Riding with the window down…

Dawn was looking online for some tracks to use on her iPod while running and the track Fischer Store Road by Sarah Jarosz showed up. The title caught her eye because there is a Fischer Store Road not far from the house here in Wimberley.

A little digging later and we discovered that Sarah was indeed from Wimberley and the track was about that very same road. It is an instrumental track that is real upbeat and fun. Her style can best be described as sort of a funky bluegrass - fun stuff.

One of the other interesting tracks is Shankill Butchers. It is a bit of a creepy song about murderers that sounds like something out of a Tim Burton soundtrack. That of course, got us wondering what it was about… once again, a little digging was in order. The song first recorded by the Decemberists in 2006, tells of a group of murderers in the Shankill region of Northern Ireland during the early 1970s.

The Shankill Butchers, as they were dubbed in the media, killed roughly 30 people over the course of a few years in sectarian violence that marked the era of strife between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland. There is some great information about the group in the Wikipedia entry.

It was an interesting rabbit hole through which we took a diversion that all started with the Fischer Store Road track. My take-away from all this is a good album by Sarah Jarosz, a good education about a time that has always been a bit gray to me, and of course - an interesting story.

There are two seasons where you can usually count on seeing a good movie or two - the Summer blockbusters and the Christmas blockbusters. This Christmas season has provided me with two good movie outings. Both of them made me skeptical at first, but in the end, both delivered solid entertainment.

First up was Avatar - the nearly HALF A BILLION DOLLAR blockbuster by James Cameron. Visually, this film was amazing. This is another notch in Cameron’s bankability belt - when his name is on it - you’re looking at a hit. Even lame films like the last Terminator do well - because Cameron is associated with it. (Interestingly, Sam Worthington - who played the lead, Jake Sully was also in the last Terminator and will be in the remake of Clash of the Titans, he has action hero star written all over him.)

This film really had little to do with Cameron or Worthington… it was all about the CGI and in that respect, it ROCKED! Sure, the storyline was weak and a very transparent political/social commentary. Sure, the characters were as stereotypical as anything to come out of Hollywood. But visually, Avatar made you overlook all the flaws.

It was slow in the opening third of the film and predictable throughout, but you just couldn’t take your eyes off the screen. I would watch it again just for the visuals.

RATING 7 out of 10

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Next was Guy Ritchie’s interpretation of Sherlock Holmes as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. Now you have to understand that there is likely no more important fictional character in my life than Sherlock Holmes. I have always loved Holmes, and I have seen every single incarnation available. For that reason, I was extremely nervous seeing the previews for this film as it looked to be nothing like the legend created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Downey was nothing like the Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett Holmes (my favorite) but not nearly as quirky as the trailers made it appear.

Yeah, he did a serviceable interpretation, but in the end, there was too much Robert Downey Jr. in the character. He was no different than he was in Iron Man - no different than he was in The Pickup Artist - no different than he has been in ALL of his roles. Face it - Downey has no range. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of RDJ and I think he may have a role that he could continue for years in Holmes. This is a great character for him to play because Holmes is so cocksure, smart, and witty. The fact that so many older people have played the character successfully leads me to think that he could be doing remakes for a couple more decades without missing a beat. This is one instance when typecasting is a good fit.

Because Holmes has been such an important literary figure in my life, I am sure that I will see each and every incarnation of the famed sleuth of 221B Baker Street, and although I will be skeptical, I will give them a fair shake. Robert Downey Jr. I can get used to - Jude Law as Watson I can get used to - Rachel McAdams as his tough-as-nails female foil, uh, I guess - Guy Ritchie, MTV-generation fight sequences in a period piece like this…. that may be a little tougher.

RATING 8 out of 10

I crashed my bike the other day - okay, crash may be a bit hyperbolic. I did have a mishap, but it was nothing serious. I was heading up a sketchy hill with a lot of loose gravel and just as I was thinking, “I should clip out,” I was on the ground before I knew it.

Cornering on an uphill, when your tire slides out, and you’re clipped into the pedals, usually means only one thing - you’re going down. It always means the fall will be ungraceful. Without the ability to put a foot down to catch, all you can do is hope to guide gravity a bit with some frantic body english. I splayed out over the handlebars and managed to break my fall with gloves on both hands taking the brunt of the impact. My right knee however, smacked hard into the top tube of the bike frame.

After a second to pause and do an internal system check, I popped up and went about my ride. I really didn’t notice the knee until the next day, but it has been pretty tender since.

As falling off my bike is something that comes very rarely, I had to think hard to remember the last time it happened.

I was riding the Ant Hills in Houston and decided to take the much more technical route in an area that gave us a choice. Dave took the high road as I bombed in and out of the trees, over vines, around rocks, and up and down gullies and ravines. As this was the first time I had taken that route, I should have done it slower to scout it a bit, but I was having a blast.

I broke out of a heavily wooded area and saw something I wasn’t expecting - a straight drop of about thirty feet with a narrow bridge crossing a ravine smack dab at the base. I was halfway down the drop before it even registered that this was not going to end well.

In an effort to cut right and line up with the bridge, I slid hard. The bike reacted more than I expected and my right shoulder smacked hard into an Oak tree about ten inches in diameter. I remember the impact, I remember instantly laying on my back on the tiny bridge, and I remember my bike flying through the air directly toward my head. Then it went black.

The guy that was down there watching it, tells me that my left arm shot out, grabbed the bike by the frame inches from my head, guiding its momentum enough to miss. Apparently, then I just lay there silently. He said that about ten seconds later, I kinda looked up and just lay there still for a bit.

I do remember waking up on the bridge and trying to decipher how I got there, but have no memory of the attack of the flying bike. I walked up the other side of the hill back to the easy trail where Dave was waiting with a look of triumph for having beaten me to that junction.

Now there is talk about a GM bailout or the impending collapse of the prehistoric automaker. I want to make a couple of points here.

1 - Capitalism is designed so that the smartest, leanest, best-run companies survive and the dinosaurs go under. You can’t complain that giving healthcare to citizens if communism without agreeing that giving welfare to giant conglomerates is communism as well - it is just welfare for the rich.

2 - GM’s largest stake holder is State Street Global Advisors. They are an 800lb gorilla in a room of 800lb gorilla institutional investors. They are owned by Barclays of London, Credit Suisse, themselves - you name it - all fabulously wealthy companies. In fact, if you look at the largest companies in the world, nearly all are owned by a dozen of these financial giants. THEY need to bailout their company. They have more money than the US Government and certainly more than the US taxpayers, who they are asking to foot the bill for their mismanagement.

3 - If your company was doing poorly, there would be no one to bail you out - at least not without taking over some ownership. They do NOT need a bailout from the US taxpayer. If these companies value GM, they will save it. We need to call their bluff.

How do you call their bluff. Bitch. That’s right - get on the phone or shoot an email to your elected officials (at every level) and tell them that you WILL NEVER VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN if the bailouts do not stop NOW.

That’s right - it is tax day. It’s the time of year when we pay “our share” of what it takes to run our government. This is where those highways and all those other great government services come from. Oh wait, we don’t really get much in the way of helpful government.

This is where we pay for those bridges to nowhere, $2,000 screwdrivers, corporate bailouts, fat-cat money laundering schemes, curbs on individual freedoms, military/industrial complexes, and countless other “services.”

If you don’t do it for yourself, please - remember this day when you vote - for our children’s future.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has come out with a amazing new report. Apparently, when a larger vehicle crashes into a smaller one, the smaller takes more damage. I am so glad I have the lapdog for the auto industry to teach me about the basics of physics.

Yes, the IIHS took the current trendy microcars - Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, and Smart ForTwo and crashed them into larger midsize sedans. Their findings were not at all surprising, but the report was written as if it was a shocking revelation. It read like something out of Fox News teaser - “Are you driving a coffin? Find out at 10!”

The IIHS went further and blamed lower fuel consumption, saying this is why manufacturers are making smaller (more dangerous) cars. They suggest that the plan by the Obama administration making fuel economy vehicle-type-specific instead of fleet-wide will take away the incentive for manufacturers to make smaller, more fuel efficient cars. (And they are probably right)

So what’s my take? Look, I don’t care what kind of car you buy. If you need (or want) a truck - then by all means - do it. If you want fuel economy to save some bucks - more power to you. This is America. What gets me steamed is when these entities spread propaganda under the guise of public safety or information. What’s wrong with telling the truth? Why all the damn spin? Oh yeah - we’re stupid and need you, obviously more intelligent people, to help us make up our minds.

Am I the only one that finds the new GM “Total Confidence” ad campaign insulting? (Actually, I know I’m not the only one because when I was watching it with someone this weekend, we both agreed)

That’s right - turn your cap inside out and we can “turn this thing around.” Oh yeah, and uh…. buy a GM - that will help too.

What about helping out the person that just bought a car they can’t afford? This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Just like the mortgage bailout didn’t help the people who needed it - buying a new Corvette will not help the public either.

CNBC takes an in-depth look at how data is collected and used in their special: Big Brother, Big Business.

What happened to CHANGE? Wasn’t that was Obama was supposed to bring? Hmmm… not so much. The Economic Stimulus plan is a cash grab, plain and simple. The Republicans did it with the housing & credit bailout, and the Democrats are doing the same damn thing - different scare tactic. A 1,000 plus page document that $800 billion taxpayer dollars and it wasn’t even made available for scrutiny. Why? Because it is 80% fraud highlighted with a few hundred million in kickbacks to citizens. For the most part, this is more corporate theft and all you will get out of it is $400 off your tax bill.

There is nothing new about this administration - it is business as usual. Who invented the plans for these bailouts? The same guys that put your elected officials in office. $800 billion for the credit crisis - how does it make sense to give that money to those that screwed it all up? Why not give the money BACK to the taxpayers, or better yet - pay off their mortgages with it. Then, the banks and lending institutions stay solvent AND you get a generation of citizens with their houses paid off. Talk about an incentive to get out and spend - pay off my house and watch how fast I put some cash into the system.

Same thing with this retarded stimulus plan. Put huge incentives on creating affordable, recyclable energy sources and watch the American people create what this “green” energy plan sets out to do, but in 1/10th the time - and at 1/100th of the cost. Stop the corporate handouts - why not try to return some of the people’s money to the people and eliminate the disgusting corporate tax breaks and loopholes. You’ll end up with MORE money in the system and MORE money available in the government coffers as well.

Long story short - if you’re expecting this stimulus package to change your life for the positive in any way - you are ill-informed. Politics as usual - unfortunately, over the past decade, the “usual” has been increasingly to plunder our country and economy with no regard for the future.

Ideas are great things - I started playing with wordle.net after seeing it on Lisa Marie’s website. Tony took that idea, and ran the Preamble to the United States Constitution through it. After he showed me his word cloud, I went back and submitted the Constitution itself for this one.

The most telling thing here that the people in Washington seem to have forgotten. The largest word here is STATES followed by STATE. That’s how the document was designed - for the states to have power and the national government works FOR them.