Just Disenfranchised

Something I didn't know about Sarah Palin

2010-07-31T10:03:00.002-07:00

I guess the video for Dita Von Tesse was just too sexy so they pulled it. I hope everyone got a chance to see it before they took it down, it would have made you want a glass of water.

You just gotta love Sarah Palin, doesn't seem to be the brightest bulb on the string but she sure looks cute in tight jeans.

I thought you might like this . . .

2010-07-16T10:19:00.002-07:00

If you don't like this, they may be something wrong with you, or you're just not that into her.

I saw in the paper the other day . . .

2010-06-02T10:20:00.003-07:00

There was a little blurb in the paper the other day that talked about how a 65 year old woman was sitting on a bench outside of a Walgreens or CVS type of drugstore, I'm guessing she was taking a break because she worked at the drugstore and it was here break period.

I was reading this information online, because we all know nobody actually subscribes to the newspaper anymore, I mean why would you?

Anyway, the 65 year old woman who worked at the drugstore is sitting on the bench outside when this 87 year old woman who was trying to park her car accidentally pushes on the gas pedal rather than the brake pedal! (this is not going to be good).

The 87 year old woman KILLED the 65 year old woman by crushing her with her car! How sad is that?

What kind of world do we live in when GOD or whoever is in charge of these things takes the life of a 65 year old person who, at the age of 65 should have been retired and chilling by the pool at the retirement home or playing shuffleboard or on a cruse or down at the bingo parlor with the other blue-hairs, doing anything other than having to work in a crappy retail minimum-wage job at the giant corporation chain store drugstore just to make ends meet!

And what the hell is the 87 year old woman doing still driving around when she could make a mistake that could take the live of another person. If the person on the bench was a 17 year old high school student that was an "A" student I think the 87 year old woman would have been raked over the coals by the media.

The system failed!
The system that is supposed to protect us from wackjobs with guns, old people that can't drive and shouldn't be driving any more and take care of the older generation.

The system failed and I wonder what kind of GOD lets these things happen?

No Charges are Expected! WTF!

There are so many things to be disenfranchised about, it's hard to pick just one

2010-04-13T18:19:00.003-07:00

It seems like some TV commercials are just outright lies, you know like saying smoking is good for you or some dumb thing. I have seen a few commercials lately that make me yell at the TV, "THAT'S BULLSHIT" when the people on the TV are telling me something I know for sure is not true I have a hard time keeping my opinions to myself.

Who really cares if I yell at my TV, I'm sure the neighbors think I am yelling at my wife or beating her or something, but I'm not. Or at least that is what I will tell the police when they come to my house, wink, wink.

It's a joke.

Speaking of a joke, let me tell you this little story about our local police . . .

There is a guy that lives down the street who is always making loud noise, either with his car or his motorcycle, you know the type, the "hey look at me, look at how cool I THINK I am!"

Yea, he is one of those guys, well be befriends this teenage kid from the end of the block and tells the kid that they will go riding dirt bikes together some time . . .

but it never happens and so the kid gets pissed and starts making threats to the older guy. The older guy's wife calls the police and tells them about the kid and about the fact that her husband has a gun and a permit. (the older guy has the same general color of truck as me, his is a different model and newer but it's kinda the same)

So one day I'm in the middle of dinner and someone starts pounding on my front door, not using the doorbell or knocking, but pounding with a fist. I look through the peephole but can not see anyone recognizable because they are standing off to the side, so I don't say anything or answer the door and go back to my dinner.

The pounding continues a second time and my wife goes to the door and says it's the police and opens the door. At this point I come up to see what is going on and the policeman ORDERS me outside!

What the fuck dude, you can not order me to leave my home! I have rights, at least last time I took a government class I think I remember something about being protected against unlawful searches!

Who, and where do these guys think they are? Russia, Iran, China, I don't think so buddy. If it wasn't for my wife I would have just slammed the door in their faces and told them to come back with a search warrant.

They were looking for the jackass down the street and had the wrong house!

It's no wonder I have such contempt for law enforcement.

If you are out of work and looking for work . . .

2010-02-10T09:55:00.002-07:00

I found this and it doesn't look good to be over 40 and looking for work.

Check this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLD8SS60ukA

The video talks about people that spend thousands of dollars to get a facelift and think that will give them a competitive edge in the job search.

Holly hell, I'm not willing to do that so how can I compete in today's job market with these people?

It's no secret that I think FOX News sucks!

2010-02-05T17:40:00.003-07:00

But here's the thing, are they in denial?

Fox News, the most trusted name in ne . . . . . . . . . . .

sorry, I was laughing so hard I wet my pants, the "most trusted" what a crock O' shit. Oh well.

Some people look up to these guys (who are complete JERKS!)

2010-01-18T17:44:00.002-07:00

Pat Robertson? Seriously, a deal with the devil? Pat, put the crack pipe down and step away from the crazy shit you say.

I am going to have to agree with Keith Olbermann on this one and say you should STFU!

I need some new tires . . .

2010-01-08T19:09:00.002-07:00

There it is, I said it and I can't take it back.

First let me explain a little bit about my experience with tires. I have had several different types of vehicles all with different requirements for the tires on them. I have owned cars where I wanted tires that produced a soft-smooth ride and good gas mileage; trucks with off-road tires that would need to be used in the snow without chains; high-performance cars where you wanted the tires to produce maximum traction/adhesion; truck tires that were rated for maximum load carrying capacity and just about everything in between.

I have experience putting wider than standard tires on a vehicle and different brands and constructions of tires on the same vehicle and track-testing with timing equipment to make suspension adjustments to fit the vehicles handling characteristics based on what that particular tire likes to get optimum performance. I have some driver training in high-performance cars and track-time behind the wheel with instructors so I know what it feels like to spin a car out at highway speeds and push a vehicle to the limits of tire adhesion.

Given my background when I go to the "tire store" I know a little bit about what I'm talking about when it comes to selecting tires for the vehicles I drive.

Every time I have gone into this one Discount Tire store near my house I have come away feeling like I have been assaulted by a used-car-salesman and treated like I just didn't know shit about tires. I imagine the salesperson believes "what could this customer possibly know about tires when he does not work at a tire store?"

Well I say "fuck you Discount Tire salesman," I really do know a little bit about the tires I have selected and would like you to order for me. I realize that your pathetic bullshit existence is really only a road-block to me achieving my goal of replacing the tires on my vehicle with the tires I want rather than letting you talk me into some crap-tastic tire that you have way, way overstocked your warehouse with and are begging people to purchase so you can win your "tire salesman of the month" douch-tastic award, but I have to ask "do you get a commission on the sale?"

I know not all Discount Tire stores are run by the same salespeople, but the one by my house just flat-out sucks balls. I really must send an email to Discount Tires corporate office telling just how they lost a customer and what a royal-jerk the salesman at that store is.

Bad news for Discount Tire, I'm telling everyone you suck!

Who are you trying to fool with this shit?

2009-12-18T17:29:00.003-07:00

Snoop Dogg did a guest appearance on the Martha Stewart show and Martha asked Snoop why he wanted to make "green" brownies?

I have several questions:

1) Is Martha Stewart trying to UP her "hip-ness" by having someone like Snoop Dogg on her show?

2) Is Snoop Dogg trying to appeal to a wider audience by appearing on the Martha Stewart show?

3) Is there anyone in the world that DOESN'T know that Snoop Dogg is stoned all the time?

I can't figure out what the point of Snoop Dogg on the Martha Stewart show is. Most of the things I see on TV are either somewhat thinly disguised or blatant attempts at separating me from my hard-earned money, but I can't seem to figure out exactly what this is all about. (Although Martha did mention that Snoop's second season of his reality show is about to start so there may be some kind of network/sponsor/production company/advertisers connections going)

Snoop Dogg, a father figure and a roll model? Really?
Snoop Dogg, Father of the Year? Really?
Snoop Dogg, pot smoking, gangsta raper parental roll model? Really?

It's true, the world really is going to end soon.

Why do people suck so bad?

2009-12-13T22:58:00.002-07:00

You know how you go someplace and there is trash left all over the place by lazy slobs, or how people can't take the time to put their shopping cart in the cart return because those extra five steps to the cart return would most likely have killed them?

You know how some people can't seem to drive very well, I mean they suck so bad at operating a motor vehicle that you might guess that they would flunk their driving test even on their best days.

I wonder how some people are just poor excuses for human excrement to be shaped like what would appear to be a person but what really gives it away is the smell.

I wonder why some people are allowed to continue to exist when all they are not worth the space they take up in the universe.

Ah, rough night dealing with assholes has made me pissed off at the world (or rather some people living in this world.)

People Suck!

Nuff said.

On being narrow minded . . .

2009-11-27T10:38:00.002-07:00

You shouldn't do it, be narrow minded that is.

Lets say you are narrow minded about politics, like you believe that the Democrats are to blame for all the problems in the world, or that the Republicans are the cause for everything that is wrong with the world today.

I say you should not believe that just one party has been the root cause of everything that is wrong in the United States. Having these one-sided views is just wrong and you shouldn't do it.

If you are smart enough and take the time to look for information on the causes of some of the financial or economic problems facing the world right now you will find that many of the problems were created by a combined group effort and no single party is to blame for everything.

"Well sure, but it's MOSTLY the Republicans or Democrats," you say. That's just wrong and shows a lack of intelligent thought and basic reasoning.

But, it's OK I understand that there are many, many people in the world that lack the capacity for intelligent thought and basic reasoning and I really wish all those people would just STFU!

Wow, just wow!

2009-11-10T08:48:00.002-07:00

Right now it seems that every retail store, outlet, mall or anybody that ever sold anything to anybody wants me to BUY STUFF!

Every radio and TV commercial I hear or see is about extracting money from my bank account!

It's like the worse the economy gets the harder the advertisers push. We all know this year is going to be a difficult one for retailers, but will spending millions on over-the-top advertising really help the bottom line?

Wal*Mart and Target Corp. are really pushing the fact that you can get stuff for cheap at their stores, new big-screen TVs and housewares, but isn't the age of over-consumption, mass-materialism and just having a bunch of stuff somewhat outdated?

When you are wondering if you are going to loose your job and how you will feed your family if you do loose your job, isn't thinking "hey, I need a whole new 12-piece place setting for my Thanksgiving table" the furthest thing from your mind?

I think this should be the time of year that we all focus on what is really important, family, friends and loved ones rather than "getting more stuff."

Man this trend is really sad to think about, what I really need to do to make myself happy is . . .

Go shopping and buy stuff!

Employment in the "new world"

2009-11-01T17:16:00.001-07:00

Just something to think about:

The "New Age" community

2009-10-22T12:53:00.002-07:00

I don't live too far from Sedona and go there to Mt. Bike from time to time. Years ago some strange hippie-types said there were these "vortex" areas of energy in Sedona and from then on Sedona has been a hot-bed of "new-age" activity.

I can attest to the strange vortex energy in Sedona, because my wife and I have gotten turned around and confused several times while riding trails in the area.

The town of Sedona is very focused on tourism, lots of cheesy t-shirt shops and galleries with very over-priced art and bad restaurants that serve frozen food and claim it to be fresh, bad, bad, bad.

Then you have guys like this: James Arthur Ray, a nationally known New Age guru.

Mr. Ray charges people tons of money to go to Sedona for a retreat and then tries to kill them!

Jim Jones, David Koresh and James A. Ray what is it going to take for someone to shut this buffoon down?

Read more of the story in the New York Times

CGI gone wrong

2009-10-06T19:09:00.002-07:00

Computer generated images (CGI) gone wrong! Only thing this is for is to separate you from your money. Don't fall for it!

It's all too much

2009-09-30T09:33:00.004-07:00

There are just way to many things to be disenfranchised about these days. It's all so overwhelming, this person did that, and someone else did this stupid thing, my head is about to explode.

OK, OK so John Voight has gone completely 'round-da-bend on this one, and the comments from the "Young Turks" folks is just funny.

How about this: Twenty-three employees of France Telecom have killed themselves since the beginning of 2008.

Read more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8252547.stm

And another story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/why-are-so-many-france-telecom-workers-dying-1795171.html

The world is coming unglued!

Did I mention that I am afraid of heights?

2009-09-06T22:52:00.006-07:00

I think I said this before, but when I was in my 20s it wasn't an issue, heights that is. But now, I get this strange feeling in my gut and my knees get a bit wobbly and I get a little dizzy. It's very strange, must be something to do with age?

Anyway, I not afraid of heights in tall buildings looking out windows, airplanes or bridges with railings or being in places that are high up. I'm only afraid of places where I could make a simple mistake and fall to my death.

Such a place exists, and it can be found in Zion National Park. That place is called the Angels Landing trail.

A hiking trail, seriously dude, your afraid of a hiking trail?

Oh no, not just any hiking trail, this is the grand-daddy of all hiking trails (at least for Zion it is). Kinda like taking a double black-diamond ski run.

This is a simple 2.5 mile hike, well the first 2 miles are fine, steep but fine, it's that last 1/2 mile that things get a little on the "don't mess up, or you will fall 1,700 feet straight down to your death" freaky side.

Talk about working to overcome your fears . . .

Look at the pictures, there is this chain that you must hold on to. Zoom into the pictures, you will see what I'm talking about, go ahead just click on the pictures.

You will see . . .

That was on the way to this

2009-08-26T17:20:00.008-07:00

The "bucket list tour" continues.

Our first stop was at Horseshoe Bend (see post below), but that was just a little side deal I found on the Internet, our goal for this part of the tour was to get to this: Antelope Canyon just outside of Page Arizona.

Everyone has seen photos of Slot Canyon, aka; Antelope Canyon with it's beautiful sandstone rock formations.

We took a 2 and 1/2 hour photography tour (you must use a certified guide to visit the canyon) and the tour cost $50 each.

This is another one of those things that I think cost more than it should, but it's the only option to spend time in the canyon with enough time to play photographer.

Here are some of the results:

Bucket list

2009-08-20T17:46:00.006-07:00

Do you have a bucked list?

A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket." This is from a Hollywood film or some sort of urban legend or something.

My wife and I were about drive from almost the Southern border of the United States to almost the Northern boarder of the United States and because we are old and don't like to drive too many hours in a day we decided to make tons of stops along the way.

The first stop, Horseshoe bend in Page Arizona, is just below the Glen Canyon Dam with Lake Powell sitting behind the dam. The area is amass of beautiful sandstone red rock formations and desert scenery.

It's not that I'm afraid of heights, it's just that I'm afraid of falling [from great heights].

Now when I was a kid hanging over the edge of a cliff didn't seem to bother me, nor did climbing over, under and around large rocks or mountains that had very long drops, which if you somehow lost your grip you would fall to your certain death.

But, now.

Now I feel this strange sensation between my "boys" and my "rear most exit," my knees get a bit wobbly and I get some sort of vertigo that can only be described as very similar to the sensation that Gregory Peck must have felt when filming the Alfred Hitchcock film!

Yikes!

OK, Horseshoe bend is surrounded by 1,100 foot cliffs! Dang it sure is neat looking!

I lay on my belly and inched up to the edge to take a few photos, very beautiful place to spend an afternoon taking photos.

Another strange phenomenon is that you could be in the middle of a thousand square miles or open space and the German, Asian or French tourist would somehow manage to stand so, so close to you that they invaded your personal space.

How do they manage to do that?

I really just don't like other people.

Online High School

2009-07-29T12:41:00.002-07:00

Seriously?

WTF, as if kids don't spend enough time, not interacting with other people face-to-face to develop social skills and generally become adapted to dealing with people and communicating without being able to hide behind the "wall of Internet?"

I'm not talking about just taking one of two classes or taking online stuff to get your GED, I'm talking about full-time online high school for high school aged kids.

This just sounds like a bad idea to me.

This post has been removed because of free ads

2009-07-27T12:51:00.007-07:00

Sorry, important information that can not be presented without forcing viewers to view ads is against my principals.

Ellen DeGeneres, a most unlikely super model

2009-07-25T11:44:00.004-07:00

Cover Girl makeup has decided to use Ellen DeGeneres as it's spokesperson for it's makeup line.

I'm not sure how I feel about this?

I guess it doesn't bother, it's just that most supermodels exist only to make men want to have sex with them . . . Whereas, when you mention Ellen DeGeneres' name to most men, sex is the farthest thing from their minds.

I don't have anything against Ellen, I think her talk show is funny and entertaining, it's just that I always associate makeup with sexy woman and Ellen is not sexy at all to me.

What do you think?

No great things to say about the sad state of things . . .

2009-07-21T18:18:00.002-07:00

Maybe a picture or two . . .

You and the Internet, a comprehensive guide

2009-07-15T15:17:00.002-07:00

There are these things on the Internet called "Internet forums" where people post questions and other people post answers.

Most forums are dedicated to some common group, like cat lovers, or people with red hats, anyway on this one forum dedicated to stock photography this guy posted about how his long term relationship ended, and I felt compelled to respond. Here is my response:

No offense to the original poster, but I wonder about a few things here?

OK, so a long-time relationship ended - that is sad, I'm sorry, it sucks, etc. . .

What kind of a world do we live in where your first thought is to post about it on an Internet forum?

Maybe if it was a forum dedicated to relationships or couples or support groups or something, but an Internet forum for stock photographers?

Sure, there are a few people that know you here(as far as someone who has never met you and can make complete random judgments about you and your life based only on what you typed into some stock photo forum can "get to know you") So I am again scratching my head in wonder.

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with what you have done (posting about your relationship ending), just that I don't fully understand the mindset of what you did.

At some point you will get people who will come in here and flame you and flame-bait other people, that is just what they (flame people) do. I'm guessing you would expect that, I mean after all this IS an Internet forum, which means you get all the differences of people from all over the world who will ALL have different opinions as to what you should do, or what you should have not done.

I would guess you would have some sort of "local" support system, friends, family or some people you could talk to about your situation? It would seem to me something like that would be your first choice.

For all I know maybe you did that first and you just posted here because you wanted some random strangers to feel sorry for you, or maybe you really do think of these people as "your family."

If you do consider these people here, whom you have never met in person, "your family" I wonder about a world or society where our "families" are random strangers we have never actually met.

How do we define friends, or family for that mater? Do you form a bond with someone you met for a few hours at a photo workshop, and because you share a common interest you are now "friends?"

So, if that is the case, now that weird guy next to me in line at the store who is missing his two front teeth and smells like he lives under the freeway share a common interest, we both like the same kind of beer or feed our cats the same food (except I don't think he has a cat), anyway does that mean he is my "friend" now?

Dang, this whole "Internet" "facebook" "social networking" thing just confuses me!

The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

2009-07-13T17:04:00.004-07:00

The other day my wife and I went to do a tour of the Taliesin West facility, a group of buildings built by Frank Lloyd Wright, a famous architect known for such buildings as "falling Water" and The Guggenheim Museum in New York city.

The Taliesin West facility is run by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and the tours are divided up into different lengths with costs that range from $35 per person for adults for a 1hour tour and prices go up from there.

What exactly is the purpose of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation?

This is what the web site says: The foundation established by Wright himself at Taliesin West in Arizona aims to advance the principles of organic architecture and preserve Wright's ...

It seems to me the purpose of the foundation is to separate you from your money and collect a large pile of the oh mighty American dollar. Mr. Wright believed in organic architecture and as such built the roof panels out of canvas over a frame that would tilt and let in the afternoon breezes (notice the white panels in the photo).

I guess the only time Mr. Wright would visit Arizona was during the winter time because right now it's like 114 degrees here in Arizona and none of his buildings are air conditioned.

So, $70 for two adults to walk around and look at a bunch of non-air conditioned buildings for one hour seems a bit excessive to me.

Another one of those things that cost lots of money when it should not!

Google AdSense is a scam full of crap!!!

2009-07-09T14:19:00.002-07:00

I sent an email to Google AdSense about logging into my account in April, and got a response two days ago!!!

Holly crap is that fucking slow or what! I hope they flag my post and send it to the CEO of fucken google!

These people are complete morons with the brains of knats! (which is really an insult to knats)

Get your fuckin' ads off my page you suck-ass dumbshits!

The world where we live

2009-07-07T13:10:00.002-07:00

It seems to me that there are lots of people and business owners that don't seem to understand that our economy is, how shall I put this, in the crapper!

Over the last decade lots and lots of artificial wealth was created. All these business and people had created what, on paper, appeared to be massive wealth. One day all this massive wealth came crashing down and people and business owners realized they really didn't have anything, just fake, on paper wealth and none of it could be turned into real cash. Remember the old saying "Cash is King," well that is so very true.

So now most (there are still a few cash rich folks out there, but most are not) let me say it again, MOST people are living pay-check to pay-check and don't have a lot of "discretionary income" to be spending on things that are expensive for no reason whatsoever.

There are business and events that charge very high prices for things, not because they cost a great deal to make available to the general public, but because they want to line their pockets!

Now you might be saying to yourself right about now, "hey there Mr. Disenfranchised, what are you talking about?"

What I'm talking about is stuff that cost way, way more that is should or what it seems to be worth, that $45 steak at that fancy restaurant, the $48 admission price to the zoo, the $65 seats to the concert for a performer that hasn't put out a decent song or album in more than 10 years?

WTF, do these people (promoters, restaurants, performers, and business owners) think we are still made of money?

Profit and greed will drag this country down as long as people continue to believe that people will pay way, way more for things than they are worth.

Are you hungry?

2009-06-23T13:52:00.002-07:00

How about some food?

Taking time out to "experience" life . . .

2009-06-19T14:08:00.002-07:00

The bad thing about not having a regular job is that you never have any money. The good thing about not having a regular job is that you can do stuff when other people have to be at work.

If you are smart enough to figure out how to "work the system" you can see stuff for free and make a little cash on the side. I'm not talking about doing anything against the law, just "playing the cards you are dealt with."

I sure love the choice of ads Google decided to use on my blog!

2009-06-15T18:19:00.003-07:00

WTF!

I was never confused!

I'm not gay, not that there is anything wrong with being gay, it's just that I'm not gay.

Whatever you do, make this ad go away.

When I go to the bathroom

2009-06-13T16:08:00.002-07:00

What a strange way to title a blog post, but here goes.

When I go to the bathroom at some place like the movie theater or restaurants, Darth Vader is always at the urinal or stall next to me!

That is the sound I hear coming from the stall next to me, WTF dude?

Did you forget to take your asmtha medicine, or what?

One of these day I expect to hear "Luke, I am your father." coming from the stall next to me.

This is funny

2009-06-04T10:12:00.002-07:00

Well, I think its funny.

General Motors is bluffing

2009-06-01T16:33:00.004-07:00

GM told us all that the world would come to an end if they went under!

A lot of people said that if a business is not profitable, and is only run by greedy corporate fat-cats it should fail! All those greedy corporate fat-cats at GM said "if you let us fail," as if they had nothing to do with the billions in lost revenue, "the world economic machine will grind to a halt right at our feet."

I think they are bluffing.

GM needs to morph into some company that makes something people NEED, and is suitable for it's intended purpose and last longer than 3 minutes and 40 seconds.

General Motors, aka G.M. the people that thought the EV-1 electric car was a BAD idea and that the H2 Hummer was a GOOD idea, somehow think we should take advice from them.

If the Execs at GM were more concerned with producing a viable and salable product that people need and want and a bit less concerned about the company's stock price and their paychecks I think the company might have a chance.

Toyota, Honda and Nissan make reasonably priced, long-lasting, fuel efficient cars, and GM does not.

Lets let the people that do a good job at stuff (like making cars) continue to do that and have the folks at GM try to find something they are good at, like say short-order cooks on "roach-coach" lunch trucks that serve construction workers or scrubbing the graffiti of of New York city subway trains.

I loves me some british movies

2009-05-09T19:52:00.004-07:00

Think Trainspotting.

All those thick, thick accents and gratuitous violence just drives it home.

Movies like Fargo, that have such great accents, and movies like both Pulp Fiction, and Fargo, that have the senseless violence that makes you wonder if there is any hope for mankind's survival.

Kind of like this:

Watch Hardly Working: Guy Ritchie and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

I added and/or changed a few of the links

2009-05-03T11:10:00.003-07:00

First thought:
I added a link to my new wordpress photography blog and updated a few of the other links in the sidebar for your viewing pleasure.

Next thought, and beyond:
I think at any given time there are only about one or two people that have even taken the time to read or even view my disenfranchised blog.

I was talking with my friend on the phone and he mentioned that he read something on my blog. I was surprised and excited to know that someone read my blog, besides me.

When my wife found the post about Tyra Banks I caught flack for a few weeks, and every once in a while I will hear reference to "Tyra" from my wife, but for the most part even she, my wife that is, doesn't read my blog on a regular basis.

The friend that I mentioned earlier is "no longer with us" so I guess that is one less person who might, or might not read my blog. I wonder if people who have passed on can read blogs and surf the interwebs from wherever they are?

What is it that makes a blog interesting?

Is it keywords like: swine flu, newt Gingrich, Sarah Boyle or Barack Obama? Or is it just talking about thing other people can relate to?

The media sucks! Flat out, no doubt about it, they suck big time. It seems that almost all media is engaged in some sort of fear mongering, panic spreading, chicken little - the sky is falling sort of insanity.

Can you just picture the level of, pull-your-hair-out, we don't know how the react, down-right-stupidity the media would engage in if there was some sort of REAL crisis?

What will we do?

Suicide is painless

2009-04-27T13:12:00.002-07:00

The phrase "Suicide is Painless" is the title of a song that most people will remember from the opening credits of the movie version of M*A*S*H, but if you think about it suicide is anything but painless.

I've had a few friends commit suicide and when I think about them I am just angry! Angry that they didn't let me talk them out of it, angry that they are not here and I can't help them, and angry because I miss being able to talk to them and tell them of the hurt and pain they left behind.

Suicide is a bit of a selfish undertaking because it doesn't think about anybody but the person that wants to just "not be." One person I knew went to the extent of arranging pre-paid funeralarrangements for his wife and driving himself to just outside the funeral home before he took his own life. WTF dude! It's thoughtful and creepy beyond understanding.

So far I have talked only about people I know in this post, but what about people I don't know?

David Kellermann, Freddie Mac acting CEO, was found dead in his home Wednesday morning. His death, still under investigation, is a suspected suicide.

Cheung Shu-hung, co-owner of Lee Der Industrial Co., apparently hung himself in his factory. The motive behind his suicide was not given, but I’m sure it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out. Cheug, and his company Lee Der, were under immense pressure by Chinese officials (who are eagerly trying to protect the country’s crucial export industry from a bad reputation of being potentially unsafe/dangerous). They have been trying to regain international consumer confidence, after a handful of recalls in the recent past, with new regulations, inspections, and increased pressure on manufacturers, like Cheung himself. Cheung’s Lee Der was temporarily banned from exporting products, causing him financial stress and damage. Chinese goods have been under fire after a chemical additive in pet food caused the death of some pets in the United States; and toxic ingredients were found in a long list of products, from seafood to toothpaste, which were recalled or rejected by a number of countries worried about safety.
Chung Mong-hun, a son of the late founder of the giant Hyundai conglomerate has been found dead below his 12th floor office. Chung, a top executive of the Hyundai conglomerate, was indicted recently to face trial over a scandal around the inter-Korean summit of 2000.

He was one of South Korea's top executives and had been accused of the illegal transfer of money to North Korea over the historic summit with the South. He jumped from his office on the 12th floor, the BBC website reported. Chung was chairman of Hyundai-Asan, a Hyundai subsidiary that runs a series of joint ventures in North Korea with the Government.

Chung had been accused of transferring up to $100m to the north to persuade North Korea to agree to the summit three years ago, which at the time was hailed as a historic success. However, North Korea's participation now appears to have been motivated more by money than a desire for reconciliation with the south.

Former Enron Corp. vice chairman J. Clifford Baxter was found dead in his car in a Houston suburb early Friday, the victim of an apparent suicide, police said.

Suicide is a sad and less than honorable way to go out, mostly because of what is left behind, which is shattered lives of angry loved ones.

I don't know what to say, but to my friends that I lost . . .

. . . I miss you brother

Stories about trees

2009-04-22T21:55:00.002-07:00

This doesn't have anything to do with trees, but I thought I would title the post that way just to see if you were paying attention.

Life, Liberty, and the ability to access the internet

2009-04-22T20:54:00.002-07:00

I'm always sitting in front of my computer. I am, in point of fact, sitting in front of my computer right now.

It's funny how some people will send out an email message and expect a response within minutes, like email is some kind of instant-message tool or something.

Some people get their email sent to their Blackberry, um I mean crackberry, these mobile devices are often referred to as CRACKberrys because of the addictive nature of being in constant contact with others.

I'm not sure I understand this need to be in constant contact with friends, relatives or business associates? There are people that are always texting their friends or family, texting while driving, texting while going to the bathroom, talking on the cell phone while in the bathroom, texting someone while you are in the doctor's office . . .

I just don't get it?

What sort of communication would someone need to have with someone else when the Doctor says "turn your head and cough," I can't imagine.

I sent an email message to my family a day or so ago and never got a response. I guess the excuse would be that they just don't check their email everyday. This is also something I just don't understand?

How could you not check your email everyday?

I guess for me, someone who doesn't text people, or talk to them on my cell phone while I'm in the bathroom, it just seems odd to not respond to an email message.

It's my connection to the outside world.

How to deal with real live pirates on the open seas?

2009-04-14T14:59:00.002-07:00

I'm thinking that shooting them in the head is a very, very good idea

This method shows other pirates that general lawlessness and high-seas trickery will not be tolerated. This method sends the message that if you hi-jack one of our ships, or one of our friends ships we will not question you, we will not take you to jail, we will not let you have a trial, we will, however shoot you in the head.

Do not pass GO, do not collect $200 dollars, go straight to hell and swim in a lake of fire for the rest of eternity

I'm thinking after a few of the Somali pirates are shot in the head, and word gets out this career will become a lot less popular on career day at the local schools.

Hi class, I was going to bring my dad in for career day, but he is, or should I say WAS a pirate and was shot in the head and tossed overboard allowing the sharks and sea live to feed on his rotting carcase, so you see that is why my dad is not here.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think anyone should have the right to just go around shooting people in the head and all, but . . .

If you board a ship, or a plane, or car-jack someone at gunpoint with the intention of doing them harm . . .

Lake of fire!

More about Las Vegas

2009-04-10T14:10:00.005-07:00

Las Vegas is a strange place, you see all kinds of strange people and things, strange people doing strange things, and well yes, Las Vegas is not like any place in the world.

Las Vegas is, how you say, Out Of This World!

One thing about vegas that is strange to me is when people bring their kids to a place that is commonly referred to as Sin City. I mean what is an 8 year old kid going to do walking down the strip at 10:30 pm on a Tuesday night?

People do really, really stupid things when they come to Las Vegas.

You see a lady, well just for the sake of this story lets call her a "lady", anyway you see a lady with a baby kind of propped up on her shoulder at 1:00 am in the casino where everyone, including the lady is smoking, and she is poking away at the gambling machine she is sitting in front of! Wow, what a way to grow up, lulled to sleep by the beeps, dings and lights of a smoky casino. Poster child for gambler's anonymous.

Another strange thing about the Las Vegas strip is, what my wife calls "Boobie trading cards," you know those little cards with half naked pictures of porn stars that those scummy dudes hand out on the sidewalk up and down the strip. They stand there flicking the cards against their fingers and it makes this "clickity-clickity" sound that somehow must be irresistible to the average passer by. You try to walk by a whole line of these guys, while all of them are making that "clickity-clickity" sound kind of like being forced to travel down some sort of "gauntlet of porn" all the while their hands are darting out to hand you a little business card sized picture of some porn star with giant boobs! Don't get me wrong, I love boobies as much, if not more than the next guy, but these guys just annoy me. Sometimes they will even try to hand one to me when I'm walking hand-in-hand with my wife, dude my wife could care less about you and your boobie trading cards and she wouldn't be upset if I took one, but it's just GROSS! I would think these guys could find a job doing something just a tiny, tiny bit more respectable, I don't know like say cleaning up the used condoms at a bestiality show or something.

Las Vegas has some really ugly things going for it.

maybe a few pretty pictures will help

oh yea, clickity click on the pictures, they are better seen larger

Las Vegas takes some practice

2009-04-09T10:21:00.004-07:00

My wife and I visited Las Vegas for some fun on the strip.

No, not strippers, fun on the Las Vegas strip. The Las Vegas strip is a bit dirty and kinda gross during the daytime when the sun is out and you can see all the scummy losers in the bright sunshine. After sunset all the fat, bald dudes from the east coast with plaid shorts and sandals with black socks are still there, you just don't see them as much in the dark. Well, that and the fact that when the sun goes down they all move indoors to sit at a sticky bar stool in front of some sort of machine with dem blinking light and sounds and stuff.

The reason I say Las Vegas takes some practice is that if you want to eat decent food for a decent price, you must know how to "work the system." You can go to a buffet for $10 or so and eat all you can stand of the "worst cafeteria food" known to man, or you can pay $26 each for breakfast of finely prepared food.

First you take the $10 buffet and realize the food sucks, and is gross! At that point you try the second option and realize you just blew $50 bucks and change on freaking breakfast, a really nice breakfast, but still, it's fifty bucks! Next you might try to find some middle ground, like say Denny's where a grand-slam breakfast is like $2.99, or $3.99 or something like that . . . but nooooo! this is Vegas baby, a grand-slam breakfast is $6.99 and it tastes like frozen pancake batter and the eggs are small.

There must be a way to figure this place out?

One way is to go away from the strip, go somewhere "regular" working folk in Las Vegas would go to get breakfast. I think I need to go to Las Vegas a few more times to try to figure that place out.

Oh, yea click the picture, its badass, and if you what to know more about what's going on in the picture, comment on my blog.

The "Do Not Call" list

2009-04-07T09:55:00.002-07:00

The do not call list do not work!

I signed up for the "Do Not Call" list in hopes that those poor, underpaid, nasty, grumpy, angry call-center employees would just not have my number, and therefore would not call me.

I could not be so lucky.

They still call, heck I even get the pre-recorded calls made by some computer where I don't even have a person to hang up on. It lacks satisfaction when I slam the phone down on a pre-recorded computer message.

This morning I got a call from a real live person who used my name like 27 times in the first sentence he spoke! WTF, dude: "hello Mr. Smith, how are you Mr. Smith, well Mr. Smith the reason I'm calling is that, Mr. Smith blah, blah, blah so Mr. Smith you know that this cause needs you Mr. Smith and Mr. Smith can we count on your help Mr. Smith?"

I should have just hung up on the guy, but having him use my name 47 times just seemed to piss me off, so I ask what his name was and shot back a volley of my own using his name in the words that I spoke at every possible occasion. This really seemed to upset the guy (ah ha, my evil plan is working), his response was "I'm just doing my job" and then he ended the call.

Ending the call might have been a wise decision for him as I was just getting warmed up as far as fitting the guy for, yet another orifice with which to excrete human waste.

I really wish I could make the sales calls stop, then maybe the voices in my head that tell me to fight back against angry call-center employees would stop.

Please make is stop.

Hello? Is this thing on?

2009-04-06T09:31:00.002-07:00

No comments, no readers, no viewers. What do I gotta do to get someone to view, read and comment on my blog?

How about this shit, this is fuckin' funny

Watch Cereal Mascot Therapy Session and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

Why is the air force bad at crowd control?

2009-03-26T10:39:00.005-07:00

This past weekend my wife and I attended an air show at the local air force base.

This time of year the weather is nice here in the desert Southwest, but it was unseasonably warm for the airshow and there was a 2+ hour wait/line to get into the base and see the show. You would think the military would be a little better at crowd control, and if not why not use this event for a little practice?

Standing in the 90+ degree heat with one hundred twenty five thousand people is not my idea of a good time.

I took my camera and captured a few images.

The politics of narcissism

2009-03-22T18:44:00.002-07:00

I read an article in Newsweek magazine the other day about California and it's economic troubles. I found the article interesting because I used to live in California, now I live in Arizona.

The article discusses how California has overcome economic troubles in the past for example:

For decades, California has epitomized America's economic strengths: technological excellence, artistic creativity, agricultural fecundity and an intrepid entrepreneurial spirit. Yet lately California has projected a grimmer vision of a politically divided, economically stagnant state. Last week its legislature cut a deal to close its $42 billion budget deficit, but its larger problems remain.

California has returned from the dead before, most recently in the mid-1990s. But the odds that the Golden State can reinvent itself again seem long. The buffoonish current governor and a legislature divided between hysterical greens, public-employee lackeys and Neanderthal Republicans have turned the state into a fiscal laughingstock. Meanwhile, more of its middle class migrates out while a large and undereducated underclass (much of it Latino) faces dim prospects. It sometimes seems the people running the state have little feel for the very things that constitute its essence—and could allow California to reinvent itself, and the American future, once again.

The facts at hand are pretty dreary. California entered the recession early last year, according to the Forecast Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is expected to lag behind the nation well into 2011. Unemployment stands at roughly 10 percent, ahead only of Rust Belt basket cases like Michigan and East Coast calamity Rhode Island. Not surprisingly, people are fleeing this mounting disaster. Net outmigration has been growing every year since about 2003 and should reach well over 200,000 by 2011. This outflow would be far greater, notes demographer Wendell Cox, if not for the fact that many residents can't sell their homes and are essentially held prisoner by their mortgages.

I found this information interesting because there seems to be a lot of "self-absorbed" jerks moving to Arizona from California, more specifically Southern California like Los Angles. How can you tell when you get cut off on the freeway or cut in front of in line at the grocery store that the person is from LA? well most of the time they have a California license plate on their Cadillac Escalade or are wearing a UCLA sweatshirt at the time and almost always on the phone at the time.

All I wanted to say is that I think self-absorbed, narcissist jerks suck and are the downfall of civilized society!

That is all, have a nice day.

Just one look

2009-03-06T13:32:00.004-07:00

Well, maybe a few:

So so many things to be disenfranchised about

2009-03-03T12:19:00.002-07:00

The world is in shambles

Rihanna might get back together with that guy that beat her.

Sharon Osbourne is being sued by some slut from her "charm school" show.

Helio Castroneves is on trial for not paying taxes.

A bit of a side bar, but do you remember when President George W. Bush wanted to invade Iraq and everyone that didn't support his plan were called "un-American" "anti-American," hell they even changed the name of French-fries to Freedom-fries because the country of France didn't want to send troops to invade Iraq.

Both France and Germany didn't support the United States efforts to invade Iraq and remove it's government because doing so would mean both France and Germany would NEVER collect on all the money they had loaned to Iraq in exchange for favorable prices on Iraq's oil exports. (this wasn't widely reported in the U.S. media because the Bush administration "pressured" most media outlets to "spin" the story like the U.S. is the good guy and France and Germany are pro-Muslim, pro-Iraq whiners.

Fast forward to Rush Limbaugh saying he hopes for the current U.S. president to FAIL.

Wow, I think ole' Rush has taken way, way too much Oxycontin!

Oh yea, I think Rush is a giant blemish on the world and should just STFU!

Holly Crap, this is cool beyond belief!

2009-02-20T13:19:00.001-07:00

This looks like a good place to get a pint

2009-02-11T18:26:00.003-07:00

How about something new

2009-01-28T11:50:00.002-07:00

Everything is redone, there are no new ideas out there. Why oh, why doesn't someone with some talent create something new instead of redoing something old with a little twist?

Take a great bubblegum pop song and make it a duet . . . swing, it's a new country crossover hit?

WTF!!

Ouch, dude look both ways

2009-01-26T13:09:00.002-07:00

First, I'm sorry for your loss to the family and friends of this event promoter. Second, ouch! Third, monster trucks are trying to take over the world, and kill people.

Some guys are good at their jobs

2009-01-16T13:35:00.003-07:00

Some guys are very good at their jobs and some guys suck, they just phone it in. Yesterday a bunch of people on a US Airways airbus jet were very glad the guys at the front of the plane and flight crew were good at their jobs! (along with first-responders, coast guard folks, ferry people and just about everyone involved) All the people involved with this event deserve a big thank you and a gold star for making this very difficult situation turn out very very well.

You know how when you go to the DMV/MVD/Department of Motor Vehicles or post office and the person behind the counter doesn't seem to care weather you live or die right there in front of them, well I sure am glad these people don't fly planes or drive people around, or are responsible for human life in any way.

I'm glad this turned out well.

It turned out well for everyone, except the birds and the single person that was injured. My well wishes go out to the injured person, the birds, well not so much.

Why is Ann Coulter allowed to speak?

2009-01-14T12:12:00.002-07:00

She, along with others of her kind sit back and rail against everything they are against to no end, but make no effort to change, alter, effect, fix or do anything at all to right the wrongs she, and those like her are concerned about.

The general public should as open-minded smart people minimize and marginalize her until her voice is so quite that we can not hear her speak. Wait, the general public is not very open-minded, because being open-minded is the same as being . . . gasp LIBERAL! and that is what Ann Coulter is against.

Maybe I'll get lucky and a group of single mothers will gather in the town square and stone her to death, or burn her at the stake. That would be a sight to see, yes sir that would be fun, we could roast hot-dogs and eat popcorn. We are having some fun now!

Advertising?

2009-01-05T13:08:00.002-07:00

There are so many thing to feel disenfranchised about its hard to come to grips with the truly massive scale of "greed" or outright lies and manipulation of this fraud that is the world today.

One small example is:

In dark and lonely apartments where 250 lb woman/girls sit watching this television ad thinking that "if, and only if, I take Zyrtec, not only will my allergies clear up, but I'll be as cute/slim/happy/sexy as the girl in the ad.

It is sad to think that some very well paid advertising executives somewhere designed this as for just such a purpose.

It's called Image Advertising, and it's designed to make the viewer think that if they use the product being advertised, they too will have everything portrayed in the ad i.e., youth, beauty, wealth etc.

I wonder how many people can see through this huge "crap-tastic" fraud?

I paid $1.54 a gallon for gas today!

2008-12-09T19:36:00.002-07:00

What was it, like less than 90 days ago and gas was over $4 per gallon? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the cheap gas, but what caused the price to drop to levels not seen since two years ago?

Next thing you know, the oil companies will be looking for a federal bailout!

Photography, and stuff

2008-12-07T14:27:00.002-07:00

Through the mirror of my mind, time after time, I see the reflections of . . .

The world is changing every day. Maybe, just maybe things will improve with the new President of the United States, yet the economy sucks big donkey boners.

It's the Holiday season and I'm out of work and have no money to buy gifts (well, I have some money, but no income at all) so I look for budget minded gifts and do my best to please my family.

Being out of work sucks, you have lots of time to do things, but no money for supplies. So I try to do things around the house that don't cost money and will improve me, my house, or just generally make us more comfortable. A bit of yard work, some general upkeep, a spot of paint here, a bit of trimming on the plants and trees, there is always something to do.

Thank goodness for digital photography, I don't have to pay for film or processing, and making memories is free.

They don't write good television anymore

2008-12-03T21:04:00.002-07:00

"Yes, I suppose if we broaden the definition to include those that can spell."

Those are some great lines there. I can only dream of being that good of a writer.

Arizona, take off your rainbow shades

2008-12-03T18:44:00.002-07:00

President elect Barack Obama appointed Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano as Secretary of Homeland Security.
That is great news for Janet Napolitano. This news however, may not be so great for the United States of America.

Let me explain why I believe this could be bad news.
Firstly, going from being the governor of a state like Arizona to the Secretary of Homeland Security is like going for the manager of Quickie-mart to CEO of Coca-cola corporation in terms of complexity. Arizona, where for the most part they try to re-invent the wheel every time they do something, rather than looking at what other states have done successfully and following that lead. Arizona is a red state, mostly Republican older retiree's who don't want to pay taxes with their fixed incomes and don't want some government official telling them what they can and can't do. Arizona, where the land is so barren and useless that the government gave several large sections to the displaced Native Americans that were left after the genocide because they figured it would (the land) never have any value. Arizona is not a port city and therefore does not have much in the way of diversity or cultural roots, and if it wasn't for the invention of air conditioning would be all but uninhabitable during five to six months of a year.

I really do hope Janet Napolitano does a fantastic job at her new post and I wish her the best. Being the Secretary of Homeland Security is a very complicated position with many, many ways to make mistakes that will have disastrous results.

Just look at the great job Tom Ridge did with this position.

Some random thoughts

2008-11-24T12:35:00.003-07:00

Because the election is over, the media does not know what to report on, and are presenting stories that are as artificial as Pam Anderson's breasts.

I noticed that Geico insurance company is still running about 7 or 8 different advertising campaigns during these tough economic times. I can't imagine where Geico gets all the money for all that crappy advertising?

I keep seeing this advertising for something called an IUC (Mirena®) which is just another name for an IUD (female birth control device). IUDs caused a ton of health issues to woman back in the day, and most doctors stopped using them, so why is this technology back in vogue?

At one time we had something that I liked to call "the Wal*Mart effect" wherein a company has enough purchasing power to tell it's suppliers to lower prices and if the suppliers don't comply with the distributor (in this case wal*mart) they will go out of business.

Well now we have what I like to call "the Survivor effect" wherein you ally with everyone (play nice with everyone) until you vote them off the island and/or stab them in the back! (get your co-worker fired, say bad things about a political rival, or generally treat someone badly).

When people conduct themselves during their daily lives as if "The Apprentice, or Survivor" or some other reality TV show is "real" it shows the social skills of those people. It is just not right.

Remember AMC American Motors cars, the Javelin, AMX, Gremlin, and Pacer, wait didn't they make Jeeps also. That's right they did. The government let AMC die and Chrysler ate them and look where the Jeep brand is today!

If the government lets Chrysler die the Jeep and Dodge brands will live on somehow, someway.

Christmas is upon us. Christ some stores were selling Christmas stuff in September, dear lord please help us rise from retail hell!

That is all for now, carry on. If you can.

Chrysler begging for money

2008-11-18T18:00:00.002-07:00

Robert Nardelli, the CEO of Chrysler Corporation was on Capitol Hill today begging for money. Chrysler Corp. has a bit of a sorted past, lets look at some key dates:

May 7, 1998: Daimler-Benz's Juergen Schrempp and Chrysler Corp.'s Robert Eaton announce US$36 billion merger that creates DaimlerChrysler AG.

Oct. 26, 2000 Chrysler posts US$512 million loss for third quarter.

April 2005: Cash cow Mercedes Car Group posts its first quarterly loss in more than 10 years.

May 14, 2007: DaimlerChrysler announces end of nine-year merger as it agrees to sell 80 percent of Chrysler to private equity firm Cerberus for US$7.4 billion (€5.5 billion).

Chrysler merged with Daimler Benz (Mercedes Benz) one of the most profitable and well run corporations in the world, and after 9 years the Daimler folks finally figured out Chrysler was dragging them down and sold them off.

Mercedes figured the Chrysler brand and it's management style sucked so bad that it would cost way to much to fix, save or even think about repairing, and now the current CEO of Chrysler wants the government to give it money?

Can you guess where the money will come from?

Your wallet and my wallet, yes us the tax paying public is where they want to get the money to save this dying brand.

Let me see if I understand this right - a bunch of really smart business guys from Germany try to save this big U.S. auto company, but find that it can't be done - so the current CEO figures maybe ask some not-so-smart people to give him a bunch O' cash so he can give it the old college try.

Why in the world would I believe Robert Nardelli could do something a bunch of smart business guys from Germany COULDN'T do!

Clearly Mr. Nardelli is not the brightest bulb on the string.

Wait, where have I heard that name before, Nardelli, Stinkie, Smelli, oh yea isn't he the guy that pissed off the Home Depot stock holders so bad?

Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli resigns - Jan. 3, 2007

Robert Nardelli named CEO of Chrysler - Aug. 5, 2007

Seems like the guy needs to be on the job a little longer before he starts begging for money!

Dear United States Guberment,
Please, oh please don't give my money to these jerks,
Signed,
John Q. Public

Economic aid to the auto industry

2008-11-10T12:38:00.003-07:00

In 2002 Chevy stopped production of the Camaro mostly due to the lower profit margins on performance cars. It cost Chevy much less, and the profit was much higher to produce and sell the Chevy Avalanche trucks. It's important to note that the frame and drive train of the Chevy Avalanche is what the H2 Hummer is built on, and the profit margins on $60 + thousand dollar trucks is where it's at.

That is until gas hit $4 per gallon!

Now the bottom has dropped out and the auto industry wants us poor sap consumer tax-payers to bail them out. After all we were stupid enough to buy their crappy over-priced trucks and SUVs so why wouldn't we just hand these guys lots of our money?

If we want REAL change in this country we will not give the auto industry our money.

Lots of people already think the banking industry bailout is a crock O' steaming poo, so why help another sector of greedy, profit hungry, poorly managed giant corporations?

Yes it will prolong the recession if we don't help the auto industry, but in the long run it's better to invest in newer, more efficient technology.

It's STILL all about the greed!

2008-11-07T07:57:00.003-07:00

The local newspaper, and newspapers across the country are selling election issue newspapers for a lot more than face value, sometimes hundreds of dollars!

Come on now, this profit for the sake of profit is just wrong!

The ideal that this is a way to supplement the income or profits of some giant corporation is just bullshit!

Don't fall for this crap, please if you have the extra money laying around and must collect something, please collect something useful.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the election results are not Historic, and that an amazing thing hasn't happened, it most certainly has, but don't add to the coffers of some corrupt very-biased corporation claiming to further society by turning history into pure profit!

There is no hope for change when this is the way we conduct ourselves!

Think of it this way; The newspaper was sold, at standard rates of 50 cents or 75 cents on that day, why now, 3 days later is it worth hundreds of dollars?

Stuff is worth what people are willing to pay for it[period]

If no one is willing to pay more than 75 cents for the paper, the newspaper would just trash or recycle all the extras, rather than try to sell them to someone for 10,000 % profit!

Please don't let this type of profit continue! We need change, yes. The election results were historic, yes. Display the papers in a museum for all to see.

It's not a world series home run ball, whereas there is only one, there are thousands of papers printed.

Corporations suck!

Overseas flights

2008-11-05T13:26:00.003-07:00

Traveling is fun, you get to see other places, learn about new cultures and expand your life's-lessons.

The worst part about traveling is sitting on a plane for 7, 8, 10, 12, or 14 hours. Even when you can get up and walk around in the small space that is your airplane it's brutal.

I have been lucky enough to fly business elite class (First Class) on almost all of my last few overseas flights, so the seats are much larger, the food is better, the movies are better and generally it's better, but it still sucks to be confined to such a small space for long periods of time.

When the plane is sitting on the tarmac I wonder what all those lucky people that get to fly in those 747s are doing? Dancing? Having a party? Getting to sleep in a flat position, rather than trying to fall asleep in some scaled-down lazy-boy chair that is a Business Elite Class seat.

I know I shouldn't complain, there are lots of people that never leave their home town, let alone get to travel out of the country, never mind being able to do it in the comfort of Business Elite Class.

I don't care who you are, traveling overseas and trying to sleep in a chair, of any kind sucks.

Some cool things to see and do when you leave the good ole U. S. of A.

Interesting to get a different perspective on the US elections from the eyes of the media in the UK.

Back before time began

2008-11-05T13:12:00.002-07:00

Remember the good old days, before email, blogs, web surfing, cell-phones and social networking?

I'm dropping off the grid for a few days, about a week really, and I wonder how I will cope without checking email or surfing the web?

How long can you go without?

Start with 100 points

If you have a blackberry subtract 200 points

If you can go for 7 days without turning on your cell phone subtract 50 points
If you can only go for 6 days without turning on your cell phone subtract 60 points
If you can only go for 5 days without turning on your cell phone subtract 70 points
If you can . . . well you get the idea

If you can go for 7 days without turning on your computer, surfing the web or checking email subtract 20 points
Follow the same logic as above for subtracting points

Bonus points for leaving the country and leaving your cell, laptop, etc. at home.

The person with the most points at the end of 7 days wins.

What do you win, well not much, maybe a little personal introspection and balance to your life.

The World Changed

2008-11-05T11:58:00.002-07:00

The world changed Tuesday. Only time will tell if the change will be good, positive, forward movement, or a short road to all out madness.

For now I will backtrack and work my way back to present.

Sherman, set the way-back machine for last week and see where it takes us.

10 things most people don't understand

2008-10-22T19:29:00.002-07:00

1.) Most media outlets are huge corporations (newspapers, television, radio, advertising, magazines) and THEY decide what we see and what we don't see.

2.) The age of unbiased news is long gone.

3.) Just because something is printed in the newspaper, doesn't make it true.

4.) Sporting events like football and baseball are generally classified as entertainment.

5.) If the owner of a sports team (often times a large corporation) wants to have a "good" year with ticket sales, television contracts for advertising, etc. all they have to do is "purchase" the best players in the league, in a way, purchase a winning team.

6.) A loosing team NEVER generates above average profits.

7.) A winning team ALWAYS generates higher than average profits.

8.) Right now, somewhere there is a meeting where people are deciding what tomorrow's news will be.

9.)News Corp. owns FOX Broadcasting Company, 34 television stations (8 cover the USA's most populous cities) 29 alternative broadcast channels, mostly under the name of "FOX Sports."

In Film:
20th Century FOX Stuidos, FOX Searchlight Pictures, FOX Television Studios

In Print:
One newspaper in the USA, 5 newspapers in the United Kingdom, 20 newspapers in Australia, all of HarperCollins Publishing companies (23 in all) HarperCollins Children's Book Group (6 in all)

In Sports:
Los Angeles Dodgers, National Rugby League, (partial owners) of New York Rangers and New York Knicks, Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Lakers

In Music and Media:
News America New Media, Broadsystem, Festival Records, Mushroom Records, NDS, News Interactive, News Outdoor, Nursery World, Staples Center

Viacom owns: CBS -- and 16 television stations (6 of which in top 10 marketshare) UPN 18 television stations, 5 additional television stations

On Cable:
MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Nick at Night, TV Land, VH1, Spike TV, Comedy Central, CMT, Showtime, The Movie Channel, Flix, Sundance Channel Owns King World Productions

On Radio:
Infinity Broadcasting, with 176 radio stations and Westwood One

On Film:
Paramount Pictures In Print: Simon & Schuster (8 publishing companies)

In Retail:
Owns Blockbuster video, Paramount Parks, Famous Players Theater, United Cinemas International, Famous Music

Gannett owns USA Today, USA Weekend, USA Today Sports Weekly, and the USA Today Information Network. Gannett owns 100 daily newspapers in the USA; the Army Times, Navy Times, Navy Times Marine Corps, Air Force Times, Federal Times, Defense Times, and Military Market.

Gannett also owns:
16 newspapers in the United Kingdom
16 television stations in the USA
Partial interests in the Cincinnati Reds, Classified Ventures Com LLC, (with competitors Knight Ridder, the New York Times Company, Times Mirror, Washington Post Co., and Tribune Co.) Quarter share in BrassRing Inc. (Human Resources services and software) Gannett partners with General Electric (GE) on Space.com and with Kight Ridder and Tribune Media on CareerBuilder.com

And that is just a small sample of the way we are spoon fed our news and entertainment.

10.) If you took the time to read this post, you learned something new and will now understand why some things are the way they are.

Good night, and good luck.

All this depressing news

2008-10-20T09:15:00.002-07:00

Depressing news about the bad economy, our corrupt government, politics, the election, and just about anything you can think of.

How about some entertainment?

File this one under "They Just Don't Get It!"

2008-10-20T08:31:00.002-07:00

The government wants to send us all money to stimulate the economy. Again.

I'm thinking if the average American family gets a check from anyone right now, they are going to spend it on the electric bill or groceries and gas, which will not really stimulate the economy. I think to actually stimulate the economy the government would somehow want the average American family to go out and buy "durable goods" like a new washing machine, refrigerator or American automobile or a house or something large and expensive like that, maybe some nice American stocks. If people purchased the large expensive items like a car or a refrigerator it might stimulate the economy, but if they save it for when they loose their jobs and/or buy dumb stuff like food and pay the electric bill I don't think it will stimulate the economy.

Right now the Christmas season is not looking to good for most retail chains, because of the bad economy it looks like the average American family will not spend a lot of money on expensive toys and gifts. Considering that most those expensive toys and gifts are produced in China and covered in lead-based paint which the Chinese are trying to kill us with, in the long term I would consider that a good thing. However, most retail chains would like the government to send everyone money that they can spend on Christmas gifts and useless items that have nothing to do with our day to day needs. So, I'm thinking the current stimulus package is backed by the retail sector, which is really the only one that stands to gain by another round of checks timed to arrive just in time for the Christmas season.

On a side note:

I was talking to a guy that was born in China and lived most of his life outside of the United States. He and his family had just moved here from Canada and we were talking about the political system and process here in the United States. I commented that as the election gets closer if the Republicans are not doing well then gas prices will be go down, but if the Republicans are doing well they will stay at around $4 a gallon, which is where they were when we had the conversation. Well guess what, gas prices are around $3 a gallon. I wonder how the election is going for the Republicans?

Another story about greed

2008-10-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

I was driving around the other day and noticed yet another parcel of land that was plowed to make way for expensive new homes, high-end retail shops, condo's and up-scale apartments.

In most cases this would be seen as growth, but in a down, or even slumping housing market who will be able to afford these expensive new homes that the developers are building?

I understand that if a developer purchases land and builds a commercial building and it sits empty for a few years, the developer can do alright with the tax deductions and losses from the empty building. I don't think the same tax deductions apply with residential property.

The theory seems sound, build a big building for business' and the business' will come and hire lots of workers and pay them lots of money and those people will buy the expensive homes, right?

The problem is that the business just aren't there, in fact the states largest employers are big retail, and everybody knows retail doesn't pay squat.

So, the land gets plowed, the commercial buildings get built but the business don't show up, and the buildings sit empty. The developers are doing alright because of the tax thing, but John Q. Public doesn't see an increase in high-paying professional jobs.

These same developers and other developers build retail malls hoping all the workers from all the jobs created by filling up the empty commercial buildings who got high-paying jobs from the business' and purchased expensive homes will need a place to shop for high-end goods and services. So they move forward and build the big retail mall.

Building the big retail mall has created jobs! That's a good thing right? Well, no the jobs created are retail jobs and those low-paying retail workers can't afford to purchase the expensive homes and condos the developer built. So the highly payed business workers don't exist and the retail business' suffer. Now the retail sales are down so the retail hires less workers and that means the high-end retail mall looks like a ghost town.

So because the business didn't come, the state didn't get that business tax revenue.

Because the business didn't hire workers, the state doesn't get that worker income tax revenue.

Because the workers didn't purchase the expensive homes, the states doesn't get the property tax revenue.

Because the workers that didn't purchase the expensive homes aren't there to shop at the retail mall, the state doesn't get that sales tax revenue.

Because of slumping sales, the retail mall needs less low-payed workers and the state gets even less of an already small income tax revenue chunk.

The low-payed retail workers put additional strain the states already stressed "low cost medical care" budget.

I'm not sure I like where all this is going to lead our state and it's budget?

Unless you have a good, secure well paying job, and you can keep it, this is going to suck for a lot of people.

I can't help it, this is just funny

2008-10-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

So I will post it.

The Associated Press is a well respected news source, and because of that I'm guessing they wouldn't "just make stuff up" or post something to the Internet that was edited or taken out of context. Based on those facts or "given truths" I figure this is not part of some "punked" or hidden camera "joke" and is the real deal.

Matt Damion is an actor, you know one of those Hollywood liberal types that wants to give clean needles to heroin babies and save the world by kissing spotted owls while hugging trees or some such thing. At any rate, he does have a point. Have a listen.

A brief history of how we got here

2008-10-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

Let's start sometime around 1978.

Prior to 1978 and for as long as I can remember, the United States were "doing things to stop the spread of communists values" either by outward means or "behind the scenes." Conversely, the Soviet Union had been "doing things to spread communists values," either outright or "behind the scenes."

This is the case with Afghanistan, the Soviet Union had been trying to help "foster" communists values, and support a pro-communists government in Afghanistan. But when the puppet government they had installed "behind the scenes" lost the fight against civil unrest and rebellion the Soviet's went in and took over.

Under the guise of "stopping the spread of communist values" the United States sold, gave and helped train the "other side" more commonly know as the "mojahedin" (Islamic holy warriors).

Most of these Islamic holy warriors were happy to fight against the foreign atheists and their Afghan puppets although they didn't have very good weapons. The United States was happy to step in and assist them in their efforts to repel these foreign atheists with stinger missiles and other helpful toys.

By 1989 the Soviet Union realized their efforts in Afghanistan would never be successful and would evidently bankrupt the entire Soviet Union both financially and from the public outcry against the war/invasion.

The story I have told so far is fact and history, it is reality and can not be denied.

Now switch the United States for the Soviet Union and Iraq for Afghanistan and you can see where this whole "Iraq War" will get us.

I'm guessing by 2011 the United States will withdraw due to costs and lack of public support, no mater who our President is at the time.

Today's Hot 100

2008-10-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well maybe not 100, but a lot of things going on in the world to feel disenfranchised about.

The Vice Presidential debate sucked, yea it was lame. I wonder if there is a leader out there somewhere that can think on their feet and speak intelligently about almost anything related to our economy and the United States foreign policy without the "he said," "she said" blame game.

A bunch of rich fat cats screwed up and now they want the United States government to give them money so their kids can live like Paris Hilton.

Our current economic mess is very much like the Enron saga.
Let us review: a bunch of guys got together to form a company that would bet on energy prices (that was Enron) in effect they were speculating that energy prices would go up and if they purchased "energy futures" at a lower price betting the price would go up when they sell the "energy" then bada bing, bada boom, were all rich! There were a few major flaws with this idea, the first flaw was they were greedy and the second was that they were manipulating the energy prices and they got caught. How does all this related to our current mess, you ask?

A bunch of people that lend money to other people got together and decided, "hey, lets lend money to people who have no chance of paying it back." and then what we will have is what is commonly called "bad paper."

Another group of people got together and decided that, "hey, lets buy a bunch of loans and resell them to someone else for a profit." (this is the part I think is like the Enron deal, buy something for $2 and sell it to the next guy for $4, all the while manipulating the value of the original item)

So, all these people (banks, and financial institutions) are buying all these loans (a lot of them are "bad paper") just betting that they can sell them to some other bank or financial institution like some game of "hot potato" and the bank that get stuck with all the bad paper in the end loses!

Guess who got stuck with all the "bad paper," in the end?

Give up, well it's you and me the tax paying public citizens of the United States.

And that is just a small sampling of the "Crap-tastic" things that have been going down lately.

Another Video that YouTube viewers won't get to see

2008-09-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

Because of their BS copyright policy!

New York Minute from Director man on Vimeo.

YouTube's Copyright bullshit

2008-09-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

If you put a video up on YouTube of, I don't know something like Mountain Biking, and that video has a song in it that YouTube's software flags as copyrighted material than YouTube can put ads on the page where the video appears.

The ads don't have to relate to the copyrighted material or the copyright holder, it just has to be copyrighted material. An example would be the video posted below when posted on YouTube had ads for McDonalds food, cruise line travel agents and hair products rotating next to it, no doubt with a "click-through" partner program deal in place. The good ole days of posting video's for your friends and family to see WITHOUT some form of corporate bloodsucking is over.

Do you want to know what I get out of this advertising deal?

Zipo

Bubbkiss

Zero

Nada

I think it's total BS!

Sedona Mt. biking from Director man on Vimeo.

British Television

2008-09-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

Some of those guys on British TV are funny, I found this video of a British TV host interviewing one of the Spice Girls, very funny stuff.

Have a look:

My latest method for "having fun"

2008-09-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

The New York Times doesn't like Sarah Palin

2008-09-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Big news, I know but I thought I'd point that one out for you. It seems that Sarah Palin doesn't like polar bears, that's for sure.

I thought the news paper was supposed to be unbiased and neutral ? Whatever happened to "they wouldn't print it if it wasn't true!"

Here a a few key excerpts from the NY Time article:

"Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials."

"In Wasilla, a builder said he complained to Mayor Palin when the city attorney put a stop-work order on his housing project. She responded, he said, by engineering the attorney’s firing."

"Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.

When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger, records show.

“Their secrecy is off the charts,” Mr. Steiner said."

Read the full article here: NY Times article Once Elected . . .

I'm not a big fan of Sarah Palin but I'd rather see news papers that had less opinion and more factual news.

If everything in the New York Times article is TRUE, we could be in for one hell of a rough ride as far as the "could be" VP would go.

Blah, blah, blah @#$%&

2008-09-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

The other night I was watching TV and eating dinner with my wife when this 30 second ad appeared on the TV. Holly cow, we both just about spit out our dinner laughing.

I hope it brings a smile to your face as well.

Everyone is going green!

2008-09-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

In fact this blog is using "green technology."

Being "green" is the latest fad! Can you reduce your carbon footprint? Are you living in a green household?

For the most part this whole "Green" thing is total crap (which, by the way should not be green, your crap that is).

The reason this blog is green is because no trees were killed to make paper for you to read my blog, therefore this blog is "green." The part they (me) left out is that the power generated to power my computer, the servers at my service provider, the DNS (Domain Name Server), the backbone (the "main" connector to the Internet that my service provider uses) and the coal-fired power plant used to create the electricity to run all the computers is so, so far from being "Green" it's not even funny.

It's all just marketing BS, remember with good marketing BS you can "market" ice cubes" to people living at the North pole. You don't believe me, well how do you explain the marketing BS that made us believe that smoking cigarettes would NOT kill us!

Oh, yea I remember that one.

So, how is your carbon footprint today?

POV Mt. Biking

2008-08-20T18:35:00.000-07:00

I'll just put this up as a diversion to make the day pass a little quicker

Hey, you! Yea you, I'm talking to you

2008-08-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

You are narrow minded and uninformed. Yea, you! If you got your news today from FOX NEWS, CNN, The New York Times, PBS or any other news program at any time today, I am sure, very sure you didn't get the WHOLE story.

Every piece of information available to you is somehow slanted in some way or the other, nothing you know is real.

If you stopped 10 people on the street and asked them the exact same question, like "are government programs doing enough to stop hunger in the United States?" I'm sure you would get 10 different answers, but and here is the key - I bet all 10 people would give some kind of an answer - it is impossible for people to answer "I don't know enough about [something, anything] to give an intelligent answer."

Not going to happen, because we all have 24/7 news channel and we know everything about everything.

The sad fact is most people watch their favorite news program and just take if all as gospel.

I wish more people were critical thinkers.

Not all advertising sucks balls

2008-08-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Most ads these days are really, really bad. I saw this one and thought it was funny, doesn't really make me want to buy Bridgestone tires (because Bridgestone and Firestone are the same company, remember the whole Firestone/Ford Explorer problems) but I thought this was funny and cool.

Have a look:

Remember the smartest person story

2008-08-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

If you go back to the smartest person in the world story I did a little while ago you will see that Noam Chomsky is number 11 on the smartest person in the world list for 2008. I wonder what the eleventh smartest person in the world thinks about things?

Lets take a look: (this one is a little long and his voice is somewhat monotone, but some of the things he says are very interesting)

What is Twitter?

2008-07-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates (otherwise known as tweets) which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user's Twitter profile page and delivered to other Twitter users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Here are a couple of video's to help you understand the usefulness of this craptastic idea! (for better understanding please watch them in order)

This one first:

Now this one:

Follow me!

Now you see how utterly craptastic this new technology is.

A sad story

2008-07-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

The soldier shown in the photo above - viewed by many as a hero, the army medic is shown rescuing an Iraqi boy who was injured in a firefight - has taken his own life!

Very sad that someone who gave so much to help others couldn't get the help he needed to fight the demons inside.

You will be honored and missed.

Read more of the story here NPR story

Voted the "Smartest" person in the World!

2008-07-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Holly cow, no pressure but the people I know who think they are the smartest in the world didn't even make the list?

Just goes to show you that you may not be as smart as you think, in fact, studies show that one in five people suffer from some form of mental illness, think of four friends, if their OK, you are it!

On a side note:

July 14, 2008 · When the votes came in for Prospect magazine's list of the top 100 public intellectuals, at No. 1 was Turkish Sufi cleric Fethullah Gulen.

My buddy Noam was at No. 11 this year, and No. 1 in 2005. Here is the first 25:

1 Fethullah Gülen (*)

2 Muhammad Yunus (*)

3 Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (56)

4 Orhan Pamuk (54)

5 Aitzaz Ahsan (*)

6 Amr Khaled (*)

7 Abdolkarim Soroush (15)

8 Tariq Ramadan (58)

9 Mahmood Mamdani (*)

10 Shirin Ebadi (12)

11 Noam Chomsky (1)

12 Al Gore (*)

13 Bernard Lewis (34)

14 Umberto Eco (2)

15 Ayaan Hirsi Ali

16 Amartya Sen (8)

17 Fareed Zakaria (35)

18 Garry Kasparov (*)

19 Richard Dawkins (3)

20 Mario Vargas Llosa (29)

21 Lee Smolin (*)

22 Jürgen Habermas (7)

23 Salman Rushdie (10)

24 Sari Nusseibeh (65)

25 Slavoj Zizek (23)

To read more about this, read here: Prospect Magazine.

Or read about the story on NPR.

Find out more about smart people, and see what they are saying by looking some of them up on the good ole' interwebs!

You just might learn a thing or five!

Wow, it's gotta suck to be George W. Bush!

2008-07-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

I'm guessing it must make you feel like a total jerk when at a celebration of American independence you, as the current president of these United States gets heckled so badly that your face turns red and you look to your advisers and wonder why the guy in the audience keeps yelling "FUCK YOU"

Holly cow that looks like an uncomfortable situation.

The world is SNAFU

2008-07-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

In New York a woman dies on the floor of a hospital waiting room and the staff lie on records to make it look like they checked on her, classic CYA (Cover Your Ass). Two security guards looked in on the waiting room and went back to work (and by "work" I mean sitting around with your thumb up your ass) without taking the time to check if the woman laying on the floor was breathing or not.

I wondered how those people were not just fired instantly when the news broke?
Looks like they may have been, see the story here:

New York Times Story

I just don't get it!

2008-06-27T23:29:00.000-07:00

I've seen several very well respected people provide information on the complete and total bullshit-off-the-charts UNETHICAL things the Bush administration has done. I'm not talking spitting in public, but real change-the-history-of-the-world stuff here, like invading a country for OIL and telling the public it's "what's best" for OUR safety.

Here is a little video:

I can't believe this shit is just something Bill Moyer's or PBS just made up out of thin air, Alan Greenspan for god sake.

Why we haven't just kicked the Bush administration out of office is beyond me!

GEICO can save you money, or can they?

2008-06-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

So, GEICO insurance company says they can save you money on your car insurance, but how is it that they can beat the prices of the other insurance companies? GEICO must have spent millions on the whole "Caveman" and "Gecko" themed advertising and I'm guessing they will need to make that money back somehow, somewhere, right?

GEICO stalls and pays very little on their claims, that is how they can save you money!

If you are unfortunate enough to be hit by someone that is insured by GEICO, expect that you will fight, fight and fight some more to get them to pay off on a claim, and when they do finally pay off on a claim you won't get very much [period].

In the end I believe GEICO is doing everyone a disservice by generally sucking as an insurance company!

If you are insured by GEICO now, get out now while you still have some self-respect, save yourself.

Video Blogging

2008-06-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

YouTube has several "channels" of these and some are kind of fun, others just strange, and some are just plain disturbed.

I liked this guy's stuff, funny and interesting all the same time. Have a look.

Turns out, Hogan does not know BEST!

2008-05-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

As it often turns out the entire Hogan family are narcissistic assholes of the worst kind, here is the low down from World Entertainment News Network: Wrestling star Hulk Hogan and his family have been chastised by the parents of the teenager left critically injured by their son Nick's 2007 car crash.

Nick Bollea, 17, is currently serving an eight-month prison sentence at Florida's Pinellas County Jail, after pleading no contest to felony reckless driving following a horrific car crash in Clearwater, Florida, which has left his friend John Graziano brain damaged.

But Graziano's parents Ed and Debra are furious at the teenager's lack of remorse, after hearing Nick discuss plans to win an early release from jail in taped telephone conversations that were leaked online over the weekend.

On the tapes, obtained by website TMZ.com, Bollea can be heard telling his dad that he wants to turn up for a court hearing "in my jumpsuit, for the sympathetic factor."

A statement released by the Grazianos via their lawyers reads: "These tapes clearly show what the Bolleas said in court was calculated to give the Court the impression that Nick deserved a break. It was a true Academy Award performance. They (the Bollea family) spoke of their love for John and they expressed how sorry they were, but their true feelings have now been revealed in the tapes..."

The Grazianos also blast the Bolleas for trying to cash in on their grief, by turning Nick's prison stint into a money-spinning reality TV show.

They add: "Nick Bollea and Terry Bollea are already planning a new reality show. Cameras are set to film Nick Bollea as he is released from jail and while he serves his probation."

Ed Graziano goes on to say: "The reason he (Nick) was put in jail is to think about what he did to my son. (But) that's the last thought on his mind."

Of movies and life

2008-05-27T10:22:00.000-07:00

Going to the movies these day can often require a second mortgage, what with the cost of gas, snacks and the movie itself. So when a movie worth seeing comes along it's important news.

If you haven't seen Iron Man yet, do yourself a favor and go see it, it's a fun film! Reasonably good story, good action, and for films adapted from comic books, this is one of the better ones.

Related sad news, director Sydney Pollack has passed at the age of 73. Some very good films came from his creative mind, he will be missed.

The World is falling apart

2008-05-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

I heard a story on NPR a few days ago about a cafe near the Arizona, Utah border called the "Merry Wives Cafe." The cafe has pictures hanging on the walls of Polygamist families.

Wikipedia defines Polygamy as: (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage") is used in related ways in social anthropology, sociobiology, and sociology. Polygamy can be defined as any "form of marriage in which a person [has] more than one spouse."

The cafe is patronized by local polygamists families and curiosity seekers, "We're not trying to shove [polygamy] in people's faces," says manager Cherise Dutson. "But, this is how we live, and it's our heritage." (my response: "That doesn't make it right!")

(here is my analogy, if history in this country is to have slaves and I put pictures of slave owners and their slaves on the walls of my cafe, people would think I was a dickhead)

My understanding is that the practice is illegal in the United States, however wikipedia says: Most western countries do not recognize polygamous marriages, and consider bigamy a crime. Several countries also prohibit people living a polygamous lifestyle. In some States of the United States, the criminalization of a polygamous lifestyle originated as anti-Mormon laws, although they are rarely enforced.

Given all the facts presented I would tend to think that having a Cafe that to some extent promoted the practice of Polygamy would be, how should we say, "not so good." Considering everything that went down in Texas with the FLDS church, maybe people [the cafe] shouldn't suggest to it's patrons that this kind of thing is acceptable? [the polygamist lifestyle]

We live in strange times.

I want to . . .

2008-05-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

have sex with Tyra Banks.

There I said it. It's out there, and now I can't take it back. I know it is never going to happen, but a man can dream, right?

I'm not sure what it is about some woman, they just exude sex. Either they have a figure that would be well suited to such activities or somehow they just seem to move a certain way or do something that makes feel funny in my "special places."

I can't imagine what it would be like to have dinner or a conversation with Tyra Banks, I mean after all what would you talk about? Tyra seems very driven with her talk show, America's Next Top Model, and whatever else she does, I don't guess she has much free time.

I wonder what would happen if I just called her up to see if she would join me for a burger?

In a few weeks

2008-04-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

In a few weeks most Americans will be getting a tax rebate check. While you might think that this is free money for you to "stimulate" the faltering economy here in the United States, it is really so much more.

What should you do with your check? Whatever you do, don't save it, go out and spend it on something right away! That way the government can get the economy stimulated!

As I have said before, everything I know about politics I learned from the West Wing TV show, so here is what I learned about tax rebates:

Everything I know about Politics

2008-04-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

I learned from watching the West Wing. On the West Wing the press Secretary would talk about Friday being "take-out-the-trash-day" because the media would pay little attention to press released on Friday as it is the end of the "news cycle" and everything starts over again on Monday.

Guess what, Hillary Clinton's political campaign released their tax records on, you guessed it, Friday, take-out-the-trash-day and on Monday Hillary's top strategist stepped down to further distract the media from the tax issues.

I'm guessing the media is being played by the Clinton campaign like a fish on a line!

Here is a great little video for you to enjoy:

This will just trip you out!

2008-04-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

I can't do Nuthin' for U man

2008-03-25T11:31:00.001-07:00

I don't know if this is rap or hip hop music, but it is really good.

In urban youth speak, "dat flava flav gots mad skills boi!"

Rap Music

2008-03-25T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yo, homie some rap music just phat sukx!

Dis shait is dope mang!