The Great Olympics Scandal List

The list of embarrassing and interesting facts about Beijing, China and their Olympics continue to mount (with my rating on a scale of 1-10 on their seriousness):

• The unending man-eating pollution that permeates Beijing - (6/10) Although feared to be a serious respiratory problem before the games, it doesn't seem the smog is having that much of an effect on the athletes. And most every outdoor shot I've seen of competition (beach volleyball, cycling, the Today Show's ratings) the sky has been crystal clear. Must be like those mysterious "Orange Alert" days we keep having in Knoxville which seem to neatly coincide with our nicest, low-humidity days.
  
  
• Fake fireworks in the Opening Ceremonies - (2/10) The fireworks actually happened, they just showed a CGI-enhanced version to the audience and on TV because it was unsafe for a helicopter to film them live in the air. This is something that was blown up a bit out of proportion.
  
  
• Lip-synching kid in the Opening Ceremonies - (5/10) This is more of an embarrassment for the host nation than the fireworks, in that the real little girl who sang the nice anthem was judged "not cute enough" and "didn't present the appropriate face of the country" by some high-ranking yahoo of the Chinese Politburo. When in fact I and most everyone I've talked to thought both little girls were quite sweet-looking. Kids aren't supposed to be beautiful, they're supposed to look like kids (I know, I know, see "Lu, Libby") The Chinese Government's Propaganda Department surfaces in full force.
  
  
• Conscripted performers from Chinese Military in Opening Ceremonies - (7/10) If this is true, and I've just heard it in passing and haven't confirmed it as yet, it's deplorable that the Chinese government required their soldiers to participate. Maybe it's more scary than deplorable, seeing the precision of those drummers and box-stamp-thingy-ers in such lockstep precision. But if true, and these participants were forced to perform...well, maybe they enjoyed it and were proud to do so. Still. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Bad form, China.
  
  
• Ineligible Female Chinese Gymnasts - (8/10) Chinese officials apparently scrubbed the actual birthdates of some of their female gymnasts, making them "officially" older than they actually wore and thus above the minimum age limit allowed to compete. Even when asked about their age, the little girls (some 12-14 passing off as 16+ year-olds) they are forced to lie. The cover-up is blatantly bad, since documents and publications from even earlier in the year have been found that specified their true age. Come on - listing a 13-yr-old girl's birthday as Jan 1, 1992? How obvious can you get, guys? I mean, there's arrogance and then there's arrogance.
  
  
• The Souped Up Pools - (4/10) The Chinese construced their swimming pools to increase performance by all competitors. From larger depth to enhanced lane dividers and gutters, all these should serve to raise the tide and affect all boats, as it were. So this is not so significant in affecting the competition as it is causing World and Olympic Records to fall. The new NASA swimsuits worn by the Americans may seem to be a more significant advantage not available to all other competitors. But the relative wealth of your country plays in to all training and equipment advantages, so that's just more of the same. Not a major deal, but very visible.
  
  
• Michael Phelps' Freakish Build - (5/10) He's 6'4", has an armspan (or "wingspan" as the media keeps calling it) of 6'7" (normal humans' height almost always matches their armspan. His upper torso is the equivilant length of someone 6'8" and his legs are the average length of someone who is 5'8". All of which add up to a massively proficient swimmer. Good thing he wasn't a bobsledder or something and decided to take up swimming. He was so born to swim competitively had he been born with webbed fingers and flippers he wouldn't have been much more suited to it. Still, kind of freakish. I smell an 80's era genetics experiment gone horribly wrong here...
  
  
• Canada still hasn't medaled - (5/10) C'mon you guys up north, there are summer games - remember?
  
  
• Where's the Georgia Team - (1/10) I haven't seen a team from the Republic of Georgia (our motto: "Oh I Really, Really, Really Wish I Was in Dixie"). I think the Russian team killed them in the tunnel before their entrance. No seriously, I heard some of their athletes want to withdraw to return and fight for their country. I wonder if there will be any conflict between them and the Russians at the games?
  
  

Danger, Will Robinson

Just passed a convoy of four trucks from The Washington Group on Pelissippi Parkway, headed south. I guess toward the airport.

Among many other things, they are in the business of nuclear and hazardous waste disposal services. Which was pretty much confirmed by the big yellow "RADIOACTIVE" stickers on the sides of all the trucks.

Yikes. I thought about taking a picture with my cell phone but was afraid some security goons would force me off the road and rough me up.

I Hatez Libruls

So now it's being reported the church shooter hated liberals

The shotgun-wielding suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church was motivated by a hatred of “the liberal movement,” and he planned to shoot until police shot him, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this morning.

That struck a chord with me, but not for the reason you might expect.

There's a local radio station in town that broadcasts a show hosted by a husband and wife team. I don't want to name the show or link to it because I don't want to give them publicity.

Occasionally I will tune in while in the car, mainly when one of my sports shows is at commercial, and also mainly to hear what they have to say about local issues (county government, schools, etc). But a lot of what I end up hearing (and fascinated with, in a watching-the-accident-as-you-pass-on-the-highway kind of way) is a lot of deep-seated contempt toward liberals.

Now, I know you're thinking, "What? A conservative local talk show? In Knoxville??? Who whoulda thunk?" And as we all know there's nothing conservatives love better than bashing liberals (and vice-versa) so it's nothing really new here. Rush Limbaugh and Jeneanne Garafalo have turned this sort of thing into an art form.

But there's always been something a little over-the-top about this particular radio show in its discussion style. There's haughty, and then there's haughty. There's contempt, and then there's contempt. Substitute the word "black" for "liberal" and you'd think you were listening to something from the 50's in Mississippi. In fact, they and some of their callers don't simply call them liberals - they're "Libs". "The Libs" say this, and "The Libs" do that. Insert your own racist-derogatory terms to understand the tone and bias that comes across on this radio show.

And, to top it off, there's always a taste of Christian apologism that they bring to their broadcasts. They publicly avow their religious convictions (which I happen to agree with) yet their actions betray their beliefs.

Here's the thing: they're perfectly free to broadcast whatever they like. Just because some of it rubs me the wrong way, that's my own thing to deal with. I can turn them off anytime I like. If they want to say how much they hate liberals - fine. That's totally their right to feel, and right to say. If they want to broadcast their opinions of whether gays might be immoral deviants (a policy they also seem to espouse) that's fine and totally within their rights as well.

But people listen. And people learn. And people follow. And people act.

The media's reach is wide and their influence is vast. People's capacity for tacking onto a movement or belief and letting their flames be fanned by those they listen to in the media is well-documented.

When you speak publicly how much you hate certain groups of people, how certain groups of people are contemptible, and stupid, and how some barely deserve to exist in our society - the message I get from this radio show - then you have to understand that some people will be listening to you, and some people may agree with you.

And no matter how well intentioned you may be, some evil people may energized to act. I have no idea if the shooter listened to this radio show (his hatred of Christians makes me doubt it), but he likely listened to something like it. Or he talked to and associated with people who do listen to it, or read literature about it, or frequented websites or blogs that mirror it, and it increased his hatred. To a point where he felt he had to act. When groups of people are marginalized in the media, it become much easier for these evil people to find targets for their hatred. "Didn't get a job? Must've been the libruhls! Or the gays! Lost my food stamps? Must've been those Muslims! Or the blacks! Or the ________'s!" (again, you fill in the blank of the favorite compartmentalized labeled group of your choice)

And here we are, a day after, dealing with the aftermath.

Be careful what you say. Children Will Listen.

What's Left to Say?

One of the things I find hard about writing a blog and keeping it fresh is thinking of something interesting to say.

There are plenty of bloggers that can always find a unique or noteworthy commentary to make about, well most anything.

I've thought a good while about the shooting that happened here in Knoxville yesterday morning at a local church. At this point, 2 people have died, about 5 more are in serious or critical condition in the hospital, and the shooter is in custody. Signs are pointing to some kind of hate crime, whether against the church or Christianity or gays or whatever is still uncertain.

I could have joined in the number of local blogs yesterday and "reported" on it but I didn't. I could have at least posted an "our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families" post but I didn't. There wasn't anything new I could add that hadn't already been covered elsewhere, and sometimes to me the "thoughts and prayers" messages fall a little flat. That's just some of the dark cynicism I find in myself peeking out, I suppose.

But I still felt I would be remiss if I didn't say something about it. I wouldn't be a proper Knoxville blogger. People might thing I was cold and heartless or uncaring.

Let me tell you how I found out about it. During our 11 o'clock service yesterday at a Methodist Church only a few miles from Tennessee Valley Unitarian, our minister told the congregation. I was in the middle of a (discreet) conversation with a fellow sitting next to me and missed most of what the minister said. During the offertory, I pulled up local news on my cell phone and read what had happened.

Still, the full impact didn't hit us until we got in the car after the service and listened to the local news-talk radio station, and got home and watched coverage on local TV. I logged into Twitter to follow local reaction, cruised around my Bloglines news feeds to see if any eyewitness accounts were being reported and then tried to put it out of my mind.

Laura and I watched the finale of The Next Food Network Star, of which I already knew the outcome.

Last night we attended our weekly small group session and discussed several points of the incident. Before my son went to sleep we prayed for the victims, their families and I especially included the shooter in the prayers.

When I woke up this morning, I realized I'd been having disturbing dreams - I felt physically ill waking up - and upon reflection I think I'd been trying to make sense of everything while sleeping. Why? What if he'd come to our church? What would I have done? What systems are in place in Knoxville and Knox County by the government to warn local churches instantly that one man and maybe more could be targeting their Sunday morning worship services? How does this affect my views on guns? What can we do to make things safer? How do we forgive, how do we forget, how do we continue to live our lives in the shadows of gunmen?

I don't know if my sleep will be any easier tonight. It certainly won't be for those involved and especially those kids. I can't imagine what would be going through my kids' heads if they'd witnessed something like that. Would I have had the courage to stand up and take a shotgun blast to protect my family and friends like Greg McKendry?

Someone asked last night at small group - if you had the opportunity to live your life over again, would you do it? Do the high points outweigh the low points enough to make you want to do it all over again? I go to thinking about what a great childhood I had - I would live it over in a heartbeat.

Now some kids, because of what happened yesterday, have an indelible stain on their childhoods. Something that hopefully a lot of love, attention, caring and maybe therapy may be able to soften. But it will never be erased.

Thanks, mister, for proving to us once again it's a Hard Knock Life.

Food, Glorious Food

I am obsessed.

Actually, my whole family is.

Most of the time the TV is on in our living room. Sometimes we're actually home to watch it. While occasionally we actually sit down to watch a show, most of the time it was just some necessary white noise to our daily routine. But to have a consistent, non-offensive, bland-as-vanilla-pudding TV white noise, we had to pick a channel. Something non-controversial and one nothing would likely come on our kids couldn't see. And that maybe had some interesting shows. We chose HGTV - Home & Garden Television, produced by our own local near and dear Scripps Networks.

Well, that went on for a while. We never really got into any of the shows, but it was nice to have something on the TV to just plop down, watch a few minutes of someone designing a deck or patio we'd never own, or refurbishing a rundown one-bedroom shack into a 10-bed, 9-1/2 bath McMansion. But we didn't really have a lot invested in it.

Then one day, somehow...someway... the channel changed. I don't know how it happened - maybe I pressed the wrong button on the remote. Maybe little elves invaded. Maybe the kids went too far looking for Nickelodean. All I know is now, for the last year or so, we have found a new household obsession that sucks out all the hours of our day, dominates our evening, and has even....yes even caused me to break out the pots and pans, shop for fresh Thyme, and contemplate the finer points of preparing quiche...

The Food Network has taken over our lives.

Oh! Glorious, the possibilities. The varieties! The worlds of culinary sophistication and innovation! Me, who for 40 years has barely been able to make more than a basic cheese sandwich without burning it have now realized that cooking could be....could be..... FUN?

I've made the aforementioned quiche for a gathering of friends. I made Autumn Potato Gratin with cream and sage for Thanksgiving last year. I've been given cookbooks for Christmas, and made a fettucine with sausage tomato sauce, for goodness sake... I may just be getting good at this.

But anyway, in honor of the season finale of our favorite Food Network show, The Next Food Network Star (airing this Sunday at 10pm EDT), I want to share with all of you the amazing shows we love to watch.

The Next Food Network Star - For weeks, 10 contestants have cooked, presented, dished and prayed their way through a competition of food smarts, personality, and likeability in order to be awarded next year their own cooking show on the network. My personal favorite, Kelsey, was eliminated 2 weeks ago, and the finale is between actor and improv comedian Adam, big talker Aaron and closet Romulan Lisa. I'm pulling for Aaron because he has the right combination of cooking skills and personality to make a good show. Two years ago the winner of this reality show was a guy named Guy, who now hosts:

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives - Guy travels the country, profiling off the path, hole-in-the-wall restaurants with the best roadside food in the country. Not long ago he profiled a place on Magnolia Ave. in Knoxville that serves to die for onion rings, which I'm totally going to have to check out.

30-Minute Meals and $40 a Day are Rachel Ray's shows, and she of course is too perky for words. You just want to squeeze her cheeks. You pick which ones. Ahem. Anyway, she's friendly and enjoyable to watch (if she doesn't annoy you too quickly).

Throwdown with Bobby Flay - Bobby Flay competes with other chefs to see if he can best their own signature dish. I've seen him do macaroni and cheese, cheesecake, pulled pork, cakes and other items. At the end of the episode, someone judges to see whose version of the particular dish is best. Bobby usually loses, which is good because goodness knows we don't need this guy to get too cocky...

Good Eats - I want to be Alton Brown. I want to host this show, and I think I'd be pretty darn good at it, too. I may start my own web version of this show, or something like it come to think of it. Anyway, Alton takes a particular aspect of food or cooking each episode and dissects in until you know its history, lineage, background, varieties, molecular structure, DNA sequencing and any other obsessive detail you can think of to say about, like, carrots. Or mac & cheese. Or pasta. Or tacos. Or whatever. This guy is great, and seriously, if I can find a topic I am so doing what this guy does as a vidcast on the web.

Unwrapped takes a food product such as processed cheese, margarine, "comfort food", candy, cereal or other commercial product and shows how it's conceived, manufactured, and brought to the store's shelves. This one can be a little dry at times, but when it finds a subject that's really interesting it can be engrossing. Particularly something like candy bars.

Dinner: Impossible - This season there's a new host, one of the Iron Chefs Michael Symon. I'm not totally sold on the new guy yet (he's only had one episode) but the concept of the show is fun. The host is given a task, obstensively by a "Mission: Impossible"-type voice, to prepare a huge meal for a large group of people in a set amount of time. He draws out the menu and is provided with a kitchen, the necessary food material, and a staff of chefs to help him out. It's the time limit and the setting that makes the show exciting - in the past the previous host (Robert Irvine, who was kicked off the show because it turned out he lied about his training and experience background) had to cook at a Renaissance Fair like they did in the past, cook for a Pixar gathering, passengers on a cruise ship, and more. The first new episode Michael cooked a huge meal for the workers on a Boardwalk, and had to "gourmet" up Boardwalk food for them. Good fun.

Food Network Challenge - A competition between three-five chefs, usually pastry chefs, to create the best themed dish. Most of the time I watch this show, it's about cakes. Several chefs and their assistants have nine hours to completely create a cake based on, say, Disney villains, Pixar characters, classic cartoons, "most extreme", etc. Then they're judged on originality and style and the winner gets $10,000. The big challenge in these competitions is to not get too ambitious and try to do too much. One time Scar's (from "The Lion King") head fell off. And Mike and Sully from "Monsters, Inc." collapsed. You never know what's going to happen.

Finally, my personal favorite:
Ace of Cakes - Ah, Duff, you big lug. The bald, goateed baker who frequently sports a backward baseball cap or toboggan in even the most formal of settings. He and the staff of Charm City Cakes (a real, honest-to-goodness special-order bakery in Philadelphia) spend every episode making all manner of cakes for $1,000 minimum order customers. Guitar-shaped cakes, cakes that look like the set of the play "Avenue Q", a cake of Hogwarts castle for the premiere of one of the Harry Potter movies, a Super Bowl Cake for Colts vs. Bears, armadillo cakes, shipping depot cakes, roulette wheel cakes, cakes that move, cakes that explode, cakes that look like Corvettes. But what makes this show great is the cast - Duff is the main guy, Geof is the soft-spoken and dry-witted main assistant. There's the red-headed receptionist that is the smart-alec, and several other young assistants that each have their own personalities. This is a winner.

A couple of other shows on Foot Network I don't care for. I don't like Iron Chef America at all, nor can I stand anything with Paula Dean's face (or *shudder* voice) in it (sorry, mom). Emeril Live! was one of our favorites until his contract ran out and it went off the air.

So check it out. If you already have an interest in cooking, or just the sociology of food in general, you may get stuck there. And if you have no interest in cooking, well watch it anyway!


UPDATE: In researching links, I came across the site for The Next Food Network Star and they spoiled the finale! Interviews with the two people that didn't win are already up on their personal pages! So now I already know who wins... :( Bad form, Food Network.com.

UPDATE II: Looks like they've taken down the videos that spoil the finale. It's safe to view the finalist pages again!

Affection

Doug and Dr. Helen both have good posts today about the tendency in society to demonize men for interacting with children. These days, almost any male is treated with suspicion if they stray too near a child, however innocently. The predatory pedophile has poisoned the potential beneficial relationships some men can have with children to create near paranoia.

In particular, I value the healthy, mentoring relationships I've have with the kids I'm around at my church (preschool on up through high school in teaching music and Sunday School). So many kids today grow up without loving, healthy respectful parental and father-figure relationships we can't just let all that slide because we fear a pedophile is lurking behind every corner.

Here's what I commented on Doug's post:

I work with kids in my church, and have always been apprehensive about the amount of affection I show them. However, apprehensive does not mean cold and distant, so I don’t really hesitate to show the kind of attention any father might show a child. Knowing their parents helps, of course, but I have no problem speaking with, playing with, or even showing fatherly affection to another child as long as it’s in the open and obvious.

We’re teaching our children that every male is a potential predator (which, I suppose technically is true but there’s potential and there’s potential) which teaches them not to trust anyone, especially male father figures.

What I Liked and Didn't Like About "The Dark Knight" (spoilers abound)

I went to see the 10:20 IMAX showing last night at the Regal in Turkey Creek. *yawn* I'm tired this morning! Getting home at 1:00 am isn't like it used to be...

What I Liked:

• Heath Ledger's Joker wasn't nearly as cringe-worthy as I was afraid it would be. He seemed quite demented enough to be a Joker, and that was good. I liked the ever-changing story of his origin, his being an "agent of chaos", the constant double-crossing of the mob guys and the small bits of genuine enjoyment of what he was doing was fun.
  
• The continuity in storylines between the first and second movies. I didn't even remember Wayne Manor had been destroyed in "Batman Begins".
  
• Aaron Eckhart made a fantastic Harvey "Two-Face" Dent. Dent is probably my favorite Batman villain and it was a perfectly logical to see how he turned from crusading DA to bitter, avenging maniac. The CGI/makeup on his scarred face was perfectly chilling and better than I had hoped it would be.
  
• The explosion of the hospital in IMAX was maybe the most amazing effect I've seen on screen, both visually and audially. The audience actually applaud some after the explosion was over (I'm assuming for the effect, not the action)
  
• Gary Oldman as Lt./Commissioner Gordon was great, and exactly how he should be played. A conflicted, determined cop whose heart was in exactly the right place. He had a much bigger role than Gordon usually does in Batman stories which was deserved.
  
• Seeing Richard Alpert from Lost as the Mayor of Gotham City was a pleasant surprise. Wow, he does get around!
  
• I dig multiple, fake-out endings :)
  

What I Did Not Like

• Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman was atrocious. An abomination. Easily the worst Batman performance since the guy from "Super Friends", and that's saying something. He was better in the first movie, but amazingly bland in this one. His deep-octave, menacing, brooding, rumbling, gravelly voice as Batman was half the time indecipherable and the other half just silly. The dialogue written for him didn't help, but that's just how Batman's supposed to talk. Bale did much better as Bruce Wayne, but I still think he's too young for the part. I found myself not missing Batman when he wasn't on the screen at all.
  
• Killing off Harvey "Two-Face" was criminal. Not only would he have made an amazing next-movie villain, his story was just beginning. He never had a chance to actually become a "villain," just a grief-stricken guy who went crazy for blaming those who were involved in Rachel's death and his disfigurement. Maybe I'll be lucky and he's not really dead, like Gordon was.
  
• Speaking of Gordon's death fake-out. Hmm. A little divided on this one. I'll give it a pass for now because it was a fun fake-out but ordinarily if a character's dead, he should stay dead. I don't feel that way about Harvey, though :) Faking out Gordon's wife and kids, though? Not cool.
  
• Screwing around with Two-Face's origin (and the Joker's, to a lesser degree). In the comics and original movies, Dent's face was scarred when a mob boss threw acid on him during a trial. Joker was "created" when he fell into a vat of acid. Neither stories are so anymore. It's not that big of a deal, but when you're a Batman fan and kind of expecting the courtroom acid throw to happen eventually you get out of the movie a little waiting for it to happen.
  
• Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are a little wasted as their characters. I've read reviews where they've been hailed for their performances, but I didn't feel they were given enough to do that couldn't have been done by anyone. Their performances were plot-driven and not character-driven.
  
• Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel did a very nice job so no complaint there - I just thought, up until a couple days before the movie opened, that she was actually Kirsten Dunst. The resemblance is remarkable, and it took me out of the movie a couple of times wondering why Spiderman's girlfriend was hitting on Batman and Harvey Dent. That's not the producer's fault and certainly not hers, but you'd think somebody would have noticed the resemblance and found another actress that looked more like Katie Holmes (who played Rachel in "Batman Begins")
  
• The mob guys were all pretty blatantly ethnic - the Italian guy, the Latino guy, the black guy, the Oriental guy... Just kind of odd in today's PC movie-making. It didn't really bother me, I just thought it a little strange.
  
• Ok, this really bugged me. Batman operates out of the BatCave, not the BatBasement. I know it was "being repaired" but that stark basement set was really, really bland and boring and a little claustrophobic for being that wide - I kept expecting them to hit their heads on the ceiling. Really, it couldn't have been worked out to move Batman back home sometime in the movie?
  
• The whole subplot with Lucius Fox's R&D department, the money moving around, the little weaselly guy who wants to reveal Batman's identity - didn't like it. Just too much in an already-bursting-with-plot movie.
  
• Talk about a cliche - "And here Mr. Wayne/Mr. Bond/Max we have the latest in crimefighting/spy equipment. It's a pen that doubles as a machine gun and cell phone, and also carries a lethal.... whooooooooosh - *CHUNK!!!!* (Ow!!!) - sir, perhaps you should read the owners manual first?" "Sorry about that, Chief..."
  
• Being that I work for a hospital system, seeing a hospital blown up was more disturbing than normal. That's fine, just saying my reaction to that particular choice. I also cringe when children actors are used in dangerous, tense situations like the standoff with Harvey, Gordon and his family at the end. Again, not a criticism per se, I just don't like to see kid characters in mortal, immediate danger. One of the (many, many, many.....) reasons I didn't like "War of the Worlds" last year.
  

While there are many more "Didn't Likes" than "Likes", they still pretty much balance out in quality. I enjoyed the movie for the most part - I'll give it a B-. For those that are thinking it's now the BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER.... I just have to continue to point you here.

Octagon Recruiting

Those wacky viral marketing guys from "Lost" are at it again.!

Just before the end of this year's season finale, a "commercial" aired for something called Octagon Global Recruiting, a division of the fictional Dharma Initiatve. They were "advertising" for recruits for some sort of project, and said they'd be in the San Diego area at the end of July.

That coincides with the dates of Comic-Con, and sure enough they will have a booth there, to "recruit". Whatever that means. The emails went out today:

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS - DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008...

What's also interesting if you go to that webpage and view the source code, these messages in comments stand out:

…If you’re reading this, wanna hear something cool?
I’ve got intel about his little “recruitment drive.”
They’re doing some kind’ve personality/IQ testing or something down in SD for ComicCon.
Buddy of mine works down there and has the approvals for their “booth,” he says once you go in no one knows what happens inside and you need an appointment to get in. He also said to make sure you’ve got your Bluetooth on and visible – he’s rigged up a little something.

AND

The whole thing sounds like elitist B.S., doesn’t it?
Well, I’m getting in that booth and taking the test.
As many times as I have to before I “pass” (whatever that means?)
And then…
If I can?
I’m gonna tape it so EVERYONE can see what these idiots are up to.
Should be fun, right?
See ya in SD. RuckusGuy OUT.

The Samaritan Paradox

Last night my wife and I had a "date night". It was great - dinner at Altruda's (great Italian place for you non-Knoxvillians), then went to Downtown West to see the new Helen Hunt/Bette Midler movie. I haven't been to Downtown West in years, so it was fun to see the old haunt again. I remember seeing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan there, lo these many years ago - and also Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with Big Orange Michael. But I digress.

The movie was over around 10pm, and as Laura and I started to get in our car a pickup/SUV pulled up beside me. Driving was a clean-cut, mid-20's young man who was nicely dressed. Beside him in the passenger seat - a less than neatly dressed, slightly unsavory looking gentleman who kept his head down during the entire conversation. The driver pulled up and asked me for a moment of my time through his open window. He assured me - repeatedly - don't be scared, he's not up to anything. He told me his wife had just miscarried in Dandridge, his other child had cerebral palsy, he worked in a security systems business, and he just needed some gas money to get to Dandridge. He was very polite, yet fairly insistent.

A couple things flashed through my mind immediately. First I was glad Laura was on the other side of the van and blocked physically from the guys in the truck. She also (unknown to me) was getting her own car keys and the cell phone ready in case of trouble. Second, I thought quickly about his story: wife just miscarried? in Dandridge? and you have a kid with Cerebral palsy? Security systems? Sounds like a lot of unfortunate coincidences at once, and almost too many specific details about his life to start off a plea for assistance. Thirdly, I thought if you're running too low on gas to get to Dandridge (which isn't that terribly far away from Knoxville, really) why are you wasting gas driving around anonymous dark parking lots at night asking strangers for gas money when it would make more sense to take off for home immediately upon receiving word of the trouble. Or better yet, call someone from home to come and get you. More and more illogical circumstances.

Fourth, I tried to recall any shelters or churches nearby in West Knoxville that migth be available, but there really aren't - all the homeless shelters are downtown, and no churches would be open this late at night on a Thursday.

Fifth, I tried to remember where a gas station was nearby that I could direct him to drive to, where I would safely pay for his gas. I'm not terribly familiar with the Downtown West area anymore, at least in remembering where nearby gas stations are, and I didn't want to stand there giving them more time alone with us while I racked my brain for the nearest Weigels or Pilot.

Sixth, I thought if they needed some gas money they should just go to the box office of the theatre nearby. Much better than hitting up random anonymous folks in a dark parking lot.

So I politely told him, sorry, I couldn't help him.

He hesitated, started to say something else, then thanked me and drove off.

We quickly got in the van and locked the doors, just in case. Laura scanned the area to see where they'd driven off to but we couldn't find them. We left and went home.

My question to you is: What would you have done? Would the same thought processes have gone through your mind? What other options should I have considered? What made me more nervous than anything was the fact that he was neatly dressed, apparently a professional and still needing gas money. Which led me to believe he didn't need gas money after all, but something else I'd rather not think of, like my wallet, my car, or...

Anyway.

I'll also just say this - buddy, if everything you told me was true (or even most of it), I apologize. I sincerely hope and pray you got your gas money, you made it home and tended to your family. Although I hate that your wife may have miscarried, that your child has CP, I almost hope that story was legit because the alternative is pretty scary. And that if real life situation like that happens to anyone else, they'll have the sense not to hit up total strangers in a parking lot and contact someone in some kind of public setting.

Podcasting with RexandTheBeast.com

I'm podcasting once again with RexandTheBeast.com!

Rex and the Beast and I are again discussing theme parks: this time we talk about the recent sale of Anheiser Busch to a foreign company and its possible ramifications to the Busch-owned theme parks across the country including Busch Gardens: Europe in Williamsburg (see video tour). We wax philosophical about what make roller coasters great, the future of theme park rides, the relative merits of virtual vs. interactive rides, future plans for shooting the exciting sequel Mission: IOA 3 (watch Mission IOA and Mission: IOA 2 - Universal Revenge), and as an added bonus also chat about bass fishing in the south of France. I still have no idea what that's all about.

Anyway, check it out - Audio Journeys with RexandTheBeast.com.

Friday's Feast

Feast One Hundred & Ninety Six

Appetizer - When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed?

I'd say it's been about a month. Generally I get a haircut every month-1/2, so I'm due pretty soon.


Soup - Name one thing you miss about being a child.

Saturday morning block cartoons. Looking forward to every Saturday morning, I'd get up in my jammies, fix a bowl of cereal and watch Casper, Funky Phantom, Scooby Doo, Captian Caveman, Sid & Marty Krofft shows, Jason of Star Command, Shazam!, whatever else was running at that time, until American Bandstand came on around 12 or 1. And that was my time.


Salad - Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil.

I love butter and margarine. I don't particularly care to know how margarine is made now that I saw an special on the Food Network about how they make Country Crock, but it's still good... Olive oil is a relatively new entry onto my palate and I'm still evaluating its qualities.


Main Course - If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why?

I took several years of French in high school and college and can understand/speak smatterings of it still. My kids have taken French in elementary school and it's been fun to learn some of it again with them. I'd love to be able to speak it fluently. It's such a gorgeous language and sounds great just to listen to.


Dessert - Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be...

In 5 years I expect to be getting Brainyboy ready for graduation and college selection, plus dealing with the trauma of a teen-aged Tink really hitting puberty. I also expect to be in the same job I am now - hey, I'm going on 11 years in this job already - why stop?

More Anticlimactic Twilight Zone Episodes

My inspiration for these is found here: Anticlimactic Twilight Zone Episodes at the great McSweeney's site.

That satire site was also the inspiration for my posts A Final Letter from Brenda to Eddie and Startling New Letter Found.

Here's an excerpt from Anticlimactic Twilight Zone Episodes:

Where Is Everybody?

A man emerges from his office to find the hallways mysteriously devoid of co-workers. He wanders the silent, empty building looking for signs of life but finds no trace of humanity other than coffee brewing, purses slung over chairs, and folders lying open on desks. Suddenly, he remembers a mandatory meeting in the first-floor conference room.

Here are some of my own, based on real TZ episodes...

• "To Serve Man"
  
  A group of tall aliens arrive on the Earth, pledging goodwill and peace to all humanity. A book entitled "To Serve Man" is found, but the words are all in the alien language and assumed to be a guide to how the aliens will assist humanity solve it's problems. By the millions humans are invited to visit the aliens' world, but just as they're all boarding the spacecraft the true meaning of the book is translated - it's a tennis primer! Wimbledon is moved to the alien planet.
  
  
• "It's a Good Life"
  
  Little six-year-old Anthony Fremont has made the entire world disappear with his amazing mental powers - everything but his small home town. The residents are terrified of him and are forced to cater to his every need in order to survive. People that anger Anthony are killed, maimed or "sent to the cornfield". When one of the townspeople gets drunk at a surprise party for Anthony, he pleads with the others to kill the little monster and save them all. Unfortunately at the moment Anthony is about to exact his revenge, the little boy wakes up. It was all a dream! And now he has to come down for breakfast cause it's almost time for school.
  
  
• "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"
  
  A nervous man who is afraid to fly is plagued by visions of a gremlin on the wing of the airplane. He tries to tell the passengers and flight crew that the creature is intending to crash the plane, but no one believes him. In his panic, he steals a gun and attempts to shoot the creature himself. But then he wakes up. It was all a dream! And now he has to come down for breakfast cause it's almost time for school.
  
  
• "Will The Real Martian Please Stand Up"
  
  A group of bus passengers take refuge in a cafe during a snowstorm. While reports of a UFO sighting are circulating, the bus driver notices that while only six people boarded his bus, seven were present in the cafe. The passengers spend the whole evening in increased paranoia and accusations of one of them being a Martian. After the word comes that the roads are clear, the bus leaves. Much later one of the passengers returns to the cafe and laughs with the soda jerk that the bus driver miscounted after all. There are no Martians and there never were...
  
  
• "The Man In the Bottle"
  
  A man finds a genie in an old bottle and is granted four wishes. After he wastes the first two, he wishes to be the "ruler of a 20th Century foreign land, with no way of being voted out of office". POOF! He's suddenly transformed into the Queen Mother.
  

My favorite UGA joke

I heard Andy Griffith tell this joke back in the days before his TV show when he was a young, country comedian. Now, mind, I didn't hear it live - I heard it on tape. But still, it's hilarious...

Auburn is playing Georgia in a key late-season SEC ballgame in Athens, Ga. Two Tigers fans -- George and Albie -- have driven in from Auburn. They arrive early to Sanford Stadium, tailgate for several hours, mix and mingle with Georgia fans and mind their manners.

An hour before kickoff they make their way to their seats so they can check out the teams warming up, listen to the bands and enjoy the atmosphere.

In comes UGA. Fans in the stadium, not quite full, roar their approval of their beloved mascot. He slobber-walks by the cheerleaders, slobber-walks by the players and coaches. When the team retreats to the locker room for a final pep talk, UGA moves toward midfield for a pre-game ceremony.

Suddenly he stops. And sits.

And proceeds to lick himself in a place where dogs are prone to lick themselves.

Up in the stands, George has in binoculars trained on UGA. He sees the proud bulldog stop to take care of himself.

"Boy, Albie," he says to his friend, "you see that?"

"Sure do, George," Albie replies.

"I sure wish I could do that."

Pause.

"George," Albie said, "that dog'd bite you!"

BrainyBoy Takes a Dive

Starting week 2 at McCallie Sports Camp with a splash...

Friday's Feast

Feast One Hundred & Ninety Five

Appetizer - What is the weather like today where you live?

Pretty warm, high in the upper 80's and lows in the 70's. Should be partly cloudy and humid with a chance of scattered storms off and on throughout the day. I don't anticipate any meaningful rain...


Soup - On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you?

I'd say a 6 - I don't consider my career to be the center of my life but then again I'm not doing what I would consider a "dream" job so that could be different. I would enjoy moving up a ladder but so far that hasn't happened and isn't likely to. I just want to be happy with what I do and proud of my work.


Salad - What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds, curtains, shutters, etc.?

We have curtains and blinds in most of our windows.


Main Course - Name something that instantly cheers you up.

Just being silly with my kids. Making them laugh improves my own mood.


Dessert - How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning?

My wife gets up before me and hits the snooze button twice. When she's finished in the shower she wakes me up and I go in, although sometimes it's tough to get out of bed. The Today Show is my snooze alarm...

Close But Yet So Far

As I write this, BrainyBoy is starting his first full day at a 2-week all boys sports camp in Chattanooga. We would normally never be able to afford such a trip but were able to get it at an auction for about 1/4 what the normal price would have been, so that's great.

Although he's been to church camp for a week at a time several times the past few years, this is the first time he's been away from us for this long. And it's difficult that we're not really able to keep in touch since they don't have email access for the campers. We are able to send him emails which they print out for him, so that's nice at least.

In addition to multiple days of baseball, soccer, basketball, lacrosse and other sports they will have the opportunity to go to Six Flags and a Braves game on the 4th of July, go white-water rafting on the Ocoee and other great side-trips and activities. There's even a dance at the end of the session with a nearby girl's camp. He wasn't terribly thrilled about that prospect, but hey, you never know.

I find myself wondering what he's doing all the time - even now, not even a full 24 hours since I last saw him. When we dropped him off yesterday, he was ready to go and didn't look back. But we did a few times...

It's a Runaway

Sixth foot found on B.C. coast

Another human foot has washed up on British Columbia's shores - the sixth in less than a year and the second in three days. The latest foot was discovered yesterday on a sand spit in the Vancouver Island community of Campbell River. The foot, believed to be a man's right foot in a black running shoe, was discovered by a woman searching for rocks.

Right now, for those of you scoring at home is 5-1 in favor of the right feet. It's possible the left feet could jump back in the competition, but right now I think the rights are going to run away with it.

Ok, sorry.

Anyway, this is a great and bizarre and terrible story that has my interest piqued. How in the world do six severed (not broken, but actually deliberately cut-off) feet suddenly appear and begin washing on shore in British Columbia?

Personally my favorite theory is that it's a new viral campaign for next season's "Lost" and they're feet of the Oceanic 815 victims....

The New Firefox is Here! The New Firefox is Here!

Get a copy of Firefox 3.0 if you can - the servers are really busy...

A Reprieve from the President (Sort Of)

UT delays program cuts, including Audiology and Speech Department

The University of Tennessee is postponing until October decisions on program cuts that include the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the main Knoxville campus.

UT President John Petersen decided to postpone those specific cuts, however, on Monday in response to a joint request by UT-Knoxville’s interim chancellor Jan Simek and Faculty Senate leadership.

“The state budget process requires quick reaction, which has shortened the discussion time possible,” Petersen said. “To assure that all concerned have adequate time to study the issue and that we have dealt directly and effectively with all concerns that have been raised during this difficult process, I have agreed to the request by Interim Chancellor Simek and the Faculty Senate to a lengthened period to consider programmatic cuts.

“I will ask the trustees to allow campus and system leadership additional time to seek faculty input and involvement.”

So maybe there's a chance the departments can be saved. Now we have all summer and most of the fall to keep the ball rolling.

In the meantime, please go to www.saveutasp.org and show your support to the UT Audiology and Speech Pathology Department there.

My Daughter the Hot Dog

Here are a couple answers to the questions a couple of posts ago:




Just call her "Tinker Knievel!"

Incidentally, that's our friend, Dr. Greg the pediatrician.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

BrainyBoy takes a dive

I Know Who the Final Cylon Is

Don't you just know it has to end up this way?

Fun Quiz

Ok, which of the following statements regarding my weekend are true?

• I found out my brother is traveling to Paris to tour with John Schneider
  
• My little girl rode on a motorcycle around the neighborhood.
  
• I fell over a toy car in the floor and sprained my wrist
  
• We had dinner with two pediatricians (not our own) and played kid church songs by the pool on our guitars
  
• I sang "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" to a recently married bride
  
• I watched "Cloverfield" and "I am Legend" back to back, finished the novella "When Sysops Ruled the Earth" about a massive attack that wiped out civilization and saw the mid-season, apocalyptic finale of Battlestar Galactica
  
• One of my cats bit into one of those glowy-phosphorescent kids necklaces and his snout was neon pink for a while
  

Conversations

(We're all shopping at Target. I'm lagging behind with Tink, who spies a hammer hanging on one of the sale racks)

Tink: Look daddy. (Indicates hammer. It's a kind of funky green and caught her attention)

Me: Yeah.... you know what, I would do if I had a hammer? I'd hammer in the morning. Why...I'd hammer in the evening - all over this land! I'd hammer out danger...I'd even hammer out a warning. I'd hammer out love between all of our brothers... All - yes all - over this land. (I end my dramatic monologue with my arms spread wide, encompassing the great and awe-inspiring world around us)

Tink: (pause). What in the world are you talking about?

Repost: The Squirrels In My Yard Are Conspiring Against Me

This is a repeat of a post I did a couple years ago that I remembered when reading Newscoma and her friend the Squirrel Queen. I hope they like it, and take it in a tongue-in-cheek spirit ;).

The Squirrels In My Yard Are Conspiring Against Me

The squirrels in my yard are conspiring against me.
I know that they're watching me walk.
I go to the mailbox to get today's paper,
While they all talk their chattery talk.

Beady eyes flicker as I step through the leaves,
Their minds gauge and ponder my gait.
"Will he go left today? Go right? Try to sprint?"
The little fiends wonder with hate.

Up in the treetops, tiny pencils are drawing,
Charts of my daily routines.
I don't know this for certain, though I'm sure what I feel,
It's the reason I'm weak in the knees.

I find the newspaper, little protection that it is,
And make plans to return to my home.
Their plans, however, are much bigger and bolder
And require things like plastine and chrome.

But for now things are quiet, they nibble and pause,
Storing up knives and meat cleavers.
But for all their malevolance, still I must say,
Thank God they're just squirrels and not beavers.

Friday's Feast

Feast One Hundred & Ninety Three

Appetizer - Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

Oh, I'm very much an optimist. I see the good in people all the time, and rarely have a default negative outlook toward the world. Unless something has specifically wronged me, I generally think the best of them. And I expect it. And, surprisingly to a lot of other people, I usually get it. Take that, O thou cynical conventional wisdom!


Soup - What is your favorite color of ink to write with?

Black. Colored pens look odd.


Salad - How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?

Never had either one, never plan to have either one.


Main Course - Have you ever won anything online? If so, what was it?

I've won money from an online company that periodically distributed surveys for companies. I think I won a $50 Amazon Gift Certificate. I also won a Fandango movie ticket from the Blingo Search Engine once.


Dessert - In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?

We have a landing at the top of our stairs that the computer desk sits, as well as a large bookcase and a big fake tree. All the comforts of home...

Life Finds a Way

John Hammond: All major theme parks have had delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked, nothing.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: But, John. But if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat the tourists.

Just pausing a moment to acknowledge the 15th Anniversary of the release of one of my favorite movies of all time, Jurassic Park.

One of the first Hollywood movies to convincingly showcase the power of CGI special effects and large-scale animatronics, Jurassic Park gave the world it's first taste of what live dinosaurs might really look like. No more stop-motion of the beloved Land of the Lost or merely live actors in suits or puppetry, but realistic, moving, running - and eating - dinosaurs.

Tim: What do you call a blind dinosaur?
Dr. Alan Grant: I don't know.
Tim: A Do-you-think-he-saurus.
Dr. Alan Grant: Ha ha. Good one.
Tim: What do you call a blind dinosaur's dog?
Dr. Alan Grant: You got me.
Tim: A Do-you-think-he-saurus Rex.

I have the John Williams soundtrack to this fantasic movie, and one of my favorite cuts from any soundtrack is cut #4, "Journey to the Island", the section where the helicopter flies in and lands, and Dr. Grant and the others see the herd of brachiosaurs for the first time. I sense the awe that Sam Neill and Laura Dern exhibit in the acting to be pretty close to what anyone would have seeing a giant dinosaur for the first time.

For kids of my generation, dinosaurs were a huge thing. We'd spent years watching old Ray Harryhausen movies, King Kong, and other attempts to capture the majesty of these creatures, but author Michael Crichton, director Steven Spielberg and producer Kathleen Kennedy truly brought them to life.



This is truly one of those movies you can come up on flipping channels late one night, and immediately have to put things down and watch it again. It's that fresh, engaging and enjoyable.

It spawned two sequels, the oddly dull Jurassic Park II: The Lost World which showcased a T-Rex running amok in San Diego and the surprisingly quirky Jurassic Park III that brought back Dr. Grant and somehow made Tea Leoni, William Macy and Michael Jeter (!) action heroes.

Reportedly, Jurassic Park IV is in production - although it's unknown precisely which actors may or may not be coming back, from what I hear Dr. Grant is out, but Ellie Sadler may be in. We'll see.

So happy, birthday Jurassic Park - thanks for bringing back a part of my childhood. In honor of that one of my favorite quotes from the movie:

John Hammond: There is no doubt that our attractions will drive children out of their minds.
Dr. Alan Grant: What are those?
Dr. Ellie Sattler: Small versions of adults, honey.

Speak Up Because Others Cannot

As some of you may know, a travesty is in the making regarding the University of Tennessee. Last week, the University of Tennessee proposed cutting the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology in the College of Arts and Sciences; the Industrial and Organizational Psychology graduate program in the College of Business Administration; and the dance program, a minor concentration in the College of Education, Health and Human Services in a number-crunching move designed to help eliminate $11.1 million from next year's budget.

Take a look at those programs. To be honest, I don't know much about the Industrial and Organizational Psychology program, so I can't comment on that. I never had much official interaction with the dance program while I was majoring in Theatre at UT, but from time to time recitals would be presented in the Music Hall, where I had a work study position. As a student of the arts who's made it into a professional sideline, I am always wary about those who would cut the arts from any curriculum.

However, the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology is a different animal. I want to tell you about a friend of mine, Hal Luper.

From his bio:

Dr. Harold Luper was head of the department of audiology and speech pathology from 1963-1986. He became director of the Hearing and Speech Center in 1966 when the center merged with the department. During his tenure, the first doctoral degrees were awarded and new clinical programs such as the UT Hospital Clinic, the Neuropathology program, and the Pediatric Language Clinic were added.

The Silverstein-Luper Building on the UT campus that houses the Hearing and Speech Center is partly named in his honor.

For several years, Dr. Luper sat beside me in the tenor section of the Bearden United Methodist Choir. When my wife and I first came to Bearden and joined the choir he was probably one of the first people I met. Soft-spoken with a gentle sense of humor and a keen mind, I looked forward to speaking with him every chance I could.

Unfortunately, about ten years ago while on a trip by himself to his native Portugal Hal tragically passed away. The news shocked us all... We've been very fortunate to continue to be blessed with his wife and daughter in our choir, as well as many other members of his family in the church. The family also owns and operates Naples restaurant on Kingston Pike, a local Italian favorite for many years.

But at the slash of a red pen, the department he worked so hard to build could come to an end.

My friendship with Hal and his family are my personal connection to the story. But there's a bigger reason to save this department - the work that they do for not only the dedicated students of audiology and speech pathology that have come through and continue to learn, but the many people the Speech Center has helped recover from such challenges as stuttering, voice and laryngeal disorders, hearing-impairments, children developmental and speech delays and other life-altering situations. According to current department head, Ilsa Schwarz:

The department clinic draws patients from as far as the Virginia and Kentucky border and is one of the largest university clinics of its kind in the U.S. There is an entire region of the state that will be without (an audiology and speech pathology) program.

The program has won national awards and great recognition in its field and more importantly has assisted many people with speech and hearing afflictions that otherwise may never have found the opportunity to live more productive lives.

Many local opinionists agree - today's News Sentinel editorializes:

Phasing out UT's [Audiology and Speech Pathology] program over the next couple of years might be - as one UT dean noted - 'the best of the bad choices under the circumstances,' but it will stand as a ringing indictment of the state's inability, if not unwillingness, to fund higher education at a level that encourages success and competitiveness in all areas instead of merely survival until the next round of budget cuts.

What can we do?

I have a list of all the email addresses of the UT Board of Trustees, including UT President John Peterson and Governor Phil Bredesen. Since I'm a nice guy and at least fairly ethical, I'm not going to post the email addresses online for fear of attracting spammers to their mailboxes but if you are as concerned about the possible loss of these departments as I am and are willing to contact these Board members and request that the decision be reconsidered, I'd be happy to give them to you. Simply email me at innofthelasthomeinsolace@yahoo.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

It's my understanding the final decision is set for a Board meeting next week. Time is of the essence. I'll try and find out for certain what the deadline is and update this post.

I know budget shortfalls are never easy to overcome. Not only are these departments threatened - campus administration may have to absorb $6.7 million in cuts, as well as other campus academic departments and chancellor areas. But of all the departments at UT that do good for not only the student population but the community in general, the Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology should have been one of the last ones to go. Please let your voice be heard and request the decision be reconsidered.

Meme from Trumwill

1. What is your occupation?
Website Coordinator for local healthcare system.

2. What color are your socks right now?
Brown

3. What are you listening to right now?
Mostly silence. The hum of my computer, the A/C, and the fluorescents of my office.

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
A little snack bag of Cheetos.

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
Nope.

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My wife, Laura, about a work project we were finishing up. She works for the same health system and she's occasionally one of my "clients".

7. Do you like the person who tagged you?
I wasn't really tagged, although Will said he thought I'd probably do it. I've never met Will in person but he seems like a nice guy. I've been reading his site for years.

8. How old are you today?
41. But tomorrow, who knows? I could suddenly by 5!

9. What is your favorite sport to watch?
Probably football. Any other time I would say baseball but I just haven't been into it as much these past few years.

10. What is your favorite drink?
Iced tea (sweet)

11. Have you ever dyed your hair?
Ha! Um, no.

12. Last time you hugged your child?
This morning before they left for camp.

13. Favorite food?
Pizza - pepperoni or meat lovers especially. Also fettuccine alfredo, tacos, popcorn and chips.

14. What was the last movie you watched?
Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull

15. Favorite day of the year?
I suppose Christmas, mostly because of the kids. But the hype leading up to Christmas throughout December and a lot of November dilutes the arrival of the actual day somewhat. I've grown more partial to Halloween the last few years for some reason.

16. How do you vent anger?
Most of the time I get sullen and quiet, giving people the silent treatment. Unfortunately other times I let my (worse) nature get the better of me and I can get a bit rude. Usually this happens in instances where I feel I've been wronged or mistreated, and need to assert myself again. Unfortunately this happens at work far too often.

17. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Star Wars Death Star action figure playset.

18. What is your favorite season?
I've fluxuated through my life from spring to summer to fall - now I'm back to spring again :) Never, ever, ever winter though. Useless toad of a season that is...

19. Ocean or pool?
Actually pool. I like to look at the ocean, I don't particularly care to get in it. Probably dates back to a particularly nasty jellyfish incident when I was a kid...

20. Cherries or Blueberries?
Cherries!!

21. Do you want your family & friends to participate?
Sure, if they want. I don't have many offline friends or family that have blogs though. Big Orange Michael is by far the blogger I know the best in the offline world.

22. Who is the most likely to respond?
Not sure. Probably Logtar.

24. Living arrangements?
Live with the wife and kids!

25. When was the last time you cried?
I've answered this question in a couple other memes - sometimes the finality and future of my kids' lives will hit me out of nowhere and I'll just tear up. *sniff*

26. What is on the floor of your closet?
Shoes, dirty towels waiting to be washed.

27. Who is the family or friend you have known the longest that you are tagging?
No tags, but again it would be Michael.

28. What did you do last night?
Ate dinner with the family at Texas Roadhouse (both mine and Laura's steaks were undercooked and we had to send them back), went to church choir practice then to Target.

29. Hawaii or Florida?
I love going to Florida, especially Orlando so I would never pass up an opportunity to go back down there. But I've never been to Hawaii, and after learning so much about it from Becky's stay here, I'd love to see it. Count me in on a "both" on that question.

30. What inspires you?
My kids constantly inspire me to remember you don't have to lose innocence to exist in the world.

31. What are you most afraid of?
Failing those I care about. Irrelevancy and uselessness. I fear not succeeding, and being important in the things I do.

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers?
Cheese, please. With bacon if possible.

33. Favorite dog breed?
We have a beagle/basset hound mix (a "bagel"). I really like Cocker Spaniels, though...

34. Favorite day of the week?
Weekends are more or less like any other day except I just don't have to go to work so Saturdays and Sundays are not that big of a deal. For a long time I looked forward to Thursday because a lot of good TV shows were on that night, so I still feel Thursday's a good day. Hey, that's today!

35. How many states have you lived in?
Only Tennessee. I did stay for 3 months in Daytona Beach, FL when I worked for a summer at a repertory theatre, but I don't consider it "living" there.

36. Do you like these questionnaires?
I do, but only when the questions are fairly unique. I've answered some of these before here and there. I like real off-the wall questions that actually end up revealing something interesting about my or someone else's personality.

37. What kind of car did your very first date drive?
I haven't the slightest idea.

38. What is the last book you read?
I just finished "An Innocent Man" by John Grisham and "The Ruins" by Scott Smith. Would recomend the former, not the latter. I also recently finished "1633" by David Weber and am currently reading, "Dragonlance: Dragons of the Highlord Skies (The Lost Chronicles, Volume Two)" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. There's nothing I like better than losing myself in the Dragonlance universe ;)

39. What are your hobbies?
Computer games, music.

40. Can you still make the Hula Hoop stay around your waist?
Never really could.

Heard on the Radio

Yesterday on the Terri and Lee Frank show on AM850 (a local ultra-conservative radio show I only listen to because they talk about local issues sometimes. And even then, it's only when Sports Talk's at commercial), they were railing about how global warming and how the "Libs" (their favorite term) misuse statistics to support their case.

Never mind that the "Pubs" do the same thing as regard to global warming, but that's not the point.

A guy called in to mention that the night before at a Knox County Commission meeting, local Commissioner Mark Harmon (that is it say, local DEMOCRATIC Commissioner Mark Harmon, who is definitely one of the only honorable ones on County Commission) mentioned that according to statistics, based on the national average of one policeman per 1,000 people nationwide, Knox County has 56 too many officers. Based on the statistics, Mr. Harmon made an observation.

I hope everyone understands what he did - he simply stated that, compared to the national average, Knox County is above that average in number of sheriff deputies. That's all. Not an endorsement of the idea, not a recommendation that we fire 56 deputies, nothing like that at all. That's extremely obvious, isn't it? Right?

Not according to Lee and Frank, as Frank proceeded to practically explode at the notion that this (every unflattering name in the book conservatives insult liberals with that can be said on the air) Democrat was calling for 56 deputies to be fired, just to make the national average. In this day of increased crime - and he proceeded to rattle off recent crimes that have been going on around the area - Harmon wants to decrease the amount of officers on the street! The nerve of this city-living, peace-loving, soft-on-crime LIBERAL!!

Folks, this is a prime example of what happens when we continue to separate into our two camps of liberal/conservative or Democrat/Republican. I'm confident Frank knew full well just what Harmon meant, but saw an opportunity to attack a liberal and took it. And those listening who follow that line of thinking I'm sure just ate it up.

The more we continue to follow this traditional liberal vs. conservative model as the way to define our lives, our politics and our leadership the worse things are going to get.

Because sometimes we all just need a little Bohemian Rhapsody...

"Lost" in Thoughts: Season Four Mega-Finale

I know it's been several days since the 2-hour season four "Lost" finale has aired, but I've had time to rewatch it, cogitate on it, and read a little commentary here and there. Here are my (for the moment) final thoughts on the episode and the season.

• A big question regarding the Oceanic Six and the big "lie". Wasn't it reported in the (fictional) media that all the bodies of the passengers and crew of Oceanic 815 were located at the bottom of the ocean in the (fake) airplane? I seem to remember one of the TV reporters saying something like they'd counted all 88-odd irretrievable and unidentifiable bodies under the water. So then just the presence of the Oceanic Six (really the Eight because they did mention two other crash survivors that subsequently died) throws the cover story into question.
  
  
• Some commenters have wondered how anyone could've moved the island before and the the ice/glass barrier that Ben had to break through (and subsequently cut himself) still be intact. My theory is that the same subterranean tunnel he disappeared into a few episodes back in the barracks to summon the Smoke Monster also leads to the Frozen Donkey Wheel room. Being that the barracks were cut off to him, he knew there was another entrance behind the Orchid "vault" and got in that way.
  
  
• By the way, for those who don't know, "Frozen Donkey Wheel" is the term the producers of the show teased us with a month or so ago as the key to the season finale. And that's literally what the big thing was Ben turned to move the island - a Frozen Donkey Wheel.
  
  
• Having everyone refer to Locke as "Jeremy Bentham", even among themselves, was a little silly as they all knew him better as John Locke. Especially Walt. But you kind of have to assume in some of those scenes they actually did say his name but the producers wanted us kept in the dark. So it was almost like a censor *bleep* - you know the *bleep* didn't come out of the guy's mouth, it was a bad word so you imagine what the bad word was (c'mon, you know you do). For most cases "Jeremy Bentham" was a *bleep* for John Locke.
  
  
• Unless of course the body in the casket is Locke's long-lost clone Jeremy. Then all bets are off.
  
  
• The first rule any person should know if they're dumped in deep water is to remove pants and shoes for easier swimming. Sawyer, being the cool Knoxville dude he is, only removes his shirt. Whatta guy.
  
  
• I thought after viewing the episode for the first time, "Christian Shepherd" had whisked Michael away at the last second before the explosion. After seeing it again, I'm not so sure. I think in fact Michael is dead. So then why did Hurley tell Walt he was probably still alive? I know at that point in the episode we hadn't seen the boat blow up, but still... Maybe he's in that that kinda alive state that Claire exists in.
  
  
• Speaking of Claire, listen to her speak to Kate with no accent. Creepy. Is Dream Claire appearing to Kate like Dream Horace appearing to Locke? Horace was indeed dead, but sorta a ghost. Is that Claire, too?
  
  
• According to my count, eleven of the people on the island make it back to civlization at some point: Jack, Kate, Aaron, Sayid, Hurley, Sun, Ben, Locke, Desmond, Frank, and Walt. Seems strange that at this point we're supposed to believe the Oceanic Six don't hear from Des/Penny and Frank for three years...
  
  
• Also still seems strange nobody goes to see Walt when they get home. Especially Hurley. He just shrugs when Walt questions him about it, so there must be another reason besides, "Sorry dude, we forgot..."
  
  
• The Keamy dead/not dead fake-out was just wrong, wrong, wrong. In the clearing after Richard Alpert shot the mercenary while fighting with Sayid, to be in character Ben should've come up to the body and shot him a few more times, or stabbed him personally. We see now how emotionally headstrong Ben can be. Even if Keamy's eyes were starting open, someone should've - would've - checked his pulse to confirm he was dead. As it turns out, the boat would've blown then and thrown the whole plot into chaos, but it would've been much simpler to somehow have Keamy escape into the jungle and show up later at the Orchid station. As it was, having him "come back from the dead" smacks of B-movie horror flicks.
  
  
• Locke also should've at least attempted to transfer the heartbeat monitor to himself when Keamy was dying. There would've been a few seconds interruption in the signal but it would've been better than no signal at all. Another bad characterization move for plot expediency.
  
  
• Just an idle thought: was the Looking Glass station transported along with the Lost Island and the Hyrda Island? I just keep thinking of poor Charlie, still floating dead in that communication chamber...
  
  
• I smell a bit of a rat in Sun's offer to assist Widmore. I just don't buy she's become as ruthless as her father in the interim time since buying controlling interest in his company. Her offer to join forces sounded more like baiting a trap. I wouldn't be surprised if by this time she's working tacitly with Ben and Sayid.
  
  
• I firmly believe Jin jumped off the boat before the explosion and, like most of the other boat survivors and Daniel Faraday and his Rafties travelled with the island in its jump and all make it back to the island. The mix of Freighties and Losties now continue the struggle vs. Locke and the Others.
  
  
• So Where Are They?
  
  Good question. Where is the island now? Did it move to another physical location in an ocean somewhere on Earth? That's possible, but it's also possible it moved forward in time - just like the bunnies did (although on a slightly larger scale). Trouble with the time thing, while it buys them some...ahem...time, it doesn't get them off the hook with Widmore. Assuming he's at least somewhat aware of the island's abilities, he simply has to wait till it shows up again in the same coordinates he originally sent the freighter. So it must've moved physically, and ahead in time.
  
  How far ahead? Not the full three years that the Oceanic Six have been back in the world. There needs to be time for all the "really bad stuff" to happen that Locke apparently tells them about. I'm thinking the logical amount would be, oh, say, 108 days?
  
  Of course I could be wrong and they went back in time to the year April 8, 1516 at roughly 11:42 pm...
  
  
• So Where Does This Leave Us?
  
  Where do we start next season in the timeline? According to the timeline on Lostpedia (a very well-done resource for all things Lost) the island jumps on December 30, 2004 (my birthday!) and the Oceanic Six are rescued about a week or so after that. Over the span of the next three years, through the fall of 2007 the events of this season's flash-forwards occur. Ben and Jack talk in front of Locke's coffin sometime around September of 2007. The island and all its inhabitants have disappeared and the "present" time has caught up to the chronological beginning of the flash-forwards. What will be next season's main time period, and what will be the flashbacks and flash-forwards?
  
  I think a show like this has to be able to ground itself into a narrative reality, and with all the time-skipping Lost has done (both real jumping and narrative jumping) you have to have a "present" or a "now" for the general viewing public to hang on to. Up till now this has been easy... it now becomes a bit more difficult.
  
  I'm guessing they pick up the "present" storyline a while after the Oceanic Six return home. The biggest gap that we haven't seen detailed much is the time after Nadia is killed and Sayid joins Ben (Oct 2005) and before Jack begins seeing his father and drifts away from Kate and Aaron (Aug 2006). There are a couple of incidents that happen in between then (Sayid's first assassination mission, Kate's trial) but that's a lot of time for Locke to surface, take the identity of Jeremy Bentham, and start appearing to the Oceanic Six folks (and Walt). This could lead up through the events we saw with Locke's death and beyond.
  
  I'm thinking the island reappears the same "time" that Ben does - October 24, 2005. That would be about 300 days after they left (298 to be exact - I was SO hoping it would turn out to be 324 days after they left...i.e. (4+8+15+16+23+42=108) x 3, for the third jump the island's made. I know, I'm such a LostGeek). So if we pick the story about the time the island jumps back, we can see the "present" on the island and on the mainland at the same time.
  
  Just a thought. But the show really does have to have a "now" to keep everything balanced.
  

So Does This Mean We Finally Get Our Flying Cars?

Some downtown Knoxville streets are changing direction

I take this to mean these streets will now be going up-and-down instead of side-to-side, right?

Right???

Memorial Day in Colonial Williamsburg

Glass Musical Instruments in Williamsburg

While we were in Williamsburg, VA on vacation, we took in a concert by Dean Shostak, master of the crystal instruments. He played something called a "Glass Armonica", first invented by Ben Franklin and composed for by Mozart in the mid-18th Century. It was lost for years, and only rediscovered as viable musical instrument in the early 1980's.

He also demonstrated a beautiful glass violin:




As well as a set of glass handbells:

Tink........In......SPACE!!!!

(You might want to bump up the volume a bit to hear the music)