NOTE November 2009: I've been a HorrorFreakGirl fan for awhile now. HFG, Horror Freak Girl, Cassady, just turned twelve last month, and she's already quite the actress. Check her video out. Amazing.
Update September 2015: Sadly, at some point this video was made private, or deleted, along with nearly all other videos posted by HorrorFreakGirl. It was in fact a better video for the song, than the official song video itself - in my opinion.
HorrorFreakGirl had posted for several years on YouTube. She appeared in at least one Staples commercial, and began an acting career on Broadway.
It is possible that she was asked to make her videos private for professional reasons. Perhaps her parents gave her a choice - Broadway, and good grades, or YouTube. She was very talented, and represented one of the first generations that used a public video journal for both an online diary, and for creative mini-entertainment productions.
Cassady would be about seventeen now, and if you are reading this, Cassady, I recommend that you keep your YouTube Channel, add content - perhaps as a critic of all things Horror related, and monetize the channel. There are many successful YouTube content providers who have made quite a career out of posting interesting content, and you have the talent to do so as well.
Owl City - Fireflies
You Would Not Believe Your Eyes
If Ten Million Fireflies
Light Up The World As I Fell Asleep
Cause They Fill The Open Air
And Leave Teardrops Everywhere
You'd Think me Rude
But I Wouuld Just Stand And stare
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
Cause I'd Get A Thousand Hugs
From Ten Thousand Lightning Bugs
As They Tried To Teach Me How To Dance
A Foxtrot Above My head
A Sockhop Beneath My Bed
A Disco Ball Is Just hanging By A thread
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
When I Fall Asleep
Leave My Door Open Just A crack
Please Take Me Away From Here
Cause I Feel Like Such An Insomniac
Please Take Me Away From Here
Why Do I Tire Of Counting Sheep
Please Take Me Away From Here
When I'm far Too Tired To Fall Asleep
To Ten Million Fireflies
I'm Weird Cause I Hate Goodbyes
I Got Misty Eyes As They Said Farewell
But I'll Know Where Several Are
If My Dreams Get Real Bizzare
Cause I Saved A Few And I Keep Them In A Jar
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
When I Fall Asleep
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Cause Everything Is Never As It Seems
When I Fall Asleep
I'd Like To make Myself Believe That Planet earth Turns Slowly
It's Hard To Say I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep
Having been raised a Catholic in the 1960s I can say that I recall asking my parents who "we" were for in the upcoming Illinois 1968 presidential Primary. I was told Bobby Kennedy. Well we all knew what happened there. I remember being awoken to my mother, and sister crying over the breaking news that Robert Kennedy had been assassinated.
And years later I asked my mother about the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated and she told me I broke down crying because everyone else in the house was crying. I was just a little kid then, but I must have sensed that anything so important as to bring the adults to tears was worthy of my own.
As the years past the tabloids kept the Kennedy family, and Jacki O in the spotlight, and I watched them from afar - feeling a bit guilty in the process. But as I learned more about the remarkable Kennedy family, and their history I realized I was witnessing history.
I've always been a Kennedy fan.
I've seen this family survive one tragedy after another, and yet survive. And they will go on.
God Bless You Teddy, and thank you for all the good things you have done for this nation.
You feel you were forgotten From a different land and time You said that love was rotten When I offered you mine You rush to those who hurt you Like a moth into the flame I can no longer see it's truth As you hide behind your shame Men you say adore you dear Yet you feel that you're unloved Your smiling face is filled with tears Like a river of pain from above And not everyone those tears can see But I do know that they are there Because you shared them with me And because I truly care. I've tried to share some wisdom And I have offered you my life For I fear the path you have chosen Will take you from the light Your heart is filled with a darkness And a pain so deep that you say You're often thinking of an end to this Not wanting another day You ask me why I love you so And as I whisper why You thrash and push away with no And we both begin to cry If not with me I hope you find The love you hurt to know Realizing your dreams as divined And a time which loves you so You're beautiful and sacred oh You're a gift from god above An inspiration of Beauty so Of Goodness, and of Love You'll need to see this truth as told Before you can accept a love A true and lasting heart of old Your salvation from above
In Light
Of Beauty, Goodness and Love by jeromeprophet
You feel you were forgotten From a different land and time You said that love was rotten When I offered you mine
You rush to those who hurt you Like a moth into the flame I can no longer see it's truth As you hide behind your shame
Men you say adore you dear Yet you feel that you're unloved Your smiling face is filled with tears Like a river of pain from above
And not everyone those tears can see But I do know that they are there Because you shared them with me And because I truly care.
I've tried to share some wisdom And I have offered you my life For I fear the path you have chosen Will take you from the light
Your heart is filled with a darkness And a pain so deep that you say You're often thinking of an end to this Not wanting another day
You ask me why I love you so And as I whisper why You thrash and push away with no And we both begin to cry
If not with me I hope you find The love you hurt to know Realizing your dreams as divine
And a time which loves you so
You're beautiful and sacred oh You're a gift from god above An inspiration of Beauty so Of Goodness, and of Love
You'll need to see this truth as told
Before you can accept a love
A true and lasting heart of old
Your salvation from above
John Hughes, the man behind the cam in such films as "Pretty in Pink", "Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club", "Planes Trains and Automobiles", "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "National Lampoon's Vacation" , and "Home Alone". John Hughes was also a contributing writer to "Animal House".
And those were just his hits.
If you were a young person living in the western world in the 1980s you were affected by this man.
He died today while taking a morning walk in Manhattan, and was fifty nine years old.
I only know this man through his films, and can only respond by saying - thank you for the incredible movies.
I live in Jerome, Illinois, but I work in Springfield, Illinois. I do most of my driving through the streets of "Old Springfield". I must admit I usually take a route which takes me through many of the old neighborhoods I know from my childhood.
Sometimes I feel a bit sad when I notice how little has changed in many of these "hoods", but usually I feel just the opposite. I drive past the church I attended as a youth, my old elementary school. I drive past many of the same businesses I know from childhood - some open, some not.
One thing I always look for are older stretches of sidewalk, or streets.
Asphalt is a best a temporary covering. It looks nice for a a few years, but it simply doesn't last. Cement, and brick are incredible. Many of the sidewalks I see that are made of cement look as if they have been in place for half a century or more, and some of the few streets made from cement have also managed to last that long.
One thing I felt odd about was driving down the alley way which ran parallel behind my childhood street. I noticed that after decades of asphalt overlays that the alley which was once even with the yards along it was now several feet above those yards.
Also, there are the rare old fences which have somehow managed to survive the many decades since my youth.
And finally, the trees. Incredible trees of my childhood still stand, and each one brings back a rush of memories. Not all have survived, but many have, and I wonder for how much longer those ancient life forms will last. Just to see them, and to know that they may outlast me is actually of comfort to me.
I guess I'm looking for the comfort in finding proof, and clues of my youth.
I guess I'm getting to feel like a time traveler of sorts.
Then there is New Springfield. I know that many of its residents have no link to Old Springfield. They are busy living their sterile lives in their treeless neighborhoods - hoods where houses look all the same - where nothing dirty as an alley would ever be considered. Hoods where a short drive to the sterile corporate parking lots of CVS, Walgreens, Blockbuster, and Sonic, provide little in the way for children of this generation to call their own. In those hoods the streets are paved with asphalt.
After my mother died several years ago I went through a period of grieving. I don't really see grieving as an either-or experience, instead I see it as a continuum of grief. So for example right now I am still grieving to some extent for my mother, and even my father who died long ago.
Anyway in the months after my mother died I was very definitely finding the subject of death much more interesting than I had before. The whole idea of mortality, or maybe I should say, my own mortality, and the mortality of everyone I know and care about became a tangible and persistent presence in my mind.
I guess if I had been an overwhelmingly religious person I would have sought shelter deep within my religious faith, or if I had been a drug or alcohol abuser perhaps I would have sunk within a bottle of booze for solace, but instead I found some measure of relief in some of the few television programs available which dealt with the subject of death and grieving.
One series, which I liked a great deal, is a funny, and yet thought provoking series titled Dead Like Me.
I could stand to watch it not long after my mother's death because it was funny, and yet it also somehow touched repeatedly upon the meaning of life, mortality, death, and grieving.
I've wanted to buy the DVD set, but due to chronic poverty I haven't seriously considered that an option, however, I am pleased to have discovered the series is available on Hulu.Com.
And so I have spent many hours of this long nearly four day Fourth of July weekend watching episodes of Dead Like Me.
While I'm less emotional about the subject than I was shortly after my mother's death I can say that I still find the series to be as incredibly good as I felt it was then, and so I am highly recommending it to anyone who chances across this blog post.
Ed McMahon Died. My earliest recollection of Ed McMahon was feeling sorry for him. I was a young boy, and I would briefly listen to portions of the Johnny Carson Show, and I would hear how Johnny would make jokes at Ed McMahon's expense, and the crowd would roar with laughter, and I would wonder if Ed McMahon really was a drunk, and if so, why he laughed along with Johnny Carson's comments.
Little did I know that jokes were jokes, and that each was an incredible compliment - I didn't understand the low key comedy routine which Johhny Carson, and Ed McMahon would play out Monday through Friday - I was simply too young.
As years passed I began to understand more and more of the adult world, the world of sophistication, of smoking, drinking, naughty jokes, and Hollywood from watching Johnny Carson, and Ed McMahon. It was a show that seemed at its peak just when I was growing sophisticated enough to understand.
Yet I grew tired of the Carson show as I entered into young adulthood - waiting instead to watch David Letterman, who at the time was the new kid on the NBC late night block.
I'd rarely watch The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson thinking it was boring, and it probably was, yet I did tune in to watch the last show, and I felt sad that the party had come to an end.
I'd see Ed McMahon on Bloopers, and other shows from time to time, and he was always good on whatever I saw him on, but I can't claim I ever watched a show because he was on - and that is the role of the sidekick - to be there, and be square.
I recently watched him on an interview with Larry King, and I felt sad for him, as he was facing the loss of his mansion, but a part of me thought he was being exploited by his various ex-spouses, and his children.
Still I had a great deal of respect for this man as he was still working in whatever capacity he could, even with a broken neck.
I'll always rememeber your Alpo Commercials Ed - you were funny as hell - They just don't make them like you anymore - Hi Yo!
My brother had her famous 1970s poster adorning his bedroom wall as a teenager, and I was always envious that I didn't have one.
The first time I saw Farrah Fawcett was in the Fox Movie Theater in Town and Country Shopping Center on Macarthur Blvd., in Springfield, Illinois. She appeared in the movie Logan's Run.
I was totally attracted to her, although at that age I wasn't entirely sure what those feelings meant, but I knew I wanted more.
Yet, by the peak of her stardom I wasn't interested. I never really like Charlie's Angels. It was in her post Angel's roles where I realized she was a fine actress.
The last time I saw Farrah Fawcett was in her documentary Farrah's Story. I felt so heart broken for her. God I hate Cancer. Poor baby. May you rest in peace Farrah.
You know I never thought I'd be blogging about the death of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson seems so unreal to me that it is hard to believe that he could die.
Michael Jackson The Performer
In Michael Jackson's defense he was an incredible performer. From his singing, to his dancing, to his creation of a bigger than life persona, he just never failed to thrill.
His hit songs defined the sound of popular music for years, and he provided tabloids, and comedians with a vast amount of material to sell to a curious public.
He managed to make some incredible music videos which seem more like short films, and he was able to perform at the highest levels of perfection in front of audiences of tens of thousands.
Yet, having said all these positive things about Michael Jackson I must also say that he was an odd man. I don't mean that in a bad way. We common folk need our bigger than life performers to be able to rise above mediocrity - we need them to be able to say - what we can not. Yet Michael was odd in several disturbing ways that slowly eroded whatever chance he had to be revered by the mass public.
Michael Jackson The Child Molesting Freak
The oddest thing about Michael Jackson was his pederasty. He admitted to sleeping with boys, and he paid many of their families off to keep them from sending him to jail for molesting their children.
Michael Jackson never wanted to grow up, and unlike most people he had the means to avoid doing so.
One of those means was surgery. Not only did Michael Jackson die his skin white, but he also spent his life pursuing, through plastic surgery, a form of physical beauty. One could never predict exactly how Michael Jackson would look.
Michael Jackson The Mortal
And now he is dead. As I watch the television coverage on CNN I hear speculation that he died of a heart attack brought about by an overdose of prescription medication. If this is true it seems only fitting. He was a very lonely, and unhappy man who feared growing up, and growing old, more than he feared death.
Still, I feel a bit awkward watching how another unhappy star has either deliberately, or accidentally ended their own life. I keep thinking of what I would have done with all the money Mr. Jackson is said to have wasted. And now, like the money, fame, and admiration, which he burned through Michael burned through life.
One observation I wanted to include in this post is that I turned on my radio, not satellite radio, and I listened to the broadcast of dozens of stations looking for one which might be playing Michael Jackson songs as a tribute, and I found not one - not one station playing his songs on air.
What appeared to us in the beginning as a rising star long ago burnt out, and only the charred remains exist now for our fascination.
While it is encouraging to see hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets of Tehran the current Iranian regime will in no way allow a peaceful revolution to occur. Anything short of a massive violent uprising on all fronts will fail to change the gangster regime in Iran.
Americans must not be misled, we face hard choices when it comes to Iran. If the U.S., or Israel bombs Iranian nuclear facilities we will make enemies of those who protest for greater freedom today, and at most we can expect to delay the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons by ten years.
It can be argued that any regime that uses murder squads, and worse to suppress its own people's peaceful desire for change should not be trusted with nuclear weapons. Iran would not be the first dictatorship to develop nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union and modern day Russia, China, and North Korea are all examples of dictatorships with nuclear weapons, and none of these regimes have used those weapons in an actual war - yet.
So what is there to do? What should the Obama administration do about North Korea, and Iran?
Should we bomb these regime's nuclear weapons facilities? And if we do, what will be the consequences?
I haven't made up my mind. I can certainly hope that diplomacy will somehow work to dissuade Iran and North Korea from further development of their nuclear stockpile, but I suspect that diplomacy will fail, and time is running out.
Do we live in a world in which North Korea shipped nuclear tipped intermediate and long range missiles to every nation which can afford it? Is that the kind of world we want? A world in which every petty dictator can extort every nation close enough to fear destruction?
My prediction is that both Iran, and North Korea face military strikes on their nuclear weapons, and other weapons of mass destruction facilities - as well as strikes against their missile facilities.
While I look back at the Bush-Cheney administration in contempt for destabilizing the Middle East, tricking us into a quagmire in Iraq, and isolating the U.S., I do believe that the Obama administration will soon find itself having to make choices which the Bush administration failed to make. We need to be prepared for the consequences.
I posted the following comment to SJ-R's recent article regarding the Village of Jerome's (Illinois) recent annexation of some remaining unincorporated Woodside Township bordering Jerome, and Springfield, Illinois.
Welcome new Jeromites! Thank goodness this puts an end to the leaf burning. As far as Park street, it really needs work, and has for ten years - it's the one big let down here. About the small town 'feel' of Jerome - it exist. I love this little village, and I'll often drive through our streets rather than Springfield's just to experience Jerome. The police are great. Call them, and they are there in less than five minutes - always! Jerome police are not just trying to pass out tickets, or make arrest. They have always treated me, and mine with civility, and generosity. The public service department is fantastic. They have gone far beyond their responsibilities to help with yard waste, spraying for insects, picking up unwanted materials - just like clockwork. After the tornadoes, to see all of these fine folk working together to help us recover was an amazing thing I'll never forget. Despite being surrounded by an ever more threatening Springfield Jerome manages to remind me of the way Springfield used to be decades ago. So welcome to the village ya'll.
Would I like curbs, and sidewalks? Absolutely, I really would! Yet, that's it - that is the only complaint I have about Jerome. I have lived in Jerome for twelve years now, and I have never regretted our decision to move here - other than when I discovered to my horror that District 186 gerrymandered the map which determines which high school our kids go to.
In one of the most obscenely rigged maps I have ever seen our part of Jerome somehow ended up having to send our children to South East Springfield High, while neighborhoods far closer to South East, for example those in Hawthorne Place, are skipped over. And if you look at the map, and the way it has to narrowly run down a single road for miles to get to Jerome it is pretty obvious it was done for political reasons - skip over better off whites, and pick on Jerome in the name of balancing the racial equations of Springfield's schools.
Late Spring 2009 - I lost my voice for about a week, and the overall effect lasted nearly two weeks.
It was only really bad for maybe two or three days, but I depend upon my voice to do my job.
My job also keeps me in touch with my company's clients who live all across the U.S., and so I was able to determine that whatever virus was affecting my voice was present in different locations in the U.S. Clients would apologize, and explain that they had laryngitis.
Additionally several people at work caught it - one actually staying home due to her inability to speak.
The virus seemed to have an affinity for the upper part of my throat, in a VERY specific spot - apparently vital to speaking.
Other than that incredible knack for turning people into mutes the virus wasn't particularly damaging - no intense cough, no lingering in the lungs, no fever, etc.
Still that little virus had me worried. I kept wondering how a virus could so selectively target a very specific area on the human body. How did the virus "know"? And then it hit me - what an incredible virus! What if it could be isolated (I'm sure it has), preserved, and then studied. Could the code for that virus help to treat throat cancer?
Attach a radioactive isotope to the virus, and use it to target just cells in the Larynx!
Oh well.
This all came together after I read a movie review about a movie in which people became blind due to a virus.
Lyrics to Another Sunny Day Another sunny day, I met you up in the garden You were digging plants, I dug you, beg your pardon I took a photograph of you in the herbaceous border It broke the heart of men and flowers and girls and trees
Another rainy day, we’re trapped inside with a train set Chocolate on the boil, steamy windows when we met You’ve got the attic window looking out on the cathedral And on a Sunday evening bells ring out in the dusk
Another day in June, we’ll pick eleven for football We’re playing for our lives the referee gives us fuck all I saw you in the corner of my eye on the sidelines Your dark mascara bids me to historical deeds
Everybody’s gone you picked me up for a long drive We take the tourist route the nights are light until midnight We took the evening ferry over to the peninsula We found the avenue of trees went up to the hill That crazy avenue of trees, I’m living there still
There’s something in my eye a little midge so beguiling Sacrificed his life to bring us both eye to eye I heard the Eskimos remove obstructions with tongues, dear You missed my eye, I wonder why, I didn’t complain You missed my eye, I wonder why, please do it again
The lovin is a mess what happened to all of the feeling? I thought it was for real; babies, rings and fools kneeling And words of pledging trust and lifetimes stretching forever So what went wrong? It was a lie, it crumbled apart Ghost figures of past, present, future haunting the heart
Ah, and one more.
Belle & Sebastian - Me and the Major
Lyrics to Me And The Major Me and the Major could become close friends cause we Get on the same train and he wants to talk to me Me and the Major could become close friends cause we Get on the same train and he wants to talk But there is too much history, too much biography between us Me and the Major don't see eye to eye on a Number of things, he'll take a guy like me and then Me and the Major don't see eye to eye on a Number of things, he'll take a guy like me And put him in the army Cause the Queen's own army makes a man of you
But he doesn't understand and he doesn't try He knows there's something missing and he knows it's you and I We're the younger generation, we grew up fast All the others did drugs They're taking it out on us They're taking it out on us
Me and the Major are from different worlds, but if I get stuck in the lift it's always with a toff Me and the Major are from different worlds, but if I get stuck in the lift it's always with a man Of noble standing who looks down on me like I was never born
I think the Major's going quite insane, he goes Along the pavement and comes back again, oh yeah I think the Major's going quite insane, he goes Along the pavement and comes back again Like he is on parade, and he is on parade At least he thinks so
Now he is swapping his tent for a sheltered home He doesn't have a family, he is living alone He remembers all the punks and the hippies too And he remembers Roxy Music in seventy-two He doesn't understand and he doesn't try He knows there's something missing and he knows it's you and I We're the younger generation, we grew up fast All the others did drugs They're taking it out on us They're taking it out on us They're taking it out on us
I want a dance, I want a drink of whisky so I Forget the Major and go up the town Because the snow is falling
As half truths, and down right lies, go flying between Democrats, and Republicans seeking shelter from future criminal prosecution on war crimes violations, and as the Obama Administration sells out his supporters in favor of making cover for George W. Bush and company, it seems obvious that in the end justice will never be brought to those who knowingly violated the terms of the Geneva Convention.
I as an embarrassed U.S. citizen implore the civilized nations of Europe to prosecute George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, and many more, who were involved in implementing the systematic torture of prisoners at the hands of CIA, and the U.S. Army.
Only when these criminals are brought to justice will the U.S. government, and its people, ever stand a chance of being what it once was - a shining beacon of liberty and justice, an example for the whole world to emulate. Right now as it stands the U.S. has lost it's moral position. Right now we witness the Obama administration acting in complicity with the torturers it once vowed to bring to justice.
I've noticed many more incidences of police cars making high speed U-turns on the streets of my city - Springfield, Illinois (and surrounding communities).
Sure for years I've seen police cars making U-Turns right before, or after, they put on their emergency lights, and race away to some emergency, but I'm not talking about those kinds of U-turns.
I'm talking about a cop car coming right up behind your car (or my car) while they are probably running your (or my) plates, and determining how fast you (or me) are driving.
They find that your (or my) plates are clean (no wants or warrants), and that you are not speeding (too much), and decide that no stop or ticket is worth their trouble.
They then make a rapid U-turn, and head in the opposite direction down the opposite lane.
I've had cops do that to me at least three times in the last year, and I've seen cop cars do that with other cars at least as many times as they've done it to me.
This maneuver for city streets involves risk to the police officer, as well as to drivers in other nearby cars. It's risky enough to be illegal for regular drivers.
In fact, without an actual emergency to justify such driving, I'd bet the police officer is breaking the law.
But after years of watching police cars, without their emergency lights on, running red lights, speed like crazy, not signaling their lane changes or turns, etc., I guess I can accept the rather Hollywood type U-turn maneuver on what was once our calm city streets.
A: So in other words time wouldn't exist unless there is some sort of cosmic speed limit? B: It depends upon how you define time. A: Why do you say that? B: Time is the vibration of space - which defines space topography. A: And? B: If there's no barrier to transmission of energy across that topography then chaos exist. A: And a singularity from that chaotic state would exist? B: And what of time? A: It wouldn't exist. B: Are you suggesting that this was the state of the 'universe' prior to the big bang? A: No, because if there was a perfect singularity it would never have ended. B: Then a fundamental rule of the universe would be that there are no perfect singularities. A: And that is what allows the universe, this universe, to exist as we know it. B: Including time. A: Yes, in fact, we are in fact talking about time. B: Cool. A: So Einstein was correct about the speed of light? B: Yes, and no. A: Yes, and no? B: In a very fundamental way there needs to be a speed limit, but only for some of the universe. A: What? B: Not all of what exist depends upon an ordered state based upon the speed of light. A: Only enough of what is needed to exist within that limit is required. B: And the rest? A: The rest can exist in a faster than light state. B: A tachyonic, versus tardyonic state? A: Correct. B: Can these two state interact? A: Without that interaction the big bang would never have come to be. B: This is how the singularity ceased being a singularity? A: This is why there is no such thing as a singularity. B: A randomness to the distribution of transmission of the energy states? A: Causing space itself to exist. B: And time as well. A: Exactly. B: And this depends upon some portion of the energy state traveling faster than light. A: That's a good argument. B: And what about now? A: Well 'now' doesn't exist separately from this portion of the 'universe'. B: So we assume continual interaction between supraluminal and luminal energy states? A: Yes. B: And what about entanglement? A: Are these states entangled? B: Yes. A: So what we refer to as the past, and the future, are connected? B: Oh yes.
Several years ago I wrote a post in which I speculated upon the existence of a black operations program being run within the U.S. military - a program which employed weather modification techniques to develop, and deploy, a broad variety cutting edge and experimental weapons.
One argument which I put forth was that a weather modification program could be used to disseminate, that is to inoculate, the mass population without its knowledge or consent, against a variety of potential bio weapons, including bacterial and viruses.
I now propose that proof for such a program exist in the mysterious difference between the rates of death, the lethality seen, in those exposed to the H1N1 Swine flu virus. Those living within the U.S. have experienced a mild reaction to the virus, while those living within Mexico have seen a far higher mortality.
This difference could very well be explained if citizens north of the Mexican border were at some point exposed to weakened forms of avian, or swine flu viruses.
The only death so far in the U.S. was a young child who may not have lived long enough to have been secretly inoculated.
Such inoculation would take place by flying stealth aircraft over U.S. population centers, and exploding small cellulose bomblets containing virus segments. The small bombs, similar to fireworks would create shock waves which would force condensation within clouds, thus causing rain on demand.
The population, unaware of the existence of such a program, would have lived their entire lives listening to thunderstorms in which these small explosions exist, and would be unable to discern artificial thunder from real thunder.
So that's my proposal - a secret government program - some may see as sinister, but one which may have worked to protect the population.
Then again, for all we know the current pandemic may have been deliberate, and there is no assurance that the same people who would secretly innoculate U.S. citizens wouldn't also start a pandemic.
I in no way suggest that all U.S. citizens would enjoy protection from the coming wave of swine flu,, as not everyone would be innoculated, and in addition such innuculation might only have created a partial immunity.
Stanford & 11th Springfield Illinois Fatal "Accident" April 2009
There is a small grouping of flowers at the base of a (the) utility pole at the corner of Stanford and 11th - the intersection where two men lost their lives, and a third (the driver) was critically injured.
Something which I noticed about the State Journal Register online story, relating to the Stanford and 11th auto accident, was that SJ-R had initially left the comments option set to on.
Yesterday was a Sunday, so perhaps, by Monday bigger minds prevailed, and the comments were all deleted, and no commenting was allowed.
As I read through the comments I found myself both fascinated, and repulsed, by what I read. Some of the more interesting comments were posted by those who live in the neighborhood, and who shared their experiences, and thoughts. Some of the more reprehensible comments were those which sought to blame the passengers who were killed - how could anyone know what was going on in that speeding car as it raced through a red light? The passengers may have been pleading with the driver to slow down - we'll never know.
We can only wish a peaceful and happy afterlife for those who have been taken from us.
One last thought. I don't like the word accident to describe what happened - because it wasn't an accident.
As swine flu spreads across the U.S. it will be interesting to see which communities get hit first, and worst. I would imagine that cities and towns with high percentages of illegal aliens, like Beardstown, Illinois, will get hit early.
The illegal status of the workers at Beardstown's meat packing plant will tend to discourage workers, mostly illegals from Mexico, from seeking medical assistance. This will hurt the communities, and communities like Beardstown, Illinois from controlling the spread of Swine Flu.
Hopefully, as the epidemic spreads across the U.S. the various infectious disease agencies across the U.S. will reach out to the millions of illegals in the U.S. to provide care, and information.
Could an illegal alien sneaking into Beardstown, Illinois from Mexico carry Swine Flu from Mexico, and contaminate the meat packing plant? Could the virus be carried back to farms aboard trucks?
I have no idea what might be possible, but certainly as the epidemic spreads rumors will too.
I will be attending college again. My employer pays for the tuition, so I felt it was a good idea to take advantage of the benefit before the benefit is taken away.
I probably won't be hanging around campus as I intend to take an online course.
I am not entirely sure how I'll do. I am smarter, better trained, and more knowledgeable than I have ever been in my life - but I fear failure.
Will Work Demands Harm My Grades?
My job involves massive use of Excel, Word, the Internet, our Intranet, research, email, a healthy knowledge of tax law regarding investments, various IRC, various internal procedures, phone skills, scheduling software, office politics, using a business and scientific calculator, etc.
My job demands absolute precision - down to the penny while often ranging over millions of dollars a day in other people's money. It demands dealing with pressure from clients and competing companies, and a dedication toward self growth on a daily basis in order to accommodate the never ending changes in industry procedures forced upon it both internally and externally.
It also demands great care in writing, and verbal skills so as to remain compliant with a variety of industry, state, and federal laws - avoiding at all cost securities (SEC) violations, and breaches of ethics.
My job also involves protection of our client's privacy, and financial information, and taking our company's fiduciary responsibilities to the highest level.
I also play a supervisory-consultant role for half a dozen fellow staff members.
Having said all of this I feel raising a teenage daughter is a thousand times more daunting, and more exhausting, of a task than work is.
Daughter - Goddess of Destruction and Chaos
So I'm worried.
Should I take on the college courses?
I already have several degrees, so why am I doing this?
Ambition? Boredom? Curiosity? Maybe some of each.
My main concern is that my daughter is perhaps the most skilled manipulator I have ever encountered in my lifetime. She seems to know when I am vulnerable, and she like any predator, seems to have an incredible set of skills for destroying any sense of harmony and balance which exist in my home.
I'm not sure what it will be like coming home tired at the end of a long day, and then facing my manipulative and destructive teenage daughter. Hopefully, the fact that she will be attending college classes too will drain her of some of her unbounded energy - and keep her away from home long enough for me to study.
O.K. just a few minutes into April Fools day 2009, and Youtube is acting odd. I tried to bring up one of my favorite live performances by Black Sabbath, and it seems that Youtube has a problem. I've tried several songs, but they're just not coming up. Oh well, maybe it's time to go to sleep.
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.
Please contact the server administrator, web@youtube.com and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.
More information about this error may be available in the server error log. Apache Server at www.youtube.com Port 80
As an insurance company AIG underwrote, and sold, a type of insurance called Credit Default Swaps. Credit Default Swaps essentially were a type of hedge against the risk of Collateralized Debt Obligations failing to produce a profit for those investing in them.
What was wrong with what AIG Did
AIG had no prior experience underwriting Credit Default Swaps, and it improperly assessed the level of risk inherent in CDOs. By underwriting insurance for such high risk bonds (CDOs are a type of bond), and in failing to secure adequate reserves to back that risk it put itself, all those who were insured by it, and their stockholders in financial peril. In essence AIG was driven by short term greed, and absfucated its fiduciary responsibilities.
In short AIG operated a Ponzi scheme which has, and will cost the taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to save it from failing.
What Should Happen To AIG
AIG should be saved, but only for the short run. It then needs to be broken up, and sold off. Criminal investigations, both at the State, and Federal level need to be launched to determine who broke which laws, and when. As many AIG executives responsible should be indicted as possible.
NAZI Mass Rollcall - Nothing can match the feeling I get when I see a man wearing a uniform.
Gang Of Four - I Love A Man In A Uniform (July 31, 1982 Live)
Time with my girl I spent it well I had to be strong for my woman You must be joking, O man you must be joking She needed to be protected
The good life was so elusive Handouts, they got me down I had to regain my self-respect So I got into camouflage
The girls they love to see you shoot
I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform
To have ambitions was my ambition But I had nothing to show for my dreams Time with my girl I spent it well You must be joking, O man you must be joking
The good life was so elusive Handouts, they got me down I had to regain my self respect So I got into camouflage
The girls they love to see you shoot
I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform
I need an order Shoot, shoot I need an order Shoot, shoot I need an order Shoot, shoot I need an order Shoot, shoot
To have ambition Was my ambition Time with my girl I spent it well You must be joking, O man you must be joking
The girls they love to see you shoot The girls they love to see you shoot
I love a man in a uniform I love a man in a uniform They love to see you shoot I love a man in a uniform
The girls they love to see you shoot I love a man in a uniform They love to see you shoot
The girls they love to see you shoot I love a man in a uniform They love a... they love a... they love a They love to see you shoot
Near Springfield Illinois - A Couple For Life, These Two Macaws Need To Fly South
I can't really tell you exactly where I took the photograph I share with you here on my blog tonight for that's a secret, but I can say that I have appreciated greatly the opportunity to come so close to two such magnificent creatures. With freezing cold temperatures solidly upon us here in Central Illinois it is quite rare for large tropical birds to be fluttering about.
With temperatures in the 30s I want so badly to be able to "capture" these two Macaws, and turn them over to an organization that can locate them in a warm and hospitable place.
And while my heart soars to have come within feet of these beautiful tropical birds, birds which live up to 75 years, and are as intelligent as four year old children, I can also say that my heart breaks for them too.
I tried feeding them, but they're not so interested - in our hamster's food. They just seem to like the darkness, and the quiet of their undisclosed location.
I talked to them. I told them that they need to fly south to the son of their now deceased owner.
They are such a close couple, and they made some trilling sounds as I spoke.
And so beautiful too.
To my regular readers, please no guesses where these birds are. There are many bad people in this world, and we need to protect these incredible creatures - and hope, and pray that some organization raises the money to have them captured, and sent far far south of this frozen Midwestern town.
Sometimes I suspect that "You Know Who" has it out for me, and my family - but it's probably just that I live on the South and West side of town.
Ran to the window, and watched as two funnel clouds swirled overhead, and headed right in our direction. The winds picked up fiercely, and a large limb came crashing down from a tree in our front yard.
Just as the fierce downdrafts hit two teenage girls came visiting, and I immediately opened the door, and let them in - friends of my daughter.
We continued to watch from inside as the wind and rain pelted the house.
Anyway, that's my report from Jerome, Illinois.
NOW IT IS BLUE SKY!
Tornado Warning
SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL 1153 AM CDT SUN MAR 8 2009
ILC107-167-081715- /O.CON.KILX.TO.W.0002.000000T0000Z-090308T1715Z/ LOGAN-SANGAMON- 1151 AM CDT SUN MAR 8 2009
...A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1215 PM CDT FOR SOUTHERN LOGAN AND NORTHEASTERN SANGAMON COUNTIES...
AT 1147 AM CDT...LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR CURRAN AT 1144 AM. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED 2 MILES NORTH OF LELAND GROVE...OR ABOUT 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF SPRINGFIELD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH.
PEOPLE NEAR THESE LOCATIONS ARE STILL THREATENED... SHERMAN... WILLIAMSVILLE... DAWSON... SPAULDING... RIVERTON... BUFFALO... CORNLAND... ELKHART... BROADWELL... MOUNT PULASKI...
THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 55 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 92 AND 121.
THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 72 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 97 AND 113.
A TORNADO IS ON THE GROUND AND IS LIKELY CAUSING DAMAGE. EVEN IF THIS TORNADO DISSIPATES...THIS STORM MAY PRODUCE ADDITIONAL TORNADOES AT ANY TIME. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADIC STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!
