“To occupy Iraq would instantly shatter our coalition, turning the whole Arab world against us and make a broken tyrant into a latter-day hero … assigning young soldiers to a fruitless hunt for a securely entrenched dictator and condemning them to fight in what would be an un-winnable urban guerilla war. It could only plunge that part of the world into even greater instability.”
– George Bush Sr.
Sure, we have a new leader - sure, America is filled with either fear or hope of the changes to come… but I want to talk about real changes.
That’s right - personal changes.
First off, the beard is gone. Funny thing about wearing a beard or goatee for the better part of a decade or more - when its gone, it throws people for a loop. I didn’t have anyone come right out and say, “Wow, you shaved off the beard.” I heard some, “Did you get a haircut?” an occasional, “Gee, you look younger” and even two people who said, “When did you grow the moustache?” haha Uh, when I was in high school. (That is the only thing that hasn’t gone away since I was first able to grow facial hair.)
Another big change is the new digs. Finally, after ten months of sleeping in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, I have moved into a three bedroom house. I still am not ready to purchase a home as I haven’t sold the one I own in Houston yet, but it sure is nice to have a little elbow room again.
I took some pics of the house the other day but was organizing all my shots so I didn’t lose them and I think they ended up on a storage drive at the office. Oh well, take my word for it that I am digging the new crash pad. I did manage to find some from the backyard.
I am sharing the new place with Blake and Eric, while Lou is sharing his backyard with Eric’s dog Lola. Lou, for one, is definitely digging have a backyard again.
I know this time of year the lack of grass doesn’t look all that great, but it is a nice big yard and we are just a few blocks away from a wilderness area of a couple hundred acres.
Good times!
Oh yeah, and I guess something happened concerning an election or something… I should look into that. 
As you have seen in the previous post, I just returned from a bike ride. I ended up doing a short little 15-mile jaunt through some of countryside surrounding San Marcos and it was great. Multimedia snafus aside, it was great to be out there spinning down the road.
I went against the wind on the way out and uphill on the way back, but it didn’t matter. The sound of the bike tire humming on the pavement, the smell of fresh air, the slight burn in the thighs on a sharp incline… its all great.
When the world gets too noisy and the to-dos get too numerous and seem too important, nothing sets me right better than a bike ride. It’s been that way for years.
After that ride - bring it on, I dare you to try to ruin my day - not going to happen.
“Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.”
– Richard Nixon
Well, the numbers for this debate were a lot different. Okay, not all of the numbers were different, actually it was Barack Obama that had the dramatic change in his score. Again, the criteria for grading is purely based on my opinion.
Every time a candidate says the right thing (i.e. something I agree with) he gets a check in the “Right” column. Every time something wrong is said, a check in the “Wrong” column. Also, every time there is an attempt to spin or dodge the question, there was a check in the “Spin/Dodge” column.
Interestingly enough, the percentage of combined comments that dealt with the economy and the bailout remained almost the same as the last one. (See report card from previous debate) In the first debate, 44% of the comments were about the economy, and in this debate, 37% covered that subject.
The amount of time (again combined) that the candidates spent talking about foreign affairs took a dramatic turn from 56% in the first debate, to only 25% this time around. This made way for subjects that were all but ignored in the first go-round - healthcare, energy, and domestic affairs.
Let’s start the ratings off with Spin. Once again, the spin master was Senator McCain.
47% Spin - Slightly more spin this time around for John McCain (up 2%.) Still shocking that nearly half of the time he is talking, it is an attempt to obfuscate.
25% Spin - Barrack Obama took a slight dip in his percentage of spin (down 2%.) Nearly half as much spin as McCain.
The most important grade, as always, is when I take a look at what percentage of the time the candidates answer correctly.
64% Correct - Senator Obama must be reading some blogs because his “correct” score took a nice jump (up 8%.) A 64 is still not a passing grade, but it is a heck of a lot closer to one.
28% Correct - I thought it would be impossible to score lower than his 29% from the last debate, but John McCain managed to get more wrong this time around.
Some other interesting numbers:
As always, don’t trust me - watch the debate for yourself and make up your own mind and don’t forget to vote.
Sometimes when you review a movie, you have to take your own beliefs out of it - this is just such a case. Go Tigers! is the story of high school football in Massillon, Ohio. It chronicles the 1999 season, but the subtext is the city and its passion for high school football.
Being a huge fan of ‘Texas’ high school football (the gold standard) and football in general, I figured I would like the film. Where it fell short for me was not in the claims I dispute, but in the craft of film making. Too many of the scenes were staged to tell the story - this is the first rule of documentary films - don’t ‘make’ the story, ‘find’ the story.
It actually took me two viewings to finish watching Go Tigers! because I fell asleep the first time. This is not wholly the film’s fault as I was tired when sitting down to watch. In the end, it was an interesting film - nothing particularly moving about the content, but something to watch if you are a big fan of high school football.
Now as to my disagreements with the claims - the best football town in America? Come on. There was nothing in that city that I haven’t seen in HUNDREDS of small towns in Texas. Towns getting behind their high school team is a phenomenon across all states. And yes, I have seen cities that make a BIGGER deal of their team than Massillon.
I think it mentioned that the Tigers were 22 time state champions and that they had won it like 11 out of 13 or something like that (don’t quote me on the numbers.) All that says is that there isn’t much good competition. The best in Texas just won their 8th state championship - partly because football is SOOO much better in Texas and partly because of the sheer volume of teams you have to get through to win it in the Lone Star State.
Just ask 23 time Louisiana state champions, John Curtis Christian.
RATING 6 out of 10
I was watching a Jimmy Stewart film (see below) on AMC the other day when I saw an ad for the television premiere of Star Trek: Nemesis. There was a faint hint of recognition, I just couldn’t remember anything about it. Surely, this was one of their forgettable film incarnations that fanboys everywhere loved. I figured that like all the other good sci-fi geeks of the world, I saw it when it came out and then promptly forgot about it. I set the video recorder to grab it.
What I discovered was a Star Trek film that I had NEVER seen. Yeah, how weird is that? I know I am losing all my sci-fi cred in admitting the oversight, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how I never saw it. I can see that it was at a time in my life (2002) when I was very busy with some personal and business issues. I can only imagine that I told myself I would watch it later and never did.
Long story short - it is what you can expect from a Star Trek film - campiness, fanboy one-liners, corny dialogue, weak plot, and appreciation that can only come from having seen the entire pantheon of TV and films.
As a trek film, it is not the worst and not the best - just more of the same. Love it or hate it - this one won’t change your mind.
RATING 6 out of 10
The film I originally set out to watch, The Rare Breed (1966), was an interesting one for Jimmy Stewart. It is one of the few I had never seen and it has a couple things that made it special for me. First and foremost, it was a classic cowboy film - a genre that I love when it comes to Stewart. Next, the character of Alexander Bowen played by Brian Keith was a hoot. He was a gruff Scottish immigrant raising longhorn cattle in Texas. Interestingly when he got all “duded up” in his military gear, instead of a kilt, he wore plaid pants. I can only assume this had something to do with “Americanizing” the outfit for some decency standard or something. Either way, it is funny as all get out.
The other thing I like was the historical backdrop. The Rare Breed tells the story of the introduction of the Hereford breed of cattle and their introduction into the United States - Texas in particular. The idea is that this new breed with more meat was to be crossbred with the Texas Longhorn. This combined the meat production with the sturdiness of the Longhorn.
RATING 7 out of 10
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot.
Interesting history behind this day.
In recent years (and in films such as V for Vendetta) this day has come to represent a day in which the masses stand up against tryants. (ie. the November 5th fundraising push for constitutionalist Presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul)
In actuality however, the holiday and the rhyme celebrate the exact opposite. The poem celebrates how England put an end to the gunpowder plot and captured Guy Fawkes. The celebration is a fireworks laden festival that culminates with burning the revolutionary in effigy.
A note to would-be revolutionaries… if you are going to co-opt history to rally support, it is best to get the facts first… maybe you missed the last line in the poem…
God save the King!
The last vestige of my “Wild Man of Borneo” look is gone. The hair was lopped off a little while back which took me in the direction of looking civilized and finally I dropped the full beard last night.
I decided to stay with the goatee as it is about as bald-faced as I am willing to go. It pretty safe to assume that when it comes to changing my appearance, I am good for a little while, but I will be bored soon enough. Maybe I’ll go with the bald head? I have been toying with that idea for about ten years and just haven’t been brave enough to give it a try.
What do you think? What should I try next? Bald? a Mohawk? I think cornrows are too 80’s - haha. I am open to suggestions though.
You remember what a BBS was? You know, the bulletin board system - the precursor of the Internet. Before there was Yahoo! and MySpace, before Ebay and Amazon, there was a network of these dial-up bulletin board systems.
Most of them were run by folks like me. I had an efficiency apartment (my first place in Houston) and next to my bed sat a computer connected to the extra phone line… this was Good Sports BBS. That’s right… I ran one of the most popular bulletin boards around. This sports-themed online community featured online games, chat rooms, message boards, fantasy sports, and even sports memorabilia auctions.
It is weird in that I met some of my friends through Good Sports BBS. This was in a time long before anything as exciting as video or even pictures were available online. The height of our media sharing in those days were ascii graphics (if you have to ask… never mind.) One of the biggest successes was a self-running electronic newsletter that people downloaded and played on their computer called “Digital Echo News.” It featured editorials (of course) by myself, submissions from other citizen journalists, digital art, and all manner of tech news. I sure wish I could find an old copy.
The reason I bring all of this up is not to lament that I had the mechanics of an Ebay or Amazon long before the web was invented… no, its just that I noticed my only surviving remnant from that time - one lone tshirt. On my wall still hangs the only remaining tshirt from those early days. These were given out as prizes for winning things like the fantasy league or just sold so my users could show the world that they were indeed uber-geeks.
Now, twenty years later… I am still connected via the same wires (albeit faster,) still bringing disparate people together to form communities, and still surfing on the edge of the newest geek stuff. The more things change…
