Clete Boyer, Phil Rizzuto, Merv Griffin, Leona Helmsley, Richard Jewell, Pavarotti, Jane Wyman, Norman Mailer, Evel Knievel, and millions more.
War in Somalia: And still going...
Hong Kong continued to create laws to be environmentally-friendly, now that it is a economic superpower.
Microsoft released Vista and became under fire for forcing this operating system on all new Dells and other computers instead of Windows XP or a "blank" system.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez was granted the power to rule by decree, publicly attacked capitalism and democracy, allied with Cuba and Iran, and unsuccessfully tried to rewrite the constitution.
Russian leader Vladamir Putin has been headed back to his KGB roots...
Dubai is the in-vogue place to invest in real estate and visit- just don't commit any crimes there...or get raped.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Bhutto was assassinated.
Pop Culture
Harry Potter is still hot.
Pirates of the Caribbean is a FRANCHISE.
Ana Nicole Smith...why did her death get so much MEDIA attention?
American Idol took a major hit in ratings and relevancy. So did most TV shows.
The music recording industry has turned to the Internet to try and make profits, after experiencing record lows in CD sales.
Network television has been offering free TV shows online for the same reasons.
Spider-Man 3 grossed a world-wide total of $890,871,626, yet other Marvel movies (Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Surfer) weren't as hot.
Michael Moore's Sicko opened a lot of eyes about the U.S. healthcare system.
The Transformers live action movie made over $300,000,000 in the U.S. TMNT wasn't even close.
Don Imus was fired for making racial jokes on air.
He eventually got a new show.
Bob Barker retired from the Price is Right. Was replaced by Drew Carey.
Led Zeppelin reunited.
Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen still running strong.
Britney Spears is officially recognized by the MEDIA as being done.
Comic Books
Marvel
Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) is the new Captain America, after Steve Rogers was assassinated by Crossbones, who was hired by the Red Skull.
With the world knowing that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, the Kingpin put a hit on Aunt May. With Aunt May dying, Peter made a deal with the Devil (Mephisto) to save her life. The deal: Peter's marriage and memories of love for Mary Jane Watson would be erased from continuity. Mary Jane also makes a deal with the Devil to erase Spider-Man from ever removing his mask in public. So: everything is back to status quo. Harry Osborn (Green Goblin) is also back in this new Marvel time-line, since he would have never died if Peter and Marry got married.
Tony Stark (Iron Man), who, for all intents and purposes, had been portrayed as a villain (George Bush style) in 2006, is now in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D., and has a movie coming out next year.
DC
DC has continued to fill in details about it's New Earth and New Multiverse. It is NOT the same as the old multiverse, and many fans are still confused, complain..but still buy the comics.
The Anti-Monitor has returned, and former Green Lantern Kyle Raynor is Parallax.
Professional Wrestling
John Cena was given a huge WWE Champion's push for the most of the year, defeating all comers, but was sidelined with an injury. Women and kids love him; guys hate him.
Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker are still Main Eventers.
A week after Vince McMahon faked his own death for ratings, Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy (former valet) and son, before committing suicide. This was the #1 pro wrestling story of the year.
Other deaths: Bam Bam Bigelow, Bad News Brown, Ernie Ladd, Mike Awesome, Arnold Skaaland, John Cronus, and more....
Hulk Hogan and his wife Linda filed for "divorce" after their son Nick got involved in a DUI, seriously injuring his friend, whose parents are suing the Hogans.
Chris Jericho returned, after publishing his awesome autobiography.
Bret Hart published his tell-all autobiography in Canada.
The growing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (UFC, K-1) is threatening WWE's grip on the Pay-Per-View market and young male demographic.
United States
A bridge collapsed during rush hour in a major city, and it was revealed that MOST of the nation's infrastructure is POOR and ready to crumble.
Race relations are still easily stirred in any case where the police uses force... or if any comedian makes a joke.
Keywords: Wildfire, Malibu, rich folk, MEDIA
$1.2 TRILLION dollars worth of property value decreased, and the number of home foreclosures DOUBLED from last year.
Terrorist plots were prevented (thankfully).
The Writer's Guild goes on strike. TV shows goes on hiatus. Jay Leno can't write his own material. Can we please get hired?
Sports
Barry Bonds made history by breaking the all-time homerun record, and only the San Fransisco fans and a certain blog cared.
Bonds was indicted on perjury.
Football quarterback Michael Vick originally denied any wrongdoing in running a barbaric dog fighting venture, but finally plead guilty. He also killed dogs that didn't fight well.
Former Marlins closer U. Urbina was sentenced to 14 years in prison for murder in his home country.
Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship.
An NBA referee was caught betting on games.
Marian Jones pleaded guilty to steroid use after denying it.
The New York Mets had their biggest collapse.
Yankees relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain became an overnight sensation, although flying ants ruined his moment.
Roger Clemens' return was overhyped, and didn't translate into a ring.
A-Rod was MVP.
Red Sox win! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Red Sox win the 2007 World Series over the Colorado Rockies.
The Boss, George Steinbrenner, was revealed to be a non-entity. His son Hank took over, and proceeded to pay hardball with the team.
Yankees manager Joe Torre quit, followed by bench coach Don Mattingly. Joe Giraldi was named new manager.
The Mitchell Report reaffirmed that we live in a Grim Earth, as 88 players were named. Roger Clemens' legacy is forever tainted.
The New England Patriots finished 16-0.
Former Yankees World Champion Jim Leyritz killed a woman while DUI.
Tashman Technologies (tm), a fictional universe
After The Loyalist finally retired, he had achieved a dream...and then lived through a nightmare.
The Lone Teleporter was killed, brought back for a one-shot cameo, and forgotten about.
The Lobo Bros. disappeared.
The Latino World Order invaded Tashman's office, had a coup, and demanded "Fair Play and Fair Pay". They got it.
Tashman had its slowest year, and tensions were high, as backstabbing and cliques were solidified.
Luthor lost everything.
Third shift stopped for a while after V. quit when work was slow, and Raw went to 2nd shift.
C.E.O. and Overmind had a major, final, career-threatening blowout in January, but things cooled off (mostly) for the rest of the year.
Tashman's main rival folded.
Captain Fascist, Arse, Character Assassin, and Gazelle are still running strong in another company.
The Fossil and The Stork are looking for work. So's J.A.P.
Mrs. Overmind celebrated her one-year Tashman anniversary.
Overmind somehow survived nine.
Phive was fired.
Christmas party was BYOB.
Feel free to add your 2007 events in comments! And your predictions for 2008- The Year of the Rat.
Former Yankees World Champion Jim Leyritz (backup catcher) killed Fredia Ann Veitch, who was an ordinary citizen like you and I, working night shift. He was DUI, and he drove his car fast and blew threw a red light down here in Broward County (she was driving home from Fort Lauderdale to Plantation.)
I've followed Leyritz's career since he came up in 1990. I thought he was a great hitting catcher, pinch-hitter, and part-time designated hitter for the Yanks. But according to many baseball history books and autobiograpies I have read, he dubbed himself "King" and wanted to be a full-time player. Eventually, managers Buck Showalter and later Joe Torre grew to dislike Jim.
Jim is highly charismatic, cocky, arrogant, and a joker. Quite honestyly, if he was an African-American player, he would have been labeled a "clubhouse cancer" in 1990. Instead, the MEDIA always referred to him as "clutch", a "New York Icon", and "scrappy". Nice double-standard. The MEDIA and announcers never told us the bad things about "The King", so fans such as myself and my family couldn't help but like him, and awe at his sheer "determination". After Jim finally retired after making a few failed comebacks (and bouncing from team to team) he got an announcing gig for MLB.com, and still continued to give quotes to radio shows and newspapers to run is mouth off. See, Jim was bitter and was opinionated about a lot of things. He'd like to say things against his former teammates and managers.
He also said he admitting taking HGH or steroids during his great 1995/1996 clutch pinch-hitting campaigns, in which he saved the Yankees' post-season dreams. He also admitted being drunk a lot while playing. Unfortunately, his wild baseball antics spilled over into real life. Frieda Ann Veitch was a mother of two, just trying to make ends meat, by working in a steakhouse in Broward County. Her friends told her to switch her shift or to get another job; she was all set to switch- starting in the new year. So here is Frieda, driving home after a rough week, having never achieved the fame and fortune as Jimmy "The King" Leyritz. She goes through the green light, like you're supposed to, but here comes Jim blasting through the red light.
It's a shame that there are questions about if Jim will serve any prison time. I guess because he is a millionaire he can afford an attorney-at-law who will somehow get his client off with probation or timed served, even though he is guilty as sin.
For those of you who do not know about Broward County, Florida- it is one of the worst places to drive in the world. People like Jim Leyritz have taken over the roads and highways. That's why I'm at home bloggin', folks.
Did AT&T's Bold 1993 Predictions Come True in 2008?
Remember the advertisements where AT&T was showing casually futuristic technology, with the promise that "You will" see it? Although the technology did exist in research labs at the time, the question is- did AT&T predict how that technology would be used in the mainstream society?
Let's review them to see if the scenes (the commentary, technology, and the background settings) ever came true-
In the first scene, we see a woman "borrowing" a digital book in front of a giant (non-flat) screen. She is touching the screen. She has a non-digital pen, and I can't make out it there is a keyboard or mouse around. Anyway, reading a "virtual book" is amusing...people read PDF text files, preferably in a palm pilot, handheld reader, or laptop- not at a library, and certainly not an actual digital replica. So...to be strict: THUMBS DOWN on this prediction. Remember- I asked at the beginning of this post: "Did AT&T predict how that technology would be used in the mainstream society?" The answer for the first shot is NO.
In the second scene, we see a GPS. Although the graphics seem 3-D, and GPS's are still not affordable for everyone in the world (and forget about 2nd or 3rd world countries), I will give AT&T a YES for that scene.
The third scene always seemed so ridiculous and arrogant to me when I first saw it. A portable fax machine as a digital tablet? Why couldn't he just call the guy on his AT&T/Singular/Bellsouth cell phone? Or use his wireless laptop? E-mail anyone? In reality, has anyone ever had positive experiences with fax machines and phone lines? Fax machines are still bulky. I wonder if his receiver ever got his message. Sure, digital pens exist, but the scene itself is a dream that does not exist in 99.99% people's realities on this earth. My answer: NO.
Let's take a look at another:
Okay, the first scene makes you say "Wow"- that's true. However, closer inspection raises some doubts- first of all, we don't need an on-board computer system like that. Secondly, here in Florida, SunPass looks like a small transponder on your windshield or dashboard. It transmits a radio signal. It sure as heck doesn't tell you your remaining balance, either. But you can always go online to find out and buy more time with your credit card. Oh, and how futuristic are those toll booths! No people, no traffic, clean! Wow...sure looks like everyone has one of these devices. But, since I have to give a "Yes" or "No", as much as I want give a YES for the spirit of the scene, I vote NO.
In the next scene, we see girls buying concert tickets from an ATM machine. Huh. Now, if the confident voice-over guy said "buy concert tickets from your home on your PC", he'd be correct. But he didn't. He said "cash-machine". I saw a touchscreen 3-D virtual seating arena. Survey says? BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. NO.
The third scene is funny, as it looks so believable and tugs on your emotions. Too bad phone booths went the way of dinosaurs. Too bad AT&T couldn't predict that cell phones could do this (in a very limited form-STILL). So..what is the baby looking into anyway? NO.
Let's move on to their later 1994 spots:
The first scene shows a self-checkout at a supermarket. That looked encouraging, especially since they exist today (although they seem broken most of the time, the real cashiers outnumber them 5:1, and you're dead if you have fruit, and people still ask for help...sigh). But once you see the woman just placing her cart in some...thing...I'm still scratching my head over that one. I'm with the little boy, Jeremy, who AT&T is trying to insult for looking confused over something so "nonchalant" to his mother.
The second scene is a video conference where a doctor actually diagnoses an injury instantly. Now, webcams exist today, as does video conferencing. I'm okay with that (although in 1994, it wasn't THAT much of a stretch to predict.) But a live doctor making an official diagnosis? Is that an X-ray? Where is that locker room, anyway? It looks like high school, but is so empty. Who's paying for this? Nope. Sorry. NO.
Finally, in the third scene, a guy gets a phone call on his wristwatch, kind of like Dick Tracy. Why can't he just take a picture of the beautiful mountains for his woman? Sure, we have small cell phones now, and I'm sure they make wristwatch phones, but it's impractical. I vote NO.
In other clips I wasn't able to post here:
A man has a business meeting on vacation in the South Pacific. He's using a laptop, and the other members of his office each have a square on his laptop and can see him and each other. The announcer says "have a business meeting barefoot". Kind of a stretch, but I'll vote YES (barely).
A college student is watching his professor at a podium, and he and the other students all interact with each other virtually. NO.
A woman opens her front door with her voice because she has groceries. NO.
A guy carried his entire medical history and x-rays on a credit card. Hell NO.
Kids can watch "any movie you ever wanted to see instantly" on their television with a touch of the screen. My vote...in spirit, you can, but not "instantly", and not "all movies", not on your TV... and not yet. NO. Maybe one day.
Why it's hard for an American to maintain health...
"I'm fat, I'm fat, you know it!"
You cannot argue that obesity and heart disease are major problems in the modern world. Sure, you can claim people have always been fat and always dying from heart attacks if you're being snarky. But the bottom line is that the United States has reached all-time high obesity levels.
Here are my observations as to why this epidemic is happening:
The United States and many other technologically advanced countries in the Western Hemisphere promote a sedentary lifestyle, which means we truly are like Homer Simpson. We take our cars everywhere instead of walking- because we think we "need" to go to a certain store. If we truly "need" to go to a certain store which is in walking distance, the majority of people still take the car because it's quicker. You see, people are always "busy". We are a remote control, cordless phone, stare at a flat screen for 4 hours a night, make-money-while-sitting-in-front-of-the-computer-in-your-underwear society and we are proud of it. It's a shame humanity as devolved into sedentary corals. We sit all day in our offices, and then get too "tired" to exercise at home. It's against our genetic evolution! You can have any diet you want, but the lack of exercise will make you susceptible to getting sick, injured, and obese. This lack of exercise is caused by laziness, the Western view that you have to be productive doing other things besides taking care of yourself, the technological advances that make things easier for us in the short-term, but not long-term, and the instant gratification and "control" of our "needs".
It doesn't help that the major supermarket chains sell food that is truly unhealthy, or that fast-food is poison to our systems. Their marketing campaigns and MEDIA influence plant in it on our heads that all the foods you see at the supermarket are okay for you. The "journalist" who lectures how bad McDonalds is for our health then buys a Big Mac.
For those of you who are "too busy" to take care of yourselves, stop reading this, and do some sit-ups right now. Heck, it only takes 5 minutes to try and touch your toes in the morning when you wake up. Start stretching exercises first, so you don't become this:
Ha, HA! Rutgers women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer, in the public eye for much of the last two weeks after Don Imus called her players "nappy-headed hos," has signed a contract to write her autobiography. "It's about an incredible woman with an extraordinary life story," said Tina Constable, executive vice president for publicity at Crown, who declined to say how much the company will pay Stringer. "She's a pioneer, a legend, an icon and a role model."
Damian says-
By the way, if "nappy-headed hos" is such an offensive term, why is it reprinted by AP, UP, and Reutgers? Why is it said on MSCNB, FoxNews, ESPN, and every radio outlet?
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Seven buildings at the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus were evacuated Wednesday due to a bomb threat.
A news release from the university said that early Wednesday afternoon a professor in Smith Hall found a note that included a bomb threat against several campus buildings.
Evacuations were ordered for Kohltoff, Smith, Fraser, Morrill and Johnston Halls, Walter Library and the Science Classroom Building, the university said.
All classes and meetings in those buildings were canceled for the day.
On Tuesday, campus threats forced lock-downs and evacuations at universities, high schools and middle schools in at least 10 states. Several threats mentioned the Virginia Tech massacre.
20-year-old Andrew Rosenblum was arrested early Tuesday morning at his parents home in Needham, Mass., hours after he allegedly sent threatening instant messages to the unidentified 19-year-old woman. Boston police say she is a student at Wheelock College.According to a Boston police report, Rosenbaum wrote:"i'm gonna (expletive) bring a gun to your school and kill you and (another female student) and everybody you love.It's gonna be VT all over again.""Seriously I'm just that demented," he continued, according to the report. "killing people can change people's lives forever," and "the best is in the end when I pull the trigger on myself, too." =
"VT"???? "ALL OVER AGAIN"???? TEXT MESSAGE???LIVING OFF CAMPUS WITH HIS MOM???? LLLLOOOOOSERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - A University of Colorado student was arrested after making comments that classmates deemed sympathetic toward the gunman blamed for killing 32 students and himself at Virginia Tech, authorities said.
During a class discussion of Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech, the student "made comments about understanding how someone could kill 32 people," university police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley said.
Several witnesses told investigators the student said he was "angry about all kinds of things from the fluorescent light bulbs to the unpainted walls, and it made him angry enough to kill people," according to a police report. Witnesses "said they were afraid of him and afraid to come to class with him," Wiesley said.
The student, identified by police as Max Karson of Denver, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of interfering with staff, faculty or students of an education institution. He had a court appearance set for Wednesday afternoon.
His father, Michael Karson, told the Camera newspaper that the comments may have been misinterpreted and questioned whether his son's free speech rights had been violated.
"I would have hoped that state officials would know their First Amendment better than they seem to," he said.
University spokesman Bronson Hilliard said privacy laws prevented him from releasing personal information about the student.
Gang Members Killed; Nothing to See Here, Keep Moving Filed Sarcastically by Damian 4-18
19 killed in Rio shantytown shootout
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - At least 19 people were killed in poor neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, some in a shootout between rival gangs and others in a police raid, Brazilian police said.
At least 19 people were killed in the Morro da Mineira shantytown which police, armed with assault rifles, raided to quell a prolonged shootout between rival gangs. Most of the dead were drug runners killed by members of rival gangs, police said.
DISCLAIMER: THE OPINION EXPRESSED IN THIS ARTICLE IS UNIQUE, AND NOT NECESSARILY A REPRESENTATION OF THE DAILYSKEW.COM FOUNDERS OR THEIR FAMILIES.
WARNING: READING THIS POST, WILL MAKE YOU THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. YOU MAY NOT RETURN.
Last night, I heard NBC's Brian Williams speaking in his "melodramatic" (yet bland and dull) voice on television. He said such phrases as "April 16, 2007 will be one of those days where you will remember where you today when you heard the news, for the rest of your life" and "Unfortunately, Virginia Tech will go down in U.S. history as the place where the most horrific mass shooting every occurred."
Yesterday and the next couple of weeks, the MEDIA will be showing you the grieving families, parents will file lawsuits because the school did not shut down/evacuate everyone after the first shooting earlier in the day, politicians will be against guns, and special interest groups may pass laws to increase security at universities, the Talking Heads and "experts" all will give their "valued" opinions, etc.
Well, this will be my only post of the matter.
Here's the straight dope:
1) Yes, as a Buddhist, I realize that ONE life is valuable, no matter if it is an insect or you. However, the MEDIA covered this "massacre", like it was a holocaust. It must have been a slow news week, because school shootings happen all the time in England and all around the world. How about when buses explode in Israel and 60 people are killed? Yes, it sounds harsh, but hundreds of thousands of Japanese were wiped out by atomic bombs in 1945...where was the "grieving family" stories then? You want to talk about loss of life- how about the systematic extermination of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust? How about the thousands who died during 9/11?
2) The MEDIA dehumanizes the perpertrator: Cho Seung-Hui. Why do they insist on calling him a "South Korean", when he's been living in America for 14 years? They love calling him a "loner". They enjoy saying "English major", like there's irony in that. They always mention he was looking for his alleged girlfriend or something (by the way...how could he be a true loner if he was dating?)
3) He was a creative writer. His writings revealed that he was an emotionally disturbed person, who was crying out for help.
Professor Carolyn Rude, chairwoman of the university's English department, said she did not personally know the gunman. But she said she spoke with Lucinda Roy, the department's director of creative writing, who had Cho in one of her classes and described him as "troubled."
"There was some concern about him," Rude said. "Sometimes, in creative writing, people reveal things and you never know if it's creative or if they're describing things, if they're imagining things or just how real it might be. But we're all alert to not ignore things like this."
She said Cho was referred to the counseling service, but she said she did not know when, or what the outcome was.
Oh, I'm so glad "we're all on alert to not ignore things like this" now. Perhaps Professor Rude [HA!] should have studied high-profile cases of anti-social teens, such as the Columbine students or an incident at the University of South Florida in 1996. FOLKS, IF A TEEN IS WRITING ABOUT DEATH, SUICIDE, OR KILLING, IT IS A CRY FOR LOVE. IT IS A CRY FOR AN AUTHORITY FIGURE TO INTERVENE
