I watched a good part of the memorial ceremony from Ft. Hood yesterday and I'm still saddened by the attack. Today is Veteran's Day and I'm reminded that men and women in our armed forces put their lives on the line everyday in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and unfortunately in small towns like Fort Hood Texas.
I know that there are a lot of people that can't comprehend the work that American Armed Forces do in Afghanistan and Iraq. To a certain degree, I can respect that opinion.
I also realize that there are Americans that believe that our country should never use force for any cause or any situation. I can understand this opinion, but I don't respect it.
Hopefully on Veteran's Day, Everyone can come together for a moment of reflection and say thanks to the men and women who died in uniform and those that serve our country with honor and distinction every single day.
The news is a little late, but I have a new nephew! His name is Ty and he was born on October 22. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let these do the talking for me.
It seems that everyday more and more people are removing the Obama stickers from their bumpers faster than Lindsay Lohan discards an empty gin bottle from her car window. You can’t blame them really… buyer’s remorse has set in.
Maybe these people can replace the now empty spot with this sticker…
On a more serious note - There are very few Obama bumper or window stickers on a vehicles where I work... this was not the case a year ago. Things that make you go hmmmm....
It's also worth repeating that no one will LOL if PelosiCare becomes a full epidemic case of ObamaCare.
So, I took the plunge and joined Facebook. Some of you have already made me a "friend" and I thank you.
After only a short time, the appeal of the site is apparent to me. The "wall" allows for quick twitter-ish type posts. The ability to find friends of friends is great. Facebook allows for a user to stay in touch with a lot of people everywhere. It's vastly superior to MySpace and a overall great networking tool.
I am also surprised at how "buggy" the site is with it's friend functionality. The recent activity section seems to omit "activity" at certain times. Sometimes friends are missing, but will reappear the next time I logon.
I have experienced an issue with the site every time that i have logged on. This really surprises me, given that this website has been established for many years and has millions of users.
Anyway, I'm even monitoring my Facebook IM via pidgin. Contact me if you are so inclined.
Later
I have watched this clip from South Park over and over again. It just keeps getting funnier. So, I present to you Cartman singing Lady Gaga's Poker Face. It's South Park, so expect NSFW language.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest albums of all time. Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" is considered by many to be the pinnacle of jazz music. Others will contend that it was more of a pop album than a jazz album.
All I know is that it is one of my favorites.
Yahoo Article: Kind of Blue At 50
After week two of the NFL season, I can tell that I have already made a huge mistake by asking Hangtime to participate in our friendly "Pro Football Pickem". Hangtime already has a commanding lead; meanwhile I'm in the cellar.
I can't believe the games this week. How could I have been so far off the mark? With only one game left to play tonight, I only correctly picked winners for 6 out of 15 games this week. Yikes!
I'm going to have to do some more analysis for next week....
Update: Jodi and I won her collegiate office football pool, so now I don't feel so bad.
Coldplay released a live album for free download from their web site a couple of months back. This is my quick review.
For starters, I love it when bands do stuff like this... The band is giving it's fan base a little something for the support that has been given to them and maybe, just maybe, pick up a new fan or two along the way.
Let's face it, Coldplay needs some positive press. The well known band has been under fire lately for stealing songs by Joe Satriani and Cat Stevens. Speculation is that the band has already reached an out-of-court financial settlement with Satriani.
Maybe they should change their name to "Coldpay" (*Zing*).
Download -- Coldplay: LeftRightLeftRightLeft
Why would you download it?
Simply for the live version of their mega-hit "Clocks" and the price (free).
Why you could care less?
There is a reason it's free. Given the extensive list of radio hits from Coldplay, one would think that this album would include more known songs. The most notable songs included are "Clocks" and the often maligned "Vida La Vida".
I ran across an interesting article today... Hopkins student kills man with samurai sword. After breaking into a residence, an intruder was killed in self-defense by a samurai sword wielding resident. Some entertaining and uninformed quotes from the article:
"You don't expect to hear that someone you know killed a guy with a samurai sword"
The police spokesman said the student who wielded the weapon had no advanced sword training. "He wasn't a ninja," Guglielmi said. "He may have been moderately trained or on the intermediate level."
"To inflict lethal damage requires some skill"
As a black belt, I am required to have a samurai sword and I'm expected to learn basic sword techniques and a few katas. I find the sword workouts to be fun and informative. It's a great diversion from the sometimes monotonous black belt level katas and workouts. Our karate style doesn't put a huge emphasis on the katana and that's just fine with me. In my opinion, swords are very interesting and I do enjoy having basic knowledge of the weapon, however, the truth is that it's just not practical in today's world. Not one bit of my knowledge of drawing a katana will help me if I'm mugged on the street. Of course, all of this is my opinion and your actual mileage may vary.
A few years back, we had a bonafide samurai sword expert attend one of our karate camps. Simply put, he was amazing. He taught the black belts, basic strikes and blocks. It was a little concerning being in a gym full of people with swords, but you just have to trust that the guy behind you was smart enough to step in the right direction at the right time... of course, the person standing directly in front of me is thinking the same thing about me.
After the demo and workout, I was talking with the expert's assistant and he was showing me a new technique for sheathing the sword. While showing me the moves, he boasted, "If I was ever on the street, I could out-draw anyone in the world". I replied that typically if you read about someone in public with a samurai sword they usually end up getting tasered and 7 out of 10 times they are naked. Needless to say this ended my lesson with the assistant.
One of the funniest elements of the news story.. and "yes", I really don't give a rat's rear-end about the dead criminal... is the comment about needing training to kill someone with what is essentially a three foot razor blade. I always think that if I was ever involved with an incident that was "media worthy" that I would be erroneously described as a monster with killing skills just short of Mel Gibson's character from Lethal Weapon.
Now for your moment of Zen... or other great uses for a samurai sword...
Awesome... awesome video. A must watch...
