A Daughter Skips Mother's Funeral

POST FUNERAL CALL

Sister: -crying- It's just that now that mother has died I don't want this to be the end of the family.

Brother: Well, I agree with you there. Mother wouldn't have wanted that.

Sister: I wanted to come to mother's funeral, but we just couldn't. I don't want you to hate me for that.

Brother: I don't hate you. In fact I added a telephone number to my Internet Phone with your long distance area code.

Sister: What?

Brother: I created a phone number so that you can call me anytime you want without long distance charges. It's unlimited too, so we can talk for hours if we want.

Sister: Oh, really?

Brother: Yes.

Sister: Hmmm.

Brother: So here's the number. I made sure to check, and it's a local call for you. Call me anytime, day or night.


ONE YEAR LATER

Not one incoming call placed to brother's Internet Phone line from sister.

Brother's Spouse: Honey, we're paying five dollars extra each month for that phone line, and your sister has never called even once, can't we get rid of it?

Brother: Yes dear, cancel it.

The Three Minute Post

That's how long I've given myself to write this post.
Last night my spouse spotted a mistake on our bank balance.
We quickly called the bank.
Turns out an online vendor I had purchased a Christmas present on had charged us twice.

Like the majority of Americans we live paycheck to paycheck.

So this is a big deal.

Up until two in the morning checking everything.
And calling the bank.
Calling the vendor.

Internet purchasing sure is convenient, but it also entails risk.

We'll see if they do what they said they'd do by this morning, and back out the duplicate purchase.

Meanwhile, all of our Christmas plans are on hold.

I took five minutes to post this.

Jerome Prophet Speaks - In Living Color

JeromeProphet Goes Hollywood

I've decided to take the next step. I'm not particularly photogenic, but I'm not going to let that stop me. So here goes, my very first YouTube rant.

This particular Video Blog post really doesn't have much of a point, but I felt I had to take the first step in making, and posting a video.

Springfield On The Rocks

Springfield, Illinois Under Ice - Leaves Under Ice

The ice storm which hit Springfield, Illinois and the Midwest in middle December 2007 hit many communities far worse than Springfield. Ice coated power lines, automobiles, homes, trees, sidewalks, roads, and lawns, all which makes for dangerous travel.


December Ice Storm Coats Springfield

Many communities out west lost power. Even Central Illinois communities, like Jacksonville, Illinois lost electricity which can be dangerous during the winter.


Natural Beauty of Springfield, Illinois - Tall Grass Under Ice

Despite the dangers and inconveniences of the ice the transparent layer of frozen water makes everything strangely beautiful - almost alien in appearance. Is this what life on an ice planet looks like?


Springfield, Illinois In The Winter - The Hilton

Downtown Springfield, Illinois can be a beautiful place. The nature photographs taken of all the ice covered trees and lawn were taken in downtown Springfield on December 10th, 2007


Springfield, Illinois - December 10th, 2007 - Ice, Twigs & Berries Flashed

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is the building in the background. The brilliant colors reveal the high levels of anti oxidants present in the branches which is probably how trees and bushes survive the winter.


Downtown Springfield, Illinois In The Winter Time - Horace Mann Plaza

Ice seems to bring out the beauty in the mundane, but it also amplifies the beauty of what is already beautiful.

Springfield, Illinois Ice Storm Update 1:30 A.M.

WeatherUnderground.Com

After rummaging around for old flashlights, and batteries my wife and I went to the door to look outside. It is raining, but very lightly. One would think that's good, but the truth is I don't believe it's a good thing. If it was pouring down the ice would have to melt off the trees, and power lines, but with the slower precipitation it just freezes on the already ice coated surfaces.

We no sooner opened the door than we heard the crashing, and thud, of a tree limb hitting the ground, which is never a good sign.

C.W.L.P., the main provider of electricity in the Springfield, Illinois area doesn't take its responsibilities seriously enough. Recently a power turbine simply blew up, setting a power generating facility on fire. In Springfield, Illinois most people seem to believe that this is normal, and that no one is to blame when buildings blow up.

I mention this because I don't believe that C.W.L.P. takes the time to make certain that overhanging tree limbs are cut back away from their power lines. We have a neighbor who has a large tree, and a main power line for the whole block north of us runs under some of the upper branches of this massive tree. Why weren't these tree limbs cut back? Poor management most likely.

So hearing the sound of tree limbs crashing to the ground isn't a good sign at all. Meanwhile I heard on an A.M. radio station that many cities in Oklahoma are without power, and will be for over a week. This in the heart of winter.

Now the same storm system moves east, and everyone is just keeping their fingers crossed. So far most of the system has moved north east, more northward than east, following the jet stream's faster track up north. This has kept most of the nasty ice weather north of Springfield, Illinois.

I feel sorry for those folk living in a huge tract between Sangamon County's northern border all the way north past Chicago. Speaking of Chicago if the storm keep moving in the same direction poor Chicago appears right in its path.

Having said that the overall eastward movement of the entire system, if the system doesn't break up, or if temperatures don't change, could result in Sangamon County getting hit with freezing rain sometime soon - tomorrow perhaps?

Too Stupid & Poor To Be Prepared

An Actual Conversation

Husband: I see you have a flashlight there next to the bed, where's that rubber coated flashlight? Where's my favorite flashlight?

Wife: I haven't seen it in a long time.

Husband: No, that's my favorite flashlight, it has to be around here somewhere.

Wife: I'm not really sure.

Husband: But I've seen you use it, where did you put it the last time you used it?

Wife: I think it's in the utility room, but it doesn't work anymore.

Husband: Doesn't work? What do you mean? I have a spare light bulb, and some batteries.

Wife: Here it is, but it doesn't work. It's broken.

Husband: Broken?

Wife: Yes, there's something wrong with the switch at the bottom.

Husband: How did this happen? It's a really rugged flashlight with a heavy rubber coating?

Wife: There must be other flashlights around the house. Why don't you go and look?

Husband: But I've had this one for years. It's totally rugged. It's my favorite.

Wife: Do you want to know the truth?

Husband: What are you talking about?

Wife: I'll tell you the truth.

Husband: What did you do?

Wife: I couldn't find a hammer, and I was trying to fix one of the oscillating fans..,

Husband: You what! You used my flashlight as a hammer?

Wife: What about that really big flashlight? The one that's really bright?

Husband: That's a spot light, not a flashlight. It would last for about a half hour!

Wife: Well then why'd your brother give it to you in the first place?

Husband: Don't think it's going to be that easy. You owe me a flashlight for Christmas.

Wife: O.K. fine. We'll put it on the list.

Husband: But we need a flashlight right now with this bad weather coming.

Wife: Sorry, you don't get paid until later this week.

Husband storms out of bedroom muttering swear words under his breath.

NOTE: Husband didn't even ask why his spouse would be using a "hammer" to fix and oscillating fan, but that's a conversation for another day I guess.

The Ice Man Cometh - Damn Him!

From my perspective there's little that I can do. I guess I could fill up the gas tank and start driving south. A few hours drive, and I'd be safely below the freeze line, and would be inconvenienced only by the cold winter rain.

But here I make my stand in the village of Jerome, Illinois a suburb of Springfield, Illinois. I've spent the last hour carefully studying a variety of colorful animated weather maps available at wunderground.com.

I first looked at the local radar map, and felt rather lucky. I didn't see anything to be alarmed about. I then zoomed out to the regional map, and felt my heart sink, but still I felt it wouldn't be that bad. I looked at the animation over, and over again looking for some hint of which direction the ice was really headed, and I timed how long it was taking for the evil ice clouds to pass an area the size of Sangamon County - the County I live in.

Looks like it will hit in two hours, but we'll only get maybe an hour's worth of ice, or so I initially estimated.

But then I had to zoom out further, and look at the national maps. I realized then that the coming ice storm was much larger than what I had guessed.

It looks like the majority of the nasty stuff is heading north of Sangamon County, but our County falls within the soon to be affected area. In fact I've seen enough ice storms dump their worst blows on their southern fringes to know that things could actually be worse for Springfield than for say Bloomington. Only time will tell.

It does look bad. The Santa Anna winds, or whatever they are called this time of year, seem to be bringing up streams of humidity from the Pacific by way of Mexico. All that vapor is moving with the jet stream directly for Central, and Northern Illinois, and other Midwestern states.

This storm has already wreaked havoc on states west of here, and now it is our time.

If this were summertime we'd be happy for the rain, but when it's freezing cold out, but not quite cold enough to produce snow, it makes for a dangerous ice storm.

Everyone would rather have snow than ice because ice is so darned dangerous. From the ever growing number of fools driving their SUVs at speeds way too fast directly into power poles, to tree limbs crashing down upon transformers and taking out power to whole subdivisions, we are looking at dangerous roads, and sidewalks, and hours in the cold and darkness.

Things I recall from the week I spent without power in March of 2006 in the aftermath of two F2 tornadoes which struck the Village of Jerome, and Springfield, Illinois:

• The freezing cold seeping into our home.
• The disconnection from the rest of the world - no land line phones, nor cable television, nor Internet.
• The joy of canned food.
  
• The mad scramble to find batteries, candles, extra blankets, battery powered alarm clocks, old battery powered AM radios with run down nine volt batteries.
• The mist from a warm shower rapidly forming droplets in the cold air illuminated by a single beam of a flashlight pointed upward toward the ceiling.
• The freezing cold air which greets you when you step outside the shower warmed bathroom into the cold dark house.
• Kids asking repeatedly if school has been canceled.
• Wanting to go to work to find a safe warm well lit place.
• Listening to hours and hours of AM radio news covering the weather disaster.
• The flickering of candles.
• The slowly fading light from flashlights with dying batteries.
• The thrill of buying a hot pizza, but having to find a way to pick it up.
• A sudden overwhelming appreciation for linemen, and journeymen.
• A feeling of joy when you find out the electricity it back on.
• Elation over the return of cable television, and most important of all broadband Internet.

NWS Springfield, Illinois Ice Storm Shuffle

Dave of The11thhour writes a regular feature pitting the National Weather Service's predictions against The Weather Channel's. I'm not really certain why there are differences, but there are.

This morning as rain continues to pour down upon the city of Springfield, Illinois, and Central Illinois in general I am very concerned about the potential for massive power outages, and treacherous road conditions during this freezing cold weather.

I too am a bit confused by some of the predictions coming from our weather experts. Here's an example from the State Journal-Register:

"Steadier freezing rain will begin around dawn (today), causing significant problems during the morning hours," said Dan Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lincoln. He said the heaviest precipitation is expected from 5 to 7 a.m. in Springfield and the surrounding areas.

"It will turn into light rain by (this) afternoon as temperatures slowly hedge around the freezing mark, right around or just over."Counties including Sangamon, Cass, Christian, Logan, Menard, Morgan and Scott were placed under an ice storm warning Saturday that will continue until noon today. The warning indicates ice-covered roads are treacherous and power lines and tree branches may snap.

...

Smith said periods of freezing rain were to continue the rest of Saturday night, with temperatures expected to hold steady early today between 25 to 29 degrees.

Warmer air is expected to change the freezing rain to rain later in the afternoon. However, the National Weather Service warns the rain may result in more ice accumulation before causing it to melt.

"On the backside of the system, we might see some freezing drizzle but nothing significant," Smith said.

If people must travel this morning, the National Weather Services advises motorists to keep an extra flashlight, food and water in their vehicle in case of an emergency.

So, things are bad, and getting worse, but will get better? Wow! This is what we're paying for? That's quite a prediction from the NWS.

We have rain coming down over an area that's freezing cold. I'd say that's pretty significant. To suggest that rain may cause the ice to melt, but build up more ice before it does so - sounds very predictive, but doesn't say much really. In the past I'd say the NWS has had no idea of whether more or less ice will form at a particular point in an ice storm, but this prediction isn't really that tough to make because eventually the ice will melt - it's only a matter of time.

In the meantime, everyone be careful out there.

WGA Writer's Strike

WGA Writer's Strike - The Office Is Closed

What do you have when you combine a strike with highly creative entertainment oriented people?

In the age of Youtube you have a series of fascinating short films which allow those on the picket lines a chance to explain why they are on strike, and the consequences of being on strike.

Writers Guild of America members are striking due to their concerns that as their industry is moving increasingly into the digital age the residuals they would receive from their works viewed via the Internet will be limited to $250 per show per year. That's right, no matter how many times a movie or television episode is viewed over the Internet during the course of a year the residual would be limited to just $250.


Why We Fight - An Entertaining Explanation Of Why There's A Writer's Strike

Before we go any further let me explain that we're not talking about illegal copies posted to Youtube, or other video sharing services from which neither the studios or the writers receive compensation. No, the issue here are the made for theater, television, and increasingly made for the Internet movies, and shows. These are the programs which the entertainment industry itself are offering via the Internet, and selling advertisements for, and therefore earning a revenue with. Those revenues are expected to grow into the billions as the television industry moves onto the Internet. Despite this growth in revenue the studios see it as a means of destroying the writers union.

While there are some millionaire writers out in Hollywood, and New York, the vast majority of those responsible for writing all the shows we watch at the theater, and on television, struggle to make ends meet in their highly competitive industry. WGA members rightly argue that as the entertainment industry migrates to the Internet that some of those profits in the form of residuals, need to be shared with the writers.


Studio Heads Admit Huge Profits But Won't Share With Writers

The WGA members are in fact looking at the future of the entertainment industry, and argue that under the current compensation agreement that they will see less income for their creative works as more of that work appears exclusively on the Internet.

Their argument makes perfect sense, and in fact if it wasn't for the studios short sighted greed this would have been settled long ago. I've included some Youtube videos with this post as they are both informative, and entertaining.

As a blogger I appreciate the time, and effort it takes to create using the written word. Writing is work, and those who write professionally need to be compensated fairly.

Visit www.unitedhollywood.com to learn more, and to sign their online petition!

The Pale Blue Dot

Earth from Four Billion Miles Away (Edge of Solar System)

The Pale Blue Dot
by Carl Sagan

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”



The Pale Blue Dot Video

Does God Use Transdimensional Nanotechnology?

If so, then what is God?

Mercury Mountaineer A Sweet Ride

Mercury Mountaineer Rap

If you read my last post it's easy to guess that just about any car would have been a step up for me, and that's true, but I'm glad I made the decision to buy a Mercury Moutaineer.

It's definitely a lot of SUV to handle at 215 horse power. The V8 growls with power, and it's loaded with nice features, leather seats, and lots of interior space. If it was a female, which it may very well be, it could be argued that I'm in love - or is it sex? Oh well, whatever it is, it works for me.


Mercury Mountaineer Making Use Of Those 215 hp.

Did I mention it can haul over three and a half tons, or that its AWD (all the time)?

1988 Plymouth Horizon Donated To Charity

Youtube Video Of Plymouth Horizon

I was actually sad to see my little 1988 Plymouth Horizon go, but after nineteen years in service to my family it was long past time for a change. As I've said in other post either hatefully, or sentimentally, the little 1988 Plymouth Horizon very much reminded me of the story of the Little Train That Could. While it is only an inanimate object the fact that it was so small yet played such an important role in taking me, and my family where we needed to go for so many years it was like a member of the family.

Do you believe that the little hatchback hauled not one full sized Christmas tree, but two full sized Christmas trees on the inside? It also helped my wife (before she was my wife) move, and my brother in law move, and my family move.

Just a few hundred here, and a few hundred there and the little Plymouth Horizon will be off and running again. It may turn out to be some teenager's first car! Or it may just end up sold for parts - who knows?

I donated it to a local charity - for the tax write off.

If you surf to the Youtube page that host the video I link to you'll see some rather positive comments about the car. It's very close to being an antique, and its odd look may end up making it a beloved old relic - I mean the model, not my particular car, but that's six to ten years into the future. For now they have a value of about two hundred dollars - LOL!

Chirping Cat

Chirping Cat

About a year ago I wanted to post this video, but I never did.

I find it fascinating that cats are able to make nearly four hundred different sounds.

I suspect that the cat in the video had been listening to the barking of a dog, and is imitating it.

They memorize sound patterns, such as the sound of cat food being filled into a plastic cup, but they also know the sounds of pumpkin beetles in flight for which they seem preprogrammed.

So much hardwiring involved in being a cat, yet there's enough ability to learn that each cat seems unique.

WMAY's Pam Furr - An Observation

I was listening to Pam Furr this afternoon, and I couldn't help but notice how much effort Pam put into trying to help an elderly gentleman believe that he was worth caring about.

The call concluded with the infirmed gentleman proposing marriage.

Well, actually there was a silly joke about Viagra, but that's another story.

Wallet Stolen By Thanksgiving Guest

Old Man: What's this about your wallet?

Teen Age Girl: I can't find it.

Old Man: You've looked everywhere?

Teen Age Girl: Several times, and I've had help.

Old Man: Didn't you just get paid in cash?

Teen Age Girl: Yes.

Old Man: Wasn't that girl who you were hanging out with during Thanksgiving meal..,

Teen Age Girl: I know where you're going on this - just shut up!

Old Man: No, I won't shut up.

Teen Age Girl: I don't want to talk about it.

Old Man: Wasn't that the girl who stole you cell phone?

Teen Age Girl: No, it was another girl.

Old Man: But wasn't she the one you suspected?

Teen Age Girl: It was another girl - damn it!

Old Man: Right, and now your wallet is gone.

Teen Age Girl: Why does this stuff always happen to me?

Old Man: You're not a victim.

Teen Age Girl: Yes I am!

Old Man: You bring thieving WHITE TRASH into your home on Thanksgiving Day. She's one of your drug friends. She steals your cell phone to sell for cocaine. You then deny it, and hang out with her again. And now you claim you're a victim?

Teen Age Girl: Just shut up!

Old Man: I guess now is the time to share this little nugget of wisdom with you. It's an old saying.

Teen Age Girl: Just go away. I don't want to hear it.

Old Man: It goes like this, Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

Teen Age Girl: Leave me alone!

Old Man: Shame on you, that's what it means. You must accept full responsibility for the actions of your friends - your so called friends - those which you only have one thing in common - drugs.
Until you learn that lesson, that you're not a victim - that you choose to make these things happen to you - you won't have my respect.

Purchased A New Vehicle

I purchased a new vehicle last weekend. Actually, it's only new to me, but it's a huge improvement on my last set of wheels.

I don't really mind the car payments as I had just paid off my daughter's car the week before.

I had been driving a nineteen year old compact car. It was in its own way a hero. That's right - the car was a hero. It performed well beyond the call of duty. Every day that I drove it I was amazed that it kept going as well as it did.

This part, or then that part would break, wear out, or malfunction but it kept going.

I had for awhile thought that I'd like to turn it into a collectors car, and maybe even pimp it out!

But I don't have that kind of money to burn putting into an old car.

So now it sits waiting to be towed within a week or two.

In the mean time I love my new auto. It is in fact like having a new girlfriend.

I find myself smiling for no reason at all, and then I realize I'm actually happy!

Yes, happy!

And I know why. It's the thrill of driving a nice automobile.

My family feels the same way. They actually want to take rides!

Yup! It's that nice!

Soon I plan to drive up to Dave of The11thhour to show him.

The Evening Of September 21st 1973

Jim Croce "I've Got A Name & Five Short Minutes" Intro By Keith Moon

About the time most kids should be doing their homework my buddy David (nope, not the Dave of the11thhour), and I would hop on our bikes and ride around in the evening. How we managed to ride at break neck speeds down unlit streets without killing ourselves is a testament to youthful eyesight, and stupidity. We'd locate a favorite hang out, and smoke a few cigarettes, and then ride back to his house and listen to the radio for awhile.

David had three beautiful older sisters, which made it a pleasure to hang out with him. Susan whom I had a crush on a mile wide, was about a year and a half older than me, but two grades higher. The boys that she was dating were older than her, and she was always going out on dates. She was as pretty as could be, and seemed so sophisticated.

The way Susan took drags off of her cigarettes, and the way she exhaled. The fact that she was allowed to smoke in front of her parents! Her cute smile, and incredible eyes. Those blue jeans tugging perfectly at every curve. Despite her flirting I had no chance. Me on my bike, versus a never ending flock of eighteen year old boyfriends picking her up in their muscle cars. Still my heart pounded just to be near her.

Jeannie was the next older sister, and she was a beautiful blue eyed blond like Susan. She also had a more sympathetic nature toward me. I call it sympathy now, but at that time I hoped it was more. She was three years older than me, and those three years were like an ocean that made any idea of going out with her laughable. Still she smiled at me, and looked me in the eyes, and joked with me. But the truth was I was her little brother's best friend, and even if she thought I was cute it was probably more puppy dog cute than anything else.

The eldest sister rarely hung out with us. She wasn't the beauty her younger sisters were, and she was headed to college. She spent more time with her parents, and so I never really had the chance to know her well. There was always that eldest child that was far out ahead in the world - those who experienced the 1960s in the baby boomer kind of way. This girl wasn't one of them, she would have been part of the group that came immediately after.

David had a younger blue eyed blond sister also as pretty as could be, but too young for us to really want to hang out with - in fact we'd tease her regularly, but all in good fun. We considered her more a security risk than anything else - what if she found out we smoked? She'd tell our parents. There were always those younger kids who came immediately after us in age, and you'd have to watch out - because aspiring Tweens get ratted out.

Finally there was the baby brother, Joey, who was just a few years old. Not much to say here, but David, and everyone else in this family treated him with love. He was the family mascot, the last of the clan.

Quite a family. Back then it was pretty much the norm for parents to have four, five, and even six kids. Many family had quite a few more. I was raised to feel that only children were to be pitied - and so I did.

David was very much a middle child - like myself.

Before we entered the teen world of pot smoking, and drinking we would score a pack of cigarettes out of a vending machine, and think of ourselves as cool for doing so.

We even shared a girlfriend. Those days were innocent. When I say girlfriend, I mean smooching, holding hands, and hugging - which at that age would send my heart soaring. And while thoughts of racing to second, third, and even forth base filled my head it was not to be - at least with that girl.

On the evening of September 21th, 1973 I had zipped on my bike down the dark canopied street to hang out with David in his house. That night I recall that we were in his bed room. The floor was finished pine. Dave sat at one end of the room, and I the other on the floor. His room had little in the way of furniture, but it was cooler that way as it made the room much bigger, and the ceiling much higher.

We had hung out in David's bedroom many times while reading his collection of Ripley's Believe Or Not books, Mad Magazines, and old comic books while listening to rock and roll hits on WCVS.

I expected a similar night of just hanging out, but when I arrived I noticed that David was totally bummed out. His back was against one wall, with the radio playing next to him. I finally asked him what was wrong, and he told me that folk musician Jim Croce had been killed in a plane crash the night before. Not long after sharing this news with me some of Jim Croce's songs played on the radio - it was I guess a tribute.

David handed me a clipping from the State Register about the plane crash. As I read the article I was stunned. How could someone so young, so cool, so talented die? We both sat there listening to the radio not saying much. David was bummed out, and so was I so I didn't stay long.

It's funny how memory works. Maybe that's how tragedy always works? I'm not certain, but I'll always remember the night I discovered that Jim Croce died. The bike ride home in the dark must have seemed a bit darker that night.
. .
Bad Bad Leroy Brown
by Jim Croce

Well the south side of chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware
Of a man named leroy brown

Now leroy more than trouble
You see he stand bout six foot four
All the downtown ladies call him treetop lover
All the mens just call him sir

And its bad, bad leroy brown
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

Now leroy he a gambler
And he like his fancy clothes
And he like to wave his diamond rings
In front of everybodys nose
He got a custom continental
He got an eldorado too
He got a 32 gun in his pocket for fun
He got a razor in his shoe

And its bad, bad leroy brown
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

Well friday bout a week ago
Leroy shootin dice
And at the edge of the bar
Sat a girl named doris
And ooh that girl looked nice
Well he cast his eyes upon her
And the trouble soon began
And leroy brown learned a lesson
bout messin with the wife of a jealous man

And its bad, bad leroy brown
The baddest man in the whole damned town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog,

Well the two men took to fightin
And when they pulled them from the floor
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone

And its bad, bad leroy brown
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

She Stole Your Cellphone For Cocaine

Old Man: You want her to be your friend now?

Teen Age Girl: Just stay out of my life?

Old Man: But isn't she the one that stole your cell phone?

Teen Age Girl: You're ruining my life!

Old Man: You're stoned now, I can tell.

Teen Age Girl: Go away.

Old Man: You showed me the text messages where she tried to sell your phone for cocaine!

Teen Age Girl: Just shut up.

Old Man: Drug friends are the very worst kind, can't you find another way to make friends?

Teen Age Girl: Just go away.

Old Man: Yes, you wouldn't want me to ruin your high.

Dove - Not Your Usual Soap Commercials

Dove's "Onslaught" Commercial Revolutionary

Unilever, the same folks that have brought us Slim Fast, and Axe may have seen the light, or gone mad? They have released several Dove commercials which essentially mock the very foundation of the beauty industry.

Onslaught warns of how girls are brainwashed into believing themselves unworthy, and end up mutilating their bodies, and yo yo dieting to achieve a higher state of "beauty".


Dove's "True Colors" Commercial

Dove True Colors commercial doesn't sell soap, or shampoo, instead it recognizes that girls are brainwashed into hating themselves at an early age by a society hell bent on achieving bodily "perfection".


Dove's "Evolution" Commercial

This is a great commercial because most women, and men believe what they see in advertisements, and magazine covers. They then feel insecure about themselves, and it fosters a great deal of unhappiness which advertisers prey upon.


Dove's "Pro Age" Commercial

Dove has come out with a Pro-Age line of products. Dove is laying it on the line. Not only commercials, but also a line of products deliberately designed to kick some sand back into the face of those who have been bullying women about their age for a very long time.

While some are suspicious of the intent of Unilever marketing Dove this way, while selling Axe with blatant sex appeal it doesn't diminish just how good these Dove advertisements are one little bit.

I'm Buying A "New" Car

First I want to say I won't be buying a brand new automobile. I'd have to win the lottery to do that earning what I do in my current position.

I will, however, be buying a car new to me, and very soon.

For those who know me this is a very big event. I've been driving around town for years in a rather remarkable vehicle that is just months away from being twenty years old.

Some would look at it, and see it as an aging piece of junk, but to me I saw a loyal workhorse which took me everywhere I needed to go without asking for much.

I had planned to keep my twenty year old car for three more years. I figured I'd be entirely debt free, and have a few thousand dollars saved up for a down payment on a new car by then.

That was the plan.

And as described in a prior post the car decided that it was not a realistic plan.

It conked out on me this weekend.

It's not the first time the car has come to a halt on the road. I've always shelled out the few hundred dollars here, and there to revive it, and keep it going, but this time is different.

It's probably only the timing belt. The belt slips, the alternator doesn't spin, and the battery doesn't charge. I've seen it before.

But at this point the brakes need work, the tires are bald, the front seat is broken, the head liner needs replaced, the horn needs to be fixed, there's rust forming here, and there, the paint is beginning to spot up, and the suspension is loose.

I could probably drive it, and fix it up, but it would cost fifteen hundred, or perhaps two thousand dollars.

If I did I'd still have a twenty year old car - and that's the problem.

Despite my car's loyalty, and my loyalty to it - it is time to part ways.

Having just paid off my daughter's car I can now afford to buy a new car for myself, and so that is what I'll do.

It's a thrill, and a pain in the butt to look for cars, but in the end I know within a few days, or maybe a few weeks I'll be driving around in much newer car, and I'll be asking myself then why in the heck I didn't dump the old car long ago.

You Bought Me A Piece of Shit

God Speaks But People Don't Always Listen

Father: Well don't worry we're on our way to your friend's house so you can try and find the new cell phone we just bought you to replace the one you deliberately smashed into pieces.

Daughter: Why do you have to drive?

Father: Because it's my car.

Daughter: Well I haven't driven in a week.

Father: So what?

Daughter: I can't believe you bought me that piece of shit.

Father: That piece of shit is a pretty nice car.

Daughter: The tires on it are dangerous.

Father: Which is why we're going to have them replaced.

Daughter: You bought me a piece of shit.

FATHER'S CAR SUDDENLY CUTS OUT. IT SLOWLY COAST TO SIDE OF ROAD POWERLESS.

Father: We're poor. That's why I drive around in a twenty year old car.

Daughter: What do we do now?

Father: Start walking.

Comet Holmes Easily Visible To Naked Eye

Comet Holmes Sky Chart 11.06.07 - Midwest - 9:00 P.M. - Looking East

Comet P17/Holmes appears in the constellation Perseus. If you know where to look you'll see it in seconds. There's no Moon out now, so it's definitely time to have a look.

I always refer to Perseus as "The Special K Constellation", as it looks to me like a giant letter "K" in the sky. To those who take the time to learn the constellations the night sky is no longer a spatter of random lights, but instead seems comfortingly familiar.

Each season brings the comings, and goings of these familiar patterns of stars. We learn not only their names, but also the myths which surround them.

Knowing the constellations made it very easy to locate comet Holmes. It took me about one second to locate the comet in Perseus, but I don't expect everyone will have the same experience. I recall decades ago when I viewed my first comet how difficult it was. I can only suggest not to give up, because it's worth the effort.

A link to a photo I took last night of the eastern sky with a pointer pointing to comet Holmes.

For those who don't have binoculars, or a telescope - well, you don't need them. The photo I took does not do justice to Comet Holmes. Comet Holmes appears far bigger, and brighter than the little dot which shows up in my photo. It's very easy to see - even though you won't see a tail.

The comet is coming head first and so we can't really see much in terms of a tail, but don't let that scare you away, or into a fall out shelter.


My Own Backyard Photo Of Comet Holmes

You'll be looking for a fuzzy spot. It's as bright as a star - sort of. I say sort of because to a camera it's not as bright as a star, but to the naked eye which works with the brain to capture and interpret images it appears as bright as a star - just fuzzy.

Thanks to Dave of The11thhour for mentioning comet Holmes last week.

The 2 Girls 1 Cup Phenomena

Disgust


Shock


Revulsion


Curiosity


Amusement

I don't believe ever before have people been able to create a phenomena such as the 2 Girls 1 Cup Reaction Video Phenomena.

Now that there is an Internet, and a Youtube there are new forms of expression, and new ways to network socially. I would have never guessed that reaction videos would have been a product of the Internet, but they are. And now we have absurd micro-phenomena such as the 2 Girls 1 Cup Reaction Video Phenomena that is sweeping Youtubers.

I highly recommend that my readers do not ever watch the video upon which this phenomena is based. I have heard that it is highly disturbing. I only post this as a minor footnote into what was going on at this particular time on YouTube.

Major Matt Mason We Need You!

Mattel's Major Matt Mason - An American Hero

One of the coolest things about growing up in the 1960s, and 1970s is that there was a future being promised to all the children of that period. We were all going to have an opportunity to explore space when we grew up. By the year 2000 there were definitely going to be colonies on the Moon, and Mars, as well as space stations.

Toys such as Major Matt Mason (and the many toys which could be purchased for him), and GI Joe's space exploration series convinced me that I would one day be an astronaut.

From fireworks, to water powered rockets, to various space related toys - all confirmed that we were headed to an exciting future.


Major Matt Mason - A Toy With A Promise

And of course the rush to the Moon landing simply confirmed the obvious - America was destined to lead. Somehow that promised future was never to be, and it looks as if the next explorers on the Moon may in fact be Chinese.


Major Matt Mason Vintage Space Toy Video

Today we make no promises to our children about the future. I guess it's for the best. The American Century has ended with the U.S. being caught up in a quagmire in the Middle East, and corrupt, and inept (in fact traitorous) "leadership" in Washington.

While I'm not mindlessly supportive of manned space exploration, as I once was, I do see how America seems to need an organizing principle - so why not. It must be better than the alternative.

Mattel's Strange Change Machine - Time Machine

Mattel's Strange Change Machine

This was one of my favorite childhood toys. It's amazing how memory works. So many years ago, yet I recall sitting on the little sidewalk which led away from our front porch and to the driveway. There I was a small boy using this dangerous hot plate to heat up memory plastic characters.

I'd crush them into little squares, and then bring them back into form using the hot plate.



No toy like this could be sold today, but it was one of my favorite toys.

The colors and shapes of the little creatures in the photo above bring back instant memories of chewing on those toys - and of third degree burns on my little fingers as I'd skip using the little blue tongs and grab the molten plastic characters right out of the enclosed time machine hot plate.

It was a very tough toy, and was around years after I stopped playing with it. Eventually I just threw it away to make space in my closet. They come up for sale every once in awhile on Ebay, and there are several websites dedicated to this toy.

Ah the memories.

Quisp Again

Still Working On Quisp

I'm just grooming the image I found.

Isn't done yet.

Quisp & Quake

Quisp

My father was a sales representative, and then a purchaser for Bunn Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. His position came with a neat perk. Every time a new food product was released we'd end up with lots of free samples long before the product would ever hit the store shelves.


Quake

I was asked many times to "test out" products for my dad. He just wanted to know what us kids thought. I definitely liked Quisp and Quake. They pretty much tasted the same, but were pitched differently. Quisp won out in a contest between the two cereals, and continued being sold long after Quake. In fact Quisp can still be purchased in several cities, and can even be purchased over the Internet! Quaker also sells Quisp as a bargain cereal, and I've eaten it several times that way. Quake on the other hand has been relegated to food lore history.


Video: Quisp and Quake Are Introduced

Introducing two products which seemingly compete against one another sounds a little odd, but it increased shelf space, which is all important. I'm fairly sure that me, and my brother used to fight it out as Quisp and Quake - both of us high on sugar.


Video: Quisp and Quake Commercial Featuring Quake

As you can see these commercials are really quite hilarious. I wish someone could get some better copies out on the Internet. I often wonder what happened to all of the neat commercials which most of us watched as kids during Saturday morning cartoons. Back then cartoons were only aired on Saturdays, and Saturday morning was the best thing ever. It meant eating the sugar cereals long before your parents would awaken, and watching cartoons!


Video: Quisp and Quake Commercial Featuring Quisp

Most kids liked the wild sugar induced quazzy Quisp better than Quake. I wonder if Quaker knew that it would work out that way before launching the products?


Video: Quake Gets His Short Lived Remake

As Quake sales dropped an attempt was made to save the product, but it failed in the end. An official vote was taken, and kids voted Quake into non-existence.

Here's a nifty place to buy Quisp, and to learn more about the product's history!

Rice-A-Roni The San Francisco Treat

The Inventor of Rice-A-Roni has died

Vincent M. DeDomenico Sr., inventor of Rice-A-Roni has died, he was 92. This from the New York Times:

"The DeDomenicos invented their signature product in 1958 after watching a sister-in-law mix a can of Swanson’s chicken broth with rice and vermicelli, according to an account in “Napa: The Story of an American Eden,” by James Conaway (Mariner Books, 2002). They concocted a version that used dried soup.

Rice-A-Roni transformed the business of the Golden Grain Macaroni Company, which was started by Mr. DeDomenico’s father, Domenico. After leaving Sicily in 1890 at 19, he settled in San Francisco, initially starting a vegetable store, then opening a factory that sold pasta to Italian stores and restaurants.

Vincent DeDomenico was born on Sept. 29, 1915, in San Francisco, the fourth of six children. He joined the family business, eventually becoming president, controlling the company with two brothers, Tom and Paskey.

In 1964, Golden Grain bought a famous and more historic San Francisco icon, the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, which was founded in 1852 by Domingo Ghirardelli, also an immigrant from Italy. In 1986, when Golden Grain had grown to $250 million in annual sales, the DeDomenico family sold it to Quaker Oats for $275 million".

End Snippet


Cultural Ownership and the Perception of Jingles and Commercials In Early Childhood

Vincent M. DeDomenico Sr. wasn't just the inventor of Rice-A-Roni he was also responsible for creating the "Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat" jingle which I remember from my early youth. As a child you watch, and listen to many things on television, as well as in other aspects of life. When you are very young of course you do not know the origin of this, or that piece of experience which comes to shape your experiences - you just experience them.

Even as adults we simply have too little time to fully source each experience back to its source. We may see a nice looking automobile, and think "Wow, Detroit finally got one right!", or we may hear a jingle on television, and know that it is designed to manipulate our feelings, and think, "Wow, that advertising agency is doing a good job". Those are adult thoughts we occasionally apply, but so much is left unfiltered simply due to the pace of modern life.

However, with children there is little cognition, little in the way of complex thoughts to which to apply to all the incoming experiences. As a child you hear a jingle, and you see a simple image of a box of Rice-A-Roni, and a street car atop a hill, and you don't give it much thought, simply because you don't know what makes Rice-A-Roni unique, or what a street car is, or the topography of San Francisco. You simply hear the jingle over, and over again - and see the box of Rice-A-Roni.

And that is how I remember the jingle from my early childhood. I never understood it - the product. Even when the product would find its way to our table I never linked eating it to the Jingle, as I was a child, and never bought the product, or prepared it until I was an adult.

So now the great revelation is that by mixing two distinct products, RICE, and MACARONI, we have RICE-A-RONI.

If someone had told me that as a small child I might have found it interesting enough to remember that each and every time I saw that commercial, or heard that jingle, and I would have "known" what Rice-A-Roni was all about decades before, but no one ever did.

Like so much of life I find myself playing experiential "catch up" as an adult - to so many things that I experienced as a child.

It is so much like taking a photograph from your childhood out of an old shoe box, blowing off the dust, and rediscovering something unique which you never understood before.

And so now I take the Rice-A-Roni early childhood memory out once again, and place it into an adult context - one which now includes knowing who invented it, and that they bought the same chocolate I love to eat. I also know that the family made a fortune selling their company to Quaker Oats.

But in a few months will I even remember any of that? In the age of information overload - despite having written this little essay on Rice-A-Roni I doubt I'll recall much about any of this, and so what was just a childhood memory of a jingle will once again become just that.


Note: Google Results on Rice-A-Roni Videos = ELEVEN PAGES OF RESULTS!

FireStorms - Reaping What We've Sown

Southern California Burns - A Trip Down 101 - Fall Firestorms 2007

As the droughts continue the plants historically tied to the region die off, and will be replaced with desert plants. Sadly, as global warming changes world climate many of those areas which were arid, but not desert will in fact become desert areas.

These YouTubers drive down Route 101. It's like driving on Mars!.
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Fall 2007 - Pepperdine University Students Watch Fires Advance

CNN Reports that a quarter of a million people in California have had to flee from the firestorms baring down upon their homes. This from CNN:

"Hardest hit was San Diego County, where 250,000 people have fled from five fires. One person was killed and 18 were reported injured in the county, including five firefighters. Local officials said the fire situation had worsened throughout the day, prompting new evacuations.

"We have a very dangerous, unpredictable situation," said Ron Roberts, chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. "We have some of the highest temperatures, some of the driest landscape conditions and some of the most powerful winds -- all the ingredients for a perfect firestorm.""

The incidence of massive firestorms will increase. Ancient forest will give way to deserts, and there's nothing human beings will be able to do, but learn to adapt. We are after all simply reaping what we have sown.


Pepperdine University Students Cover The Firestorm

These YouTube Posters, presumably students from Pepperdine University were awoken by their smoke alarms, and couldn't get back to sleep. So they filmed this little video.
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YouTube: Ventura, California - October 21, 2007

This YouTube Poster lives fifty miles from Malibu. As the video illustrates there's plenty of smoke for everyone to breath. That may not seem like an important issue as the more dramatic line of fires racing across the country sides is more exciting, but when all the numbers are crunched many people with lung problems will have died as a result of these fires. And hardly anyone will have noticed.
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...

Video: October 2007 - Southern Californian Readies To Flee Firestorms

This YouTuber provides us with a view from her location. She concludes by saying she's going in to pack - just in case. I wonder what the cost of dislocation will be? Must add up into the hundreds of millions of dollars. And that doesn't include property damage either!
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Video: October 2007 - Smoke and Ash Over Camarillo, California

There's also the psychological, and social disruption which takes place as the result such an event. This young woman expresses her concern while video recording shots of the sky filled with yellowish smoke, and ash. It certainly looks like the end of the world doesn't it? It's a natural reaction to any disaster.


Video: Firefighting Helicopters Fill Up With Water At Pepperdine

Then there's the cost of fighting the fires. Living in, and along the desert adds an enormous responsibility in terms of fire preparedness Some question the wisdom of people building enormously expensive homes atop hillsides covered in dried out brush. Who will pay in the end for such arrogance? Taxpayers, and those paying premiums on property insurance all over the nation.

Sick As A Dog

Not sure where that "sick as a dog" saying came from, but I know it describes my situation over the weekend.

I had a three day weekend, and it was totally ruined.

I'm not entirely sure what it was, but I have my suspicions.

On Friday I picked up some uncooked chicken, and fried some up. One of the packages of chicken I bought was marked at twenty five percent off. I was hesitant to purchase it, but I thought why not save a dollar or so.

I opened up the other packages and they smelled fine, but when I opened the specially discounted chicken it had a somewhat less than fresh smell. I couldn't tell if it was bad so I washed it off with the other raw chicken, and smelled it again. Smelled about the same as the other chicken after I had washed it off.

I went ahead and cooked up all the chicken. Everyone seemed to love the fried chicken I made.

No one got sick, but me (I must have cooked the chicken right, but goofed on washing my hands).

And boy did I get sick.

Severe gag reflex, and vomiting. Some Diarrhea. A low grade fever, and aches, and pains. Weakness.

Last night I was close to going to the hospital, but I'm a stubborn type, and didn't go.

I'm certain this was food poisoning.

I usually buy my chicken frozen, and at a much less expensive price. From now on I'll stick to the frozen variety, and thaw it out myself. One of the most expensive food stores in town stuck it to me - and in a product they're known to have a good reputation in.

Right now I feel very sore. I woke up this morning with my throat burning from the stomach acid which I had tossed up.

My chest, and sides are so sore from all the up chucking.

And going back to work Monday is going to be pretty tough. My job is very stressful, and I feel as if I'm exhausted going into a new week.

It's as if I didn't have a weekend at all.

I'm half tempted to call in sick, but just like I tend not to go to the hospital, or doctor, I tend not to miss work - unless I'm so sick I can't.

Anyway, I am too tired to come up with anything else to blog about.

Poop

Shut Your Mouth - Oh Crap!
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Mr. Floatie - Not A Local Issue Yet


Mr. Hankie The Christmas Poo

WMAY's Pam Furr Is Blogging Again!

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Pam Furr is blogging again!

Ms. Furr recently made the shift from morning talk show host, to afternoon talk show host at WMAY. I listened to her show nearly every morning, and rarely have the opportunity now.

Ms. Furr once mentioned me on her show. She had just moments before railed on Dave of The11thhour for a post he wrote which mentioned her show. She said she'd be dealing with me next, and then went to commercial. I had to leave the car just before she came back. I never heard what she said about my post.

I've always wondered what she said. I kind of suspect that she let me have it. I'll never know.

You know Pam if you're reading this I want you to know that I have known (still do) several people here in town who did their bit doing the D.J./Talk Show Host/Radio News/Television News/ thing.

Most people in your industry leave it after awhile. Maybe one day you'll do so. So whether you're a public figure now, ten years from now, or leave the industry ten days from now - I'll still try to show you the respect that you - and everyone else deserves - but I'll also speak my mind.

I understand your on air status puts you in a position in which you can be targeted for criticism, but as time has shown - I am not your critic. My blog isn't dedicated to getting anyone.

I respect you for your mind - because despite any barrier you cast about your on air persona you speak enough to reveal a great deal about yourself - you're smart, and funny, and compassionate.

I never had any intention to cast you as unprofessional, dumb, lazy, or worse yet - a racist. Maybe I could have written my post last year a bit differently?

Anyway, I'm glad that you're blogging again, and I hope everyone checks out your blog!
You've got lots to say, and I feel you could be really good at it. Best of wishes for you.

While You Slept

National Weather Service County - ILC167

WNSWOU9
WOUS64 KWNS 180803
WOU9

TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 719
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
303 AM CDT THU OCT 18 2007

TORNADO WATCH 719 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 AM CDT FOR THE
FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

ILC017-019-021-023-025-029-033-035-039-041-045-049-057-079-095-
101-107-113-115-123-125-129-137-139-143-147-159-167-169-171-173-
175-179-183-203-181400-
/O.CON.KWNS.TO.A.0719.000000T0000Z-071018T1400Z/

IL

CASS CHAMPAIGN CHRISTIAN
CLARK CLAY COLES
CRAWFORD CUMBERLAND DE WITT
DOUGLAS EDGAR EFFINGHAM
FULTON JASPER KNOX
LAWRENCE LOGAN MCLEAN
MACON MARSHALL MASON
MENARD MORGAN MOULTRIE
PEORIA PIATT RICHLAND
SANGAMON SCHUYLER SCOTT
SHELBY STARK TAZEWELL
VERMILION WOODFORD


It's an especially vulnerable feeling to sleep when you're not entirely sure you'll wake up.

U.S. Steers Hurricanes & Intensifies Drought

By covertly steering hurricanes away from the coastal U.S. this summer (2007) the U.S. avoided billions of dollars in storm related damage, but it also intensified global warming related drought conditions across the nation.

Once again covert weather modification may seem like a solution to the problems created by global warming, but it simply mask the problem - making it worse in the long run.

This from CNN:

Drought-related conditions included

• As of September 25, Pasadena, California, experienced its driest year since records began in 1878. Many California communities imposed water use restrictions.

• The Great Lakes, which together make up about 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water, have been in decline since the late 1990s. Lakes Huron and Michigan were about two feet below their long-term average levels, while Lake Superior was about 20 inches off, Lake Ontario 7 inches below and Lake Erie a few inches down.

• Maryland and Pennsylvania had about half of their counties under a drought watch. Many areas in upstate New York reported record low reservoir levels and dried-up wells and farm ponds.

• Alabama Power, the state's largest utility, has been operating some of its coal plants at significantly reduced levels to avoid raising water temperatures in the Coosa, Black Warrior and Mobile rivers.

• The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down Browns Ferry Unit II nuclear power plant due to inadequate stream flow.

• At the end of September, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division declared a level four drought response across the northern third of the state, which prohibits most types of outdoor residential water use.

Controlling Path Of Hurricanes Means Controlling the Bermuda High

This from the Saint Petersburg Times:

In the early 1900s, meteorologists recognized that hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin moved north out of the tropics, unless they ran into an area of high pressure, which tended to move storms to the west. They saw that a large high pressure system, often centered over Bermuda, appeared to dominate the western Atlantic in the summer and fall. When the system shifted, the trade winds shifted with it.

Hurricanes can't go very far on their own, so they hitch rides on those winds. And just like a hitchhiker, a hurricane's limited transportation options can force it to take a circuitous route.

That's why hurricanes, no matter how powerful, don't take a straight course through the Bermuda High's inner core. Instead, they flow around the periphery, riding the high's strongest winds. Forecasters sometimes describe the storms as logs floating in a river. They go where powerful currents take them.

"In climatological terms, hurricanes are pretty small events compared to broader scale weather like the Bermuda High,'' Smith said. "They are like pinballs getting belted around by all the other factors."

In years when few hurricanes hit the United States, the massive system acts like a goalkeeper deflecting storms away from the coast, Smith said. Despite a significant increase in the average number of storms since the mid 1990s, a below average number struck the United States from 2000 to 2002. One main reason: The Bermuda High steered them away.

In those years, the Bermuda High sets up away from the coast of the United States. The position creates an "alley" between the system's western edge and the U.S. mainland.

Storms still travel west toward the United States along the Bermuda High's bottom or southern edge. But eventually the system's clockwise rotation turns the storms north into the alley.

End Snippet

Using Cloud Seeding To Manipulate the Bermuda High

By using covert cloud seeding continental fronts are manipulated to keep hurricanes headed away from the U.S., but as we see above drought conditions only worsen.

The U.S. finds itself trapped between two choices: allow global warming intensified super hurricanes to hit the United States, or steer hurricanes away from the U.S. and watch as sustained global warming intensified droughts ravage the mainland.

Half Of U.S. Drugs Made In China

Almost none of it inspected by the F.D.A.

Just how in the hell did this happen?

Americans have already died from Chinese drugs.

Soon nearly all drugs sold in the U.S. will be made in India and China.

This from the Washington Post:

Analysts estimate that as much as 20 percent of finished generic and over-the-counter drugs, and more than 40 percent of the active ingredients for pills made here, come from India and China. Within 15 years, they predict, as much as 80 percent of the key ingredients will come from those countries -- which are quickly becoming attractive to brand-name drugmakers, too.

Meanwhile the Chinese government stamps out freedom of speech, a cornerstone of good government, and vital to the proper regulation of food and drug safety.

When greed is the primary motivating force of the U.S. government public safety is put on the back shelf.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez' Speech

Photo: General Ricardo Sanchez (retired)

I edited this speech as I found it all in caps and with spelling errors at MilitaryReporters.Org. Editing the speech forced me to read every word. I'm glad I did.

The first half is a scathing critique of the Main Stream Media. I suspect bloggers would fair no better. The second half goes to task with Congress, and the Bush Administration.

Here's the full speech:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

Some of you may not believe this but I am glad to be here. When Sig Christensen asked me if I would consider addressing you there was no doubt that I should come into the lion's den. this was important because I have firmly believed since desert shield that it is necessary for the strength of our democracy that the military and the press corps maintain a strong, mutually respectful and enabling relationship. this continues to be problematic for our country, especially during times of war. one of the greatest military correspondents of our time, Joe Galloway, made me a believer when he joined the 24th infantry division during Desert Storm.

Today, I will attempt to do two things - first I will give you my assessment of the military and press relationship, and then I will provide you some thoughts on the current state of our war effort.

As all of you know I have a wide range of relationships and experiences with our nation's military writers and editors.

There are some in your ranks who I consider to be the epitome of journalistic professionalism. Joe Galloway, Thom Shanker, Sig Christensen, and John Burns immediately come to mind. They exemplify what America should demand of our journalists - tough reporting that relies upon integrity, objectivity and fairness - to give accurate and thorough accounts that strengthen our freedom of the press and in turn our democracy.

On the other hand, unfortunately, I have issued ultimatums to some of you for unscrupulous reporting that was solely focused on supporting your agenda and preconceived notions of what our military had done. I also refused to talk to the European stars and stripes for the last two years of my command in Germany for their extreme bias and single minded focus on Abu Gharaib.

Let me review some of the descriptive phrases that have been used by some of you that have made my personal interfaces with the press corps difficult:

"Dictatorial and somewhat dense", "Not a strategic thought", “Liar”, "Does not get it", and “The most inexperienced Lieutenant General”.

In some cases I have never even met you, yet you feel qualified to make character judgments that are communicated to the world. My experience is not unique, and we can find other examples such as the treatment of Secretary Brown during Katrina. This is the worst display of journalism imaginable by those of us that are bound by a strict value system of selfless service, honor and integrity. Almost invariably my perception is that the sensationalist value of these assessments is what provided the edge that you seek for self aggrandizement, or to advance your individual quest for getting on the front page with your stories!

As I understand it your measure of worth is how many front page stories you have written, and unfortunately some of you will compromise your integrity, and display questionable ethics as you seek to keep America informed. This is much like the intelligence analysts whose effectiveness was measured by the number of intelligence reports he produced. For some it seems that as long as you get a front page story there is little or no regard for the "collateral damage" you will cause. Personal reputations have no value, and you report with total impunity, and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct.

Given the near instantaneous ability to report actions on the ground, the responsibility to accurately and truthfully report takes on an unprecedented importance. The speculative, and often uninformed initial reporting that characterizes our media appears to be rapidly becoming the standard of the industry.

An Arab proverb states - "four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past, the neglected opportunity." Once reported, your assessments become conventional wisdom and nearly impossible to change.

Other major challenges are your willingness to be manipulated by high level officials who leak stories, and by lawyers who use hyperbole to strengthen their arguments. Your unwillingness to accurately and prominently correct your mistakes and your agenda driven biases contribute to this corrosive environment.

All of these challenges combined create a media environment that does a tremendous disservice to America Over the course of this war tactically insignificant events have become strategic defeats for America because of the tremendous power and impact of the media, and by extension you the journalist. In many cases the media has unjustly destroyed the individual reputations and careers of those involved.

We realize that because of the near real time reporting environment that you face it is difficult to report accurately. In my business one of our fundamental truths is that the first report is always wrong, unfortunately in your business the first report gives Americans who rely on the snippets of CNN, if you will, their truths and perspectives on an issue.

As a corollary to this deadline driven need to publish initial impressions or observations versus objective facts there is an additional challenge for us who are the subject of your reporting. When you assume that you are correct and on the moral high ground on a story because we have not respond to questions you provided is the ultimate arrogance and distortion of ethics.

One of your highly respected fellow journalists once told me that there are some amongst you who feed from a pig's trough. If that is who I am dealing with then I will never respond otherwise. We will both get dirty and the pig will love it. This does not mean that your story is accurate.

I do not believe that this is what our forefathers intended. The code of ethics for the society of professional journalists states:

...public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. the duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility

The basic ethics of a journalist that calls for:

1. seeking truth,

2. providing fair and comprehensive account of events and issues

3. thoroughness and honesty

All are victims of the massive agenda driven competition for economic or political supremacy. The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war.

My assessment is that your profession, to some extent, has strayed from these ethical standards and allowed external agendas to manipulate what the American public sees on T.V., what they read in our newspapers, and what they see on the web. For some of you, just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconceived notions, biases and agendas.

It is astounding to me when I hear the vehement disagreement with the military foray into information operations that seek to disseminate the truth and inform the Iraqi people in order to counter our enemy's blatant propaganda. As I assess various media entities, some are unquestionably engaged in political propaganda that is uncontrolled.

There is no question in my mind that the strength of our democracy, and our freedoms remain linked to your ability to exercise freedom of the press. I adamantly support this basic foundation of our democracy and completely supported the embedding of media into our formations up until my last day in uniform.

The issue is one of maintaining professional ethics, and standards from within your institution. Military leaders must accept that these injustices will happen, and whether they like what you print or not they must deal with you and enable you, if you are an ethical journalist.

Finally, I will leave this subject with a question that we must ask ourselves - Who is responsible for maintaining the ethical standards of the profession in order to ensure that our democracy does not continue to be threatened by this dangerous shift away from your sacred duty of public enlightenment?

Let me now transition to our current national security condition.

As we all know war is an extension of politics, and when a nation goes to war it must bring to bear all elements of power in order to win. War fighting is not solely the responsibility of the military commander unless he has been given the responsibility and resources to synchronize the political, economic and informational power of the nation. So who is responsible for developing the grand strategy that will allow America to emerge victorious from this generational struggle against extremism?

After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war torn country, or in the greater conflict against extremism.

From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan to the administration's latest surge strategy, this administration has failed to employ and synchronize its political, economic and military power.

The latest revised strategy is a desperate attempt by an administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war and they have definitely not communicated that reality to the American people.

An even worse and more disturbing assessment is that America can not achieve the political consensus necessary to devise a grand strategy that will synchronize and commit our national power to achieve victory in Iraq.

Some of you have heard me talk about our nation's crisis in leadership. Let me elaborate.

While the politicians espouse their rhetoric designed to preserve their reputations and their political power - our soldiers die! Our national leadership ignored the lessons of WWII as we entered into this war, and to this day continue to believe that victory can be achieved through the application of military power alone.

Our forefathers understood that tremendous economic and political capacity had to be mobilized, synchronized and applied if we were to achieve victory in a global war. That has been, and continues to be the key to victory in Iraq.

Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory. The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat. The Administration, Congress and the entire inter-agency, especially the Department of State, must shoulder the responsibility for this catastrophic failure, and the American people must hold them accountable.

There has been a glaring, unfortunate, display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders. As a Japanese proverb says, "Action without vision is a nightmare”. There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.

Since 2003, the politics of war have been characterized by partisanship as the Republican and Democratic parties struggled for power in Washington. National efforts to date have been corrupted by partisan politics that have prevented us from devising effective, executable, supportable solutions.

At times, these partisan struggles have led to political decisions that endangered the lives of our sons and daughters on the battlefield. The unmistakable message was that political power had greater priority than our national security objectives. Overcoming this strategic failure is the first step toward achieving victory in Iraq. Without bipartisan cooperation we are doomed to fail. There is nothing going on today in Washington that would give us hope.

If we succeed in crafting a bipartisan strategy for victory, then America must hold all national agencies accountable for developing and executing the political and economic initiatives that will bring about stability, security, political and economic hope for all Iraqis. That has not been successful to date.

Congress must shoulder a significant responsibility for this failure since there has been no focused oversight of the nation's political and economic initiatives in this war. Exhortations, encouragements, investigations, studies and discussions will not produce success. This appears to be the nation's only alternative since the transfer of sovereignty.

Our continued neglect will only extend the conflict. America's dilemma is that we no longer control the ability to directly influence the Iraqi institutions. The sovereign Iraqi government must be cooperative in these long term efforts. That is not likely at the levels necessary in the near term.

Our commanders on the ground will continue to make progress and provide time for the development of a grand strategy. that will be wasted effort as we have seen repeatedly since 2003. In the mean time our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines will continue to die.

Since the start of this war, America's leadership has known that our military alone could not achieve victory in Iraq. Starting in July 2003, the message repeatedly communicated to Washington by military commanders on the ground was that the military alone could never achieve victory in Iraq.

Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines were destined to endure decades of fighting and killing people without the focused, synchronized application of all elements of national power. This was a necessary condition to stabilize Iraq. Any sequential solutions would lead to a prolonged conflict and increased resistance.

By neglect and incompetence at the National Security Council level, that is the path our political leaders chose and now America, more precisely the American military, finds itself in an intractable situation.

Clearly, mistakes have been made by the American military in its application of power but even its greatest failures in this war can be linked to America's lack of commitment, priority and moral courage in this war effort. Without the sacrifices of our magnificent young men and women in uniform Iraq would be chaotic well beyond anything experienced to date.

What America must accept as a reality at this point in the war is that our army and marine corps are struggling with the deployment schedules. What is clear is that the deployment cycles of our formations has been totally disrupted. The resourcing and training challenges are significant and America's ability to sustain a force level of 150,000(+) is nonexistent without drastic measures that have been politically unacceptable to date.

The draw down of the surge to pre-surge levels was never a question. America must understand that it will take the army at least a decade to fix the damage that has been done to its full spectrum readiness. The president's recent statement to America that he will listen to military commanders is a matter of political expediency.

Our army and marine corps will execute as directed, perform magnificently and never complain. That is the ethic of our warriors and that is what America expects of them. They will not disappoint us, but America must know the pressures that are being placed on our military institutions as we fight this war.

All Americans must demand that these deploying formations are properly resourced, properly trained, and we must never allow America's support for the soldier to falter.

A critical, objective assessment of our nation's ability to execute our national security strategy must be conducted. If we are objective and honest, the results will be surprising to all Americans. There is unacceptable strategic risk.

America has no choice but to continue our efforts in Iraq. A precipitous withdrawal will unquestionably lead to chaos that would endanger the stability of the greater Middle East. If this occurs it would have significant adverse effects on the international community.

Coalition and American force presence will be required at some level for the foreseeable future. Given the lack of a grand strategy we must move rapidly to minimize that force presence and allow the Iraqis maximum ability to exercise their sovereignty in achieving a solution.

At no time in America's history has there been a greater need for bipartisan cooperation. The threat of extremism is real, and demands unified action at the same levels demonstrated by our forefathers during World War I and World War II. America has failed to date.

This endeavor has further been hampered by a coalition effort that can be characterized as hasty, unresourced, often uncoordinated, and unmanaged. Desperately needed, but essentially ignored, were the political and economic coalitions that were the key to victory and stability in the immediate aftermath of the conventional war.

The military coalition which was hastily put together in the summer of 2003 was problematic given the multitude of national caveats, inadequate rules of engagement and other restrictions on the forces deployed. Even so, the military coalition was the most extensive, productive and effective deployment of forces in decades.

Today, we continue our inept coalition management efforts and, in fact, we are facing ever decreasing troop commitments by our military coalition partners. America's revised strategy does not address coalition initiatives and challenges. We cannot afford to continue this struggle without the support of our coalition partners across all elements of national power.

Without the political and economic elements of power complementing the tremendous efforts of our military, America is assured of failure. We continue on that path.

America's political leadership must come together and develop a bipartisan grand strategy to achieve victory in this conflict. the simultaneous application of our political, economic, information and military elements of power is the only course of action that will provide a chance of success.

Achieving unity of effort in Iraq has been elusive to date primarily because there is no entity that has the authority to direct action by our inter-agency.

Our National Security Council has been a catastrophic failure.

Furthermore, America's ability to hold the inter-agency accountable for their failures in this war is non-existent. This must change. As a nation we must recognize that the enemy we face is committed to destroying our way of life. This enemy is arguably more dangerous than any threat we faced in the twentieth century.

Our political leaders must place national security objectives above partisan politics, demand inter agency unity of effort, and never again commit America to war without a grand strategy that embraces the basic tenets of the Powell Doctrine.

It seems that Congress recognizes that the military cannot achieve victory alone in this war. yet they continue to demand victory from our military.

Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leaders involved in the management this war? They have unquestionably been derelict in the performance of their duty. In my profession, these type of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialed.

America has sent our soldiers off to war and they must be supported at all costs until we achieve victory, or until our political leaders decide to bring them home.

Our political and military leaders owe the soldier on the battlefield the strategy, the policies and the resources to win once committed to war. America has not been fully committed to win this war.

As the military commanders on the ground have stated since the summer of 2003, the U.S. military alone cannot win this war. America must mobilize the inter-agency and the political and economic elements of power, which have been abject failures to date, in order to achieve victory.

Our nation has not focused on the greatest challenge of our lifetime. The political and economic elements of power must get beyond the politics to ensure the survival of America

Partisan politics have hindered this war effort and America should not accept this. America must demand a unified national strategy that goes well beyond partisan politics and places the common good above all else. Too often our politicians have chosen loyalty to their political party above loyalty to the Constitution because of their lust for power.

Our politicians must remember their oath of office and recommit themselves to serving our nation and not their own self-interests or political party. The security of America is at stake and we can accept nothing less. Anything short of this is unquestionably dereliction of duty.

These are fairly harsh assessments of the military and press relationship and the status of our war effort. I remain optimistic and committed to the enabling of media operations under the toughest of conditions in order to keep the world and the American people informed. Our military must embrace you for the sake our democracy but you owe them ethical journalism.

Thank you for this opportunity

May God bless you and may God bless America

Praise be to the Lord my rock who trains my fingers for battle, and my hands for war.

Thank you.