This Impacts you... and I mean YOU.

I saw Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, last Saturday. It was very informative. But one problem. I think this movie is preaching to the choir. I knew most of the stuff (not all) that was mentioned and the feeling I got was that most of the crowd was in the same boat.

I personally think most everyone should see this movie, even if you don't Like Al Gore or think global warming is not occurring. The reason: maybe something mentioned in this move will hit home, maybe it will open you eyes, but most of all it will make you think. Maybe it will make you think about you future and you family's future and maybe do something, no mater how small, that may help this problem out that can no longer be ignored. Someday this will impact all of our lives and something must be done. We all live on the same planet and breathe the same air. How Does this not effect you?

Plus what is the harm in knowing the other side? Won't that make you a more effective debater?


Here is a small clip from the Futurama Guys.



Anyway I challenge any global warming non-believer to at least give this movie a chance. And if you dont want to support the cause then buy a ticket to another movie and sneak in. I won't tell anyone.

Emotional Roller Coaster....

Sedley Alley was executed last night at 2:12am.

This sucks because we should NOT be killing people for any reason, no matter what they did. But what really get me is that he was granted a Stay of Execution earlier in the day. Then that was overturned. So put yourself in his shoes. Being told that you going to die, then told you will live another day, then strapped down and killed. That is just mean and uncalled for. Whether or not you think that Lethal Injection* is cruel or not playing with someone emotions like that before killing them is cruel. The state could have waited a few days. He is on death row, what could he have done? Nothing.

And why was Paul Dennis Reid able to wave at the witnesses? Seems a bit odd.


* I think Lethal Injection is cruel. In most cases it is not administered by a doctor, but by some guy who could mess it up. I have heard EMT's sometimes do it. I used to be and EMT and there is no way I was anywhere near qualified to do that. Doctors are only there to pronounce death.

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and for all you Sam Raimi fans out there Evil Dead 2 is playing at the Belcourt on July 14 and 15 at 11pm. I am gonna miss it cause I'll be flying back from Portland, Oregon.

Monday Movie Quote # 7

Garland Greene: What if I told you insane was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?

.....

["Sweet Home Alabama" plays in background]
Garland Greene: Define irony: a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash.

From Con Air. Garland Greene is Steve Buscemi

Random Movie Scene ... sort of

So in honor of my sighting of Jack White this Saturday walking out of Fulan's Asian Cuisine over by the new Target in Brentwood, I give you Jack and Meg's Scene from Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes. (7 minutes long). He a lot taller than he looks on TV.

Frist the Kitty-killer??

From the Tennessean:

There's a potential pothole in U.S. Sen. Bill Frist's road to the White House: He's a confessed kitty killer.

He fessed up in his 1989 book, "Transplant," to adopting cats from shelters when he was in medical school, treating them like pets for a while, and then using them in his research experiments

Whoa dude. I didn't know that. But to his credit:

To his credit, the future senator wrote that it was a "heinous and dishonest
thing to do."

I suppose it a good thing he realized his wrong doing. But it brings up all kinds of questions about his moral fabric. What kind of person would even think of, let alone do something like this? Did he think he was a Mad Scientist? Not following the proper protocols for animal research. And doing this even before he was a doctor. I could continue to go on.

This is a bit reminiscent of the possible thought patters of a few human based research studies: the Tuskegee syphilis experiment where 400 African-American sharecroppers where watched with untreated syphilis between 1932 and 1972 and an experiment inthe 1940's in Chicago using where they used prisoners and infected then with Malaria. I both case the people where infected with out knowlege of what was being done the them .Nazi doctors in the Nuremberg trials used the chicago trial as a defense for there research studies during WWII.

See where this may lead? I am not saying it will, but it could. A man in this type of power posititon could be dangerious.

Something to think about.

Adventures in Bread Making

I do a lot of cooking and I have for a long time wanted to make homemade bread. My last apartment's stove was a piece of crap that the management would not do anything about. The oven was so bad that when I would make a cake, half would be over cooked and part would be way undercooked. If I baked anything I would have to set my timer for half of what the recipe would say.

anyway, since I am now in a new apartment and the stove is much better I figured it was about time to test my cooking skills by trying to make bread. My first try is with a basic bread recipe from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver cookbook. The recipe is as follows (from page 184):

3/4 oz of active dry yeast
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups of tepid water
2 lbs of flour (recipe called for 1 lbs of regular flower and 1 lbs of durum semolina flour)
2 tablespoons of salt

• dissolve yeast in 1 cup of water and 2 table spoons of honey
• make a pile of flower and salt on a large table or bowl and add yeast mixture once it is dissolved.
  
• mix with hands till all the mixture is absorbed add the next cup (more if needed) of water till the dough has the correct consistency.
• knead the bread for about 5 minutes to develope the structure of eh dough and the gluten
• allow to rise for approximately 1 hour till the size of the dough doubles
• next punch it down to release the air and then shape the bread the way you want it and then score the top and let it rise again until its double the size.
  
• I then baked it for 15 minutes at 425 degrees (the recipe says till it sound hollow when you tap bottom)
  

this is what it looked like:



Kind of ugly looking but man did it taste good. MMMMMMM!!!!!

My next adventure will most likely be using beer instead of water. Then I may add some flavors such as Rosemary or maybe a homemade pizza crust.

Ignorance...or bad education?

Did you know that only 27% of people over the age of 25 have a college degree? Man does it show.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been reported killed.

First of all I need to get something off my chest. I do not believe that killing anyone for any reason is OK. I don't care who they are or how evil they may be. Killing is wrong.

Now with that said I do understand this a war zone and things like this will happen. But I have to ask myself, after watching the news this morning, just how much good is this going to do? How long till we hear another name come up? How long till the rewards and the news focus will be on him? How long till another tape is released?

Almost all organizations have a plan for replacing a leader in the case of a loss. And of course this will only cause a slight bump in the progress of an organization but a plan like this has to be in place to keep a organization running. Do you not think that there is a guy that is set to take al-Zarqawi's place or a guy to take the place of that guy and so on? The only way to get rid of these people is to kill them all and that is just not realistic (like sending all the illegal immigrants home, just not realistic).

This is why I think that trying to kill people to get rid of them is a bad idea simply cause it will never end. There has to be another way. A way of not pissing them off and keeping ourselves safe. The question is, as a country are we willing to try that or not? Or will we continue to let our young men and women in uniform die so we can keep killing the insurgency's leaders one at a time.

I wonder if the military guys that killed al-Zarqawi will get to split the 25 million reward?

Cheekwood Pictures

I went to Cheekwood Botanical Gardens this last weekend. Last time I was there was 6 years ago. I only got to see about half of the place but I took some pictures of what I saw.














There are more at my buzznet site.

This was a good chance to get some camera time. I have always been interested in learning to photograph. Maybe I should take a class or something.

Any criticism or helpful hits you can give me?

D-Day

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine; the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe; and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely. But this is the year 1944. Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeat in open battle man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned. The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower on D-Day, June 6th , 1944


Thank You.



MP3

No Luck

So I was unsucessful last night in moving my blog. Does anyone have any ideas?

Big day.

So tonight after I get off work I think I am going to go ahead am migrate my blog from Blogger to Movable Type. I was going to do it last night but I an afraid I will lose the 391 post prior in the move. So I been studying and planning how to migrate and how to backup everything with my Hosting service just in case I goof up. But as with most change, it wont happen if you don't take risks.

So tonight I will migrate, for better or worse.

Some technical notes, my address will NOT change and my site feeds and such also WILL NOT change. I assume my blog will be unavailable or badly formatted during the time I actually move it.

Anyway wish me luck.

How Painfully True

From Todays Nashville City Paper and Yesterday's Denver Post (artist Mike Keffe):