Don't Discount This

Is it just me, or does it seem like everything is on sale these days?

Some stores literally have just about everything on sale in one form or another. 10%, 20%, 50% off! Don't you wonder why they do this? Because they know psychologically we're a bunch of sheep to be toyed with that's why. Like Pavlov's dogs we see a sale sign and think hey, I can save a lot of money on this so I should buy it now.

I'm willing to bet that somewhere a store is having a legitimate sale and trying to get rid of stock, such as an older product they no longer want to carry, but it seems like this is becoming an unusual thing rather then the norm.

I saw an advertisement on television last night where you could get a $200 discount for installing some awning on your home. Have you bought furniture lately and seen the huge sales they offer? Car lots/manufacturers always deal with you and drop thousands of dollars off the price of a new car as long as you ask a few questions.

My question is, why are stores adding this huge markup on their products to start with? Apparently because some of you out there are stupid enough to pay them the full price! Your willingness to overpay by thousands of dollars on products helps them to offer discounts to smarter people.

Seasonal holiday times are an excellent way to see this stupid/smart consumer system in action. The stupid spend hundreds of dollars on decorations leading up to a holiday while the smarter of the flock hang back, resist temptation and head to the stores after the holiday and, like vultures feeding on carrion, purchase the leftovers at a huge discount like 75% off. Sure you have to wait until next year to decorate with your new treasures, but it's a small price to pay for what you save.

Yes, the pun was intended.

Another form of selling trickery that lure the stupid like moths to a flame, is the mail-in rebate. I can't tell you how many times I have bought a product amazed at the price after the mail-in rebate and then never mailed in the dang form.

Since I am notorious for not mailing in the mail-in rebates, I don't have much personal experience in these matters, but I have heard that many times these forms are ruthless in making you jump through a variety of hoops, dotting “I's”, crossing “T's”, cutting something out of the product box. Some have even reported sending all of the requested information into a company only to never receive a dime in return.

I'm willing to bet that your information is then used to send you all manner of SPAM, both electronically and conventional.

Yes, in case you have not guessed it by now, there have been many times that I have been a member of the stupid consumer club. I buy things on sale (how can you not when almost everything is on sale these days?), buy things with mail-in rebates, and felt that happy tingle when I see the large “ON SALE” signs.

Living in a capitalist society I don't foresee this changing anytime soon. Overall it's not really a bad thing, but remember that it's us against them. The consumers against the stores. We want to keep as much of our money that has not already been taken from us in taxes, and they want to transfer as much of our earnings that they can out of our accounts and into theirs.

As long as you know the rules and objective of the game you can learn to play without sitting on the injured bench too many times.

Don't kid yourself though, the game is not the minor leagues, the companies we make our purchases from are playing hardball. They spend a large portion of the money we donate to them on learning new methods to make even more profits.

Think “big oil” is ever going to release their current hold on gas prices? They're making money like crazy at the moment and they show no signs of backing off. Now we get excited if the price of gas is barely over $2.00 a gallon. I can remember when this was considered to be outrageous.

It's a world driven by us, the consumer. We are trying to fight back as we turn to ebay to find more bargains and try to purchase things with prices a bit closer to reality, but in the end you must go into the trenches and do battle with the salespeople.

Keep a firm grip on your wallet and mind. Try not to get too giddy when you see those magical words, “FOR SALE”, and whatever you do, mail in those rebates!

"Hey, look what you did to my pants!"

It would seem that when new things come along that people want, thieves just invent new ways of liberating them from the original owners. If you're paranoid about podjacking then you may want to be more discreet when listening, or now watching, you favorite media experience.

Enter PodLocker. This new device is designed to help you secure your new Christmas toy from others who would like to remove your listening pleasure and give it to the less fortunate. This new device is actually a sleek looking carrying case and security system all built into one.

The PodLocker can clamp to a table or desk with the provided clamping mechanism, or connect to just about anything else with its Master Lock carabineer style combination lock.

I can foresee this to become the accessory of choice on school backpacks.

One precaution though, once you attach something that thieves are hunting for to solid surfaces, these surfaces may become collateral damage. So if you're planning on dangling your status symbol from your britches, don't be too upset when someone comes along and rips your pants off in an attempt to make your pod part of their collection.

Knowledge Justification

Although this outcome does not place me in the lofty category of Einstein or Newton, it does show I at least know the basics... ;)

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Missing Girl Heading to Yakyma Washington

Please spread the word on your blogs!!!

This girl has been missing since Monday December 19th 2005 at 0705. She was last seen walking away from Lee High School in Fairfax Virginia.

We have a new clue from one of her so called friends. She was pursuaded to leave with the abusive drug guy who is obssessed with her. They may be on a greyhound bus headed to Yakyma Washington State. We think they are on a bus that left Springfield VA. on Monday and should hit Washington later today. I'll let you know if we get her. Thank you so much for the support.

She was seen walking with a 5' 10" 19yr old male, American Indian, long black hair, dark clothes, lip piercings. He has a backpack with a sleeping roll. She was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans. She has a very small silver nose piercing.

This male's name we believe to be Wayne Dixon. He very possibly could on his way to Phoenix with her. Please Please Please know she would not run away without calling and saying she is okay. She would have called her sister.

Please take the attatched flyer and post it everywhere you can and send this email to everyone you know. Thank you so very much. The number on the bottom of the flyer is for the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. Thank you so very much!!!

Empty Your Mind

This article is in response to this article on "The Roost".

A good example of this is the technician that was working on our phone system yesterday. He was attempting to troubleshoot why he could not get one of the phone jacks to work. The method he was using was merely testing if another jack was working in a variety of different ways. In his mind he was switching between the two jacks, but he was merely switching the same jack between to plugs in the phone switch.

The way I am explaining this might be losing something in the translation, but eventually another technician came along and had to explain to the first that he was not looking at the logic in his troubleshooting right. The first technician could not clear his mind enough to understand that he wasn't testing the correct jack.

When we get something set in our minds one way, it is very difficult at times to step back and rethink the situation. Religious discussions are notorious for this type of thought process. People of varying religious beliefs are so ingrained in their life-long belief systems that they find it next to impossible to accept any other line of reasoning.

Some folks swear by Fords, and some by Chevy's, still others are die hard Honda followers, and then there is the type that have Diesel's on the brain. Of course the Dodge fanatics are way out there. ;)

This mental problem is why those people who can think “outside the box” are a valuable asset to a company. A business does not need folks who are mired in their own idioms, but people who can make the mental leaps necessary to cover a larger encompassing scope.

I pride myself on having an open mind and make a real effort to listen to all points of a discussion. Like most people, I too occasionally fall victim to my own thoughts and seemingly have my own cup “spilling over”. Some people who know me ask where I find the time to read all the things that I read, or listen to talk radio, or watch the Science and Discovery channels. The fact is, this is what I enjoy, and so in my spare time it is what I do.

In the car I listen to talk radio so I can stay current on events of the world, and more importantly so I can listen to several sides of a variety of discussions. When at home, and the family has gone to bed, I work on my websites or read about whatever happens to be of interest to me at that moment. If I am in a television mood, I may do the brain-dead thing and watch a sitcom, or spend a Sunday watching things like the Science or Discovery channels.

Since I tend to stay informed on many topics, I am also very aware that many people don't read or write much these days. The older they get, many adults tend to lose their ability to read well, write well or even engage in meaningful conversations. For some reason I can't function that way. This is perhaps one reason I am working as a network administrator/engineer. In my career the industry is always changing. We literally learn new ways to do our jobs daily and have to adapt our thought processes accordingly.

Take a class on something that interests you. Read a book, any book fiction or non, but exercise your mind and work on your reading skills. When watching television, seek out the more informative channels, watch the news, or even something like an interior decorating or cooking show. The key is to watch something informative, not mentally draining. Write poetry, short stories, emails to your friends. Nobody to write to? Participate in forums on whatever website you find interesting. At the very least take up a hobby.

In addition to everything else I have mentioned, I also enjoy the LGB train that goes around our Christmas tree every year and I read magazines about Garden Railways even though I currently do not have the time or money to create one of my own. I am a scuba diver for the local water rescue team. Currently I am maintaining about 8 websites (I lose count) and helping others create web pages and sites of their own. My fish tank is something else that I enjoy, and the current crop of fish can't wait until I stop by every day to toss them their munchies. This past year has brought two dogs into our home, and I love to feed the Quail, finches and hummingbirds in the backyard.

Can I continue with my interests and what I do in my life? You bet. Sometimes it's exhausting just listing my activities, and that's not even going into what needs to be done for my three daughters with school, Girl Scouts, Volleyball, Basketball, Flute and violin lessons, etc...

It's no wonder I am getting more gray by the day.

So keep your cup at least empty enough to allow new things to pour in. Embrace life and live it by always searching for new experiences. This is why I love my “Life In A Handbasket Website”, because I get to write about a great many things and invite the world in for discussions. Unfortunately the world does not know the site exists, but that has not stopped me from writing my articles for the past several years.

The final thing is not only must you maintain enough room in your personal cup to learn new things, but you must also pursue your interests even if the odds are against you. Not many people read my articles, but I don't care. They are written as a way for me to express myself and get out in words all of the strange and random thoughts I am mulling over as I live my life.

It was Albert Einstein that said,

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Do something different, right now, today!

Wargames Are Hell

On her blog, Opinions From On High, "The Princess" brings up the observation that the gaming industry is getting more realistic as each year passes.

Does this realism truly pose a threat to our society? Should we try to "draw the line" on realism in gaming?

I thought I would share with you all my answer to her article since I think this makes for a good discussion topic. It is an industry that is not going to go away any time soon, so how you and your family deal with this access to the realistic games is a very real issue.

Tonight we watched a great mini-series, called The Triangle. It is a fictional T.V. series delving into the Bermuda Triangle Mysteries. While watching, we saw a commercial for a new X-Box 360 game. It is a WWII 1st person shooter that was so real, it left me wondering what the next step is. I am all for improving technology, but I think a line has to be drawn somewhere. If it becomes too real, then I see definite dangers with upcoming generations distinguishing the difference. Quite frankly, I’m a little scared for my son’s generation. This game was so lifelike that logically the next step would be characters so real you cannot tell that they aren’t. - The Princess

I would not like to stifle the development of technology because it is getting too good. I think the realism in the gaming world is fine. What this means, however, is just like inappropriate movies, parents must control what their children are exposed to.

Working in the computer industry I am approached all the time to “rat out” what people do online. Supervisors often want to subversively nail their employees, when what they should really be doing is supervising their people correctly. After all, if you have employees talking on the phone too much, or doodling on papers all day, or reading magazines at work, what do you do then?

This same philosophy holds for parents and children. Monitor their actions, don't buy them games of death and destruction, and attempt to prevent them from playing these at a friends house. I know, it's easier said then done.

You won't be successful all of the time, but even your actions of telling your children they cannot have these games at home because of the violent nature is something to make them pause and question why they even want to play them. Believe it or not, your concern for this type of content does rub off on them. They may think the game is cool, but they may not get the same satisfaction out of playing the game if in the back of their mind their moral compass kicks in. The same moral compass that you, as a parent, helped to program during their upbringing.

I love playing these types of games, but as I play them I am fully aware that they are simulating a horrible thing, war. My upbringing successfully impressed upon me that war is not a good thing, and during war horrible death occurs and this is not something to be enjoyed.

The feeling of trying to fight in a war type situation, however, is thrilling to most boys. The adrenaline gets pumped up and a certain excitement is found playing these games. The more realistic the better. If anything, the realism adds to the education that war is indeed hell.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Last weekend our family packed our bags and headed to Southern California to attend the annual family holiday bash.

My three daughters were very surprised to discover that their aunt and uncle were taking us all to Disneyland as our Christmas present.

The last time the girls had been to Disneyland only one of them was really old enough to remember anything about the park, and the youngest did not remember a thing.

I grew up living about 7 miles East of Disneyland and have been there many times. It was a great place to take girls on a date because instead of doing something like sitting in a dark theater you could actually interact with your date socially and more quickly determine your compatibility.

Where am I going with this trip down memory lane?

Needless-to-say I had been on most of the rides so many times I knew them well. In fact my daughters were amazed, or embarrassed, when I could sing along with the entire "Enchanted Tiki Room" show.

Well, I was all prepared for the same old thing and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the Disney "Imagineers" have not been just resting on their past achievements.

It began with "The Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. There were subtle differences from when I last remember this attraction such as improved flame effects, conquistador's defending the fortress that is being attacked by the pirates and two pirates trying to drag out a large tapestry of loot.

The entire park was decorated in holiday splendor with all of the trees lit up in a multitude of colors and a gorgeous Christmas tree on "Main Street". OK, so that has not changed, but it has always made the kingdom feel all that more magical.

Heading toward the "Haunted Mansion" it was obvious that the spooks were embracing the spirit of the season with trimmings of black wreaths and scarecrows dressed as “Sandy Claws”. Coming from all around were the sounds of rewritten Christmas carols such as "Scary Bells", being sung by what sounded like the original cast of “Nightmare Before Christmas”. I figured they would continue this decoration scheme throughout the ride just placing little mementos of the movie around here and there and that would be the extent of the change.

I was wrong.

You could still see many of the “Haunted Mansion” pieces of the ride, but they did an outstanding job incorporating the “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme. I don't want to describe everything to you and ruin the sights, but it was worth the wait in line.

Disneyland now has these things called a “Fast Pass”. At some of the busier rides you can get a ticket near the ride that gives you a 1 hour window when you can return to the ride and zip past a large portion of the line. As long as you're good at planning your time, this works pretty well.

We tried this Fast Pass thing out with the “Thunder Mountain Railroad” ride. After getting the Fast Pass tickets we went to some Santa's village setup in “Big Thunder Ranch” at the Northern end of the park. They had a nice group of reindeer for the kids to see, and the restrooms there were not as crowded as any other in the park.

From there we rode the “Matterhorn” ride (is that what it's called?), which is always a hoot. My youngest was tall enough to ride everything in Disneyland, so we could all enjoy the rides without having to do the thing where one parent stays behind while the other one rides the rides.

“It's A Small World” was all decorated for Christmas, and the music inside of the ride was changed to have a Christmas flare to it. At night I think that this ride had the most lights and decorations on it then all of the other rides combined!

One of the longest lines was “Space Mountain”. Sheesh, I can remember waiting in lines this long for it back when it first opened. Apparently it has been redone and the new and improved ride is still drawing a crowd. Once you ride it you can see why. In the old days it was basically just a roller coaster in the dark, now the coaster itself did not feel like it changed much, but they added swirling star-like lights throughout and it has made it seem more fun.

We really had fun on the new “Buzz Light Year” ride as well. The neat thing about this ride was that you got to shoot little lighted targets while battling Buzz's arch enemy. There were only two laser gun things and my wife and I had our littlest one in the car with us, but luckily there was a lever for rotating the car too so I spent the time spinning us all around trying to give the ladies a better shot at the various targets. The end of this ride was great because you got to send a picture of yourself to an email account for free. I'll post our pictures here in this article a little later.

If you go to Disneyland you simply must make sure you see the fireworks show. Don't just watch them from anywhere in the park, make sure you end up at the North end of “Main Street” facing the castle. The entire show is created based on this viewing position. I don't want to give away too much, but let's just say that the fireworks show is in 360 degrees from that viewing location.

There is actually more to tell about, but I think you get the idea that we had a good time on this trip, I won't put you to sleep by elaborating any more.

Well done Disneyland, and thank you for making the Magic Kingdom fresh again for an old fan. Walt would be proud of what you have done with the place. Once again Disneyland has lived up to its motto as being “The Happiest Place On Earth”.

'tis The Season For Whiny-butts

I was listening to Sean Hanity today and some lady from Texas called in to tell of her clandestine investigation of Walmart and Target. She went on and on about how these stores have an official policy to call the Holiday Season... Are you ready for this scary term? The “Holiday Season”.

Ooooo... How terrible. I think all Christians should immediately go out and kill all Walmart and Target managers for this horrendous crime against humanity!

Give me a break. Saying Merry Christmas does not offend me even though I don't consider myself a Christian, but neither does saying Happy Holidays. Am I missing something? What is the huge deal that Christians are demanding that the word Christmas be forced onto stores?

The more these things rear their ugly heads, the less I like organized religion. Even the leaders of Christian churches ought to be smacking these folks that are giving them a bad reputation.

Talk show hosts like Sean Hanity should not be hooked into catering to these folks either. Trying to make the Holiday Season more generic for all is not a horrible thing, and in no way insults Christians.

Nobody is telling you not to wish people Merry Christmas, or that you can't put up a Chritmas tree, or sing Christmas carols. Nobody is preventing Christians from celebrating their holiday, and quite frankly nobody cares what you do.

You don't hear the Jewish community boycotting Walmart for not saying “Happy Hanukkah”, or the Wiccans for the stores not saying “Blessed Be”.

Now I ask you honestly, if you're a Christian do you think that your faith should be employing mob tactics to enforce retailers to say Merry Christmas over Happy Holidays?

Should we go into the fact that wishing somebody Happy Holidays is saying Happy Holy Days? What's the big difference between Happy Holy Days and Merry Christmas? This sort of stuff just makes me want to scream at everyone, Bah Humbug!

Although I'm not religious, I think saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays is perfectly fine. This season has stood for Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward man for so long, that I personally don't think that any one religion can lay claim to this time of year.

What's wrong with Jewish people having a Christmas tree? They can still celebrate Hanukkah, having an evergreen in the living room decorated with pretty lights would not prevent that would it?

This is the time of year we should all, as the planet, stop and reflect about living in peace with one another. Those of you who don't want to live in peace with us, well, we can just kill you! (kidding, of course)

I'd really be interested in everyone's feelings on this subject. Is it just me that this “Christmas is only for one specific religion” thing seems all wrong?

Realistically, if you look at many of the aspects of what we now celebrate in the Christmas holiday, you'll discover that the majority of it all came from Pagan celebrations anyway.

Christmas has evolved into the Holiday Season, which should be enjoyed and celebrated by all of humanity, not just a chosen few. After all, if you're Christian why wouldn't you want all people of the world to enjoy this time instead of trying to ruin it by using this time to make a political and religious statement.

Shut the heck up, sip some eggnog, and enjoy the season.

Merry Christmas to all, and Happy Holidays too!

You Turkey

Another year and another large turkey is out of the oven and ready for us to slice up and devour as the main dish for our Thanksgiving meal.

This Thanksgiving I decided to look into these tasty creatures and learn a little more about them. After all, I see them in the fields and along the roadside as I travel throughout the Northwest, and the only thing I know about them is what I have heard while I was growing up.

Some will tell you I have not yet finished growing up, and I would have to agree with them.

One thing many of you may already know, is that Benjamin Franklin lobbied to make the turkey the national bird. I can't imagine having the majestic eagle replaced by a turkey, but we were close to having the majestic turkey adorning our national symbols.

Benjamin Franklin was just one of three members of a committee that was assigned by the Continental Congress. The other two members were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Their assignment was to come up with a design for the official national seal.

The first idea the three had designed included Lady Liberty, but congress didn't care for the design and consulted with a Philadelphia artist of the time named, William Barton. Barton came up with a new design which included a Golden Eagle. Although they liked this new design, they wanted a bird more native to America and so decided that the American Bald Eagle should be the bird.

When Benjamin Franklin heard of the choice of a Bald Eagle he is quoted as saying,

For my part, I wish the eagle had not been chosen as the representative of this country. He is a bird of bad moral character; he does not get his living honestly. You may have seen him perched in some dead tree where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing hawk and, when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish and is bearing it to his nest for his young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes the fish. With all this injustice, he is never in good case.

At some point Benjamin Franklin argued that the turkey was, “A much more respectable bird and a true native of America," he further stated that the turkey was a, “bird of courage" and that the turkey "would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards who should presume to invade his farm yard with a red coat on."

Luckily for us, congress was not convinced that the turkey should win out over the Eagle, and the rest is history.

Did you know that a male turkey is called a “Tom” and the females are called “hens”? If they hatch some little turkeys these would be called, “poults”. At sixteen weeks old a turkey is called a “fryer”, and at five to seven months old they are known as “roasters”.

I found it interesting that in ballroom dancing the “Turkey Trot” is called that because it resembles the short, jerky steps that a turkey makes when it walks.

Turkey's have great eyesight and can see about 270 degrees and can even see in color the way we can. Of course, like us, they also cannot see at night very well. Their hearing is also quite good, and between good eyesight and good hearing they tend to elude many frustrated hunters very well.

I'm uncertain from this bit of turkey trivia, but I thought I would share it with you anyway because it is somewhat amusing. Apparently turkeys have heart attacks. The story goes like this, “The United States Air Force was doing test runs and breaking the sound barrier. Nearby turkeys dropped dead with heart attacks.” This is interesting because many doctors recommend eating turkey in your diet to prevent heart attacks. Believe it, or not. :)

Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented a live turkey and two dressed turkeys to the President. The President does not eat the live turkey. He "pardons" it and allows it to live out its days on a historical farm.

It seems that there is a myth that is perpetuated that eating turkey will make you sleepy. From what I can gather it seems eating turkey does not cause you to feel sleepy after your Thanksgiving dinner. Carbohydrates in your Thanksgiving dinner are the likely cause of your sleepiness.

The caruncle is a red-pink fleshy growth on the head and upper neck of the turkey. Turkeys have a long, red, fleshy area called a snood that grows from the forehead over the bill. The fleshy growth under a turkey’s throat is called a wattle.

How many of you have heard that turkey's are so stupid that they will drown if they look up when it rains? Apparently this is not really true. These types of tales may have come up because baby turkeys are very vulnerable when they still have their down on them and not yet fully feathered. Many baby turkeys that are not protected in a downpour will die from being wet and from exposure, but not from drowning.

Although turkey's spend most of their day feeding on the ground, they actually fly up into trees to spend their nights a little safer from nocturnal predators.

Turkey's are also pretty quick. The can fly short distances at about 55 miles per hour, and can run at speeds up to 25 miles per hour on the ground. Domesticated turkey's, however, can no longer fly.

Now you know some of the more interesting things about the turkey. Enjoy your Thanksgiving meal feeling a little better about your knowledge of the main course.

And The Winner Is...

I watched the American Music Awards tonight, which is not normally something I would do, but the shows I normally watch were not on. Besides, I saw in the commercials that some great acts were going to perform, so I thought it would be a nice change this evening.

For some reason I felt somewhat disappointed most of the night.

The first almost embarrassing thing was watching Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff trying to perform on stage in front of amazing musical talent. I must admit that I have enjoyed songs in the past by both of these ladies, but for some reason they just did not seem to have the entertainer power that is expected to perform for the superstars of the industry.

As I watched each of these ladies perform it felt like I was watching television and movie stars trying to compete with some tough competition in the world of music. They just did not seem to have the star quality when it comes to musical entertainment.

I really loved seeing Cyndi Lauper on stage. Personally I think that Cyndi Lauper has such a unique voice and singing talent that I wish she would do more original work. Last year I bought a new album by Cyndi but it was a studio album and was just a collection of recycled songs. This type of album almost never turns out well. It’s tough to make existing songs new again, but sometimes it can be pulled off.

One example of a recycled song done right is from the group SheDaisy. Their Christmas album was great, and I think their version of “Deck the Halls” is one of the better renditions of that song I have ever heard. The voices of SheDaisy sound heavenly together, and the interesting composition of that song just worked well.

Will Smith won an award tonight, and I don’t know what it is about Will Smith, but I really like his music. Now he’s an example of a multi-talented person who does well in television, movies and music. The difference between him and Hilary or Lindsay, is that he can pull it off. I’m sure the ladies have worked hard, but Will is smokin’ and it’s hard for anyone to match his versatility. I’m always ecstatic when I see he has released a new album.

Women are fantastic to look at, and I’ll ogle them right along with everyone else when they wear skimpy clothing. Heck, there’s nothing like a hot day on the beach watching beautiful ladies walk by in a variety of bikinis. Why do some women think that award shows are the time to come out on stage virtually topless? Is this necessary?

Well, yes I do like to see their barely restrained fun bags, but I fail to see the purpose behind exposing themselves on national television. People who know me already can attest to the fact that beautiful woman always get noticed by me. I’m lucky to have married a beautiful woman. During an awards show, however, let’s keep the morsels in their stay-fresh wrappers so they don’t dry out from all of the hot lights.

Another highlight of the night was watching the Eurythmics perform, and learning the group is back together. They said they have just released a collection of their previous hits, but let’s hope they still have it in them to crank out a few new songs and reclaim their following. I know I’ll be waiting for any new material from them with anticipation. After watching them on stage, I think they still have the strength to belt out the tunes.

The highlight of the evening was supposed to be the Rolling Stones. They were introduced as Rock and Roll royalty, and on that point I don’t disagree. As far as classic rock and rollers go, the Rolling Stones can certainly hold their own. It’s precisely because of this lofty position that I was somewhat disturbed by their live performance from Salt Lake City Utah.

The first song they sang was not very good, and then they dusted off one of their tried and true songs and it sounded like crap. With their typical scary looks, and this dismal showing, it was an anticlimactic ending for the show. I’m sure it was the fact that not only was it a live show, but it was also being watched on television. Hopefully their new CD will have a better sound then their live stage performance did.

That’s it, my thoughts on what I spent my night doing. Of course I managed to do a little work on my websites (very little between commercials), and even write this revue of the American Music Awards. In the end, I now know why I seldom watch these types of shows. It ran for too long, and in the end felt like a huge waste of my evening.

Intelligent Design - Still Going

This article is in response to a discussion going on at The Roost.

Ah, back to the ID thing again are we? ;)

I certainly don’t deny that many supporters of ID do so because of their religious beliefs.

Who else would support ID if not for religious folks?

What interests me most about intelligent design is whether or not we could tell if some intelligent force has influenced the development of life on earth. That is where the critics of intelligent design tend to bother me. Rather than addressing if we could know, or how we could know they seem on the whole to be demanding that it is impossible that it could have happened. I think the meta questions of how we could know are important even if it didn’t happen and the refussal to even address those questions strikes me as being profoundly anti-scientific.

The question of whether or not some intelligent force has influenced the development of life on Earth is indeed interesting, it's just not science, it's metaphysics. It raises questions that cannot be explained by science, therefore, these are not scientific questions.

Many religious folks are trying their darnedest to move ID into the scientific community. I would think that if any remote ounce of ID were based on scientific facts that they would bring this to the table in their argument. Since we have never seen any such data, it pretty much means there isn't any to be found. Not yet at least.

If ID is not provable to be a science-based study, then it should remain out of the scientific community, and yes, that means our children's science books. Trying to force scientists to add ID into their books does not make it science, it makes followers of ID very questionable.

Go study ID and ask your questions all you want to. Who's stopping you? When you get something worthwhile, come back and talk to us. Until the time comes when you bring real scientific evidence to the table about ID, stop trying to shove this man-made fairytale down our children's throats and passing it off for real science.

Although the questions that the possibility of ID brings to the discussion are interesting, I choose not to waste my time with them because I don't feel they are relevant any more then trying to prove the existence of the Galactic Chicken or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Our time on this Earth is limited, and spending time studying mythological pursuits seems to be a waste when so many other things need to be studied.

Spending your time studying cures for diseases is a more lofty use of your time then memorizing every phrase of a book based on tales to scare unbelievers. Heck, just using that time to spend with my daughters is infinitely more appealing then wondering how Moses parted the Red Sea.

I'm not saying people should not study the idea of ID if that's what floats their boat, I just don't want it forced onto others. It seems throughout history many religions have tried to force themselves on others. We're currently knee-deep in a war for that very reason.

In the past entire cities have been destroyed right down to the women, children and animals because people did not believe how others thought they should believe. By forcing your belief system into our schools and government you are following in the footsteps of others that have come before you. The argument that ID belongs in our science classes is nothing short of attempted brainwashing.

Christians have been freaking out recently because people are trying to make this country more generic when it comes to religion, and Christians are afraid they will lose their foothold as the dominant religion. They are in a state of panic because apparently allowing others to practice their religious beliefs, or at least stepping aside so others have a chance to worship how they like, is a bad thing.

All religions function by trying to make themselves desirable for followers to join. It's all about marketing. When competition comes along then historically religions pull out all the stops to prevent their flocks from dwindling.

Here's a question for you to ponder. If Christians are secure in their belief and know that it is the only path we should follow through life, why do they try so hard to remain in our government and schools? Why not just be content to worship in their churches and not try so hard to force their way into society as a whole? Because like any organization they need numbers to retain power. Small numbers mean less of an influence on just about everything.

Religion is a business. They collect money, buy property, and find loopholes to operate “in the black”. Without a steady source of income, their flock, they will shrivel up and waste away. Sure you will go to Hell if you don't give to your church, but what they really mean is that if you don't give they will disappear, not you.

Want to climb up on your soapbox and beat the drums of how ID should be allowed into our school science classes now? Go ahead, but you'd better bring something more substantial to your discussion other then the question of “whether or not we could tell if some intelligent force has influenced the development of life on earth“.

My two cents in the grand scheme of life on Earth. :)