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Friday, July 31, 2009

CA budget 
i know california is having major problems, but this is sad: Schwarzenegger eliminated all of the state funding for domestic violence shelters.

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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

one of the best 
RIP Jimmy Johnson.


Monday, July 27, 2009

news for the day 
i cannot believe it. an 87-year-old man shot and killed his wife, their 12-year-old grandson, and then himself, on their anniversary. it is very curious what would make him do it, no motives are given in the news article.

michael vick is reinstated conditionally into the NFL. so far, only for preseason, and so far, no one will have him.


joke for the day 


Sunday, July 26, 2009

concert 
we had a great time at the willie nelson, john mellencamp, bob dylan show!


Thursday, July 23, 2009

man on the moon 
j-walk has posted a very funny video of what tv coverage would be like if man walked on the moon today. see it here.

if this happened today [for the first time], coverage would probably be similar to this. but viewers would have to watch the coverage with even more stuff scrolling in various directions on their screen. [i hate that.]


maps 
i just love old maps. i have dreams of combing vintage stores across the nation to find beautiful map treasures.

that said, this site has some appeal.


Wednesday, July 22, 2009

celebrity football news 
i know that title sounds funny. i don't generally care about celebrity news so i am not sure when this happened and for how long i missed it. but for some reason, it makes me happy: Tony Romo dumped Jessica Simpson.

in related football news, Ben Roethlisberger is accused of sexual assault, civilly.


we come in all shapes and sizes, people! 
i am disgusted by recent attacks about the surgeon general nominee, Regina M. Benjamin, being too fat to hold that position. does her size change anything about her medical qualifications? i think not. from what i have read she seems well-qualified for the job, even winning some genius award.

people just look for anything they can to bitch about.


Tuesday, July 21, 2009

slanted news 
it's really interesting to read the same news story from two very different angles (e.g. the Christian Science Monitor and the Washington Post).

i was reading about prof Gates who was arrested in his home. the charges have been dropped. [note i have linked to the WP article which i believe to be more impartial.]

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Sunday, July 19, 2009

sick. sick. sick 
from saturday's pilot:
Each day when Corey Bryant and his wife, Heaven Smith, left for work, they left their 10-month-old twin daughters home alone, strapped into infant seats.

Sometimes the couple left the babies home alone so they could go out to eat or to the movies. Bryant gave the girls cold medicine so they would sleep.

That's according to testimony from Smith during Bryant's trial on charges of murder and child neglect. One of their daughters, Miracle, died of starvation and neglect on April 8, 2008, the day Bryant returned from a three-week Navy cruise. The other girl, Heaven, also suffered from starvation and neglect and remained in the hospital months after the discovery. She survived.

Smith has already pleaded guilty to murder and neglect charges and is scheduled to be sentenced next week. She spoke slowly during her testimony. She smiled when prosecutor Jill Harris asked her to identify a picture of one of her daughters, taken when the girls were chubby, healthy infants. "That's Heaven," she said. When Harris showed Smith a picture of her other daughter, Smith also said "That's Heaven."

...

Smith said she had considered abortion when she found she was pregnant, but decided against it. After the babies were born, she suffered from severe depression: She heard voices, stopped eating, became suicidal. She said she told Bryant she could no longer care for the babies and asked him about putting the girls up for adoption.

He wasn't interested, asking her what their parents would think and reminding her they would get more pay from the Navy if they had children, she said. ... She lifted them only to change their diapers, which she also did twice a day. Bryant told her to keep the girls covered when they went out so no one could see the rashes covering their bodies, she said...

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Friday, July 17, 2009

where's football? 


Wednesday, July 15, 2009

this kitty has ... wings 

i came across this story of a cat in China with wings. really! there's pictures! there are a couple of possible explanations for the development, including that it is a genetic mutation that the cat developed from two embryos.

either way, a kitty with wings. and no, it cannot fly.


Tuesday, July 14, 2009

local seniors cheat and still graduate 
a third of the senior class in one catholic high school was caught cheating on final exams - with their cell phones. i mean, really, cheating on a test is not new, i assume people have been doing it since there were tests. the attention here is because the students used their phones, even though phones are prohibited in school. the article notes that 35% of teens admitted to cheating at least once with the phones [Common Sense Media poll in June].

cheating at a catholic school! ooh, this must have some people burning.

what burns me, though, is another stat given from the common sense poll: "45% said texting friends about answers during a test is cheating, but 20 percent say it isn’t." WHAT? what is wrong with these 20%?

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monster truck 
i haven't been traveling that way, but there is a lot of talk about this massive truck traveling out of newport news and down 64, to martinsville. [actually, there are three, one leaving each day.] the truck is 225 feet long and more than 16 feet wide. traffic cannot pass as this vehicle takes up the entire road.

that is one monster truck.


Saturday, July 11, 2009

joke for the day 
via email: RETIRED PEOPLE

Working people frequently ask retired people what they do to make their days interesting.

Well, for example, the other day the wife and I went into town. And went into a shop. We were only in there for about 5 minutes. When we came out, there was a cop writing out a parking ticket.

We went up to him and I said, 'Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break? He ignored us and continued writing the ticket. I called him a Dumb ass. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires.

So Mary called him a shithead. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket.

This went on for about 20 minutes. The more we abused him, the more tickets he wrote.

Just then our bus arrived.

We try to have a little fun each day now that we're retired. It's important at our age.


Friday, July 10, 2009

norfolk crimes make headlines 
Arthur Whitfield served nearly 22 years in prison for two rapes that occurred in here in ghent. of course, he served time although he was an innocent man. another wrongful conviction.

now that he is out of prison and pardoned by gov. kaine, he is struggling financially. read about his catch-22 here. this is sad.

in related news, john grisham is writing a movie about a norfolk murder, of a navy wife, in 1997.

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mommy woes 
sometimes i cannot believe the things my child will do. when did she become someone who throws things?


IE 
internet explorer [i know some people hate it, but i've never had problems] WILL NOT run at all on my computer. so frustrating.


Monday, July 06, 2009

is it a dove or pigeon? 
among some of us around here, there is a friendly dispute on whether a certain kind of a bird was a dove or a pigeon. turns out, we're both right. there is no scientific separation between doves and pigeons.

see, you learn something new everyday.


Sunday, July 05, 2009

when did you get old? 
i got old in 2000. for more, see here.


Saturday, July 04, 2009

happy holiday 
have a good fourth!

























you made it down here?

what? you want a reward?