Don't Forget Your SunscreenDon't Forget Your SunscreenInitially inspired by my experience as an archaeological volunteer in Israel last summer this blog has become my way of escaping from the mundane.
Articles:
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Articles
Tear Down This Wall!
2009-11-09 17:15:00 It began on the 12th of June, 1987 when President Ronald Reagan stood at the foot of the Brandenburg Gate and called for the Soviet Union to end the Cold War. President called for Mr. Gorvchev to take down the Berlin Wall that had for so long separated the oppressed people of East Germany from the freedom and democracy of the west.President Reagan had an unwavering belief in freedom and an ideal that freedom truly did matter to all people around the world. And because of President Reagan's unwavering belief in freedom, 20 years ago today on November 9th, 1989, the Berlin Wall, a symbol of Communist oppression, was torn down by the citizens it had enslaved for nearly half a century. Before calling on Mr. Gorbechev to "Open gate! Mr Gorbechev Tear down this wall!" President Reagan spoke of a duty to freedom that American Presidents have. "We come to Berlin, we American Presidents, because it's our duty to speak in this place of freedom."Freedom Matters. So on this, the 20th Anniv...
2009 Election, Health Care Vote and the GOP "civil war" in New York
2009-11-08 19:19:00 Its been a little over a week since I last had the time to post, but it seems a lot happened during the week I was campaigning in Virginia for Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell. So here is a recap of what has changed on the political landscape over the last week and a half and the implications it has going forward, especially into the 2010 midterms. In Virginia, Bob McDonnell, the Republican ticket (Bill Bolling Lt. Gov, and Ken Cucinnelli Att. Gen) and Republicans candidates for the Virginia State House of Delegates won so overwhelmingly on November 3rd that the election was called less than an hour after the polls closed. Now Virginia is a state that Obama won in 2008 and a state that Obama must win in 2012 if he wants to be re-elected. Virginia is also a bellwether state. And in this particular election democrats didn't get beat. They put their ideas and policies on the local and national level on the table. The American public has seen what the Administration and democrat leadershi... More About: Health , New York , Health Care , York , Care
iPhone Politics
2009-10-30 05:20:00 Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Page, has a great, non-partisan, editorial in today's Wall Street Journal that is absolutely worth a read. In his analysis of Obamacare and the politics we have seen under the current Democratic congress and Obama administration he points out a few reasons the democrats are failing on a much larger level than the details of why Obamacare is a horrible piece of legislation. If you don't have the time to read it here is my quick summary of his article:In 2008 the droves of younger voters (18-40) that turned out in record numbers to vote for "change" wanted a President and a Congress that would move beyond old school politics. A system based on Windows 95, one-size fits all to a system with 100,00 apps tested and improved to cater to the individual. Democrats and specifically Obama have 100% failed to attempt, let alone achieve this goal. Today's voters and the most of America outside the far-left live in a wo... More About: Politics , Iphone
Let Censorship Begin! (or not...)
2009-10-23 18:25:00 In case you have missed any of the thrilling saga of the White House trying to burn the 1st Amendment of the constitution he is a quick recap of Obama's foray into press censorship via the White House War on Fox News:The war began when White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said that Fox News is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." And “Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party, We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent. As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don't need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.'' Now this is the same Anita Dunn that just a few weeks ago admitted that during the campaign the Obama team "controlled" the press. And it is the same Anita Dunn who recently told a gymnasium of high schoolers that her most admired political philosopher is none other than Chairman Mao. And not to out... More About: Censorship
Amazing Pop-Up Diorama Made of Legos!
2009-10-20 14:13:00 From Alex on Neatorama: "a pop-up diorama of the Kinkaku-ji Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan, made entirely out of LEGO blocks! YouTube user talapz created this out of 4,500 bricks." More About: Amazing , Made
As Global Warming Continues, Montanans Prepare for Frostbite
2009-10-12 14:31:00 Currently, the top two headlines on the Drudge Report read as follows...BBC:What Happened to Global Warming ...Montana Cold Breaks Record...Now, I have to point out that I was pretty excited to click on a link on the Drudge Report and be re-directed to "Montana's News Station," but I was more excited when I realized that, whereas I could be hunkered down trying to keep warm back at home in the States, I currently live in a city that posted almost 80 degree weather today! Now, 80 degrees in October is not out of the question in Montana, but to be able to count on warm days all week, midway through October, is something that I'm not quite used to yet. I'm working on being comfortable with this...Which, in some random way, leads me to my next point. The article from the BBC begs the question that I've been asking myself for a few months now; "What happened to global warming?" We haven't heard much about it in the news recently, which either reflects poorly on the media for neglecti...
Batman: The Musical?
2009-10-12 10:57:00 So, what's a guy to do when he lives in Turkey and doesn't have to go to work until 6 PM. Spend his days surfing the internet finding fun and exciting new things, of course! Which brings me to this little gem from The Zeray Gazette by way of Neatorama.It seems Cartoon Network is currently airing a new Batman animate series called "Batman: The Brave and the Bold." More information on the new series, currently airing it's first season, can be found here. One particular episode, which apparently hasn't aired in the States yet, guest stars Neil Patrick Harris as "The Music Meister," a villain with the ability to hypnotize people with his beautiful singing voice. The episode is currently available through YouTube - but may not be up for long as it is set to air on October 22, so watch it while it's still there! I'll make it easy and give you the first part...Go here for Part Twoand here for Part Three More About: Musical
Even Jimmy Carter did more
2009-10-09 11:34:00 In an astounding move to further discredit the reputation of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee today voted to give the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to none other than President Obama. They gave it to him for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."Seriously? Even Jimmy Carter didn't get his until the Camp David Accords. That at least involved sitting two men around a table who hated each other. Other than a black professor and a white police officer Obama hasn't even come close to a sham peace in the middle east like Carter did. In fact Obama's international diplomacy is so bad he couldn't even convince the International Olympic Committee to send the 2016 games to Chicago. Thats how much clout he has on the international stage. And lets talk further about peace. The war in Afghanistan has only become deadlier than ever under his watch, remember this from a few posts back? "So far this month, 38 American troops ha... More About: Jimmy Carter
More in the Health Care Saga
2009-10-09 11:06:00 In an interesting and potentially damaging letter to Congress, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops takes the time to point out 3 main reasons they will currently not support the democrats health care legislation. 1. It currently doesn't stop mandated abortions, 2. It doesn't include measures that protect and improve health care and 3. It doesn't provide for legal immigrant access.Now on the first point, the Catholic church, in my opinion, should accept the fact that their past, present and continued support of the Democrat party, it's members and its elected officials, has landed itself with a government that supports abortion. The DNC platform and all 50 state democrat parties have a platform that supports abortion. That they would now be so shocked to find abortion language in a national health care package should not be a shock to them at all. What should be a shock to the millions of Catholics around the nation is that their church has chosen over the years t... More About: Health , Health Care , Care
Touche Verizon
2009-10-08 13:41:00 I think this video speaks for itself, so I'm not going to say anything else about it... More About: Verizon
Potentially Bad News for Health Care
2009-10-08 01:57:00 It is being reported over at Red State that some Republican senators are talking about folding on health care and voting for a government sponsored system. More About: News , Health , Health Care , Bad News , Care
Stunning, funny and storied photos
2009-10-01 18:46:00 Found this over at Neatorama:The San Diego Lyceum Theatre Gallery has held a modern photography competition every year for the past five years, titled the Art of Photography Show. With submissions from 56 countries and over 16,000 photos submitted there are some really neat photos to take a look at. Here are the links for the different categories as well as some of my favorites from the galleries.10 Stunning Photos The Humorous Side of Everyday Life12 Masters of Visual Storytelling More About: Funny
Bush the Warmonger or Obama the Warmonger
2009-09-30 00:54:00 In a recent article discussing the press coverage of caskets arriving at Dover Air Force Base in the Washington Examiner an interesting fact stuck out to me that wasn't even the main point of the story. "So far this month, 38 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan. For all of 2009, the number is 220 -- more than any other single year and more than died in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 combined."For all of the talk about President Bush being such a warmonger and sending our troops to die for nothing, since President Obama has taken office more soldiers have died in the War in Afghanistan than during the war fought under the leadership of President Bush for the first FOUR years. This begs the questions of what exactly our new President is doing to lead our troops in that theater of operations. For a man promising so strongly to end all war in the middle east he sure has a bad record of doing so, and it has been to the peril of our armed service men and women.
The Further Stupidity of Mr. Obama
2009-09-22 23:13:00 Overshadowed by his appearance on every single Sunday morning show and Late Night with David Letterman, Obama gave an interview last week with Bloomberg News that reveals a very startling position that his administration may be taking regarding the continuing economic crisis. “Why is it,” [Obama] asked, “that we’re going to cap executive compensation for Wall Street bankers but not Silicon Valley entrepreneurs or N.F.L. football players?”Now at first this may seem like a rather innocuous statement made on the topic of capping executive pay compensation, and that is most likely why this received such little play in the MSM. But here is what I believe this statements means for further discussions and policies regarding our economy. Obama was asked why he was being so tepid on demanding executive pay compensation and he replied with that statement. Which to me means one of two things:A. Fixing our economic crisis is a black and white issue, to Obama it is either everyone's... More About: Stupidity
YES!!!!!!!!!!!
2009-09-20 06:36:00 see more Funny GraphsTruthfully, as an adult, you don't need to have kids to play with Legos...but it helps. From GraphJam on FAILblog.
Thank You Mr. (Former) President
2009-09-17 06:57:00 Thank you Jimmy Carter for this gem..."When a radical fringe element of demonstrators and others begin to attack the president of the United States as an animal or as a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler or when they wave signs in the air that said we should have buried Obama with Kennedy, those kinds of things are beyond the bounds," the Democrat who served from 1977-1981 told students at Emory University.But, just for my own edification - was this ok?What about this...This one?Oh wait, I forgot...those are all just satire.Read the rest of the former President 's statements here...
A Truly Iconic Film Series
2009-09-16 18:25:00 What if some of the iconic films of the later 20th century were made during the golden era of the industry? YouTube user whoiseyevan answers that very question with a wonderful series of three (so far) re-worked movie trailers; Ghostbusters 1954, Raiders of the Lost Ark 1951 and Forrest Gump 1949. Utilizing black and white material from the period he turns Charlton Heston into Indiana Jones and Jimmy Stewart becomes Forrest Gump. Enjoy.Via Neatorama.This post is rated SPF 50. More About: Film , Series
1984 anyone?
2009-09-16 09:18:00 Ever wondered how to insult the President of the United States by the book? Well Dem Congresswoman Louise Slaughter of New York has a handy rule book of what is allowed and what is not allowed to be said by your representative in Congress. From Politico:House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has released a helpful, updated primer for members regarding their conduct on the floor and in committees.Especially useful: The section on how to properly insult the executive branch in the in the chamber."Disgrace" and "nitwits" -- okay."Liar" or "sexual misconduct" -- ixnay.Under section 370 of the House Rules and Manual it has been held that a Member could:• refer to the government as “something hated, something oppressive.”• refer to the President as “using legislative or judicial pork.”• refer to a Presidential message as a “disgrace to the country.”• refer to unnamed officials as “our half-baked nitwits handling foreign affairs.”Likewise, it has ...
You Won't Need Glasses
2009-09-15 06:31:00 You won't need special glasses to enjoy this 3-dimensional scan of the Northeast Church at Hippos. The scan was conducted this dig-season and the following video shows a "fly-through" of the church. This technology is pretty incredible, I'm curious to see if they do anything else with this information!This post is rated SPF 0 because the scanning was all done at night!
Stove Repair with Dad
2009-09-12 00:15:00 And now it's time for another thrilling episode of "Stove Repair with Dad." Enjoy.This post is rated SPF 450 - If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen...especially when dad's in there.
That was Innocuous Enough
2009-09-08 18:37:00 A few thoughts on the President's Speech to America's school-children...oh wait, let me rephrase that. According to the "Language Police" America is "banned because it suggests geographical chauvinism unless it refers to all people in North America, South America, and Central America; refer instead to people of the United States."So, let's try this again...A few thought's on the President's Speech to the school-children of the United States...1. The speech was incredibly innocuous, and frankly, not overly inspiring. 2. I was never worried THAT the President was giving a speech. More so, I was worried WHAT the speech would be about. I had been afraid, based on the original lesson plan that was released, that the speech would be much more political and more agenda-driven. With that said, I am curious if the speech we saw today would have been the same if there had not been any controversy over the lesson plan mentioned above. 3. To me, as an educator and someone who has worked wi...
Mike Tyson..er... Democrat activist strikes in Southern California
2009-09-04 05:35:00 In what can only be described as a Mike Tyson style attack, according to reports out of Ventura, California today, during a protest over Obamacare, a pro-Obamacare supporter from a MoveOn.org supported rally bit off the pinky finger of 65 year-old William Rice. According to Rice, during the course of his protest a member of Code Pink engaged him in a debate on the street. After a bit a man from the MoveOn.org rally came over and began to argue with the right leaning protest. What ensued was a street fight between the two men in which Rice had his finger bitten off. The man who did the biting took off down the road and his identity is still unknown. After a quick trip to the hospital doctors could not reattach the severed finger. Now I understand this is a heated issue, but seriously why would a grown man think it was ok to bite off another mans finger. You can't resort to violence like that just because someone disagrees with you. I think as Obama goes before congress on Sept. ... More About: Southern
Happy, Healthy and Completely Unawares...
2009-09-03 07:18:00 Ok, I'm convinced - I don't want Swine Flu...I don't want any flu. The flu's no fun, but seriously; why are my tax-dollars paying for this ad as well as www.flu.gov; which, apparently, provides "One Stop Access to U.S. Government H1N1, avian and pandemic flu information." Last I checked, the flu is the flu, and, according to this report from May - Swine flu is not hyper-virulent. While it spreads relatively easily it does not appear to be any more virulent that the strains we have circulating every year around the world.... Currently [remember - May] in the US it appears that for every 1000 people who get infected, about 40 people need admission to hospital and about one person dies. This is a still an aggressive virus, but no more so than the Flu viruses that change slightly every year or so, and then circulate around the world, mainly causing problems in winter....Given this Swine Flu strain is H1, we would expect many in the population to have some immunity because variations... More About: Happy , Healthy
The Longest Amendment
2009-09-01 12:30:00 This past evening I was helping out my younger brother as he was working on a 'getting to know the constitution' worksheet for his American Government class. As we went through the sheet it became very apparent that he was not exactly appreciating the 'historical' context that I was adding to his work, he just wanted to fill in the bubbles and move on to other things. It may seem like the constitution is a dusty old piece of parchment written by men who wore wigs and make-up, sitting in a non-air-conditioned brick building in the late 18th Century, but I was reminded tonight that there are some very interesting stories of how our constitution was written and why it has stood the test of time to uphold our republic. With that said here is a story you may or may not know about the US Constitution, and hopefully it will be slightly more appreciated than Monday night at my house. At 24 words, the 27th Amendment of the Constitution may not be the longest Amendment in word count (t...
The Author's Quiet Birthday
2009-08-27 05:48:00 Ray Bradbury turned 89 last week. His iconic work, Fahrenheit 451 - first published in it's entirety in 1953, turned 56 this year. "So what?" you're probably thinking, and you wouldn't be wrong in thinking that this post seems somewhat random. Unless, of course, you knew that I just finished reading this book, for the first time actually. It was never part of the required reading as I was moving through school (and, even if it had been, there is a good probability that I would have only skimmed). I am surprised that I had not read the book, but glad that I waited until now because I do not think that I would have understood it or seen its poignancy had I read it previously. How did Bradbury do it? How did he foresee an era where electronic media would foreshadow the written word in ink (yes, I understand the irony of writing this electronically)? How did he foresee a time when snippets of information, for example knowing Napoleon's Birthday , would become more valuable than actua...
New Direction
2008-05-20 06:10:00 It's May and I realize that I have, again, neglected this blog for far too long. It's been over six months since I last posted anything. In that seemingly short amount of time I've finished student teaching, finished school, moved back to my hometown, found a great full-time job and gotten married. My life, as you may see is moving in a new direction; a more adult direction. For the most part this blog had been my place to post the interesting, strange and obscure, but my interest in that, although still there, seems to be waning, and I ask myself why. No answer occurs to me. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I don't have hours during the day to simply sit at a computer and search. Then again, perhaps I am simply...heaven forbid...growing up. Both seem viable, but I much prefer the former. With that said, I (fingers crossed) recommit myself to this blog and to the vision which I initially had for it. However, in addition to this and when time permits, you may find me inser... More About: Direction
How Profound...
2007-10-29 21:33:00 One of my favorite things about having Gmail is the ability to set up an "iGoogle" homepage. I love the personalization of it.I have installed on my homepage a few fun gadgets ranging from interesting photos on flickr to a hangman game. One of the most random gadgets I have is a fortune cookie gadget which today revealed this amazingly profound nugget of knowledge...It truly was all so different...before everything changed... More About: Profound
The Prodigal Son Returns...again...
2007-10-29 20:54:00 Six months hiatus;May 11, 2007 - College "Graduation,"July 7-14, 2007 - Built a house in Juarez, MexicoAugust 4, 2007 - Got engaged (and set a date - February 29, 2008)August 4 - 21, 2007 - Fort Collins, Colorado - Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaAugust 29, 2007 - Moved to Kalispell, MTSeptember 4 - October 25, 2007 - Student taught for eight weeks in the fifth grade classroom at Trinity Lutheran SchoolOctober 29, 2007 - Started six week experience in sixth grade at Trinity Lutheran SchoolSo, what's new with you?RIDGWAY, Pa. - It's furry and walks on all fours. Beyond that, about the only thing certain about the critter photographed by a hunter's camera is that some people have gotten the notion it could be a Sasquatch, or bigfoot. Others say it's just a bear with a bad skin infection.------------------------------- ------------"It appears to be a primate-like animal. In my opinion, it appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch," said Paul Majeta of the bigfoot group.--------------------------... More About: Prodigal Son
Household Music
More articles from this author:2007-04-27 05:57:00 I'm back...hopefully for good again. It's been a busy/stressful month (I've been doing a teaching practicum with first graders).Only two more weeks left before the graduation ceremony, then summer vacation and finally student teaching in the fall.Anyways, Andrea stumbled upon this tonight and shared it with me and I decided I needed to share it with whoever still finds the time to check this rather neglected blog. Music a para 6 baterias y 1 apartamento - ZappInternetIf you can't see the video; here. More About: Household , Hold , Ouse 1, 2 |
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