gotta make this one quick

OK. This is too stupid not to blog about. I'm glad that it was a guilty verdict and sad that someone had to die. Still, my question is, what the hell the defense attorney thought this was going to accomplish. I mean, yeah, drug side-effects are bad. Still, there's no surgeon general warning, or FDA warning that says that one of the side-effects of taking this drug is HOMICIDE! Sure, dry-mouth, anxiety, blotch skin can be a side-effect but not homicide. Although I guess this would be more along the lines of "may cause gambling urges." What the hell kind of side-effect is that? That's too specific to be a side-effect.

enough isn't enough anymore

While I was away last weekend something completely strange happened. And it pissed me off. I waited a week because I thought, "hey this will work out." Nope. Now it's time for me to step in. WTF? What is going on? WISH-TV (CBS) isn't on my TV anymore. I miss my CBS programming. No NCIS, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Numb3rs, Flashpoint, and The Unit.

I don't trust anyone. My cable company says that it's not fair to charge subscribers for service they're not receiving from the station. The station says... well they don't say anything because the cable company isn't carrying them anymore. However, I did pull this from the Internet. How the hell does this happen? I always thought CBS was a national network. It hurts my brain to figure this out because no one is really talking about it. Everyone seems to have an agenda but I don't know what it is. It's about money, but for who? Not for the subscribers that's for sure. Both sides seem to think that the subscribers shouldn't pay more, but they want the money and where's the money come from? The subscribers. Argh! At some point I'm just going to pull them into an alley and beat the crap out of them until I get a straight answer.

Just to clarify, I'm not on any particular side. I hate my cable company. I've seen what Time Warner is capable of and it seems like Indiana got the 1990's version. I'm starting to hate CBS because it's a damn national network but the problem seems to be just the local station. 

So am I paying for this? Apparently. In more than one way too. At least it's not a damn writers' strike.

Fix this! Fix this now. The only thing keeping me sane is my TV. Do the math on what happens.

if it at

Apparently, some time after 10am on Tuesday, my downstairs neighbor was outside doing some gardening when she came across a black cable. Thinking nothing of it, she hacked away cutting that cable and thereby severing my connection to the outside world. Nah, she just cut my Internet access and cable TV.
It is now Friday and the Internet and TV have been restored. I know what you're thinking. Someone like me going without both of those things for 3 days would be crazy. And it would be too had it not been for the Stargate SG-1 marathon I was conducting at the time. 10 seasons, each with 21-22 episodes (42 minutes a piece). Not a bad way to pass the time.

Thong injury? Yeah, not what I thought it was going to be. I was thinking something along the lines of an atomic wedgie. Huh, shows you how much I know about women's underwear because I didn't know they came with decorative metallic pieces. Plus, I don't want to think about 52 year-olds purchasing or wearing thongs. And I wonder why they didn't allow them to see the evidence.

Holy c-section Batman! 28lbs? Twins? Uh, that's huge. And somehow they managed to compare it to the other largest twins in the state, which was 18lbs. Geez. What the hell were they feeding them? Steroids? There's healthy and there's obese. I'm just saying from a statistical standpoint, if say a healthy baby is somewhere in the vicinity of 7lbs, those twins were 28lbs and average that out to 14lbs a baby, then those babies are twice as heavy as a normal baby. Of course looking at the glass half-full, we come to the conclusion that the twins are twice as healthy. Welcome to the world kids.

I am Cornholio! I need TP for my bunghole. Cocaine is a helluva drug.

What the hell is going on in Canada. No seriously. Because the last time I checked, it costs money to take someone to court. And unless allowances have gotten bigger, I can't imagine a 12 year-old having that kind of funding. So I'm guessing that either she got financial support from a third-party or someone did the work pro bono. Since that means adults. You can't sue your parents because you think a punishment is unfair! And the punishment was "too severe?" No, this is severe. And this is severe. (To clarify, I still don't think they can be described as "torture.")

I'll say it again. Cocaine is a helluva drug. WTF? Is that what's cool now?

bring it off

They Brought It Again. You'd think after the 2nd one they'd quit. And yes, I've seen the 4th one. Why? Well, have you seen something so horrific that you have the stare at it? Like if someone blew their brains out with a .45 and it splats all over the wall behind them? It's like that, staring at the splatter stains to figure out where it all came from and what not. Well if you don't know, come over because after watching "Bring It On: In It To Win It" I might just blow out my brains. Not really, but it feels like that. I just wish I knew why I'm watching this crap.

you know

I think in the last few days I've spent more time with my dad than I had in a really long time. Once I thought I knew him, because I can see where I get some of my mannerisms, attitudes, and other personality quirks. Yet, I can say I don't know this guy. I mean, he watches REALITY TV! And not just since he's been bedstricken but he knew the score/plots from before. Ugh, I thought he was better than that, but apparently not. I need something else to focus on.

So, what's the problem with the uniform? Is it because it is orange? I understand the purpose behind the rule, and I also understand the religious purpose behind the unitard. For me they don't conflict. And for the coach that's bitching about the fact that it was worn last year. Well, that's fine. I'm sure the officials are Man (homosapiens) and Man is fallible. They probably didn't know the regulations all that well in this special case. To the official with the genius idea of wearing a plain white t-shirt over her unitard and under her school's uniform. I said that Man was fallible, not stupid. He's a uni-tard.

Not to say that this information isn't important, but c'mon give us some real information. Oh, he's clean cut, probably married... blah blah blah. That's taken straight out of the psychology textbook. Probably a white male between the ages of 18-45, employed, family man, goes to church, blah blah blah. Yup, that narrows the field down. And this is helpful, "In fact, Chitwood asked women involved with someone with qualities likened to the serial killer to contact the police immediately. He said they may be in danger themselves." Yup, it shouldn't be too hard to point someone out with the qualities mentioned in the article.

last request

OK. I've got to get this off my chest. School. Now I've got nothing against it. Good place. Place to learn, to make friends, and all that good stuff. Today was my first day back, had two weeks off, I enjoyed it. Now there's a sign on the library door that says that I can't bring in food or drinks. I understand the policy behind it, I just don't happen to agree with it. I mean, personally, I've led men into combat, gathered intelligence crucial to the war, been shot at, and blown up. All of which I've done successfully (if you're wondering) and yet I can't be trusted with a water in a twist-top container around a computer? Just because some moron with a sub-zero IQ can't handle something as difficult as water doesn't mean other people should suffer too. People, take the training wheels off, it's time to ride or fall down. Can't spend your entire life with floaties on your arms in case of emergency, either you can or you can't. If you can't, good, then you won't be able to pass on your defective genetic material to the next generation.
Secondly, since this was my first day back I needed to get the books for my classes this quarter. I showed up early because I needed to turn in some financial aid stuff. I had my class schedule but I needed a stamp from the financial aid office in order to pick up my books. OK, well, how hard is that? The bookstore was open, the financial aid people had enough time to fall off chairs, so I asked. I was told no. When I inquired why I was told, "because it wouldn't be fair to the other students." I stopped right there because if I continued that argument would only end with a gunshot. WHAT? What the hell does getting my books now instead a little bit later have to do with fair? Oh, I'm sorry, am I not contributing to the massive traffic jam later? My bad. I thought that I would alleviate some of the traffic by doing my "fair" share now. And no, there wasn't any shortage of books for my particular classes, oh, so someone that wasn't doing anything would have to cross my name off a list? I'm sorry, I thought that was part of your job. Hey, if you want I can do it for you. People some times. Think about the Big Picture. "It is the policy of the school." Isn't a good answer either.

Just look at this. I mean I'd get fired for violating that policy any day. There are things that are just plain stupid and don't need to be followed. Yes, I'm all for abiding by the laws. Most of them are in place to protect the people, the rest are just made up by a bunch of morons that I elect not to listen to. Don't call 911? For any reason? What the hell is that all about? Uh, guess what, I'm breaking that policy when I feel it is necessary.

Not what I was expecting but maybe that's just because my mind was in the gutter. Interesting. First students, now the babysitter? At least the kid was honest.

I love it when governments don't give details. No military nomenclature? No test date? No additional information about the explosives? Look, in my mind I tested this new bomb that was 4x as big as the MOAB that used this new explosive, but I haven't named it nor have I even bothered to do it in real life. C'mon, what's the point of having this bad-ass bomb if no one believes you?

Agreed. This guy got what he deserved. Dude, that's like walking around New York City earlier today wearing a white t-shirt with "Terrorist" printed on it. Who'd blame anyone for beating the crap out of them?

To answer this young woman's question. No, flowers in the background aren't props, it's "background" that's why it is the description. Yes, the tree is a prop. Good eye. For someone that's interested in acting, you sure can't discern between the two can you? That's OK, as long as you're pretty no one cares about the gray matter between your ears.

one

Mind over the stomach I guess. Maybe we should attempt this on other items as well. Too bad we can't wrap an education around a McDonald's wrapper. Of course it was conducted with preschoolers so they're easily tricked. I mean they still fall for the detachable thumb trick, of course they scream and freak out but I guess the same could be said about the carrots in McD wrappers. And what does that say with the health of our kids when they go all Pavlov's doggie when they see them?

I remember when I thought it was the coolest thing when my mom's Maxima gave a verbal warning when the door was open. "The door is ajar." Now it says, "You are drunk." Cool. Bad for drunk drivers. Good for the taxi business.

Evil moment: A technological twist to natural selection. The kid that gets ran over by the car doesn't live on to reproduce other children that are less aware of their surroundings. I feel sorry that it had to be a kid to teach this lesson, but we're not letting the shallow end of the gene pool go away. Instead we're trying to keep them around for all the wrong reasons.

I know what they're trying to say, but the way they say it, they make it sounds as if the breast implants were the source of the suicides. When in actuality is should be the mentality of the people that get them, their reasons for increasing their breast size. Not like "Oh cool, I got breast implants. I should go kill myself now."

Like the scarlett 'A' to shame women, Hello Kitty armbands to shame police officers in their offices. Humiliation has to be public though, but you can't undermine the cop's authority.

Mahjong epilepsy? Really? Huh. Not related to the stress of the game, but the actual game itself. Weird. So does it happen when they play the game or when they just hold the tiles? Because if it just happens when play the game, then it's not the tiles.

Stupid bounces.

halfway around the world

OK. Rant I shall. I need to otherwise I'll explode. Now I preface this by saying that I like ITT-Tech as a school. So what's my issue? My gripe? This intro classes. They hire professionals in the fields they teach, which is great I think. I'd rather be taught about police procedures by a cop instead of some professor that's never been in the field. So the 1st week or two my problem solving class was being taught by someone (Rebecca Gaddy) that probably was around when they invented electricity. I don't know what her field of expertise is but it isn't math.
She admitted to the class that she'd only be two weeks ahead of the class. OK, that's fine. I like honesty and I understand that she has a limited time to prep. So I don't expect her to give detailed information about the weird subjects we're learning but she can't even convey the simplest information that she is supposedly teaching. We were learning binary numbers in accordance with the book. 0001. 0010. 0011. So on and so forth. That was Part One. Part Two was add and subtract binary numbers. I don't have background in binary so I have to rely on her expertise. Except that she left out some crucial steps, not by accident but because she didn't know it herself! Her answer to our questions was "Um..." I made some comments that 2nd week and she stopped teaching the class.
We were given a good guy, Ogega, and actually learned. He had to take two weeks off, so who'd we end up with as a substitute? Dumbass Gaddy. So Tuesday we were doing a lot of different things, learning basic statistics, graphing, and stuff of that nature. The second hour was supposed to be dedicated to Fahrenheit and Celsius and using graphs to illustrate the difference. Easy right? Maybe do about ten minutes worth of work. She didn't even know what the assignment was! Instead of working on the classwork she was reviewing graphs for ONE student. While she was reviewing the rest of us were attempting the classwork and part of homework assignment. We were quietly working on our work, not bothering anybody or even talking.
Gaddy stops in the middle of her sentence and demanded our attention. Then she goes on about this rant about how it's rude for us, the quiet ones, to be working on our classwork while she was "teaching" and blah blah blah, how we're spending money to come there and learn so they should learn! OK, that pissed me off. She had the audacity to assume that she was TEACHING us something? Still, I kept my mouth shut. Otherwise I'd end up kicking her ass up between her shoulder blades.
Back to Fahrenheit and Celsius, the classwork. The first part was easy, graph them. The graph would give us a pictorial representation of the conversion. She attempted to show us how to graph them, but she couldn't follow the basic directions given in our book. Graph, OK. What should be our intervals? So we selected the intervals for her, class participation is good. She made a mistake right from the get go, I tried to point it out but to no avail, so I made the comment to someone across the room, "well this should be interesting." She completed the graph wrong and then noticed that she had done it wrong. It was interesting to see her redo the whole thing. The second part was to convert the graph in an algebraic equation, then compare the two methods. Difficult, but not impossible. Still, she didn't have a clue what the algebraic equation to convert them. I had accidentally stumbled upon the right answer but I couldn't confirm it.
I understand that it was problem solving, but SHE DIDN'T KNOW THE ANSWER HERSELF! Aren't teachers supposed to know the answers to the problems they pose? I actually went to the computer lab next door to find the answer, print it out, and handed it to her. You know what her reason she didn't know the answer? "Well it's a problem solving class. It's supposed to teach you how to solve a problem. First comes the math and then the problem." OK, WHAT THE F**K kind of answer is that for not knowing the classwork for the teacher? On top of that she didn't even teach the math portion! She couldn't!
I'm not saying she's a bad person, or even a bad whatever the hell her official profession is. What I'm saying is that she's a horrible teacher for Problem Solving. She can't teach to save her life! Some people just aren't teachers, that's fine. Just accept your limitations. It's a good thing 85% (yeah, I did the math) already know most of the math associated with this class, otherwise we'd be screwed if she 'taught' us.

I feel better now, I felt bad while typing it but I'm better.

fm 3-22.9

I was perusing through this fantastic Army field manual. It is the pseudo-bible of the military. FM 3-22.9 Rifle Marksmanship M16A1, M16A2/3, M16A4 and M4 Carbine. So what makes me blog about this particular piece? Could it be because it's a load of crap? Nah, too easy. Is it the perpetual violence? Nope, I like it, keeps me employed. So what is it you ask. It's this:
As I read through all of the instructor portions of the book I stumbled across this little tidbit in Chapter 7: Advanced Rifle Marksmanship (Phase IV of Basic Rifle Marksmanship), Section 7-23c. This section is titled Aim Point. For the layman it is where you aim on a person. Now, as a lay-person where do you think you'd aim for "Lethal Shot Placement"? If you thought "the head" you'd be wrong. According to FM 3-22.9 lethal shot placement is acheived with the aim point of 'center mass' basically the area between the waist and chest. Headshots are "incapacitating shot placements" OK, I exaggerate it's the face but still, you think that a shot in the face would put the man down but I guess not. Silly Army, headshots are kids.




Sidenote: It finally clicked. You know the phrase, "it's a deusy!" as in "watch that last step, it's a deusy." It was a car. Doh!

over you

Yesh. Honestly though, I think I saw this episode of Grey's Anatomy.

It's immodest. Really? A billboard featuring Bob and Tom, probably the two biggest boobs in syndicated radio. I think it teaches kids umm, what's the word, homonym?

BYOTP. You really think that's the source to your graffitti and vandalism problem? TP?

Like a superhero jumping from rooftop to rooftop, eluding the police. Got to love it.

It's so good to be in the colonies isn't it? I remember when I was younger and I met with this guy from England. Of course we exchanged pleasantries and when I told him I was from the US, he replied "Oh, you're from the colonies?" To which I replied, "Sprecken zee Deutch?" And I got "Huh? No." Last words, "That's right! And do you know why? The US."

You've got to admire the authoriative power of the campus cops. Trying to "shoo" them out of the pond? Whew, I think someone's civil liberties were trampled upon by that.

the joker

Since mid-March I've been getting ready to deployment. The basics, getting my bills in order, buying personal items and equipment I want/need, and settling my affairs (whatever we mean when we say affairs). I've spent time writing post-mortum letters to family and friends, in case of something. In doing so I've come realize that it's really morbid to try to write those. I'm still in the drafting phase. The funny part of this whole thing is that they didn't tell us much (they can't, legally speaking) except that we should prepare to get ready to deploy. ??? - That's what I thought, but they'd tell us at the next drill date.
So I'm guessing you're wondering what happened this weekend at drill right? Well, I get there and find the tentative list to deploy. Scan, scan, scan... scan some more, re-scan the whole thing. Huh, my name's not on it. And after all this time I've been getting ready?
Yes, some of my friends and family is happy that I'm not going. Problem: I'm not happy. I'm not happy. I can't explain why, I just know that I'm, but I'm not miserable either. Caught between the two I guess.
Maybe I'm sort of war-junkie and that I need the thrill of combat to justify my life and give me meaning. I don't know, I don't think I can make an objective observation. I will, however, tell you what I do know about myself. My job doesn't hold my interest (evident by my hours of blogging at work), the only reason I stay is because it pays the bills. My life pretty much sucks because I only make enough to pay the bills. My friends that live nearby are moving up and on with their lives, leaving me exactly where I was when I met them. I feel like I'm too old to make new friends (sort of like Randall in Clerks II).
Reasons to deploy - Over the last eighteen months I have gotten to know my unit, the people in it. I know what to expect from them and they know what to expect from me. Yes, they're my friends but much more than that too. The last couple of months my section has gotten more soldiers, brand-new, fresh, young faces. I've been assigned to mentor them, teach them how to survive, what the Army is all about, and hopefully, live long enough to enjoy a long and fruitful life. That's what makes me happy. To come in one weekend every month and have a dozen or so soldiers to mentor. Most of the veterans stick to their own groups, but we've been integrating them into our groups. I float around abit. I spent two weeks training with the MPs, I spent the first six months in the supply section helping them getting squared away. I am a fully capable intel analyst with field and combat experience doing my job and several others. NCOs respect the fact that I know what I'm doing and that I'm not just a dumb private with a bad attitude. I'm motivated, dedicated, and apparently not going. Plus, there's the fact that I can re-enlist out there for six years and a $20,000 bonus (tax free).
How exactly can I train soldiers for combat when I won't even go with them? They know it's not my fault, but I can't stand it. There's still so much more that I can teach because there's only so much you can learn from stories.
The Army, in its infinite wisdom has deemed me unworthy to go. There are other soldiers that are not going and some of them have good reasons but some refuse to extend their contracts (6x2, 6 years on active reserve, 2 years on inactive reserve) even though they have the time on their contract anyway. I'm at the end of my contract, 300 days out (you need 400 days from the day of deployment) and I still want to go.

whoop (there it is)

Last night (among the other shows) I watched South Park and their interpretation of the relationship between the Resurrection of Christ and the Easter Bunny. Suffice to say I was amused, of course had I been Muslim and the topic having something to do with Islam I probably would've just gone out and bombed some people and blew up a few buildings.
Of course we posed this question in Kuwait in 2004 and our new soldier, John-Mark, gave us an answer. It sounded plausible and plus he's old so he must be wise. Right? I mean he's OLD, like he watched Return of the Jedi in the theatres! OK, enough with the teasing of old people. John-Mark explained Easter/Easter Bunny like this. In the old days when Christianity was spreading, in order to get people interested (or whatever, convert) the missionaries would often integrate pagan rituals into the religion. The pagan fertility ritual nearly coincided with the presumed date of the resurrection of Jesus and so they two were combined. So Jesus and the Saxon goddess Eastre joined forces. Jesus, a man, and Eastre, whose icon was a rabbit join to form a guy in a rabbit suit. And now Christians around the world go to church and then go find painted eggs the someone held the night before. A good ol' time is had by all.


Onto the news!

Moron hires fetal hitman. OK, I made that sound worse than it is. The hitman isn't fetal, the target is fetal. The hitman was actually an undercover cop. Three grand to rough up your ex-girlfriend so bad it forces a miscarriage? More than just bad advice there Sparky, that's just plain stupid. Although I give props to him for originally (pre-hitman) wanting to help raise the kid. In the end though, none of it happened.

OK, there's got to be more than what's being reported and so I checked out Wolf's site. Got his point of view. Now I've got a clearer picture. Yes, the prosecution was trying to build a case, but the testimony of a journalist taping a crime scene just reeks of lack of credible evidence. Everybody is wrong though, nobody is right. If I shot a video of a crime scene you better believe that I'll turn in it, but as far as testifying? What am I going to say? "I don't know." is what. The only reason I wouldn't turn in a video of a crime is not the First Amendment but more along the lines of the Fifth. Still, in lieu of Wolf not turning in the video, yes a subpoena is required. However, to subpoena a testimony of a bystander is extreme. Usually people can be convinced to do it on their own without the need of a subpoena. I understand that Wolf felt uncomfortable that it was "secret" grand jury that he was meeting in front of, but do you understand that there's security precautions involved? You're talking about people willing to burn things to get their point across. Do you really want it to be public knowledge that people are attempting to put them in jail are meeting in this very public, accessible building? Yeah, that's smart. Go put your padded helmet on before you knock yourself out.


Aw, it's like a techno-twist to a real life homeward bound. See? Computer chips can help animals too. Happy news!

Overreact First, Stay Safe

You've got to love the freedom private schools have at taking away the freedoms of its students. Such is the case at St. Hugo of the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Here's a link to the news article.
Now I want to chime in, because to me this is just more than a restriction on students First Amendment rights. Yes, I accept that private schools have a different set of rules and guidelines that you must abide by. I can understand blocking Myspace in the school computer lab, but to go as far as try to regulate what goes on at the student's home?
I went to a Catholic high school. I had a class on religion every year, specifically Christianity. Also, because I lived in Hawaii at the time, so I had to take a Hawaiian History class. Not a huge deal. I accept that as necessary. Learning isn't bad for thing for school. This though, goes against any sort learning policy. The restriction of an internet site such as Myspace isn't part of the learning process.
What gets me is that a school official is quoted as saying that 99.9% of the parents support their decision. Either Sister Margaret is lying (which I find hard to believe) or she doesn't know percentages. OK, she's probably exaggerating but still to me it would indicate that most of the parents would prefer the school regulate such things. Whereas I feel that internet usage at home should be in the realm of parenting. Yes, I realize that the parents are probably busy with work and trying to provide food and shelter. But this is important and should be treated as such.
- "The Internet can be wonderful for educational material, but it also can be unsafe," principal Sr. Margaret Van Velzen said. -
Yes, I agree. The internet can be unsafe. But do you know what else can be unsafe? Driving, alcohol consumption, tobacco usage, walking across the street, picking your nose, and playing on the playground. Damn near everything can be unsafe. The schools have a right to regulate those things on school property. Example: To play four-square at school I have to wear a helmet, elbow and knee pads. Fine, that's what I have to do. But if the school told me that I had to wear those things when I was playing in my neighborhood with my friends I'd probably tell them to go to hell. The school could even make it a policy that to attend the school I had to wear all the crap, I'd still tell them to bite me.
- "School officials felt it necessary to apply the new policy after recent cases of adults, some in authoritative positions, posed as minors to converse or meet with young boys and girls." -
*gasp* They posed as minors to talk! Oh my God! The Internet is unsafe! Wait, didn't my parents tell me never to talk to strangers? Huh. Well, I did anyway but when I went out to meet them I always told my parents. I guess I'm strange like that because MY PARENTS TAUGHT ME THAT! Yeah, that's right. Parenting. Still, they would try to stop me but I'd go anyway. At least they knew where I was going though even if they didn't approve of it. I rebelled within the system.
St. Hugo parent Kate Lynch said it's a great start. "I think we've got a long way to go because it's a very difficult situation to grasp in its entirety," Lynch said. "There's so many things going on on the Internet and there's so much vulnerability for children."
and
Another St. Hugo parent, Liza Stanczak, said all schools should implement the policy. "I think this is just the beginning of schools taking a stand against this kind of thing," Stanczak said. "I think this is going to have to happen because things are getting out of hand."
OK, I agree with the first parent's comment. Regulating what our children can and can't do on the Internet is important. The second parent comment just pisses me off, to me it just screams "I'm too lazy to parent so the schools should tell my kids what to do!" You know what I think Liza? It is getting out of hand, the lack of parenting in America today is just awful. Oh, you're talking about the Internet? SO WAS I!
And to the naysayers that would tell me that "you don't understand because you don't have children." You're right, and you know what? I'm not ready to be a parent but that's my choice and I accept responsibility of my actions and so should you.

white & nerdy

I'm going to go ahead and attribute gravity as the reason they fell. Yeah, I'm splitting hairs. I'm sure what the officials are trying to figure out is why the couple went over. Maybe a lovers' leap? Preliminary indications are there, but they won't know for sure. What I do know is why they fell. Physics.

Here's an innovative method. Flawed, but a worthy effort. I mean, it's not like offering women $500 to not have abortions. Still, imagine ordering a slice of pie from Papa John's and the delivery guy comes over and you see your face on the cover of a large pepperoni? I just don't like Cynthia Brown's reasoning.

Duh. Haven't I been saying this all along? Blanket medications of children is wrong. Blanket medications of people is just wrong. It's this modern world though, the mentality of the population that problems should be solved during a commercial break. Yes, a pill can provide temporary fix to a problem but like all drugs each time you do it, it just takes that much more the next time to reach that high. It can be just as bad as the "illegal" drugs. Pills don't solve everything and they shouldn't be expected to. Some pills, some therapy, or just talking about your problems, and you be able to cope better. It takes time though. It's not going to be solved in an hour like Murder She Wrote.

Indiana, PA police are conducting a state-wide search for the suspected killer of a IUP student. Anyone that has seen or has any information that could lead to the arrest of the suspected killer please contact the Indiana, PA police department at: R-E-T-A-R-D-E-D. OK, to be fair it's not their fault. The link on the CNN.com webpage said "Meningitis suspected in college death." What? I can't believe that we still won't take a stand on our comments just because we're afraid of being sued if we're wrong.

Wait. WHAT? This has got to be a messed up case to give the names of the victims but not of the suspect. I'm guessing that this guy's intention wasn't to kill anyone though. I mean seriously, stabbing people in the ER? And one more thing, for the reporting crew, it's a wifebeater shirt not a "white tanktop". Girls wear tanktops.

release me

I like the title: Murder They Blogged. I dunno, I'm worried about the future if teenagers don't have enough sense to not post these things to MySpace. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. I don't know what exactly the circumstances were, all I know is that they're stupid criminals.

More crap on the stupidty front. Not that I agree with the ACLU or the school district but both sides are just acting stupid. On the one hand, the ACLU has a point, but on the other, the school is just being retarded. Yeah, I think it's moronic that the ACLU has to sue a school district to get them to stop holding graduation in a church. Still, it's just a building. Not like every person has to splash some holy water on them, and the audience has the kneel and make the sign of the cross before sitting down at the pew. Conversely, the school could be less retarded by not showing favoritism by giving students 2 extra tickets for those that attend the Mass. And the excuse that there's no secular spaces available to handle the school's roughly 250 seniors and guests is a crock of shit. Umm, it's lame but how about the SCHOOL? Oh wait, he said secular. Nevermind.

See? Another reason to count my lucky stars that I live in America. Oh well, I guess people take stuff like that for granted.

Oh boo hoo! Cry me a river! Look, they just need to learn how to deal with it. Simple as that. Integrate it into their life and carry on. "Boo hoo, a mortar landed near me, I have PTSD." Look, I don't use it as an excuse. Neither should anyone else, not for anything. It's not like being mentally retarded, I don't think anyone's just woken up one morning and decided not to be retarded. Yeah, the retard can overcoming some of the obstacles but he'll always be limited by it. You, with PTSD, get over it, it doesn't limit you. Just remember, there's people that's gone through more and don't have PTSD, what's your excuse?

standing outside the fire

Let me tell you about my weekend! Whew! Never has so much gone wrong that all amounted to nothing. OK, well, my weekend started Thursday after work. I got off an hour early because I didn't exactly know how this new "Super 70" construction would affect my travels and I wanted to be prepared. So obviously, there would be an accident on I-465 just a few miles after I get on it. OK, not bad, it's four lanes so you can avoid that usually if it's just one or two cars. Eventually I get off 465 and onto 70. Yes! I get on 70 right at the edge of construction, it doesn't even pertain to me. Woo! La-la-la. Driving at a steady 80mph it takes me over an hour to reach what would usually be my first stop. Well, I ain't stopping today. I'm making good time, I've got plenty of gas to reach my destination, and so I keep on truckin'. Now there's a ton of construction going on in both Indiana and Ohio on 70. Still, I make good time until I reach the I-675 junction, about two miles from the exit to my relatives'. I'm listening to my CB, apparently two Synder drivers decided to have a race and see who was stupider. It ended in a tie. I think 4 or 5 cars got caught in it too. So my whole side of 70 was at a dead stop. Ugh. It was stopped for awhile before I got there and I sat around for another 40 minutes for them to clean up the mess. Well, there goes all of my lead time. Of course by now no one is letting anyone over and I'm in the far left lane. So I miss my exit and I have to take a back route to get to my aunt's place. It's cool though, the way I ended up taking had lots of gas stations and I could take my pick. I pull into the Speedway and some lady is working the fuel cap on her car. Originally I stop but then it's taking her awhile so I end up circling the station to get another spot. I fuel up and just as I finish the same woman comes over and asks me if I know anything about those locking fuel caps. "Not really, but I'll take a look." I say, she gives me her keys and I take a look. Now, there's three (3) keys that make up her set of keys. One obviously looks like a car ignition key. The one she handed me <- (that's important) is like a mailbox or door key. The third has "GAS" in raised letters on it. So I use the "GAS" key to open up the "GAS CAP" on her car. Viola!
Yeah, that was a lot of work to get to that point. Still. So Friday, I have to wake up around 0100hrs to get dressed and start my car by 0130 and drive off at 0200. Yes! Get there at 7pm and just getting up in a scant 6 hours. No, I didn't over sleep. I wake up on time. Get dressed. Start car at about 0120hrs, I figure if I leave earlier then I can go stop for some coffee and water, and gum. Heading up back to the house I get to the front door and turn handle. Uh-oh. It's locked. My cell phone(s) are inside. My lock picking tools are inside. Ring doorbell, bang on door, ring, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, Ad nauseam. OK, don't panic, you've got your pants and shoes, keys to the car, just go to your cousin's, he's got a key to this house. Doh! He's not home. I get back around 0149hrs and the door is open. My aunt explains that she thought I was packing or something that was loud so she didn't want to be rude and interrupt. I'm laughing though because I really didn't know how else to react. I mean, I couldn't even explain this to my Army superiors. Still, I was on schedule-ish.
Well, I get to the unit on time and we get on the buses. "Umm, aren't this buses supposed to move to get us where we're going?" I ask everyone. Someone tells me what's going on. Two new soldiers came to the unit and weren't told that this was an overnighter sort of deal. They didn't have clothes or basic hygiene stuff and so they went to Wal-Mart to get it. The only problem was that they weren't from Columbus and they didn't know how to get to Wal-Mart, let alone navigation the streets at 3am. Then I'm told that it's one of my soldiers. Ah crap. Hey, I didn't know I had another new soldier! Nobody tells me anything until they mess up!
I ended up doing much of nothing all Friday. Oh, well, I cleared two jammed weapons (with live ammo in them). OK, to be honest, it was the same weapon that I cleared twice. Somehow, "Don't fire this weapon" translate into "Wait five minutes and try again." Ugh. People always trying to kill me.
Saturday was my bread and butter. The weather called for showers throughout the day. Still, "if it ain't rainin' we ain't trainin'." Wake up is 0430hrs to have formation at 0515 to go to chow at 0530. Be back by 0630 to go out to the range. It takes about 30 minutes by bus to get to the range. So what time do you think it would start? 0700? or somewhere around there? Nope, 0900hrs. I sit around more before 9am than most do all day! Just before 9, it just starts to pour down. Woo! Aww, it's easing up now. We get our brief and I get on the first firing order to zero my weapon. Since it's been raining for about 20 minutes now, 10 of them heavy, all of the fighting positions are just puddles of water. Sweet dude! "OK firers. Lock and load one 18 round magazine. Rotate your selector switch from 'safe' to 'semi' and watch... your lanes." Pop, pop, pop (pause) pop, pop, pop (pause) pop, pop, and pop. OK, zeroed in 9 shots. Not bad, usually it takes 18. Go sit back in the bleachers. About thirty minutes later they start letting us qualify.
"Go ahead firers and take up a good prone supported position. Lock and load one 20 round magazine. Rotate your selector switch from 'safe' to 'semi' and watch... your lanes. OK firers, push your sandbags to your right. Get in a good prone unsupported fighting position. Once you're set go ahead and lock and load one 20 round magazine. Rotate your selector switch from 'safe' to 'semi' and watch... your lanes.
I didn't do as well as I would've liked, 35 out of 40. On one of my shots, the little display off to the side that tells us how to zero nearly fell on my and I panicked for a second a pulled my shot to the right. Also, I just plain didn't see one of the targets pop up so I didn't fire. Otherwise I would've shot expert. And apparently if you qualify once they don't let you try again.
After we find out our scores it stops raining. Yup. For the rest of the weekend. God felt that it was necessary for me to qualify in the rain. I look at my watch, it's now 10:20. Great. I just zeroed and qualified in less than an hour and a half. What to do now? Go qualify on some other weapons? Nah. Fired them. Not as much fun anymore. After awhile it became clear which soldiers needed help so I offered to coach them. As I was coaching one, I saw someone else that needed my help. The person I coached qualified. And so I moved on to this guy. Hardesty, one of our medics. He shot a 16 (out of 40). So I went through and showed him what he was doing, pointing out what was right and wrong, and how to shoot better. We go back out a little later and he qualified with a 37 out of 40. Damnit! He did better than me! He did better than about 98% of the company. He did better than about 99% of the battalion! What the hell? Still, I was proud.
So not to ruin the rest of my day, I went back to the barracks after that. What? You got to end your day on a high-note! Look, it don't get better than a 105% improvement with just a few minutes with Coach Dan. And I wasn't about to have my record sullied by some crappy shooter. No, no, no. Of course by going back to the barracks I left two of my soldiers out there that needed help. I sort of felt bad until I hit my bunk. That was a nice guilt-free nap.
I didn't do anything Sunday except clean-up and sit around joking with friends. Cutting each other down and sometimes ourselves, trading stories, jokes, and the likes. Some of the new people are integrating well. Got up at 0430 Sunday and I didn't get home until 10pm that night. It was a 5hr bus ride back to Columbus. So where exactly did the other 12 hours go? Sitting around. Sitting around. And more sitting around.

sweet child of mine

OK, I can't find the link now but yesterday I decided to take an some surveys yesterday. Not of the Myspace variety either, the serious ones. Or at least I thought so. The site had a specific section geared towards the military. So I thought I'd go ahead and answer a few questions to get some results. I clicked on the link to answer some questions to see if I had PTSD. For such a complex disease you'd think there would be a lot of questions. Instead, I got like a 20 question survey like "Have you every felt worthless in the last six months?" No moron, I'm a ray of sunshine 24/7. "Have you every felt intense anger in the last six months?" Again, no, because I'm a fricken saint! They also asked if I ever been deployed OCONUS (Outside CONtential United States) but didn't ask where or for how long. You know Hawaii is considered OCONUS right? Umm, great. So guess what? I've got PTSD. Anyone can have it if you just answer honestly. On the results page they tell me I should get checked out.
Then I went ahead and answered some of the other surveys. I'm also depressed (true), bi-polar (also true), and an alcoholic (very true). Ha! That's awesome. Ugh. I need some happy news. And by happy I just mean funny.

Oh no! It's Daylight Savings! Run for the hills. It's the end of the world! OK, well maybe it's not that severe but it is pretty bad. Part of Congress' Energy Policy Act included the fact that we'd observe daylight savings 3 weeks ahead of schedule and keep observing it one week past. So we'd get more "daylight" for an extra month. Keep in mind that this is just for the US and Canada. They got sucked in because they're in the same time zones as us. Now what this means is that for 3 weeks we'll be "ahead" of the rest of the world, then it'll go back to normal, then the rest of the world will fall behind us again while we bask in our glory for one more week. Hey, I like the sunlight. I don't understand the purpose behind daylight savings but hey, I grew up with it, I've learned to deal with it.
This is what pisses me off. Congress did this with the "intention" of saving energy? How does it save energy? That's like taping your car's odometer to 000001.0 and driving around. Yay! The car only has a mile on it. Just because you alter the readings doesn't mean anything. Businesses are still going to be working for 8 hours a day right? What did daylight savings do? Oh, well, it puts more of the sunlight during the work day. Oh, well, great. Thanks. The only thing that affects is the automatic light system in the parking lot. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think that changes anything because well, it's still only 9 hours of sunlight and 15 hours of darkness. It's just that now the 9 hours is between 9am to 6pm instead of 8am to 5pm. Brilliant plan people.
It wouldn't be such a big deal except that we're so dependent on our computers with the automatic time update, our cell phones that get accurate time, and all the other computerize crap. It's a nuisance to the rest of the world. And not to sound un-American, but the US is not the center of the world! This kind of crap affects the whole world. Well, it really doesn't bother the little Nigerian kids starving in the streets. They got other things to worry about. I'm just implying that this unilateral action affects a great deal in the world. Like if you decided that instead of driving between the lines on the highway that you drove on the line so that you take up two lanes. Well, that's great but you've effectively congested two lanes instead of one, not something to be proud of. Shame on you Congress!

Didn't I say this would happen?

All I can think is, "The report of my death was an exaggeration." - Mark Twain

back up

Now I don't claim to be a legal beagle or fluent in idiot, but only 5 years? So let me get this straight, you get 2 years for locking up 11 kids (yes, I'm not letting that go) in cages and 2 years for tossing ice out the window at someone. But, if you use a baby as a weapon that's 5 years? I'm saying that some punishments for crimes against minors are just too lenient.

I'm not saying this guy is not mentally retarded, but he sure isn't right in the head. Yeah, it's one thing to kidnap, rape, and bury a little girl alive. It's a whole other thing to assume that you're going to heaven after that. I don't care if he's found Jesus and Waldo. Shoot him in the head (let him go the way of Lennie from Of Mice and Men), incinerate his body, and fire his ashes into the sun.

Listen craterface, if you keep stressing about your pimples it's just going to get worse. I guess I just wasn't all that stressed as a teen. Lucky me.

This article reminds me a lot about the argument of national security. In a sense it does involve national security but only on a larger scale. One could call it a "cosmic" scale. Here's the deal, it'll cost $1 billion potentially track any possible killer asteroids. I think that's being very conservative. I'm thinking more along the lines of 4-5 billion dollars. Still, people don't want divert the money for projects like that. Why? Because it's an unseen threat. If you look up in the sky and see an asteroid coming, it's too late. Then people are crying about "Why didn't the government do anything?" Uh, well, because we didn't want to spend the money. Well, we should've, but how to do justify spending that much money on something that may prevent something that may or may not happen, and if it happens won't happen for a very long time. I'm sure Bill Gates could fund the project with the interest that he's accrued in the time it took me to write this.

Update: the uncle of the 2 kids smoking pot makes some valid points. I mean, those kids were going to smoke pot one day. You want them to get into it as soon as possible. You know what's also possible? They could get shot in some act of violence (like a drive-by or something gang-related) so you know what? Just shoot them now, get that out of the way too. One other point he made too was that the media is making a huge deal out of this. I don't think they're exaggerating things, but making a lot of noise about this.

the distance

You know, I never went through any training for this. In fact, no unit did a training exercise of this magnitude for the first two years of the war. People are trying to make a big deal out of it. And not to diss the training but soldiers are given the impression that this is based on real events and strategies, which is it, but aren't told how to adapt. Us, we didn't know what to expect so there was no preparation. Instead, we made up the doctrine as we went along. Trial and error, but we knew that and accepted the fact that we'd have to be adaptive.
We'd call them Boot Camp know-it-alls. They'd graduate basic training and jump into an active duty unit, telling seasoned soldiers what to do because "it's what drill sergeant said." Uh, no, sorry kid but that ain't how the real Army works. I'd have a good time with it though, I'd let them fail and pick them up and then show them how to do it. Worked pretty good. They never mouthed off to me, thought I was an a$$hole, but they listened when I spoke.

You'd think that the guy in Florida could tell us. Although I guess he'd probably say no in order to keep his cover.

I remember when I was first told about the emergency radio frequencies. Yeah, they overlapped garage door openers and even could be picked up by certain walkie-talkies. It happened in the higher end of the spectrum. Higher end means better distance. Who wants a garage door opener that only works right in front of the garage? What is this? the 80's? Geez, I want to be a about half-a-mile away and open my garage. That way it's completely open by the time I get home. I can't brake twice in my driveway!

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young. Nuff said.

I don't understand the purpose behind this. Or why that it is even news. Is Strom Thurmond Al Sharpton's daddy? Or that the Thurmonds were once a prominent white, slave owning family? Or that Sharpton's ancestors were slaves? What? Why is this news? I'm sure someone could trace their lineage to a slave owned by George Washington. What's the big deal? Oh, Strom Thurmond wanted to keep racial segregation. Oh, well, so did a lot of people back then. Guess what? He was a politician, he says things that he thinks that will win him votes. What? You think that everyone was honest back then? That just magically politicians became liars overnight? Really? What's this magically fairy land that you live in? Just so I can get some grid coordinates to carpet bomb the place. Look, I'm not saying that Thurmond was right or wrong, but those were the times. The dude was born in 1903, into a privileged family. He was a product of his environment and upbringing.

Dam yo! Uz acting white wit ur str8 deez in skool! Well you know what? *bleep* them. Hopefully you'll be far away from that when all of your "so-called friends" are selling dope and get shot down in a drive-by. I guess you really don't need an education if you're just going to sell crack and attempt to shoot at people while riding in a car. Tell you what, why don't you get a headstart and go play in traffic.

While the kids might not be retarded, I'm pretty sure that the Social Security workers were. Good job people!

you spin me round

You know, in Iran he probably would've gotten a pat on the back. Here though, it's a triple homicide. I mean obviously it's the logical response right? Rooted in thousands of years of religion and tradition. I bet they didn't disrespect him afterwards.

She is woman, hear her roar. See? Some good news. Ha, and the dead dude's accomplice gets charged with felony murder. I tell you, Indiana's got some messed up laws. It's all good, 2nd Amendment and all.

This is a sad story, but a lesson can be learned from all of this. I mean, when I was a kid, my parents taught me (the hard way) not to stand behind the car when it started up. Heck, I do it still to this day. If I'm not inside of it, I'm either behind something or on the side of the car. Still, you know who should be charged with a crime? The parents. I mean, what the hell are you doing using your 10 year-old as a remote starter? They probably won't get more than 2 years.

Ah, you got to love dumb racists. I could go through all of the steps that would've made the crime more successful but nah, I enjoy a good laugh. Instead, the cops think that robbery and arson may be the cause of a the two-alarm fire. Well, I can tell you this much, robbery wasn't the cause of the fire. Arson though... let me think about it. Yeah, I think that was the cause for the fire. I don't have a Ph.D in forensic science but I do have eyes and common sense. Now I can't tell you who started the fire, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't accidental.

Cool! Maybe I can have a disability now! Maybe a handicap placard for my car? The Internet addiction is a cool disease. Is everything a disease? I use the Internet, alot, not because I'm addicted but because I'd rather be doing this instead of working. Maybe I'm addicted to TV? I should collect disability for it too.