Friday, September 14, 2007

Friday Blogthing: Powerful stuff

I don't really need much power. Just enough to utterly crush my enemies and squeeze national governments into my iron control. That's all.

Oh, and have a grande latte delivered to my desk every morning.

Your Power Level is: 71%

You're a very powerful person, and you know that all of your power comes from within.
Keep on doing what you're doing, and you'll reach your goals.


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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sunday drive

We've started a kind of ad-hoc family tradition this summer.

After church on most Sundays, during the drive home, we'll stop off at the Prairie Elementary School at 80-something and Mission Road to check out the incredible outdoor classroom they have created.

The gardens boast dozens of different vegetable and flower varieties. Our daughter was impressed with the sunflower, and took a few of the ripe seeds as a souvenir last Sunday.

There's also this really cool iron sculpture.

But the favorite of our soon-to-be-five-year-old is the pond with giant lily pads.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Knockin' on heaven's door

By now you've all read that reports of Greg Beck's death are true.

Damn. Just... Damn.

I expect there will be a ton of tribute posts today, each one of them well deserved. That's just the effect Greg had on people. He was one of the good guys, you know?

It's one of those weird-but-cool phenomena of blogging, you get to know people so well even though you may have never met them in person.

Anyway, I think this is the only thing I'll post today. It's from one of the first posts by Greg that I read when I discovered his blog a few years ago and one of the reasons I, like many, became addicted to his daily take on life.
One day I came home from work late and hopped into bed. Later the Roommate came home from her gig and hopped into bed. The Stressed Out Italian Stripper came home and I heard her stop at the bedroom door. I could feel her staring at the scene before her. In my bed laid myself and tucked in on the other side of me was the Roommate. I heard a deep sigh and then the Stressed Out Italian Stripper crawled in on the other side of me. I just laid there takin it all in, wow, I’m in bed with two hot women. Then the four cats and the stupid dog hopped into bed and that kind’a ruined that Penthouse moment.
and the monkey flipped the switch


Here are some other blogger thoughts and remembrances:
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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I hope this isn't true

Tony just linked to the report of the untimely death of Greg Beck, author of Death's Door, from a heart attack Sunday night.

Somebody please tell me that this is a horrible misunderstanding or a ghastly publicity prank.

This is a major loss to the local blogging scene if it's true.

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The Sebelius Administration and Chemical Weapons

The Sebelius Administration in Kansas just earned another black eye, proving yet again that it is no friend of the environment.

A report by the Wichita Eagle details how the Sebelius Administration approved a plan to go all Nazi on hundreds of cute, innocent prairie dogs in western Kansas.

Exterminators contracted by Logan County received approval from the Kansas Wildlife and Parks Department to use aluminum phosphide gas to execute the cuddly little creatures.

End environmentalists also fear the chemical weapons attack could have killed other cute meadow creatures such as burrowing owls, ornate box turtles, cottontail rabbits that tend to inhabit abandoned prairie dog holes.

The mass extermination was carried out with state support against the wishes of landowner Larry Haverfield.
"I hated to see them come on us and use that kind of poison," said Haverfield. "It kills everything in the holes. We would have liked to have someone come and seen us and talked about barriers and poison use."
The evil cabal of county commissioners and state undersecretaries took advantage of a 1904 state law that allows counties to poison prairie dogs and then bill the landowner for the atrocity.

With its support of this plan, the administration has revealed its deeply rooted anti-prairie dog sentiment. Oh, Sebelius' supporters will tell you that Priarie Dogs are vermin, that they carried plague and pestilence. Interesting how that is the same kind of rhetoric used by the Nazis in a little extermination scheme they had a few years ago.

Kansas shouldn't let this be swept under the rug. Today its prairie dogs in sparsely populated Logan County, tomorrow it could be the pet prairie dog in your back yard.

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YouTube Tuesday: Are we not men?

So I've received a couple of emails and comments about my fascination with monkeys, and just what's the deal with that anyway.

Well, I didn't really know I had a fascination with monkeys. Sure, there's the Smoking Chimp that I use in my profile, and a handful of posts about monkeys. But I wouldn't really call that a fascination, would you.

But in way of explanation let me just say that monkeys are funny. In a metaphorical sense they are a good way to poke fun at ourselves and mock our baser instincts in an exaggerated way.

Kind of like what Ernest Cline does here...

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Monday, September 10, 2007

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Our homeowners association had its annual neighborhood picnic Saturday evening.

We moved into our new house almost exactly a year ago. Since then we've put on a new roof, new siding, painted lots of rooms, changed out some electrical outlets and done tons of work on the previously un-maintained landscape.

We've visited extensively with our next-door neighbors and met the family up the street with a girl the same age as our daughter.

But we hadn't met many of the other people in the neighborhood until Saturday, so it was nice to get out and mingle.

The highlight of the day of course was having the OP fire department bring a truck down for the kids to check out. Then the hooked up to a fire hydrant and turned the hose on for a few minutes.

The kids loved it.
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Friday, September 07, 2007

Friday Blogthing: But first, are you experienced?

Wise beyond my years? Yeah, that sounds about right.

You've Experienced 80% of Life

You have all of the life experience that most adults will ever get.
And unless you're already in your 40s, you're probably wise beyond your years.


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Thursday, September 06, 2007

Troop surge

I'm about a week late on this, but it's something I wanted to get off my to-blog list.

The LJW posted a video report about recruiting problems at the Kansas Highway Patrol.

For various reasons (more people in the military, more people retiring) there are fewer qualified applicants to join the KHP (or, as I call them, KHiPs). One of the biggest issues is that the applicants they get can't pass the written and physical tests.

At first I wondered how tough it could be. I mean, I know how to drive. If the written test is anything like the open book test I took to get my driver's license when I was 14, I shouldn't have any problem with it.

And as far as the physical test goes, hell how tough can it be? It's not like you have to be an American Gladiator to sit behind the steering wheel all day drinking coffee and eating donuts.

But then I realized that the KHP is being smart and planning ahead. With oil reserves drying up by the day, the KHP realizes that it has to set higher standards for its troopers in order to deal with the coming apocalyptic dystopia.

Physical standards are being raised. The highway of the socially decayed future will require men of great stamina and strength. Marksmanship will be a key skill, as these new troops attempt not only to uphold the law, but to dispense justice and vengeance as well.

In their new roles as judge, juror and executioner, Kansas will need the best of the best.

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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Medium rare

Just easing back into blogger mode here.

I plan on doing some kind of recap of Labor Day weekend (maybe), but I wanted to post this neato portrait done by an artist in Great Britain.

When I first saw this portrait -- before reading the story behind it (pun intended) -- I thought it was quite a fetching likeness of the President.

He is depicted gazing stoically into the future, ready to do what is necessary to ensure the continuance of life, liberty and the Amercan way. I'm pretty sure that's was Republican supporters in Texas thought, too. Until they read the story behind the portrait.
US Republicans are none too pleased with Brit artist Jonathan Yeo, who's just completed a fetching portrait of George Bush constructed from grumble mag clippings...

According to the Sun, Republicans have reacted with predictable indignation. A spokesman for Republicans Abroad International said: "This will cause outrage in America. Some people will think it’s funny - but personally I think it is a cheap stunt."

A spokesman for the Texas tentacle of the Republican Party chipped in with: "This picture is very distasteful. Why would anyone want to make a picture of our President from pornographic material?"
That's right, look closely at the collage images and you can see (if you want) women and men in various stages of undress performing various acts upon each other.

Not sure what the artist's message is. The President is a boob? Something about being the "head" of state? Dick (Cheney, of course) is on the president's mind?

According to the artist:
"I did it for fun, not to offend, but I'm pleased with it. I did it to amuse."
Still, it's a pretty good portrait. It raises a few questions: What is the intrinsic value of the medium. Does the medium increase/decrease the aesthetic value of a work? Is that what I think it is on his earlobe?

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