Musings in Search of a Muse

Another stunning woman


Maiko Kazano

Unfortunately I have only this part of the image. The original is really a stunning photograph overall -- lighting (soft yet still directional and able to show texture in the hair), pose (implicit rather than explicit nudity initially masked by attention-grabbing incongruity while the tilt of the head, the three-quarter view on the face, the expression, and the framing effect of the hair are perfect), environment (complimentary in tone yet with enough juxtaposition of textures that contrast her flawless skin and setting content to give a hint of tension), and composition (a classic left-to-right sloping S-curve that starts at the face and brings the viewer back). But it's the face that really caught me so I cropped out the nudity. Okay, it wasn't graphic nudity, but enough that it's an certainly an adult art photo and enough that if I looked at it often or at length the primitive male would take over from the rational male. That's not good for one who is struggling to maintain Christian values.

I really like great portraiture and the work I've seen on the Web with Miss Kazano -- even the nudes -- certainly falls into this group. She seems so fresh and relaxed with the camera. Rather playful, too, which seems to be unusual in Japanese portraiture. There's the requisite school girl outfit shots typical of the culture, of course, but more than a few of the images feature Miss Kazano in natural environments doing everyday things and enjoying it. I'm glad I saved this part of the image because it's for great tiled as wallpaper on the ol' puter.

Do the rifles wielded by General Sarris's troops in the movie Galaxy Quest look an awful lot like the "Z51" guns that Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg gave to the Mangalores in The Fifth Element or what? A bit smaller, yes, but the design is rather derivative. You'll have to take my word for it. I can't find pics of the weapon in Galaxy Quest. Both are a form of bifurcated ovoid that one wears like a kind of sleeve or cuff.

Zorg and some Mangalores with the Z51

My latest purchases from iTunes:

• "Give a Little Bit" by The Goo Goo Dolls - Until it was played on an episode of Joan of Arcadia I had forgotten how good this song is. My library also has "Iris" but I can't say I care much other tunes from The Goo Goo Dolls.
• "Song 2" by Blur - The melody and the hook seemed familiar to me when I listened to the sample on iTunes so I put it in my Wish List for a while. Then I succumbed to temptation. It turned out to be an okay tune. Nothing spectacular, but I'm sure it will compliment the right playlist.
  
• "The Rubberband Man" by The Spinners - Yeah, I gave into commercial exploitation. But I have to admit that I have no idea which office supply store uses this song in it's adverts. I guess that's the real power of the media for you. But it is a great song and I'm surprised that I hadn't added it to my collection well before this.
  

Just watching a bit of my Blue Man Group DVD and I can't help but think my dad would have gone ape over this. Shortly before he retired -- before CDs or DVDs were invented -- he got hooked on the Yes album 90125. He'd sit and listen to the whole cassette giving it 100% attention, usually listening to "Leave It" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart" several times in a sitting. After CDs were introduced he'd listen to Herbie Hancock with almost the same fascination. I can imagine him doing the same things in the early days of stereo LPs. I have a few of his stereo demonstration records, particularly the incomparable Provocative Percussion series. Yup, Blue Man Group would be right up his alley.

Sure, I understand that God's love in Heaven transcends all of the mortal pleasures like this music, but I'd still like to share it with him. Passion-filled performances such as those on this DVD are as close to knowing Heaven as anything in my life right now. In fact, I'm going to crank it up one more time before I go to bed. And wish Dad was here to enjoy it with me. Here's to you, Dad!

Man! Did today buzz right by. And it's not like we were busy at work. The 75-minute training session in the morning even seemed like no time at all -- and it was boring!

But I got home in time to see the last 1/2 hour of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Comedy Central butchered the end credits, as broadcast networks tend to do these days. If you haven't seen the movie I won't spoil them here, but take my advice and watch all the way to the end when you rent this excellent flick.

I've gotta give the network credit, though. They have a new animated "reality" series, Drawn Together, that looks way to raunchy for me, but has "live Web cams" showing the residents throughout their day at the network Web site. Somebody was using their head. Almost makes me want to watch the show, but from the 10 minutes I caught one night and the promos I've seen this is not a show that I think I'll watch. A bit too immoral and I'm trying to steer away from that sort of thing.

Have you seen 20Q.net? It's a really great artificial intelligence program that plays the 20 Questions game with you. According to the site: "Think of an object and the A.I. will try to figure-out what you are thinking by asking simple questions. The object you think of should be something that most people would know about, but, never a specific person, place or thing." It's a blast, really. I've beaten it a few times but only stumped it completely once.

Hey, Luuucy! 'Splain this to me! A few moons ago a well known shaving razor company sent a sample of their triple-bladed refillable-handle razor. The blades were very good and lasted an incredibly long time, so after shaving off my whole beard I thought I would splurge and get a refill pack -- Eight refills on sale for $10.49 + tax. Two hooks below I saw eight disposable razors of the exact same type from the same company for $2.00 less -- not on sale.

And 'splain this, too! Why doesn't the FX network show episodes for Buffy the Vampire Slayer in order? Their back-to-back episodes this morning just jumped from season 1 to season 3. Must be that they wanted to show the Thanksgiving episode. It's really funny. I can't think of too many episodes that weren't really well written.

Here's some things about Star Wars Episode IV that need some 'splaining:

• The cycle chase on Endor seems far less realistic on the new DVD than it did on any previous version. Could they have sharpened it up too much?
• If the rebels that landed on Endor to shut down the shield generator are trying for stealth by dressing in camouflage, then why did they bring a bright, metallic gold droid with them?
• If the film is so well remastered, how come the coloration between shots seems to vary?

• It looked like Han Solo's hands were bound when he was put into the carbon freezing chamber. Why were they unbound when his carbonite chamber was removed?
• How come the Imperial Walkers were easy to blow up once they were down but were invincible to blasters when upright?

That picture of me in my profile hasn't been terribly accurate for a while as it's been some time since I've sported a full beard. Today I was tired of the whole thing and just shaved it all -- including the mustache. I don't know why I did it. Maybe I was just tired of having it on my face. It certainly wasn't to improve my looks. Not only do I look downright silly without a beard, I also look 15-years old. Good trick for someone who is coming up on 42 years. Here's what I look like now:

Micro-Me

School bans history materials referring to God "A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God — including the Declaration of Independence."

And I thought the Creationism versus evolution debate was silly. This is downright censorship. You have to read this article. I really foresee a civil war brewing or at least some secession attempts.

My new Griffin iTrip mini arrived today and it's awesome! Okay, I have one gripe -- it doesn't fit on my iPod mini as well as I had expected. Otherwise it works better than I expected in my car and about as expected in my home (i.e., poorly). What's really cool, aside from having tons of music in the car, is being able to choose any track almost as if I was using a remote control. No more having to switch CDs and then bonk through the tracks. And no more getting in a rut by memorizing play orders on a CD, either. Until there's a way for a media center in my car to synchronize with a media center in my house when I pull into the driveway, this is the way to go.

I also bought and the Griffin PowerPod (to recharge in the car) and PodPod (to hold the iPod in my car's cup holder). I've got just one gripe about the latter, but it may be critical -- the PodPod grips the iPod only when it's not used in a cup holder. Even then the grip is more tenuous than I would like. This gripe may go away as I use it more and get used to it's idiosyncrasies.

And I almost bought a new notebook computer today. As I've written in several posts already I don't really need a new computer, but it would be really nice to have. I played with the model that I'd like to have, a Toshiba M35X-S149, and it was sweet. A slightly bigger display than I have now, more power, and a bigger hard drive. And it's on sale for $150 off until close of business tomorrow.

But prices are always dropping and I suppose I should wait until I get my company's retention bonus before I spend it. I'm sure there will be lots of time after the Holidays. Just as long as I don't do anything stupid tomorrow.

Here's a stunning woman


Miss Halle Berry has to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her presence in the Bond movie Die Another Day was critical to making it a rather good film. Not just for her looks, mind you, but she brought a fresh attitude that was needed to update the series for the 21st century. Credit this to Miss Berry being a fine actress. According to the IMDB she "Portrayed Dorothy Dandridge in the made for television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999) (TV). Dorothy Dandridge was the first African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and coincidentally Halle Berry is the first to have won in that category."

BBC NEWS | ID card scheme unveiled by Queen: "A bill to introduce a compulsory identity card scheme for the UK has been unveiled in the Queen's Speech."

Okay, another potential threat to privacy. We face these every day. Here's the part that bugs me: "The Home Office has said people will pay either £35 for a stand-alone ID card or £85 for a passport and ID card together." This isn't like a driver's licence. I have one because if I want to do some of the things I like to do so there's no problem with the paying the associated fees.

But a government-mandated identification card is not something I need or want so why should I pay for it?

Yup ... more Christmas lights. One whole town near by is decorated. Cripes. I don't even have my leaves raked up yet.

The other night I thought I might have been seeing something ... Christmas lights in my neighborhood. Tonight, it was confirmed. Right down to the wire mesh 3-D reindeer in the yard. Note the date of this post: Nearly a whole week before Thanksgiving. Sheesh!

N.Y. lawsuit questions safety of dodgeball: "The high-energy school yard game of dodgeball is getting kicked around a New York courtroom, where questions are being raised about whether it's just too dangerous for young children to play."

Also from the article:

"Dodgeball is not an appropriate activity for K-12 school physical education programs," according to The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a nonprofit professional organization of 20,000 physical education teachers, professors, coaches, athletic directors and trainers. Dodgeball provides "limited opportunities for everyone in the class, especially the slower, less agile students who need the activity the most."

The Firefox browser extension FoxyTunes was getting to be drag on system performance. I still believe, as I wrote in an earlier post, that it's a great tool, but right now my system just can't handle it. Thank goodness for an easy removal method. I'm tired of trying to be a software engineer. I'm plotting my next laptop right now. The question is "Should I go for an Apple Powerbook that I don't have to worry much about and to heck with the cost or just go for high-powered and high-maintenance but comparatively inexpensive Windows machine?"

Okay, I love the show Joan of Arcadia, but do the writers really think that High School guidance counselors and administrators really insult and denigrate students openly? In front of the students themselves and in front of other students?

Other than that, tonight's episode is doing a great job of interspersing flashbacks with "real time" segments. But what was up with that vision that the character Helen had during one of the flashbacks? Sometimes the writers make her a bit spooky.

There are about 20 minutes to go in this episode and I think I've found a theme -- self-absorption is bad.

Funny part: One of the characters "inhabited" by God in this episode is a bit more than vaguely homosexual. Wonder what the Religious Right is going to say about that?

Cool part: The scene where Joan talks to God-as-court stenographer. Absolutely brilliant.

A couple things that the network Web site for the show needs to do is (1) Keep "Joan's" diary updated every day; (2) Keep a running list of the music featured in each episode.

FYI - the time on this post doesn't reflect when I started the blog -- about 08:20 pm

Anyone who has read my blog (and really, has anyone read my blog?) would quickly get the impression that I frequent the BBC News Web site and they wouldn't be wrong. It's my Home Page and a popular destination for just pokin' around. That's how I found their Science & Nature - Space - Games and Quizzes section. Golly, this is a neat page. And it reminded me how much basic science I have forgotten. You try putting the planets in order just by looking at the pictures and see how much you've forgotten.

However, it was MSNBC that alerted me to Britain's ban on fox hunting, not the BBC, though it is the lead story on the latter's UK page. The former is also a good site for news because of its's breadth of coverage (on the US, not the world) and it's easily navigable. It may not have the depth or gravitas of the BBC but I still look at it almost every day.

Why don't eggs taste like chicken?
After all, everything else does.

Tomorrow night's Bible Study group is going to watch a video on street preaching as part of our study of growth through ministry. There's no DVD player in the house we'll be at so my original plan was to use my computer but the audio connector on the ol' girl is broken and it's a bit of a pain in the butt to connect the beastie. Further, as I type this post I've noticed that even more keys are going bad, particularly in the QWERTY row. So I'm not sure I want to drag the machine up there to use it.

I would disconnect my DVD player and take it up - and I still might - but I've been shopping over the past few weeks for a good but inexpensive (i.e., under forty bucks) DVD player to leave with the family that hosts the meeting. So after school today I stopped at an electronics mega-store and got stopped by a performance by Blue Man Group on the best large screen monitor I had ever seen. Yup, I had to buy it.

Not the $3000.00 monitor. I hopped over to the DVD aisle and picked up The Complex Rock Tour Live. I haven't liked enough of the group's music to buy more than a few tracks from iTunes but it looked like they put on one heck of a show so I figured twelve bucks for the disc would be a safe investment. I wasn't wrong about it being worth the money nor about the quality of the show. It was fabulous, even the tunes I wouldn't buy otherwise. The whole band is scarily hard working and scarily talented. I just wish their rendition of The Who's "Baba O'Reilly" was available for download because it is better than the original in many ways.

Well, I had found something to do, but it'’s nothing I can complete now. At least I don't think I can. It's just a complicated mess for my other job and I'm not sure what direction it should be heading. It's a phone list to use at work and with all the changes of AT&T Wireless merging into Cingular Wireless it’s probably too early to start thinking of this sort of thing.

One of the disappointments that many of us are facing is the changes to text messaging (SMS – Short Message Service) plans. My supervisor sends over 4000 messages a month. She receives at least that many. As an AT&T wireless employee we enjoyed unlimited inbound and outbound messages. If we have to give up this plan she's up a creek. The Cingular Wireless employee plan gives no free text messages.

Not that I use SMS often, but it is handy. Just today I sent about a half-dozen requests for Google services via short code 46645. My favorite is define then a word. It’s a great way to look things up. Last night during a Lodge meeting a heard a word in the 3rd degree ritual that I thought could have a more appropriate substitute if it weren’t that the dialogue is carved in stone (attention insiders: that pun was intended). So I texted a look-up request and found that I was right. Too bad nothing can be done about it.

Nothing else in the paper struck me as noteworthy. Slow news days are pretty good, I suppose because that means that everything is running fine. Now I have to find something else to do. Maybe I'll tackle that eBook I was reading last week. Sometime last year Adobe gave away a free copy of Harry Turtledove’s World War: In the Balance for their eBook reader. I have it in paperback. While the rest of the series didn't live up to the quality of the first book I kept buying them because I was looking for a good place to end the story. Turns out the last book of the lot was a good place to stop. Go figure.

Another story in this morning's paper makes me shake my head in wonder. The shakeup at the Central Intelligence Agency was inevitable for two reasons: The mistakes over the last decade have brought about a need for a new administrator and an incoming administrator always makes changes. While I completely believe reports that some of Director Porter Goss's subordinates are causing friction due to lack of respect, it comes to mind the root of this deficit lies in the agency's poor performance. Keep in mind that as far back as the 1980s the CIA had problems. How could they have missed the fall of the Soviet Union?

I'm sure blame can't be laid entirely at the feet of the CIA but as it is supposed to be the leading intelligence agency it must take the brunt of the criticism. Reform is needed and I wish Mr. Goss luck, but I also wish that the reform be done with more diplomacy or the wheat will be disposed of with the chaff.

Notes from the Field

Thus begins another record of a day of In-School Discipline. I’m covering this at least once a week between now and the Holiday break in December. I find it’s a great opportunity to catch up on bills and other mail, reading that I’ve been neglecting, and various other tasks I usually don’t make time to do.

I hadn't intended to start blogging this early but the quick announcement of Condoleezza Rice's appointment to succeed Colin Powell at the Department of State disturbs me a bit. Not that I don't think she can handle the job – by all accounts she's brilliant, diligent, and extremely knowledgeable on foreign affairs. What bothers me is that she's likely to be too much of a team player. Mr. Powell served as a moderating influence and an alternative voice in an administration that was overwhelmingly right-wing. Ms. Rice was part of this group and her inclusion at State will increase the tunnel vision that characterizes the administration. The last thing that a lame duck president needs is a cadre of so-called "yes men." Rather it needs the flexibility to work with the diverse elements in other parts of the government otherwise it’s not likely to accomplish anything of value.

BBC NEWS | Americas | The disengagement of Colin Powell: "Colin Powell never quite found his place in a Bush administration dominated by neo-conservatives. ... It has also emerged that he was told of President George W Bush's decision to go to war after the Saudi ambassador to the United States. ... It is doubtful whether the neo-conservatives had their own disengagement plan for Colin Powell. He was a very useful presenter of US policy, given that he has been the first African-American secretary of state."

That last statement alludes to one of the probable reasons why Mr. Powell was given the post at State. But a look not too far back in history also reveals a clue to his destiny. After the Gulf War Mr. Powell was exceptionally popular with politicians and the public alike. There was considerable talk about a bid for the Oval Office from both sides of the aisle. But neither party really wanted him because he was too much of a moderate. But how could a political party make use of the man's fame and popularity without giving him too much power? The Republicans found a way. So Mr. Powell was given a very high-profile position that, surprisingly to some, could appear to have power without really having power.

Thus the talents of a good man were wasted over four years and his political capital was ruined in the process. That's our loss. Just because people only respected what Mr. Powell's image could accomplish for them rather than respecting the true gifts he possesses -- intellect, courage, a strong sense of fair play, and heart.

Profile: Colin Powell from BBC News and another from the US Department of State. The latter link will probably change when a new secretary is sworn into office.

Specter on the line as Congress returns "Sen. Arlen Specter’s move up to chairman of the committee that handles the president’s judicial nominees is on the line this week when lawmakers return to the Capitol to clean up the unfinished work of this Congress and prepare for the next one."

I can't think of a better person for the job. There are so many positive adjectives that can be used to describe the man but I'm going to pick just a few: honest, fair, intelligent, compassionate, and hard-working. These attributes are often anti-thetical to being in the Senate's leadership circle, so best of luck, Mr. Specter. You'll need it.

Just confirmed! The song "Ends" is by Everlast. It's on the Whitey Ford Sings the Blues album. I mentioned this in an earlier post as a great song I'd like to use for Bible Study or a similar purpose. Too bad none of the music download sites have it available because I really don't like the rest of the tunes on the album. "Black Jesus" from Eat at Whitey's is another Everlast tune I'd like to have, but once again I don't care for the rest of the album. The only album iTunes has is White Trash is Beautiful and none of the samples appealed to me. The beats are great, the lyrics are clever, and the vocals are "da bomb," but the subject matter often left me cold and the foul language is something I can do without. I'd love to hear Everlast do a cover of B.T.O.'s "Blue Collar." The tune's lyrics deserve Everlast's vocal talent.

Oh! While looking for a copy of "Ends" I dropped "Psyché Rock (Fatboy Slim Malpaso Mix)" from The Fatboy Slim/Norman Cook Collection into my iTunes Wish List. The 30-second sample is quite tantalizing. I also added "Song 2" by Blur and the classic Spinners tune "The Rubberband Man." Twenty-six songs in the list now and the oldest one in consideration is from June. Gotta start buying or trimming sometime.

Sometime yesterday I downloaded a great extension, FoxyTunes, for the Firefox browser. It lets me control iTunes (and other media apps) from a little toolbar that I can position in various places in the browser. Almost like the taskbar mode for Windows Media Player, but more customizable. Too bad it can't run in the taskbar, though, because there are times I'm working in other applications without having a browser running that I'd like to control the player. There are a few criticisms I can make about iTunes, but the only one that is consistent is that the interface is rather clunky. Apple can make very elegant hardware but their GUIs lack the smoothness of goo.

Man, did that stink! It took me over an hour and a half to write, edit, publish, edit, publish, edit ... well, you get the idea ... those last two posts. Guess I'm losing my touch. Or maybe not. It kept me from folding laundry! Yippee!

In a related story, School board OKs challenges to evolution "... sophomore Courtney Lawton said she didn't have a problem learning only about evolution in biology class last year. 'I just think they should keep it the way it is, and they shouldn't add anything about a higher power," said Lawton, 15. "People who believe differently, they might feel like they’re being segregated.'"

This story covers a proposal in a Dover, PA school district to teach "intelligent design" as part of the 9th grade biology curriculum. Some feel that this is just Creationism in a different guise because it teaches "that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by an unspecified higher power."

I'm not sure if this is a wise move. It seems rather underhanded to me. If it walks like an anas platyrhynchos and quacks like an anas platyrhynchos then it's probably a mallard.

Judge to Rule on Georgia Evolution Disclaimers: "'This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.'"

I'm not sure how that statement pushes religion at all, let alone one over another or Christianity specifically. Science, pardon the pun, cannot exist in a vacuum and must be examined under the light of other disciplines such as Sociology. Here's what I mean: About a half-dozen years ago I was asked to cover a Biology class for a colleague that was going to be away for a few days. The topic was cells, specifically meiosis and mitosis. After a couple days of class some big news hit -- Dolly the clone sheep was announced. Boom! That was the whole idea of the unit so I tossed the next day's lessons and came up with something quick on cloning. The kids ate it up. So much so that we covered a 45 minute lesson in almost 20 minutes. What to do for the rest of the period? We batted around the big question "Why do this?" In each class the kids left scared and pale. Not in a bad way, but shaken because it turned out not one of them had ever thought about the ethics of anything in science. I left each group with the thought that my generation had to worry about nuclear weapons -- child's play compared to the ramifications of cloning and other advances in science that their generation would have to deal with. The next day the kids were very quiet at the start of each class. Eventually they asked to continue the discussion. One student added that she had to talk about it again as she had not slept the night before. That's what education should do ... make the students think and relate the material to their own lives.

This needs to happen in any classroom, but especially the science classroom. The students need to be given the information and the tools to make their own decisions. They can't exercise free will otherwise and it would be wrong of me as a Christian to let them do so. No one can be forced into a belief. And just as Christianity is a belief so is atheism and agnosticism. The sticker mentioned in the above story simply draws attention to an issue, not a faith. If I was not a religious person I'd welcome it as an opportunity to open a dialogue. Clearly others don't feel that way or they feel threatened. Or -- and I laugh when I write this -- they are afraid of something. Being wrong, perhaps? Or of finding their lack of faith shaken?

As a side note: There's a part of the article that reads "Creationism rejects modern scientific explanations for the origin and development of life, preferring instead the idea of supernatural creation by God. Evolution, which is accepted by virtually all biologists, contends life developed from more primitive forms and was dictated by natural selection." These definitions are far too simplistic and this does harm to both causes. Sure, most material written by journalists is geared toward a 7th or 8th grade reading level, but that doesn't mean the content has to be "dumbed-down." An honest debate can't be had if the issues are well-defined or the participants are ill-informed. I've yet to come across any article or story in any media that really does the issue justice.

On another side note: I do believe in evolution. Or, at least I wouldn't be surprised if it was a method that God used to populate Creation. This is bordering on creating God in my image (a 1st and 2nd Commandment issue) certainly, but the Bible doesn't tell us how God worked, just that He did. So what's the problem? I don't know but it's something I often ponder.

Just finished reading for a bit. Now I’ve got to shut down the ol’ ‘puter and get ready to release the kids. This machine was a good investment. I just hope to keep it running until after the holidays when I can replace it with something faster. She’s just now starting to show her age. I wonder how hard it would be to turn her into something still useful afterward. Like a DVR?

Just won a game of Spider Solitaire, finally. It was my fifth effort throughout the day. Being ADD means that I have to go distract myself from what I am doing at any give time. Only when watching TV do I seem able to sit still, though I’m still not concentrating. Like when I was watching Star Trek: The Next Generation yesterday. That’s not something I had done in a while and it should have been a decent episode if memory served, but though I curled up on the couch with a cozy fleece blanket I just couldn’t focus. I’m going to dash into an eBook now and see how long I can go.

One of the best primal screams in Rock as to be from the Goodness cover of "Electricity, Electricty" from School House Rock Rocks! That’s such an amazing album, as mentioned in an earlier post, that it has three entries in my 5-Star playlist. The other two are Blind Melon’s "Three is a Magic Number" and "The Tale of Mr. Morton" by Skee-Lo. That’s a fair percentage as there are only 70 songs in the whole list. Only BTO has more (5 songs) and it ties ZZ-Top’s entries.

Speaking of old school -- Now I’ve got Sammy Hagar’s "Heavy Metal" cranking. I say "cranking" because the kids in the room were bobbing their heads in time with the music. This is probably why I’m going deaf -- I listen to the earbuds at near maximum volume.

Another tune that rocks, though it’s been labeled Alternative by iTunes and Jazz by me, is George Winston’s "Linus and Lucy," the next song in my tour of the iPod. Nothing like a great piano piece, particularly Swing, Jazz with a fast beat, or accompanying a Rock song. Few people know this, but that’s Little Richard on the piano in "Takin’ Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. While the song is great by itself, the cherry on top makes it better.

Oops! Good timing. We had a fire drill. It was nice to get outside. The weather was mild ... mid 50s according to the Weather Channel (accessed via the mMode on my AT&T Wireless phone). Now it’s back to the iPod and Run-DMC’s "Walk This Way." Yup, I do listen to some Rap, especially the pre-sellout old school stuff. Lately some artists are taking a page Run-DMC and doing more sampling of classic Rock, lifting of lyrics (legally, I hope), and the like to breath new life into a genre that was becoming a parody of itself.

Okay, that was mostly productive. Now I’ve got to get up and stretch.

It’s almost Noon and I’ve almost run out of things to do. That’s why I brought my Bible study stuff with me so I can get working on the next section of “the guidebook to the Good Book.”

Here’s something funny! I grabbed the iPod for some tunes while I work and the first track was “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim. Maybe on a praise and worship song in the strictest sense, but the lyrics are ambiguous enough that one with a Christian mind could take them that way. That same artist is known for songs explicit in both language and content. I’m not sure, but I think he worked on a tune called “Ends” with a group named Everlast. It would make a great lesson for Bible study. Check out these lyrics and see if you agree

Lyrics to "Ends" by Everlast

Everything must change...
Ends...

[CHORUS:]
Some people would rob their mother for the ends
Rat snitch on one another for the ends
Sometimes kids get murdered for the ends
So before we go any further I'm on my ends

I knew this cat named Dale
Who didn't have a dollar
He was Harvard material
Ivy League scholar
Had a PHD
An MBA
But now he's waitin' tables 'cause there's rent to pay
Company's down sizin'
Inflation's risin'
Can't find a job
He's feelin' kind of stressed
Doesn't even feel the effects when he says
Forgot to count how many times he's been blessed
So he falls off track
Starts smokin' the crack
And once it hits his brain
It starts a chain react
Sells the shirt off his back
The shoes off his feet
He's losin' all his teeth
Now he's out on the street
And all of the sudden he's like Jesse James
Tryin' to stick up kids for their watches and chains
But he's from business school
And he's nervous with the tool
So he ends up on his back in a bloody pool
For the ends

[CHORUS]

I knew this chick named Sally
She had a nice strut
And everywhere that I went she was up in the cut
Swingin' that butt like "place your ad here"
Only rapped the Benz
And rocked the fly gear
Brand name wearin' Champagne wavin'
Jewels around the neck
A lotta style she's cravin'
Ain't no savin'
She's doin' all the spendin'
If you do the lendin'
She'll do the bendin'
Straight machine vendin'
That's money for tail
Shoppin' sprees get her on her knees
And then you hit her with the keys of your krib you actin' funny
Come home one day find her countin' out your money
From the Wetlands all the way to the Apollo
If you broke she's spittin'
If you're rich she might swallow
For the ends

[CHORUS]

I knew these two homeboys
That made a lot of noise
Makin' money on the block
The kids was on their jock
They was tougher than leather
Like Reverend Run
DMC they was tokin' guns
Hold and wait
Goin' out of state
Stackin' mad chips
And pushin' phat wears
Fly jewels and clothes
And got no job
And then one disappeared
And one got robbed
For the ends

[CHORUS (X2)]

Man! The lessons we could get out of that one song. Graphically inappropriate for some audiences, certainly, and the tone would have to be set for any discussion but I’m sure it would be worth it. I remember giving these lyrics to a friend once telling him the same thing. I’ll have to get on that. If only I had the discipline to follow up.

Another day of In-School Discipline. Once again boredom means lots of posts. Nothing in the newspaper worth writing about and I finished all the bills that I brought to work on. It turns out I hadn’t balanced my checkbook since somewhere around March so I don’t know exactly how much money I have despite using MS Money and downloading statements regularly. I might have to try Quicken or go back to doing things by hand. I don’t really see any advantage to tracking my finances on the computer. It would help if I checked my mail more than once every few weeks. Then I’d keep up with my bills and I wouldn’t have late charges messing up my calculations.

Talk about discipline. That’s something I definitely lack, especially at home. When I’m at home I don’t feel like doing anything other than sit on a floor pillow and surf the Web while watching TV. Everything else is a chore -- Cleaning, folding laundry, doing dishes, and taking the trash out to be sure, but also taking a shower, cooking, and everything else, too.

I’d much rather do these things for others. Last night I was at my friend’s house helping to pickup toys, clearing the dinner table, putting dishes in the dishwasher and other things I wouldn’t do around my own house. Part of our Bible study focused on our gifts that we can share through ministry and it was determined by others that being a nice guy and being hospitable were my gifts. That may or may not be true – I’m not a good judge – but the key is that I’m that way with others, not with myself. We are supposed to love ourselves the way we love God and then lover others as we love ourselves, but I find that I love God and others more than I love myself. Strange. Certainly something to ponder to and pray about.

Yes! I'm doing laundry! No, I haven't accomplished anything else today. But after 3pm I will drop off my tux at the dry cleaners, pick up a pocket calendar, and shop for desert on my way to Bible study.

The only goal I accomplished today was to visit my local theater to watch The Incredibles. That was probably my best goal in a while, too. Being a Pixar production I knew the animation was going to be state-of-the-art or better and that the story would be good. What I didn't know is that the story would be great, the characters would be fully developed, and it would be filled with subtleties that most live-action movies don't have -- not just the inside jokes that often litter these films.

The story: You've probably heard the basics of the plot like the need for superheroes to settle into "normal" lives and the family dynamic. What you may not have heard is that the story is also about the mid-life crises that hit men, women, and their relationships. It is also an examination of the transition from being a young adult to full adulthood by looking at two characters -- one with a loving family and one without. And it's also one heck of an action yarn. I wish more movies had actual stories and not just a hook that they keep playing on. This is what made The Mummy (1999) better than The Mummy Returns (2001).

The characters: Having a family of superheroes is probably not a new idea, but these characters are surprisingly well developed for not coming from a prior work like Spiderman or Superman. Even though we don't know their whole backstory there is a definite feeling that it's there and is driving even their most minor behaviors. Sadness, joy, love, remorse, and frustration are just some of the emotions that are superbly portrayed with great animation and truly fine voice work.

The subtleties: All the characters are alive and doing something, even the extras, at all times. And their activities are all driven, as mentioned above, by being made as much like real people as the crew could make them. Elastigirl checking out how her new supersuit makes her butt look is the most obvious of these. But anyone who has watched James Bond movies will recognize elements of the various pre-title card action sequences such as the stealth music, the missions, the gadgets, and more. And the script isn't afraid to make fun of the superhero genre with jokes about villainous monologues, more jokes about needlessly complicated traps or silly methods of imprisoning the hero, and a great sequence on the stupidity of uniform capes that quietly becomes a major part of the story. Even the closing credits were worth watching though they don't have the now-obligatory scripted "outtakes" that will almost certainly be added in a few weeks to boost the box office. I look forward to seeing the movie again to catch things I missed the first time. And it's already on my list of DVDs to own.

Wow! I was just pokin' around and I came across the BBC News site for kids call CBBC Newsround. Kinda cool. Thought about making it my Home Page for a while, replacing the regular BBC News page I now use. Yeah, it's for young kids -- hence the pages about "It's OK to be upset by the news" -- but it's still cool.

Male fish becoming female?: "Researchers in Colorado have made a startling discovery. Fish, apparently male, are developing female sexual organs. Scientists believe it's the result of too much estrogen in the water and they're finding estrogen in rivers across the country."

It's rough being a fiscal conservative but relatively liberal on social issues. But the environment should be a concern for both camps. But I suppose that as long as cheeseburgers are cheap, DVD players are common, and life seems good then most people won't care. What they don't know is that without a safe and well maintained environment all these things will go away.

ABC-TV deserves every penny it earns from it's show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Tonight's episode involving deaf parents of two children, one of whom is blind and autistic, was truly an experience. God has worked a miracle through the television network to bless this family with a fantastic house that is not just a wonderful place to live, but actually provides peace of mind. And to boot they managed to get a $50,000 college scholarship for the eldest son. Without the impairments of his brother or his parents he is a rock that keeps the family steady as they deal with the world.

Maybe the network executives didn't know what they were doing when they first put on this show but I'm very glad they agreed to air the program. Maybe the viewer will pick up some decorating tips or construction ideas, but that's not the idea. It's not a do-it-yourself type show like Home Time from PBS nor is it a personality-driven version of the same like the Trading Spaces shows from TLC. It's more about telling the story of a family and how their home can be made-over to better fit their life.

Thank you, ABC-TV!!

Americans Flock to Canada's Immigration Web Site: "The number of U.S. citizens visiting Canada's main immigration Web site has shot up six-fold as Americans flirt with the idea of abandoning their homeland after President Bush (news - web sites)'s election win this week."

Like I've often said: "If you don't like it and can't change it, then leave it." Although this does have the slight smack of "I'm taking my ball and going home." They are just going to someone else's home.

Just finished watching Shrek 2 on DVD. I still like the first film better. The plot was quite a bit more clever, the gags were less forced, and there seemed to be a bit more -- hmm -- more magic. Sequels often seem to go out of their way to top the original and this one was no exception. The idea is to go bigger, faster, and more colorful.

In attempting that latter goal I would have to say that the sequel does seem to be better animation in some respects, though the hyper-realism makes many of the characters look matted together and not fully interactive. Of course, this is how it is done, but it should have been much more seamless. Viewing on a TV emphasizes this and that's one of the reasons film will remain King for a while to come. In trying to be bigger and faster the film becomes inferior by trying to cram in too much (particularly the inside jokes and movie parodies) in too little time. It's almost as if they put in every idea that they came up with regardless of quality, flow, and importance. The film felt less cohesive because of this.

The humor was driven by expectations and successes from the first film. For example, the Muffin Man joke is back, but it is far less funny. The first film generated humor by skewering the familiar -- the city as theme park, for example, as a dig at Disney -- whereas Shrek 2 simply uses product placement to try to accomplish the same thing (Farbucks coffee, Old Knavery clothier, etc.). Not nearly as clever without the tiny bit of sarcasm Shrek was brilliant at delivering.

Two truly outstanding parts of the film are, as I would expect them to be, the characters of Puss-in-Boots and the Ugly Stepsister. The cat was superbly animated and truly well voiced by Antonio Banderas. His dialogue reminded me of the clever humor in the first movie. Casting talk show host Larry King was an inspired choice. Every scene with her (him?) was laugh-out-loud good.

Yes, it's a good film. Maybe I expected too much since the first was so brilliant. After all, it's becoming a franchise now and not a true labor of love. But then again, Toy Story 2 was as good as and in many ways was better than Toy Story.

Post-Election, Hollywood Seen as Liability to Left: "'There's no question that some Republican voters feel pistol-whipped by famous people getting involved in presidential elections,' said Jonathan Wilcox, who teaches a course on celebrity and society at the University of Southern California."

Remember that editorial based on one of my posts? If this article doesn't doesn't back me, then nothing will.

Random thoughts:

• My goodness, the Democrats at work were depressed today. Wonder why?
• Anyone else at all disturbed by the scene during the closing credits of Shrek 2 when Donkey's girlfriend returns?
• I really should have looked more closely at the special two-pack of that movie that I picked up at Wal-Mart tonight. Turns out the second disc wasn't a DVD, but an audio CD. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, though.
• On the way out of Wal-Mart the anti-theft device triggered the alarm. So I walked back to an employee who asked to see the DVD package and the sales slip. Looking at the latter piece just now makes me wonder what the clerk looked at. The slip I have is for ketchup. I bought socks, a shirt, and the movie, not ketchup.
  
• No, I try not to shop at Wal-Mart because of some of their exploits in Mexico of late, and in the southwest United States. But I can't find the socks I wear anywhere else and I really wanted a shirt like I bought a couple months ago. Sure, I'm as bad as anyone else, I guess.
  
• Tonight's episode of Joan of Arcadia was quite touching. And I very much look forward to next week's episode.
• Camp fires are cold in comparsion to Catherine Zeta-Jones. And she's a very, very good actress, too.

National Guard fighter strafes school: "LITTLE EGG HARBOR, N.J. - A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammunition, authorities said Thursday. No one was injured."

This is why I don't enjoy living in suburbia. But then again, a fighter/bomber took out part of a hiking trail near Fort Indiantown Gap, PA recently. Maybe cities are safest?

Hey! I'm finally getting some spam in my Gmail account! And the filters aren't catching it. It's not at the level of spam that shows up in my Yahoo! account, but then I really don't use it in the same way. My Yahoo! account is my primary account for purchases, registering at Web sites and for contests, and the like. The worst is still my Comcast account, though. It's still the only one that has been hit with phishing mail. The best is my Hotmail account, but I just don't like to use it.

Now I’m sitting in Detention. I’m not the Detention monitor like I was the In-School Discipline monitor. A friend of mine runs it and sometimes I drop in to keep him company. Or if it’s on a Bible Study night it’s just a convenient place to hang out rather than take 30 minutes to drive home, sit for 30 minutes, and then drive back for 30 minutes.

What a difference in voices! It just happens that the iPod playlist I’m listening to right now had Ashlee Simpson singing “Shadow” right after Etta James singing “At Last.” The former has a husky voice atypical for someone of her years whereas Miss James’s voice is dulcet, clear, and very powerful rather like Aretha Franklin’s but much crisper. Miss Simpson and Miss James couldn’t be any further apart in tone or style, but that’s par for the course when it comes to Some of My Favorite Music.

Lately I’ve picked up a few tunes from the ladies and many are similar to the style of Miss Simpson’s song. Right now Bethany Dillon’s “All I Need” is playing. Earlier Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” was on. The recent acquisition most like “Shadow” is “Mirror” from BarlowGirl. This is a great Christian group and is probably as divergent from Miss Simpson in lifestyle as the latter is from Miss James in vocal style.

And speaking of style … The other night I was going to church with some friends so I took their eldest daughter in my car. I try to help her appreciate different forms of music so I usually play pieces she wouldn’t ordinarily come across. She loved Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther Theme” so I put the album Kashmir by the London Symphony Orchestra in the CD player and wailed away. If you haven’t heard it, the music is Led Zeppelin arranged for an orchestra (that was probably obvious) and without vocals. The arrangements aren’t as powerful as what Michael Kamen did for Metallica’s S&M, but they are still very good.

She loved this, too. But dad was upset that I had her listening to Zep until I told him there were no lyrics. The funny thing, though, is that right after church services I found the pastor playing “Stairway to Heaven” on his guitar for a small group. Dad was not amused when I told him about this.

So, on the ride home (with yet another daughter in tow, but that’s another story) we listened to Nickel Creek, Rebecca St. James, and Superchick and had a very nice time exploring modern Bluegrass Christian Pop, and Gospel. Next time she’s in the car we’re going to listen to the Blues.

As I’m using Word to write this post it’s been easy to keep up with my typos. But I just ran a full spell check for the fun of it and found that I’m only writing on a 10^th grade level. That’s very disappointing as I usually write at a much higher level. I must be in Casual Mode.

Never should have uninstalled that dictionary that I had on this machine. I had to look up two words using Google’s SMS service. Good thing I get free text messaging. There’re lots of things you can accomplish by sending a command to 466645, a special Google SMS address. For example, Define term where “term” is a word for which you need a definition.

Heaven help my supervisor when Cingular Wireless fully takes over AT&T Wireless. It looks like she’ll have to start paying for SMS use. She sends thousands of texts a month. I might send twenty (though I’ve sent 20 so far since Oct 29th) but I often use the Internet access several times a day.

Finished defragmenting the hard drive on the ol’ ‘puter just now and gave her a reboot. She’s a bit friskier but the dimming screen, broken headphone jack, nearly full hard drive, misbehaving keyboard, and other factors mean that I’ll probably need an upgrade soon. I’d like another laptop but I’m on a desktop budget. Maybe if I get an inexpensive desktop I can stretch the lifetime on my baby here. She’s been a good girl for three years now and would be in her prime if she was a horse. Sadly, laptops have a life span not much longer than an amoeba. HP has a nice unit with a 17” wide-screen display, honkin’-big hard drive, fast processor, a fab keyboard, and lots of RAM, but it’s nearly two grand and that’s too grand for me (aren’t words punderful?).

Just got an SMS alert from Reuters: John Kerry has called President Bush to concede the election.

A part of the newspaper I skipped just caught my eye. The Public Utility Commission in the Commonwealth is thinking of instituting a $40.00 fee to file a complaint about service quality, rate increases, and other matters under its purview. If that’s the case, maybe we should start asking our government to provide better service itself. Or would there be a fee to do that?

Should have stopped by my doctor’s office yesterday. I still haven’t heard about my last blood test and there’s something going on with my left leg. It almost acts like poison ivy. I’m tempted to do what I did last time I had that – scratch it all open and use a mild bleach solution. It worked, but I don’t know how safe it is to do that. Well, I lived once, right?

APNews is reporting that Kerry aides are gathering to talk about a concession speech with the odds of provisional and absentee ballots being insufficient to close the 136,000 vote lead that Bush enjoys as the regular poll votes are counted.

I wonder if (and how) Democrats are going to claim that Bush stole this election if the he keeps the popular vote lead he has and pulls in the Electoral College?

Just read at Yahoo! News (thank goodness for mMode on my phone … or whatever Cingular is going to call it after the merger is complete) that the Bush camp has declared victory despite no concession from the Kerry Camp. CNN reports that Bush has 254 electoral votes to Kerry’s 252 with Ohio still to be assigned. What most people still don’t really understand is that a group of some 538 men and women still have to cast their votes on December 13^th in the Electoral College.

After all that newspaper reading and looking at the computer screen about it my eyes hurt and I can’t focus well. Maybe my blood sugar is off as the eye doctor suggested yesterday is the likely cause of the blurry vision I sometimes have. I had hoped to have a nice Coca-Cola this morning but they gave me a Diet Coke instead. Funny, that’s two different McDonalds that have done on two different days now. And both at a drive-thru where they couldn’t see I really need the Diet Coke. Maybe I’ll listen to some tunes.

That’s it for the paper. Nothing exciting left there so it’s on to a book. I’m re-reading Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee (Bantam 1990). I had intended to re-read Rendezvous with Rama but I couldn’t find my copy. I probably have read that one since my second college degree.

Nice advert on page A9 for a local shopping mall announcing that this year’s Santa display will be a log cabin sculpted out of sand. For a several years now the mall has trucked in a few tons of sand to make castles and other fantastical displays for their Santa Claus to greet the children in. It’s always worth a trip to see.

Todd Platts (R), my representative in Congress, won handily as his only opponents were from the Libertarian, Green, and Constitution parties. Not sure why I even spent the 2.3 seconds filling in the oval behind his name.

Apparently a school in Poplar Bluff, MO is in a tizzy because students are objecting to wearing identification badges. I wonder how long the teachers have had to wear theirs. I’ve worn one at school for nearly five years now not knowing my civil rights were being violated. If I forget my badge at my other job I might not be allowed to work that day.

Physicist Stephen Hawking has taken a position against the conflict in Iraq calling it a “war crime.” Despite voting for Mr. Bush, I’d have to agree.

Choosing Mr. Bush came down to one issue: Abortion. The odds of needing to replace at least one and possibly three or more Supreme Court Justices in the next four years are rather great. I’d rather have a Conservative do so than a Liberal because of this issue.

When I hit the polls yesterday at 2:05 PM I was voter number 422. Four years ago I was voter number 172 at around 7:00 PM. What a difference. The paper reported that the state “could see its highest percentage of eligible voters turn out in a presidential election since the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1971” (03 NOV 2004 The Patriot-News photo caption. A3).

It made me a little angry that a partisan poll watcher had to scurry up and make sure I was me and that I was eligible. The ladies that had been doing so officially for 20 years nigh have always done a fine job. This made me think that just the day before I was telling people how I couldn’t understand folks who said they were intimidated into not voting. I wasn’t intimidated, exactly, but I did feel a bit “dirty” in the process.

The paper shows a map of how Penn’s Woods voted by county. Looks like “the T” held up with a little spread on the serifs and the usual turnout in the urban zones – Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Erie, & Scranton carried the state for Kerry. As mentioned in an earlier post “the T” is a cluster of counties across the northern tier of the state combining with a cluster of counties running north/south to form a solidly conservative and thus mostly Republican core to the Commonwealth.

This makes me think back to a class at Penn State where the issue of Pennsylvania: Model for a Nation was vigorously and thoroughly debated. If one compares a map of the Commonwealth’s red & blue counties to a map of the United States one would see a similar red & blue pattern. This comparison holds up favorably when one considers that the blue areas in both would be considered urban compared to the suburban/rural nature of the red areas.

Analyst Cokie Roberts noted this morning on NPR that only one in ten of citizens between the ages of 18 and 24 years voted yesterday. So much for the groundswell.

Notes from the Field: Workin’ without a ‘Net Edition

Covering In-School Discipline is usually not a bad experience. It’s one of the few times I get to spend quality time with a newspaper. And I must say that my local paper is actually improving compared to the birdcage liner it once was not to long ago. Without access to the Internet, however, I have to jot down my thoughts in Word and then transfer them when I get home. I can use the Internet on my mobile, though, to track the election. Any links inserted are done in the posting process. Here goes the day …

BBCNews just listed Kerry as the winner in Penn's Woods with a lead of just over 400,000 votes, dang it.

By the way ...

... if you haven't seen it yet, look at the Blog the Vote page.

... Peter Jennings of ABCNews is trying hard to be non-partisan. His necktie is a nice blue stripe - red stripe tie. I've always admired his fashion-sense.

... I'm fairly happy but not at all surprised that Barack Obama, Democratic candidate in Illinois, is the projected winner. Alan Keyes is a heck of a guy, but I'm not sure the average African-American can relate to him any better than can the average Anglo-American or Euro-American can.

... and as long as folks insist on being called African-American, then will I insist on being called Anglo-American. Honestly, how can someone be proud that they are a certain color? Do they work hard at it?

... the race that Senator Specter is listed as winning is now (10:56pm eastern) tied at 48% each with his opponent having a few thousand more votes. Kerry's lead in PA is shrinking as districts in "the T" report. The northern tier counties combine with the counties that run north/south in the center of the state to form a conservative zone separating the traditionally liberal cities in the west and the east. MSNBC has declared Kerry the winner, but no one else has of yet.

Sitting here watching the election on ABCNews (TV & Web), MSNBC, and BBC News on the Web. Respectively, the maps on these sites are non-existent, require manual refreshing, or absolutely fabulous. But I took a moment to relax and noticed when looking at my long-neglected blog that my recent remote post about Vaughn Meader's passing finally showed up -- several days after I initially mailed it. Don't be fooled by the date. It is timely, but like some of the posts that I have waiting in the wings as drafts it just got posted on a different date than I intended it.

By the way, if Arlen Specter is not re-elected in Pennsylvania (that's Penn's Woods, if you were wondering) then I might have to move to another state. His opponent managed to pass just one bill during three terms in the House. He got to rename a Post Office. Senator Specter, on the other hand, has thus far had a long and distinguished career working in a thoroughly bi-partisan fashion. I fear that his Democratic opponent may take office simply by riding the John Kerry's coat tails as people blindly go to the polls.

The angry vote factor is not to be dismissed. As a thinking voter I actually found myself splitting my votes and filled the circles for many Democrats running for offices that I would prefer to be Republican if the folks running hs been respectable.

Oddly, as I write this ABCNews/APNews has called Specter the winner with 45% of the vote compared to his opponent's 50%. Wonder which math classes they took. But the local "expert" seems to agree so what do I know?

Notes from the Field

Just waiting for another department and browsing the headlines when I saw that Vaughn Meader passed away. Folks may not remember him as he was primarily famous for a dead-on impersonation of President John F. Kennedy. Then "dead-on" took a new meaning after the assassination and Mr. Meader's career tumbled. Check your usual haunts for a copy of the album The First Family on CD for a riotously good time even if you are not of the generation that would pick up on the historical references.