Them crazy Kentuckians

Out of control

So, the Gov and his cronies are charged with all kinds of political shenanigans. Instead of standing up and facing the music, the Gov just issues a blanket pardon for everyone, even those who haven't even been charged yet. He supposedly did this to "move the state forward" whatever the hell that means.

Talk about some crazy shit, I didn't even know you could do that.

Some people

Pedophile or not?

Is a 20 year old man, who has sex with a 12 year old girl, a pedophile? Is a 22 year old man who has sex with a 14 year old girl a pedophile? The answer is obvious. There is no circumstance where a 20 year old man can claim innocence because a 12 year old girl simply can't legally give consent.

Why is there controversy in this case? Who in their right mind thinks this guy should be left alone? They should put this child molesting mother fucker under the jail and throw away the key. He literally ruined this girl's life and made her a mother at 14. No child should have parenthood forced on them at 14, it's just that simple. Shit, most people can't handle it at 30, I can't imagine the burden it would be at 14. The fact that he married her is immaterial. The fact that the girls parents are happy about it just means they're terrible parents.

I don't get it, what is wrong with this country?

Some new readers

My kids were over this weekend for my birthday. I walked into my computer room and found my son Jimmy, he's 28, on my computer. My daughter Jessica was on the other side of the room on my wife's computer. Jimmy said, "I was being nosy Dad and clicked on what you had minimized." It just so happened I had my blog minimized and he and my daughter had been perusing it. My daughter was laughing about my tipping post. So, I sent them off a link this morning.

Maybe it's just me but it will be weird to have my kids reading some of the off the wall stuff I write about. I wonder if my wife will want to read it, she's certainly seen me posting plenty of times and read bits and pieces over my shoulder.

Hopefully they'll register and post comments.

51

That's right, today is my birthday. I'm the same age as rock and roll. Stevie Ray Vaughn died on my birthday in 1991. I remember when a candy bar cost a nickle and gas was $0.17 a gallon (and keyboards had a cent sign). I was married with children before I ever touched a real computer. I remember the day Kennedy died and I remember when TV was three channels and it went off at midnight.

You know what, even though I'm 51, I ran 5 miles Friday morning. I take care of myself and plan, God willing, to live to 151. I watch what I eat but that doesn't mean I starve myself and eat nuts and grass. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured. I'm not afraid of dying but I'm in no hurry. I'm a grandpa and I want to watch my grandkids graduate from college and I want to dance at their weddings.

Life is good. 51 is just a number.

Six Feet Under

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was probably the best show ever on TV. It was hard to watch at times but I think that is what made it so damm good, you just couldn't not watch if for no other reason than to see what they were going to do next.

They carried on their unpredictability right to the end. I just watched the ending for the second time and it was just as cool as it was the first time. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, just be prepared for something completely different.

I miss it already. I hope Rome is good.

A few gaming articles

PK Arrested

Several of us, for many years, have predicted various gloom and doom scenarios related to the buying and seeling of virtual goods for real money. I don't think any of us forsaw this outcome.

There are a lot of issues here. First off, this guy was supposedly "cheating". According to the story, he wrote an unbeatable bot and used it to kill people. Tough to prove to start off with but is there such a thing as an unbeatable bot or was he using it just against newbs? OK but if the game allows killing other players and taking their shit, the only thing he did illegally was use a bot. Selling stuff on eBay might be against the EULA but it is a criminal offense? It is certainly a wide spread practice but I don't know enought about the laws governing such things to comment. Let's really fly off into left field, who else is liable? Isn't the company at fault for allowing such activity to happen unchecked? I mean really, if you allow someone to kill people and take their shit, aren't you an accomplice?

I know one thing, this is what we've all been worried about. Granted, this happened in Japan but how long before it bleeds across the big water?

On to happier topics:

Video Games Make Youths Violent, Says Study

Sorry, not so happy after all. Yet another group coming out and saying that video games are bad for us.

A pertinent quote

Kieffer says the research points to numerous gaps that can be filled with further studies on the topic. Among the areas of study he suggests is attempting to determine whether those who play violent games are predisposed to violent behavior to begin with. "I think we really have to get to describing the individuals who are playing the games and see if they're any different from the population," he says. Kieffer also says that a truly complete study would involve research from institutions in multiple geographies to achieve demographic balance.

However:

Based on Kieffer's and Nicoll's findings, the APA drafted a resolution recommending a number of steps to reduce violence in video games.

So, even though they acknowledge that they might be all wet and that other factors might actually be the cause, they go ahead and issue their recommendations anyway.

People get violent WATCHING a soccer game. People tear a town apart because their team WINS a world championship. People get violent just driving down the street. Can we somehow tie that to Doom III?

I'm not going to beat this one to death, it's already been done. I just wish these so called intelligent, educated people would get their heads out of their asses every once in a while.

Yet another rant about the war

An opinion piece from the NY Times:

Frank Rich

First off, figures don't lie but liars figure. That means that anyone can find any numbers they want to justify any position they like.

That being said, I believe that most of the people in this coutry are sick of the war in Iraq. Now, unless I misunderstand, don't we elect the President to represent us? Doesn't that mean if most of the people think we should do something, shouldn't he do it? If most people believe we should pull out of Iraq, shouldn't we pull out of Iraq?

Let me tell you, as a retired soldier, killing more people doesn't do shit for the people who have already been killed.

A visit in the night

Saturday morning, I woke up and heard some banging. Our back patio is just outside our bedroom window and it seemed to be coming from there. I got out of bed, went into the kitchen
and could see something moving around in the corner. I turned on the light and the culprit soon stepped out into the center of the patio. It was a medium sized raccoon. I had a large plastic container of birdseed that he was pillaging for the sunflower seeds. He didn't seem to be much bothered by the light and we watched as he pulled up the lid and reached inside. After a few minutes, he toddled off down the center of the yard. I promised my wife I would move the birdseed into the garage.

Saturday night I had just gone to bed. My wife and daughter were watching TV when our little friend returned. They got me up and we watched as our little furry visitor once again made himself at home with the birdseed I had forgotten to relocate. He entertained us for a while then once again, waddled off to wherever he was going.

Well, about 6 AM the next morning, I found out where he went. Seems he went to get his neighbors and relatives. My wife woke me up saying that there were more of them. We couldn't see them very well but as it turned out, there was 6 of the little buggers. They had managed to get the lid completely off the birdseed container and were having a party on the patio. They all eventually trotted off two by two. It was pretty funny how they paired up to leave.

I moved the birdseed first thing next morning. I like little critters but don't want them waking me up at 0'dark o'clock.

Raccoon facts for anyone who is interested.

The Matrix Online

I was bored with CoH and Guild Wars was a total bore so I stopped by Game Spot (or whatever the store on way home is called) and decided to look around for a new game. After persuing everything, I came across TMO. I know it's gotten less than stellar reviews but I still wanted to try it out and when I saw that it was only $20, I decided to give it a shot.

I've been playing it on and off all weekend and have made it to level 10. I gotta say, so far I like it.

The world is huge but there is a lot to do. There are baddies all over and plenty of missions. The skill system seems very fluid. It's tree based and while I believe there is some kind of cap, it seems like you could just level everything up. You can only load so much into memory at once and you do that at a "hardline" but the skills are still there so I guess you just load and unload them as you like. I've never even come close to running out of money but I'm only a level 10 so who knows.

The crafting system is pretty different. Since everything is technically a program, you assemble things from bits of code. Everything from skills to equipment to consumables are basically built from the same basic structures which makes things a bit easier. I haven't done too much coding, I'm just kicking ass right now and exploring.

It is laggy as hell at times. I'm running at minimum level so that might be part of the problem.

I have also only solo'd, no teams yet. I did get a few invites to a crew but turned them down. I wanted to get a feel for it before hooking up with more people.

Anyway, I'm having fun. I've already gotten my $20 worth.

in a dream...

the doorbell rings. Half awake, I wonder, "Did I just hear the doorbell?" and doze back off. I hear it again, this time I realize it's not a dream. Who can it be, it's pitch dark outside?

Stumbling to the door, fumbling with my pants, I see a police officer with a flashlight. I feel the special panic only a parent can know once their kids have left home. What Happened!! Who died?? Who had a wreck and lies in some emergency room somewhere??

Now fully awake, I turn on the light, open the door, ask what is wrong. The alarm goes off and my wife says, "What's going on?" from behind me.

"Sorry to bother you Sir but I noticed your garage door was open and the dome light is on in your car. Can you check to see if everything is OK?"

"Sure thing." Great relief, just the garage door.

I go outside and see that the back door of the car is ajar. I open it, see the stupid plastic flowers on the floorboard and realize what has happened.

"Is everything all right?" as he shines his flashlight in.

"Yeah, I was taking groceries out of the car and didn't close the door all the way. I forgot to come back for the last item, everything is fine. Thanks for stopping, have a good evening."

He goes back to his car as I close the garage door and stumble back to bed.

"What time is it?"

"3:33"

It's hard to go back to sleep once your heart has stopped...

Tipping

To tip or not to tip

Tipping, as a practice, has always bugged me. Not just in restaurants, but in all of the places where people have their hands out these days. Just for the record, I generally tip 20% for even mediocre service at a restaurant.

Let's start with restaurants. Why is a tip based on the bill. Is it harder to fill my glass of water in a high class restaurant than it is at IHOP? Don't greasy spoon wait people work just as hard (or probably harder) than people at a steak place? It just doesn't make sense that the price of my food figures into the amount of the tip.

Now, who decided who gets tipped? If I go into Best Buy and spend an hour with a guy deciding on a washer, I don't tip him (whether he makes commision or not) but if some guy at the airport knocks me down to grab my bag and move it 3 feet, I owe him a dollar. What's up with that?

I know that these people don't make much money but really, whose problem is that? Is it mine or the guy who runs the restaurant. Should I pay $20 for a steak and then $4 for someone to bring it to me but nothing to the guy who cooked it?

Oh yeah, I don't like it when the waiter squats down at my table, who thought that was a good idea? I'm not sure why that bugs me so much but it does. I also don't like a lot of chatter. Smile, take my order, keep my drink full and leave me alone. I'm not anti-social but I'm usually socializing with the people I came with and you're interrupting me. Showing some personality is one thing, being intrusive and annoying is quite another.

I told you so

Here come the thought police

I said it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

Am I the only one who gets sick to my stomach at statements like this:

Blair said the government also would compile a list of Web sites, bookshops and centers that incite hatred and violence. British nationals involved with such organizations could face strict penalties. Foreign nationals could be deported, he said.

Here's another good one.

The government also was considering a request from police and security services to hold terror suspects for three months without charge. The current time limit is 14 days.

What exactly is a "terror suspect" anyway? This is some really scary shit. They can just pick you up, throw you in the slammer and not even charge you with a crime for 3 whole months. Let's take this to the next step. What happenes to a person's life if they are picked up as a terror suspect and held for three months? Anyone who thinks any of this stuff is a good idea needs to think about your life if YOU got thrown in the slammer for three months because you happened on to click on the wrong web site or wander into the wrong book store.

I think a lot of people support this crap because they can't imagine it happening to them.

Al Queda wants to blow us up

No shit Sherlock

Let's just start at the top.

Confidential government assessments say that Al Qaeda remains intent on attacking targets in the United States and that suicide bombings are clearly "a preferred method of attack among extremists" in the wake of last month's terror attacks in London.

First off, is this a news flash? Of course they still want to attack us, we're still killing people in Iraq. We're still running around the world telling everyone else what to do. We're still building our nuclear arsenal while telling everyone else they can't.

Now, if this assessment is confidental, where did some reporter get the information? Isn't it strange that this thing is confidental but still leaking certain parts of it? Am I just going all Alex Jones or does this smell an awful lot like the same crap they pulled during the campaign?

A second security bulletin also prepared after the London bombings warned that in addition to setting off bombs on trains and subways, Al Qaeda might seek to derail trains or crash a truck carrying flammable material into trains.

Like I said, if we put cops in the subways, they'll go blow up the mall. No matter what we do, they can still get us. I can't say it enough, no matter what we do, they can still get us. The only answer is to stop making them want to kill us.

And the International Association of Chiefs of Police, with 20,000 members worldwide, has issued new training guidelines to its members advising them to have officers shoot a suicide bomber in the head to avoid a life-threatening detonation.

The new guidelines, which were developed before the London bombings and first reported Thursday by The Washington Post, represent a more deadly posture in dealing with the threat of possible suicide bombers, said Joseph Estey, who is president of the chiefs' association and the police chief in Hartford, Vt.

"These are new circumstances for us to deal with, and this is an aggressive policy to respond to a narrow set of circumstances," Chief Estey said in an interview Thursday. If an officer believes he is confronting a suicide bomber who may be about to explode a bomb, he said, the new guidelines "call for a head shot, which unfortunately is the securest way of disabling someone who may have a suicide device and may try to detonate it."

Chief Estey acknowledged that the shooting death last month in a London subway of a Brazilian man, whom the police mistakenly thought was a suicide bomber, underscored the tragic possibilities if the police make the wrong decision.

For an officer to make a spot decision on whether someone is a would-be suicide bomber "is a real tough question, and there are situations where you're not sure," he said. "But when you're making those decisions on the fly, you have to have the greater public good in mind and try to save other people's lives."


That last statement causes me a lot of problems. Is our way of life now simply a numbers game? If 1 guy can harm two other people, do we just head shoot him in case he's a suicide bomber? Does a running man in a long coat = suicide bomber? This bothers me a lot but I don't have a good answer other than the one I already gave, to stop making them want to blow us up.

It's a scary world we live in. The problem is that there aren't really any good guys anymore.

Creationism vs Evolution

Intelligent design

First off, the President gets to have an opinion. It shouldn't be a monstrous controversy every time he states it. Of course, since we live in such a contentious time and this particular President has created such an us against them administration, I don't have much sympathy for him. Just for the recod, he's still an idiot.

Intelligent design sounds like a good description of my own personal belief of how the world was created. I believe that God created the universe over a course of billions of years, that he started the process and nudged it along the way. The whole 6 earth days theory is just flat silly in more ways than one. That being said, our current knowledge of exactly how the universe was created is, in my humble opinion, still in it's infancy. We think we know a lot but we don't. I'm sure a lot of people will argue with me but you're wasting your time.

Now, intelligent design is creationism, plain and simple. It says that we were designed by some intelligence. We all know that George wasn't talking about aliens from Zardoz.

So, now that we've got my own personal prejudices laid out on the table, should the concept of intelligent design be taught in school? Should evolution be taught in school and the concept of creationism/intelligent design be left to Sunday school? I guess that depends on what class you're teaching. Creationism has no "science" behind it so it doesn't make sense to teach it in science class. Evolution does have a good bit of science behind it, as limited as it might be in the overall scheme of things. The things we know are science, the things we believe about God are not. The two really have nothing to do with each other, teach one in science class and the other in a theology class. Yes, students need to be exposed to different ideas but not in the same room at the same time.

I don't know why this is so freaking hard. Well, that's not true, it's hard because we have people involved and we all know how fucked up people are.

Atkins goes belly up

Bankrupt!!

I think they just pushed too hard. It seems like they got a little popular and started shoving everything under the sun branded with the Atkins name. They really went nuts when the old man died. I wouldn't have had a problem with their products except for the fact that they cost 3 times (or more) as much as the comparable normal stuff. You can get a box of store brand bread machine mix for a $1. The Atkins bread machine mix was like $5. To top it off, it probably tasted like baked dog shit but I can't say because it was just too damm expensive.

My wife and I have been on Atkins for a while. We both lost the normal 25 lbs then started putting it back on. Atkins has always made sense to me and it works but it is really hard to maintain. The biggest problem with the Atkins diet is that it's plain fucking BORING!! I love meat as much as the next carnivore but I just gotta have a stack of pancakes or a bowl of spagetti at least every once in a while.

Man does not live by ribeye alone.