Viva independance

Sometimes you have to be responsible and do the right thing. Such was the case when I grounded myself from driving. The legs had gotten too screwed with this progressive crap of mine aand I was becoming unsafe. While others go forward and damn the consequences, I'm big on self responsibility.

Today we installed a set of hand controls someone on the Net tossed my way. It's good to have Bikers helping bikers in the world. My buddy John spent the last four hours on his knees leaning into the car and the end result is a high quality (albet old and with peeling chrome) set of hand controls installed in my car. After three trips around te block, all I can say is YEE HAAAAA. This set is built like a tank so any small amount of dirt and peeling chrome is minor spuds indeed.

Time for some 409 and a rag, and I'll be like down town.

Bonus Video... I must be in a mood

Raise your rock fist in the air for the god of vocal Ronnie James Dio. Here he performs "Neon Knights" With Heaven and Hell (aka Sabbath). Let there be Rock!

Friday Night's Lost Video

Not so much a video as a posted song. The Replacements are a band that never got their full due, but deserve it. Plug your ear buds into your monitor, turn up the sound up and just listen........ Within Your Reach by The Replacements.

Not sure if you should call them “Amazing” or “Horrifying” pictures.

Pictures of the Twin Towers and surrounding area.

“September 11, 2001"

For those who like space shuttle pictures

A slide show should run for you.

“Space Shuttle Pictures”">

Porno Holocaust Music Video

Aren't you glad it's Friday?

Spineless Yellow Dog Cowards

Rep. Corey Mason posted a blog regarding Hillary's "momentous" declaration declaring Obama the nominee. When I attempted to post a comment, a message appeared stating that "Comment moderation has been turned on. Your comment will not appear until approved".

Approved??? Approved by whom??? Rep. Mason or some lackey at RJT?

http://my.journaltimes.com/post/RepCoryMason/blog/hillary_puts_obama_over_the_top_secures_her_legacy.html?nc=8/28/2008%205:09:39%20PM

In case my comment does not meet approval here it is:

I've stated it before and I'll state it again: Clinton's support of Obama is lukewarm at best. They want him to lose, period. Hillary is not going to wait another 8 years for a chance at the nomination. She has her eyes firmly set on 2012. The only way to ensure that is a McCain victory.

Pray for Rain and God WIll Answer...But It Might Not Rain Where You Want It To!

From the Really Ironic News Department: Focus on the family posted a video on its website (now removed but posted on Youtube) asking people to pray for "rain of bibilical proportions" at Obama's acceptance speech tonight. Well, careful what you ask God for...a malfunctioning sprinkler system at the Pepsi Center went off in a skybox being used by Fox News causing a flood (no word on whether it was of "biblical proportions").

Forecast for Denver today: Sunny and clear. High 81, low 54.

Ripon College gives freshmen free bikes for no-car pledges

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=788470

I like this idea. They're using money they would've spent on a new parking lot to fund the program, so that may be short-sighted (a parking lot lasts for years, but there's an incoming class annually), but I like the notion of instilling good habits in young people.

I believe that we absolutely must end our dependence upon others for our energy needs. Our addiction to foreign oil is crippling. It drives our economy, it drives our foreign policy, it drives our national policy, it drives everything. We are NOT a free nation if we have to schlep to the dealer (foreign countries) to score our daily fix. No junkie is free.

In the past, Americans have risen to challenges. Good ol' Yankee ingenuity and all that stuff. It appears to me that there are all sorts of opportunities here for people to get filthy rich with alternative technologies. Can we do it? Will we? Or should we just give in now, sell our soul to the oil man, and blissfully nod off into a petroleum-induced stupor . . . until we wake up tomorrow, screaming in need, and crawl back to the dealer for another angry hit?

Thursday's Funnies Blog

We all need a good laugh, and I just got this in, ENJOY!!!

"I LOVE MY JOB!"

If you don`t laugh out loud after you read this you are
in a coma! This is even funnier when you realize it`s real!


Next time you have a bad day at work think of this guy.

Rob is a commercial saturation diver for Global Divers
in Louisiana . He performs underwater repairs on offshore
drilling rigs.

Below is an E-mail he sent to his sister. She then sent
it to radio station 103.2 on FM dial in
Ft. Wayne , Indiana , who was sponsoring a worst job
experience contest. Needless to say, she won.



Hi Sue,

Just another note from your bottom-dwelling brother.

Last week I had a bad day at the office. I know you`ve been
feeling down lately at work, so I thought I would share my dilemma
with you to make you realize it`s not so bad after all. Before I
can tell you what happened to me, I first must bore you
with a few technicalities of my job.

As you know, my office lies
at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It`s a
wet suit. This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we
do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel powered industrial
water heater. This $20,000 piece of equipment sucks the water out
of the sea. It heats it to a delightful temperature. It then
pumps it down to the diver through a garden hose, which is taped
to the air hose.

Now this sounds like a darn good plan, and I`ve used it
several times with no complaints. What I do, when I get to the
bottom and start working, is take the hose and stuff it down the
back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water.
It`s like working in a Jacuzzi.

Everything was going well until all of a sudden, my butt
started to itch. So, of course, I scratched it. This only
made things worse. Within a few seconds my butt started to burn.

I pulled the hose out from my back, but the damage was done.
In agony I realized what had happened. The hot water machine
had sucked up a jellyfish and pumped it into my suit. Now,
since I don`t have any hair on my back, the jellyfish couldn`t
stick to it, however, the crack of my butt was not as fortunate.
When I scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually
grinding the jellyfish into the crack of my butt.

I informed the dive supervisor of my dilemma over the
communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact
that he, along with five other divers, were all laughing
hysterically. Needless to say I aborted the dive. I was
instructed to make three agonizing in-water decompression
stops totaling thirty-five minutes before I could reach the
surface to begin my chamber dry decompression. When I arrived at
the surface, I was wearing nothing but my brass helmet.

As I climbed out of the water, the medic, with tears of
laughter running down his face, handed me a tube of cream
and told me to rub it on my butt as soon as I got in the
chamber.

The cream put the fire out, but I couldn`t poop for two
days because my butt was swollen shut.

So, next time you`re having a bad day at work, think about
how much worse it would be if you had a jellyfish shoved up
your butt.


Now repeat to yourself, "I love my job, I love my job,
I love my job."

Whenever you have a bad day, ask yourself, is this a
jellyfish bad day?

May you NEVER have a jellyfish bad day!!!!!

Where Do You Have To Go To Get Away From Computer Viruses?

Well, the answer is farther than the International Space Station! It turns out that a worm designed to steal gamer passwords has popped up on some laptop computers on the International SpaceStation. The good news is that none of the infected computers control things like, oh, life support or guidance systems.

So keep you Windows computers up to date and run your virus protection software...especially before you email someone on the ISS!

In Memory of Stevie Ray Vaughan

Eighteen years ago today, Stevie Ray Vaughan played his last concert ever at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy,WI. He shared the bill with Eric Clapton,Robert Cray,and his brother Jimmy Vaughan. After the show he decided to visit his girlfriend in Chicago. His helicopter crashed in the ski hill and was killed instantly. Ironicly, his last song he played was"Sweet Home Chicago"



Stevie Ray was born in Dallas,Texas October 3,1954. Learned how to play guitar at the age of seven. His music career started in Austin ,Texas. He was discovered by David Bowie,who offered him to play on his "Let's Dance" album. Jackson Browne offered him free studio time so he could record and album. The result was "Texas Flood" released in 1983.



Stevie Ray suffered from drugs and alcohol addiction midway though his career. He entered rehab and got cleaned. After rehab, he released critically aclaimed "In Step" in 1989. That was his last studio album.



Please, listen to this guy. His guitarwork is the BEST I've ever heard. Here is his cover of Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Chile(Slight Return)

Illegal Immigrant Raid in Mississippi

I was really annoyed reading this AP article. Oh, boo hoo, the poor "immigrants". Wake up AP, they're not "immigrants", they're "ILLEGAL immigrants", and, yes Mr. Foxworth, they are also criminals and should be treated as such.

I found it interesting that other people in the plant were applauding as they were being removed.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,411462,00.html

HEY hALE BOPP! Moon landing hoax

News has it the myth Busters are going after the moon hoax wednesday. If we landed on the day side, and we have such powerful telescopes, why aren't we able to see the lander from afar? Wouldn't this settle all arguments once and for all? Where are the pictures we have certainly(?) been able to take for decades? I've always thought it'd be cool to have a telescope generated picture of the lander base.

Luke Warm Endorsement

Just watched Hillary's speech. At best, I thought it was a luke warm endorsement of Obama. I thought of it this way: How would I feel if someone was asked: What is AA's best quality? And they answered: He's always punctual.

GLAST...Oops, Fermi Releases First Light Image

NASA today officially renamed the Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope after Enrico Fermi (kind of surprising to me since Fermilab was already named after him). Fermi, as the name implies, looks at the universe in gamma rays rather than visible light. Gamma rays are the high energy photons that come from supernova remnants, pulsars, and matter falling into black holes, all that exotic, fun stuff.

The satellite was launched June 11th and has been undergoing it checkout since then. Today, they released the first light image.
This image shows the gamma ray intensity all over the sky. You can clearly see the plane of our galaxy and the center of our galaxy. Several well known strong sources are marked. You can also see a very dim (blue) diffuse background everywhere. One of the goals of the mission is to try and discover the source of this diffuse gamma ray background.

Another main goal is to find out what all the gamma ray sources are. NASA produced a neat poster a few years ago showing all the gamma ray sources and many of them were listed as "Unknown". Fermi has much better sensitivity and resolution so we can start figuring out what these things are.

Fermi also carries a Gamma Ray Burst Monitor. Gamma ray bursts are these really powerful explosions from the far reaches of the universe thar are caused by massive supernovas, black hole mergers, and cool stuff like that. It has been seeing about one a day so far. The increase in detection rate will help study these weird events as well.

I have worked on the Education program for GLAST since 2002 and had an invite to the launch (and couldn't make it due to another meeting). I did get to tour Spectrum Astro up in Phoenix in 2007 when they were building Fermi...got to don the whole bunny suit and go in the cleanroom (since they do DOD work, cameras were streng verboten so I have no pictures of that).

I am sure I will have an occasional blog on Fermi as time goes on and it releases major discoveries. I am just glad to see it up and working after being a small part of the team for the last six years!

Next Get-Together - yes, FOOD - of course!!

OK, the planning has commenced .
I have 20 people on my email list
for get-together info.
Please check your bulk and deleted files,
I send "BCC" and some servers think it's spam.

If for some reason you haven't gotten an info email
from me, PLEASE let me know. I had one the 1st time not go thru.

OUR DATE - Sept. 20th
Time - contact me
Place - not far - contact me

As always privacy and security
are highly guarded for everybody :)

Who's with us??

I'm a Delinquent

When us bloggers met the Mayor a few weeks ago, I tongue in cheek mentioned the parking ticket I received.

I pay it promptly. I wrote out a check, put it and the citation in the envelope and dropped it into the box at the cop shop, 730 Center Street.

Now, I know I paid it, my bank confirms it was cashed before it was due, so WHY DID I JUST RECEIVE A DELINQUENT NOTICE?

So, now I will have to waste more of my time and resources, printing out a copy of the cancelled check, going down to the police station, using up City resources, only to have them tell me something like "Oh, don't worry about it, it happens all the time".

How much is it costing us to print and mail out bogus delinquent notices? It makes me wonder what other administrative nightmares are taking place and how much they are costing us.

The JT bans Irregular bloggers but.....

They allow Latin Kings to post:

LK RACINE August 26, 2008 12:19AM CST
I hope you win homez, what if this was a white bar they would say anybiody could shoot somebody and just because this happen by this fine est. white owned bar doesnt mean this bar caused this person to kill someone, thats what they would say

LK RACINE August 26, 2008 1:17AM CST
concernedinracine LK means LATIN KINGS IN RACINE LIKE MY HOMEBOY "MORECRIME"

If I was the GD I would be asking for equal time.

The Softer Side of Michael Phelps

This is what the "liberal media" didn't want you to see!

If You Can't Take the Heat, Stay Away from the Nukes

The Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-partisan group, wanted to bring attention to the threat of nuclear weapons. They bought an ad at the Minneapolis airport and put up a nice little poster shown at the right. (sorry for the low res...best I have found).

Well, someone complained and it has been removed for being anti-McCain and "too scary". NEWS FLASH: NUCLEAR WEAPONS ARE SCARY! Of course, it also states the Northwest Airlines (official airline of the Republican convention) has the right to reject ads in its concourse! Yep, corporate censorship at its best.

Now I know there are those out there thinking the UCS is taking a cheap shot at McCain...except the SAME AD is up in the Denver airport addressed to Obama...oh, and it has stayed up.

Now the really strange thing is that the UCS pretty much likes McCain's stance on nuclear weapons. From the story: "Negin (spokesman for UCS) disputed that the ad is anti-McCain, noting that the Denver version names Obama. He also said both candidates largely agree with the group's position."

So in this wacky world, we have an ad that AGREES with McCain's position being censored for being anti-McCain? WTF?

The one consolation I take is that the UCS is plastering the ad all over town so hopefully, Northwest's corporate censorship will prove impotent and ineffectual.

ChatBox

This is what I see.

Wow, another Monday!!

Ok, Here's a wide open blog.

Did you survive the weekend?

What are you up to this week??

I'm happy to say that book 1 of 4 is finished in my daunting recipe task, pretty cool
Maybe thing will settle down now that school has started, we'll see.

Happy Monday guys!!

Lets play "Guess Who Said This...."

Try and guess who said the following remarks:

"you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,"

You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state. A slave state that fought beside the North. That's only because we couldn't figure out how to get to the South. There were a couple of states in the way.

"The White House isn't a place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power... the economic future of the next generation,"

"The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training"

"I Don't Recall Hearing A Word From Barack About A Plan Or A Tactic."

"This is a guy who's used weapons of mass destruction. This is a guy who's destabilized the whole neighborhood. This is a guy who in a war with the Iranians, over 800,000 people on both sides were killed. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world. And this is a guy who is in every way possible seeking weapons of mass destruction. That case, in and of itself, ought to be sufficient."


'And so I've believed for a long time, a view shared by my Republican colleague John McCain and many others as well, that we need more force in Iraq. That's not a popular position to take. But we need more force now in order to have less force later. We need to gain control of security in Iraq."

"John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off with You know, John McCain.

Who said all these statements?

The Mars Email is Back: No, Mars Won't Be as Big as the Full Moon

Okay, the Mars is as big as the full Moon email is making its annual rounds as it probably will every August. I am modifying my blog entry from the JT site last year slightly (and it was my first blog entry on the old site).

Back in August of 2003, Mars had a relatively close approach to Earth of about 34 million miles. The media picked up on this and a silly email started going around stating that Mars would appear as 'big as the full Moon". Well, it wasn't true then and it isn't true now. This email seems to come around every August and proabably will every year from now until the end of the internet.

Mars NEVER appears as big as the full Moon. The confusion seems to have stemmed from an astronomer who said if you had a telescope with 75x magnification (fairly common for small amateur telescopes) Mars would appear as big as the full Moon. Then someone left off the 75x magnification part and the legend was born. Yes, Mars was nice and bright that year (I got my fair share of observing in) but to the naked eye, it was a bright, orange dot.

Mars had an opposition in December of 2007. However, due to the fact that the orbit of Mars is an ellipse, Mars will be much farther away, about 55 million miles this time. Mars's next opposition will be in January of 2010 and a distance of almost 100 million km (about 60 million miles).

Right now, Mars is not even visible as it is on the opposite side of the Sun and over 200 million miles from Earth!

Same post next year at the same time, I expect. Some things never die.

Rock Me, Sexy Jesus

Yep, I just got back from seeing Hamlet 2, a very funny, not so politically correct new movie. It's still in limited release and won't open nationwide until Friday.

It's kind of a cross between Clerks, Waiting for Guffman, and To Sir With Love. A high school drama teacher gets stuck with a lot of students who don't want to be there after other electives get cut and then finds out that drama is next on the chopping block. The solution? Inspire his students to mount a production to save the drama department: Hamlet 2, in which Hamlet travels back in time to save all those who died in the original with the help of Jesus and Einstein among others.

Elisabeth Shue plays a very funny version of herself and Amy Poehler leaves you wanting to see more of her loopy ACLU lawyer character.

So why am I so lucky to see it sooner than most? Well it is set in Tucson ("Where Dreams Go To Die") although it was filmed in Albuqureque (Tucsonons will notice that it looks very different...no saguaro cactus and the mountains are all wrong.)

And it turns out that the lead character is allegedly based on a Tucson teacher. And it happens to be a Tucson teacher I know! Kevin (the real teacher) is decisively more talented than the movie version (his theater company consistently does the best homegrown productions, although I can see some of his eccentricities come through in the movie).

So I leave you with the song, Rock Me Sexy Jesus from Hamlet 2.

Is a Politician's or Elected Official's Love Life Relevant ?

Of course, sleeping with the enemy is not kosher. If an elected official is carrying on with someone who represents a threat to our security, or if an obvious conflict of interest is involved, there is no doubt that public concern is justified. But what about the guy or gal who is having an affair outside of marriage, but which impacts their official position naught? Is it our business if someone we've elected (or are considering for election) is cheating on their spouse? What if they're not married, but engaged in "illicit" sexual behaviors, like homosexuality or prostitution, or just "sleeping around"?

Does the office matter? Is it maybe OK for a local politician to engage in certain behaviors that would not be acceptable on a national level? Or vice-versa?

For that matter, what about police and community leaders? Teachers? Preachers?

At what point do our personal peccadilloes become fodder for public consumption, and why?

Thank God for YouTube!

I know this is most likely a big deal only to me, but here goes:

It was late at night in 1983. I could get WMSE in after 10 pm. The DJ previewed that he was going to play some Femmes, Talk Talk, Dead Kennedy's and Psych. Furs. I set my take player to record, and listened to my headphones. Needless to say I fell asleep. I listened to the tape next day, and this song was on it. Never heard it before. Never knew what it was called, but I thought it was called "Love Lost Forever". I looked at Mainstream, at the mall, in the old catalog book, but nothing. All I had was this old tape that I have broken and fixed numerous times and still have. I was researching for tonight's "Lost Video" post and all a sudden, that song popped in my head. So I said WTF, and typed in "Love Lost Forever". What pops up is "Love Lasts Forever" By a UK band called Kissing the Pink. Ill be damned if it isnt the same damn song, and I have had the name wrong for 25 Freakin years. Thanks to Youtube, and ebay i'll soon have the CD! Here is my 25 year lost, wrong name song:

Bonus Video

Frozen Ghost released a couple more songs, but this was my personal favorite, called End of the Line. Very cheezy 80's images and clothes, but the song is still cool to me!

Fridays lost video

Back in the 80's Mrs Al Gore formed the PMRC and wanted to censor music, hence the Parental Advisory sticker that came on all our albums. A band called Frozen Ghost came out with a song called "Should I See" which protested that group and a similar ruling in Canada where the band was from. Cool song which still resonates today.

So sportsfans, how did you spend your Friday evening?

Friday night posed a real dilemma for Brewers and Packer fans with both of them playing at the same time. So how did you manage it?
A) Watched the Brewers on TV and listened to the Packers on radio
B) Watched the Packers on TV and listened to the Brewers on radio
C) Watched the Packers on TV turned down the sound and listened on the radio
D) Watched the Brewers on TV, turned down the sound and listened on the radio
C) Go out to the bar to pick up chicks
D) Go out to the bar to pick up guys
E) Belched, scratched your butt and was in bed by 9 O'Clock

What age is an adult? The alcohol debate

Please pardon a duplicate post, its one I posted on DK, but thought it may make good discussion, especially since many of you are parents.

College students and other groups across America have long lobbied for the national drinking age to be lowered from 21 to 18. Now, a group of college professors, many from very esteemed universities, have joined forces in this campaign with their group, Amethyst Initiative.

Every state in the Union has the legal age for the purchase and consumption of alcohol set at age 21, which was done in large part for individual states to receive federal funding for roadways. This was done in the 1980's, and has been controversial ever since.

The Amethyst Initiative is not only challenging the 21 and over law, but is doing so in a very broad, legitimate, and convincing manner, and not with your usual college age party types, but with those who educate them.

Not to be out-done, the very vocal, and somewhat radical MADD (mothers against drunk driving) is speaking out against any data or statistics brought forth by the proponents of lowering the legal age. MADD is also calling upon its members and supporters to write to their Representatives, as well as the College Professors, to urge they reconsider this action. (letter to members below):

An estimated 25,000 lives have been saved by the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age (MLDA), which is why we were gravely concerned to learn that the college and university presidents and representatives listed below have added their names to a misguided initiative aimed at attacking the minimum drinking age of 21.

We are not alone in our concern. The public strongly disagrees with efforts to lower the drinking age. According to new survey released by Nationwide Insurance this week:

• 78 percent of adults support 21 as the minimum drinking age
• 72 percent of adults think lowering the drinking age would make alcohol more accessible to kids
• Nearly half believe it would increase binge drinking among teens
• More than half say they are less likely to vote for a state representative who supports lowering the legal limit or send their children to colleges or universities with “party school” reputations

Contact the college and university presidents who have signed on to this initiative and request they remove their signatures and support the 21 Minimum Legal Drinking Age.

We must work together to find a responsible solution to the underage drinking problem, one that does not jeopardize a law that has saved nearly 25,000 lives since going into effect. Solutions include: enforcing the drinking age, tightening alcohol policy, working within the college community to ensure the environment supports the above and working with parents to talk to their children well before peer pressure begins, around fourth grade.

Strong and convincing words, but are they even close to resembling accuracy?

Both sides of the issue share very compelling and conflicting statistics. However, even though I am the mother of a child killed by an underage drunk driver, I simply cannot support the efforts of MADD. Researching their data leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. Its faulty, and certainly played to the hysteria of all victims of drunk driving. I believe they fluff the numbers, calling any and all accidents in which ANY of those involved in an incident had consumed alcohol, an alcohol related crash. For example, a passenger of a car is intoxicated, and is struck by another unrelated, sober driver/vehicle. This is automatically classified as an alcohol related crash. Is this really true? If I as a sober driver hit someone with an intoxicated passenger, how on earth can it be called an alcohol related crash? These incidents are most certainly counted in MADD's statistics.

On the other hand, I simply cannot support the idea of lowering the drinking age to include 18 year old high school students. I have raised three sons, and understand that most young people of this age, ages 18 to 20, are not the most responsible in their every day lives, let alone throwing alcohol into the mix. This tends to create reckless behavior, one which continues to kills scores of young men from 16 to 20.

What are your thoughts? Are you among MADD's 78% in favor of keeping the legal age for alcohol at 21?

I love you David Loring...don't drink and drive...Visit David's website ://david-robyn-loring.memory-of.com

TV Commercials that promote stereotypes.....and your paying for it

Have you noticed the anti-drunk driving TV commercial sponsored by the Department of Transportation? Have you noticed the drinking drivers depicted in these commercials? My question is this: Why are all the drivers characterized as white adult males?

"Just sign at the bottom..."

How many times have you gone to a repair shop, hospital or doctor's office, store, etc, and the clerk behind the counter hands you a document and says "Just sign at the bottom."? Do you go ahead and sign or actually read the document before signing?

Any of you irregulars ever ran for or held local office?

I am considering a run for local office next spring, and have to file papers in December. Have any of you irregulars ever ran for or help public office? Is now a good time for me to start to get organized? Any advice would be helpful!

Are you SERIOUS?? IT's ONLY Wednesday??

How can it only be Wednesday,
this week has seemed to last
for a month, and a very bad one at that.
(OK, this is my venting rant, not a cry
for sympathy- by the way)

The past weekend brought on a horrible
chest cold for myself and now my youngest, we're a mess and miserable.
OK, that managable.

Monday night,
one of my brother in laws had a massive stroke, he passed away last night.

My mom called and one of her closest
friends took a turn for the worst, she has serious, vicious cancer and her days are very numbered.
I feel like that frog, trying to get to the end of the week, or with him, just trying to get on top of things and get to the top and end of the week.
How are you guys surviving?
Friends at work have been wonderful and very supportive, they keep trying to
hug me, which is not ok, I will lose it at 1st squeeze. Give me a week, I may be able to handle it then...
I NEED A VACATION FROM LIFE!!!!
Don't worry, my vacations from anything are very short, so I'm hoping to be almost myself by next week, I have important stuff to do,
WE NEED A GET-TOGETHER and SOON!!!!
So, thanks for listening/reading my attempt at letting out some steam,
I do feel better.

On another note, the input has been coming in for our next outing.
If you do not see something in your email box in the next day or 2 from me,
please email me direct if interested in our next time together
lizardmom@wi.net
And if you doget it, if there are opinion questions, please answer them :)
Thanks guys, this was very theraputic!!

IFL Update

We have two slots left for teams in the Irregular Football League. Give it a try.... It's fun and easy... even Orbs could do it!

Another Time Waster

The directions will come up when you open the link.

BTW...I suck.

”Reaction Test”

A very Different lawsuit

In keeping with our Irregular tradition comes a lawsuit out of New York. It seems this guy is suing Columbia University because their Women's Studies demonizes men. The article itself is an interesting read, but you've got to go through the comments. They're too funny.

My favorite was: "Women's studies? They teach cleaning and ironing at Columbia?"

Now girls, don't get in a twist and start pulling my feathers out.......

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/08/18/2008-08-18_feminist_columbia_university_demonizes_m.html

Favorite Olympic Moment?

Just trying to get some good conversation going here...here are a few of mine in no particular order.

Swimming: The US victory in the 4x100 meter relay and Phelps incredible finish in the 100 meter fly...wow!

South Korean Park Tae-hwan winning gold in the men's 400 meter freestyle after his embarassing fall into the pool moment in Athens in 2004...redemption stories are alwasy good.

Woman's gymnast Oksana Chusovitina winning silver in the vault at the age of 33 in a sport dominated by people almost 20 years her junior.

Anything Dara Torres did.

Usain Bolt and his amazing 100 meter dash.

I have been only a casual watcher of the Olympics so please add your favorites...I might go and watch a couple of the events streaming online if you post a good one!

Let's Play the Veepstakes

It's been a while since we have discussed politics here, so let's play the Veepstakes. We can't do worse than the pundits of Foxnews and CNN!

With the Democratic National Convention only a week away, it won't be long before we know the VP candidates. You can nominate for the Democrats, Republicans or both. You can also split your vote into who you think they should nominate and who you think they will nominate. If you want a primer, CNN has a handy rundown of what they consider the top contenders for the Democrats and Republicans. Of course, you can feel free to nominate others as well.

My favorite on the Democratic side is former Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia. He might be on the conservative side for the Democrats, but he sereved as Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has the credentials on national security and foreing affairs Obama needs to shore up with his pick. He is also from the south and could help Obama pick up a state or two down there.

McCain is trickier. He still seems to need to shore up the conservative base, but needs to find a person who can do that without alienating swing voters, a delicate balancing act. I don't know as much about him, but from what I have read, Mark Sanford, governor of South Carolina, has a quirky style that might mesh well with someone who likes to bill himself as the Straight Talk Express. There is something to be said for a unified campaign as well.

Realistically, I don't expect Nunn to be the pick...he just hasn't been getting the press that Evan Byah has, so I think he would be who I think will be the Veep. McCain has really been keeping his cards close to the chest, so I really have no idea who he will nominate!

So get your guesses in!

Do You Have Auditory Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is one of one of those weird neurological phenomena (so weird the spell checker doesn't even recognize it) where senses get mixed up. You can see letters as colored or see music as colors.

Melissa Saenz and Christof Koch of Caltech have discovered a new form : auditory synesthesia. In auditory syenesthesia, moving patterns can cause people to hear sounds as they report in the journal Current Biology.

What's even more interesting is that you can test yourself by using the pattern of moving dots. Just got there and start the movie and see if you hear anything.

I tried it several times and heard something occasionally. However, it was always different and not reproducible so I think I was probably hearing background sounds around the house just from concentrating and listening carefully.

Their estimate is that about 1% of the population experiences this phenomena so there is a statistically significant chance that someone here will. So post your experiences and observations!

Romantic Sleigh Ride

Here's Another Crazy Site

Check either “Boy”, “Girl” or “Both” then you can type your name in and see which year it most popular.

”Baby Name Wizard”

Hurricane Fay

I will be checking in and out until this so-called hurriane (Fay) hits somewhere. I am not in the least bit worried about it. We had some bands today and while wet, no big deal.

I have everything a person cld need...food, water, wine, generator, gas, propane, grill, beer, more water...etc.....

See you later.

Glad it's FRIDAY and an INPUT BLOG!!

Updated: Please place your vote for which location you prefer

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY!!
YEAH! We made it thru another rough week,
when will the madness end??

Any big plans for the weekend, or just kicking back
and relaxing?
I'm doing the latter while also continuing the
dread and tedious recipe task that I keep stalling out on...

NOW FOR THE INPUT PORTION OF THE PROGRAM...
We need another get together, ideas anybody?
Something to do, somewhere to go,
who's interested??
SPEAK UP FOLKS!!!
We need another occasion to get the countdown timer going
once school starts (I know how the kids LOVE to see
the school-starting countdown timer!!)

The Dead Terrorist

Do you know the #1 song the day you were born?

Kind of a neat site. You can click the month your were born then the date and the years will come up.


http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

Careful at the Next Irregulars Gathering: Researchers Show "Beer Goggles" Are Real

Yep, it is true that alcohol enhances the attractiveness of those around you. And it doesn't take much...only the alcohol in about 1 and a half beers increases attractiveness of others about 10%.

Even more surprising, it happens across gender and orientations. Straight guys find other guys more attractive and the same for women. The results were published in the Journal of Alcohol and Alcoholism.

So be careful out there or nine months after the next blogger meetup there may be some little Irregulars!

Are you smart or stupid?

This is crazy...

When it says you only have 8 seconds to answer the question ...they aren't kidding. Re-taking the test mixes up the questions so you can't gain anything there.

Smart or Stupid

Friday's Lost Video

In honor of daughter Wacko dancing at Irish Fest tonight with the Trinity Irish Dancers , I thought I would put up a little heard U2 song that was on the Wide Awake in America 4 song EP called "The Three Sunrises". This was to be on the Unforgettable Fire album, but because it sounded so different, and Edge's guitar had some scratchy distortion to it, they left it off. To bad, this is one of my fav U2 songs. They never did a video, but some youtuber made a cool slideshow to it. Enjoy!

New Super

Just got an email from an inside source at RUSD. Dr Shaw is hired. Terms to be announced.

Can ya help a chic out??

Here is a clickable link:

http://main.diabetes.org/goto/heathergeyer

Thank you for your time!!!!!

Heather

MIDWEST STREET RYDERS RACINE WI SHOOT......

Content Advisory: (im)Mature Language



I found a link to this in the Journal Times' comments. Can you spot the locations? One is 12th and Washington. Island Park is also in there. As is Pershing Park, where I saw some of this being filmed last year. Dozens of cars and people descended on the area behind Gateway Technical College and tore it up. Of course, my first thought was to call the police, but the RPD has all but beaten that instinct out of me. I've stopped pestering them with annoying calls about crime in the city. I just walked away, shaking my head....

Have you seen this car? I have, many times throughout the city.

The video is a year old, about the age that most of the people in it act.

This is what happens in my neighborhood, Mayor Becker. They're so brazen that they film it and post it for nationwide viewing, because they know that absolutely nothing will be done about it. Party on!

Monday Night Humor

Pick Me Pick Me

Name Game Movie Trivia Quiz

Answers are now in the comments.

Rules: No fair looking these up online or anywhere else. You either know, or don't.

In what movie did the following names play a pivitol role? BTW, I'm starting you out with a real tough one.

1. Arch Stanton

2. Richard Blaine

3. Nathan Brittles

4. Carl Denham

5. "Squire" Will Danaher

Idiot Tax II, the follow up

It amazes me how these guys always "come to Jesus" once they realize they're in trouble.


http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/08/11/2008-08-11_latenight_spiderman_i_climbed_ranks_of_s.html

IFL - Irregular Football League

Allrighty then boys and girls, lets see what happens. I set up a fantasy football league for all interested. Weather you have done this before, or not, lets have some fun... it's easy and it's free. The only thing you need is a yahoo ID. Click on the link below, and get yourself set up.

The League Name is Irregular Football League
But you need to sign up with the league ID: 407124
The Password is Becker

http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/signup

Be sure to join under Football '08, not Football Plus '08

Hope to see you all in training camp!

Stu (da Commish)

Hale-Bopp For President

And I am getting media attention!

What Grinds Your Gears?

Okay, I'll give a shot to posting here. Be nice :)

What type of things do people do that make you made, but not for a good reason?

1) People from the North Chicago Suburbs (Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, etc)
2) People who stand on the left side of an escalator.
3) People that say hello to a friend with a kiss on the cheek.
4) Just about anyone I meet between the hours of 6AM and 9PM.

Just kidding on the last one. But really, what minor annoyances get you in a bad mood in a disproportionate amount for the actual problem?

Kiss My Math!

Danica McKellar probably sticks in your mind as the young actress who played Winnie in the Wonder Years. Of course she grew up, went to college and still does some acting.

While at UCLA, she majored in math. Now she has started writing math books targeted at girls. Her second book, Kiss My Math was just released. This books is a follow up to her bestseller (bestseller? Yeah, a math book!) Math Doesn't Suck.

I just listened to the interview with her on NPRs Science Friday (she was on last year discussing her first book). Both interviews are available free to listen online (just click the links).

I haven't read either of the books yet, but she is trying to make math less intimidating, focusing on girls (but she tells some funny stories about boys who have used her books as well). These two books are middle school math/pre-algebra based. I think reading them would be as muchof an education into that age of girls as it is math!

I know some of you have daughers about that age and these books might be worth checking out if she is having math anxiety. They are designed as textbook supplements so could be just the ticket.

Oh, and I have to agree with one of the callers to Science Friday...smart chicks are hot!

RIP Issac Hays

Issac was a baaad mutha!
I hope they played this song as he entered the pearly gates.
St. Peter says "Welcome Brother Isaac."
Isaac says "Right on!"

Are you ready for some (fantasy) Football?

Anyone interested in a JTI Fantasy Football league? I would be willing to be the commissioner and run the league. If we get ten people that want to play we'll set this thing in motion. If you have never played, but want to, its easy and fun. I'm looking forward to 'ballin irregular style.....

Public School Teacher Arrested

A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator. At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-gebra is a problem for us," the Attorney General said. "They desire solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns,' but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, 'There are 3 sides to every triangle.'"

Never Trust A Woman

Perseids Prominently Peaking

Yep, that time of year again. The Perseid meteor shower will peak early Tuesday morning, August 12th. The Perseids are one of the best meteor showers of the year (and the other one, the Geminids, are in December and most people think August nights are more comfortable to be outside than December nights!)

Meteors are best viewed under a dark sky away from the city, but brighter meteors do show up through city lights. They also are best viewed in the early morning before dawn. That's when Earth rotates and you are on the side plowing into all the meteors so you will see a lot more. This year, the Moon sets at about 1:18am in Racine, and that is just about the same time the rate will start picking up.

The best way to observe meteors in simply a nice lawn chair or blanket, lay down, and look up. These best place to look is near the constellation Perseus shown in the Sky and Telescope star map below.
The best bet is to find the familiar "w" of Cassiopea and look just slightly clockwise of it (imagine a big circle that passes through Cassiopea and the Big Dipper).

Simply lay back and look up. No telescope or even binoculars needed. Meteors move quickly and you don't know where the next one will appear, so you want to scan as much of the sky as you can. If you are lucky enough to catch a very bright meteor, you might see a smoke trail. If you see a smoke trail, then might be a good time to pick up the binoculars and watch the smoke trail disaapate.

Sometime people claim to hear hissing or crackling sounds associated with bright meteors. These sounds are not well understood. They cannot come directly from the meteor since sound travels so much faster than light, you would see the meteor and hear the sound later (just like you hear thunder after you see the lightning). An (unproven but plausible) idea is that the meteor gives off radio waves and some metal obect nearby is acting as an antenna and speaker, converting the radio waves to sound. Enough people have heard this phenomena, called electrophonic meteor sounds, that we are pretty sure you are not crazy if you hear one!

Meteor showers are usually associated with a comet. For the Perseids, it is comet Swift-Tuttle. When a comet nears the Sun, it heats up and lots of little bits break off. These little bits form the comets tail and they keep orbiting the Sun just like the comet does. Once a year, we pass the orbit of the comet and all these little bits (most the size of a grain of sand) are the meteors we see. Some meteor showers have a very narror debris area and Earth crosses them in a day or two. The Perseids are a very wide debris trail and it takes the Earth a couple of weeks to fully cross the debris trail. You will see qutie a few Perseids for the next several nights, but Tuesday morning is when we hit the most dense part of the debris trail.

The Perseids are not as much fun to watch down south. When I lived in Florida, warm humid nights and mosquitos dampened the fun. In Arizona we are in the rainy season now and the probability of clear weather is not that good (many observatories here shut down this time of year for annual maintenance.) That's why I like the Geminids in December...it's not too cold her and much better chances of clear weather. Still, I might go out here Tuesday morning if its clear (at least there aren't many mosquitos here!)

I THINK I BEAT HALE-BOPP TO THIS ONE!

It's that time of year again folk were the night sky will be streaking with meteors. The weather looks good for the upcoming week to get an eyefull. Our resident star gazer hopefully will fill us in with the details. So grab the soap and towel and go out and enjoy a good shower!

Oh NO! Monday is coming, let's get out of here!!

Hey guys,
I got a great rate on the bus if we picked it
up this weekend, let's get out of town
while we still can.
Who's ready for a road trip??
Maybe we'll find DZ on the way too,
that would be cool!
Who's coming??
Where do you want to go??
Who's bringing the munchies??

Kenosha to become SMOKE FREE?

Kenosha's brilliant City Council is once again going to great lengths to show the world how backwards they are. Nine Aldermen have joined forces to quickly and quietly bring forth an ordinance to the council, which is set to go to vote in 3 short weeks, prohibiting smoking in nearly all public places in the city of Kenosha. (see Daily Kenoshan article http://dailykenoshan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6406&Itemid=102)

Its bad enough that we are recognized for being the worst in black infant mortality, and have the worst beaches in the nation.

Now, a simple right, such as smoking, will be taken away because THEY think its in OUR best interest?

I understand that many non-smokers don't want to dine near smoke. I respect that. But, why on earth do they see the need to change an all ready "working" ordinance?

Have there been complaints? What is this really all about?

Smoker or not, I hope people can recognize this for what it is, another Nazi-like move, restricting the actions of adults. This is ridiculous, and just plain wrong.

Please note, the final vote for this ordinance is in 3 short weeks. If you are not in favor of this ordinance, it is your duty to tell your councilman your thoughts. If possible, gp to Monday nights session and tell them publicly.

These people ought to know that they can easily be voted out of office. For NINE people to come up with an idea affecting so many, and quickly and quietly pass it through to become law is just plain wrong.

Something like this should be left to the people to decide, not nine men.

Monday Aug. 11 at 5 p.m. at 625 52nd St.

"A new hazard: texting while walking"

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=781396

ROFLMAO!!!

Sorry, don't want to laugh at the misfortune of others, but this is hilarious. People are so engrossed in texting that they're walking into things (including traffic) while doing so.

After I parked in a spot at a hospital recently, I was gathering up things from my truck when I noticed someone having the dickens of a time trying to park next to me. I looked up and she was talking on a cell phone, applying lipstick, and trying to drive at the same time.

Duh! Ha ha. I really don't care if these fools hurt only themselves with their stupidity, but when Mr. or Mrs. Knobshine pulls out into traffic while yammering on the phone, adjusting the stereo, and yelling at the kids all at the same time, something has to be done.

I know they can issue citations for inattentive driving, but what about inattentive walking?

Ever Get that Guilty Feeling?

You’re sitting in front of your computer. The milk in the reefer is chunky, the bread on the counter is so fuzzy it’s waving at you and you just finished your last can of spam, you know you should be grocery shopping.

Here’s a list which can help you out....

”Shopping List”

Bonus: Friday Night's Hair Band Video

Ratt was a band ahead of it's time. Round and Round is their signature song, but this is my favorite. It goes past the glam and is straight up balls to the wall rock. For your viewing pleasure is Ratt's "You're In Love"

Friday's Lost video

The year was 1986, and I was a senior in high school, in Washington DC for a school competition and board. A few of us hit the mall, and I, of course hit the record store. This song was playing, and I heard 30 seconds of it, and bought the cassette. The group is Big Audio Dynamite. This group was formed by Mick Jones of the Clash as something a little different. This whole album kicks ass. This song was the first video released and is is called E=MC2. Enjoy!

New Logo?

I don't think I've seen the logo before. Looks nice!

Google Talk

Thanks to a suggestion by DogAddicts (http://jtirregulars.blogspot.com/2008/08/you-know-what-would-be-nice.html), I finally got serious about checking out Google Talk, an instant messaging program from the same people who gave us this blogging site and format.

You can download it here: http://www.google.com/talk/

It appears to be a relatively easy to use instant messaging program. I used the same login info as I do here. It allows you to instant message (IM) other users who are online when you are (and aren't cloaked - sometimes all of us need a little anonymity), and to leave private messages (PM) for those who aren't online, like I did for kkdither in the picture above. You type in your message at the bottom of the box on the right and hit enter. Apparently, you can also leave voice messages if you have a microphone hooked up. Uh-oh, that opens up a whole world of devious possibilities in my brain . . .

The program is set by default to start when Windows does, but that's easily disabled in the settings. It also adds yet another obnoxious icon to the plethora cluttering your system tray.

In a way, this allows you to see who's online (per DogAddict's original suggestion), but only those who are logged onto Google Talk and want to be seen. It does allow us to leave private messages for each other, though, and even to instant message. For now, I'm going to let it load when the computer starts because otherwise I'll forget to start it when I come here. If you decide to install the program, add me to your friends requests and I'll accept. Btw, if someone obnoxious starts pestering you, you can block them.

If this catches on, fine. If not, c'est la vie.

EDIT: 9:00 PM - Sorry folks, but after further review, it appears that this program does NOT allow for private messaging, i.e., leaving messages for others. It works for instant messages fine, if you're into that.

Bush convinience?

One of our strong Iraq allies gets bombed by Russia. Is it odd that Bush made sure to be out of town? Sort of like going on vacation and letting Cheney handle the problems after 9/11. It seems to me, a responsible leader would get his ass home and help the allies that helped him, but I have my doubts.

a " YEAH!!!!!!!! IT'S FRIDAY " BLOG!!!!!!!!!

The weekend is almost here,.
Has everybody survived what felt to me like
one of the longest weeks ever????

You know what would be nice?

Just a thought.. A 'who is online' .
Don't know if that is possible with a blog like this, but I find it useful on my forum.

Books you read as a kid

Okay, I read the Black Beauty, all the Nancy Drew Mysteries, Little Prince, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Mrs. Mike, Little Women, Silas Marner, Withering Heights, etc. Which were your favorite reads as a child?

One of my favorite recollections as a small child was my Mom taking us to the library. It was a reward if we behaved ourselves when we went to get our shots for school...yep, they even did that way back then!

"I think I will always be a Packer..."

Did you see Bret Farve's news conference this evening? For just being named the Jets new quarterback, he sure didn't have that radiant smile holding up his new jersey that other players have had in the same situation. He also seemed to dwell a lot on his former team almost as much as he did for his new team. It appeared to me he wanted to play football, and was glad to be going to a team, but a big chunk of him was still in Green Bay. He was like a kid opening up a Christmas present and being reserved in disappointed that he didn't get what he really wanted.

Smart Car vs Lamborghini

LOL

Why should he live?

I know, I've heard and read all of the arguments against the death penalty, but really, why should this callous inhuman piece of crap be kept alive?

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=780725

The Large Hadron Collider Rap

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will be the world's most powerful particle accelerator when it goes online this fall and, with a circumference of 27km, the largest science instrument every built.

Rather than go into gory detail here, I am simply going to post the LHC rap.



I will blog the gory detail when they fire the thing up.

Schoolteacher Discovers "Voorwerp"

"What is a Voorwerp" you ask? Great name for a strange something near another galaxy.

Okay, let's start with the discovery. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is a massive project to map about 1/4 of the night sky and has been taking data since 1999 and just finished (last month!) In the interest of disclosure, I spent a year working on it as part of a fellowship at Fermilab.

The SDSS saw lots of galaxies, hundreds of millions. Computers are pretty lousy at figuring out if the galaxy is a spiral, elliptical, irregular, etc. so they set up a website called Galaxy Zoo (and in the interest of more disclosure, I know most of the Galaxy Zoo team and give workshops to teachers at meetings such as the National Science Teachers Association on how to use Galaxy Zoo with students). The idea of galaxy zoo is to train a lot of amateur astronomers and let them classify galaxies. It has been a rousing success as tens of thousands of people have classified each of the initial batch of 800,000 galaxies...just to check and be sure they get it right, each galaxy has been looked at by an average of 40 different people (for a whopping 32 million individual data points!)

Dutch school teacher Hanny van Arkel noticed a curious blue cloud next to one of the galaxies shown below which is now known as Hanny's Voorwerp (voorwerp is Dutch for "object").
Now a word about the image...this image was made by combining pictures taken through three different filters: a green, a red and an infrared. So green is used for the blue channel, red is used for the green channel, and infrared is used for the red channel. The practical upshot of this is that something that appears almost entirely blue in this image is, in reality green (the SDSS does not use a blue filter but does use a near ultraviolet filter so you could make a picture with ultraviolet, green and red where this cloud would look green...they did that in the AOL story on the topic).

So what is this? Is it in our galaxy and just happens to lie in the same part of the sky or is it physically associated with the galaxy? Well, the took a spectrum of it and found that it lies at the same distance, so it is associated with the galaxy. The spectrum is shown below.
See that REALLY tall peak slightly to the right of 5000 Angstroms (an Angstrom is a billionth of a meter). That line tells us there is doubly ionized oxygen present and guess what color that is? You got it, green! (I know it says OIII, but OI is neutral oxygen and OII is singly ionized oxygen so OIII is doubly ionized oxygen.)

So, here's what we think is going on. The galaxy appears normal right now. However, it has a massive black hole at its center. When a massive black hole eats a lot of matter, it gives off a lot of energy. As gas spirals toward the black hole, it heats up to millions of degrees and becomes blindingly bright. We think this galaxy's black hole was eating up until about 100,000 years ago and then finished its meal so the galaxy looks normal now.

However, the galaxy used to be much brighter. We are now seeing that energy emitted when the black hole was eating interacting with that gas and causing it to glow...we are seeing a light echo! Since the black hole is no longer eating, we can watch that light echo fade over the next 100,000 years or so and that gas cloud will fade from view!

We have never really seen an interaction like this before and astronomers are very interested in it. So interested that it is being observed by lots of major observatories and satellites including Hubble.

The really neat thing is that this was discovered by an amateur. The SDSS makes all of its data available to the public on the Skyserver web site. You can peruse images of hundreds of millions of galaxies and stars. And sign up for Galaxy Zoo...they are about to star the second phase with fresh objects and new tools to help amateurs make more such discoveries. Who knows, we could end up with kk's Conudrum, Huck's Hullabaloo, Stus Stuff, or AA's Abomination!

Best Movie Lines

Either he's dead or my watch has stopped. (Groucho Marx, "The Cocoanuts", 1929)

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. (Humphrey Bogart, "Casablanca", 1942)

Now I know why Tigers eat their young. (Rodney Dangerfield, "Caddyshack", 1980)

Time to face the music, Packer Fans

Face it Packer Fans, Brett doesn’t want YOU anymore. You chanted, cried, and pleaded. You cursed Ted Thompson. You yelled at Mike McCarthy. You hate Aaron Rodgers. For some of you, Brett has been the only QB you have ever known for the Packers. And now Brett says he wants to play, just not for YOU, the Green and Gold faithful.

Brett has a huge heart, and a caring soul, but also an ego the size of his estate in Hattiesburg. He waffles better than Barack Obama. And right now, Brett doesn’t know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt.

Brett sure knows how to cash in, however. I got this email today from Brett’s official website:

Brett Favre had an unforgettable career with the Green Bay Packers for the last 16 years! We will remember him as a Green Bay Packer and what he has done with the Legendary and Historic franchise of the Green Bay Packers. He has set many major NFL Records including the most career passing yards, most career touchdowns, and most career wins by any quarterback in the history of the NFL. Don't miss out on this chance to own a piece of NFL history. Brett Favre will no longer be playing for the Green Bay Packers and this will be your last chance to get your Brett Favre autographed Green Bay Packers merchandise.
AS BRETT FAVRE MOVES FORWARD WITH HIS CAREER, WE WISH HIM THE BEST, AND HOPE TO ENJOY MANY MORE FOOTBALL GAMES WATCHING HIM PLAY THE GAME WE ALL LOVE SO VERY MUCH!


So Brett says to all of you “Hey, I don’t want to play for you, but here, buy some of my stuff, and by the way, im going to play for someone else.” Don’t get me wrong… if you cut me I bleed Green and Gold, and loved wearing my Favre jersey on Sundays for the last 16 years. But the Franchise got through Lombardi leaving, Bart Starr retiring, and Reggie White playing for someone else. Yes, to me Brett will always be a Packer, but will I watch him play for someone else…….No. You see, the team is not Brett Favre. The team is more than one person. The team is the larger than life institution in our state. A place where the Packers as a team are often referred to as “we” by the Packer Nation. Brett thinks the Packers should be referred to as “I”. I’m tired of he said/he said BS. I’m tired of Chris Mortensen and ESPN. I’m tired of hearing Brett’s Mom, Brother, friend, agent, and lawnmower man on the TV and Radio.

I truly think the Packers are trying to what they think is best for the Team. And I think Brett is trying to do what is best for Brett.

It is time for all of Brett’s “I want to play, I don’t want to play, I’m retired, I’m not retired, I want to play for GB, I don’t want to play for GB” stuff to end. Don’t make the mistake other famous players made by ending their career on another team, losing, getting injured, or just being foolish. Ride off into the sunset, Brett. Come back for the retirement ceremony, and we’ll see you in Canton in five years. Play for someone else, and you will be leaving a bad taste in some fans mouths that will hurt for a while, but we will forgive you……… eventually.

DK's First Pick: JT Irregulars

It's been only a few days since we ran across a relatively new blogger style website called JT IRREGULARS. It was only founded in June of this year and you wouldn't believe the quality of content they have amassed as well as their large following of contributors and visitors. We have established a relationship with JTIRREGULARS in order to network in this seemingly endless blog world in order to bring at least our little corners of the world a little closer.

Their banner states "What is happening in Racine, Wisconsin and around the world Make new friends, share thoughts and ideas, learn something new or just leisurely browse and share a laugh."

They invite all to join their group, and contribute to the posting of pretty much anything and everything. I've read news and politics, a post about the the nuisance of mosquitoes, and complaining about all sorts of things. From straight up serious talk, to all fun and games (even one blogger complaining about their kid's use of toilet paper), this blog is doing it all in short order. (just 2 months!?) JT Irregular regulars have amassed 253 postings with what appears to be about 25 regular contributors.

From their very first blog, is the statement, "All aspects of this site are up for discussion, including the name, template, etc., and especially whether it continues to exist. No private messaging here. Your account, though, allows you to create your own blog separate from this one if you wish, and it will link to your posts here. Your account also works for commenting at the Racine Post. Only 100 "authors" are allowed to create blogs per site. Do we screen people?

Who has the say so? Let's hear ideas. Current settings allow anyone to read and post comments, even anonymously."

From what I can gather from the website, the bloggers here appear to have been cast off, or jumped ship from another, bigger blog. (am I right on this one?) And, whats really unique is that the admin (administrator) calls HERSELF the "Sheriff". How cool is that?

Anyways, my words cannot do this awesome site justice, so check it out for yourself.

JT IRREGULARS

Lisa Loring (Editor) & John Nordquist (Publisher)
The Daily Kenoshan

Article viewable at http://dailykenoshan.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6370&Itemid=1