Archive for July, 2006

eXTReMe ironing!!!

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

some people just have to do everything to the eXTReMe!

extreme_ironing3.jpg
madagascar_3sized.jpg
extreme_ironing_002.jpg
Extreme_20ironing.JPG
476482_e06c993ed3_m.jpg
extreme_ironing2.jpeg

who knew? check out the whole gallery here.

mott’s tactical applesauce

Wednesday, July 19th, 2006
1480000005

PHILADELPHIA - A customer at a city grocery tackled an armed robber and beat him with a can of applesauce when he refused to drop his gun, police said.

The suspect shot himself in the head during the struggle, and passed out after the 66-year-old customer administered four blows to the head with the Mott’s applesauce.

“Finally, the guy passes out,” said Det. Curtis Matthews. “There’s blood everywhere - on the floor, all over.”

About 15 customers were in Gomez Grocery in the city’s East Germantown section when the gunman walked in Sunday afternoon, jumped atop a small freezer and pointed the gun at store owner Eddie Gomez, police said.

Customer Thomas Santana, who is 5-foot-4, grabbed the 6-foot-1 gunman from behind when he was on the freezer, and with help from Gomez knocked him down.

The suspect, 23-year-old Thomas Reyes, was in stable condition at a hospital, and was expected to be charged with attempted murder, attempted robbery and other charges, authorities said.

i love it when the bad guys lose. especially when they accidentally shoot themselves in the head while being beaten by a senior citizen with a jar of applesauce.

fashionable women’s eyewear

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

i’ve never been a fan of women’s fashion in general. i still giggle at the pirate pants. usually a fashionable young female will correct me and tell me they’re gaucho style pants or some crap. seriously, you look like you’re wearing part of a pirate costume. let’s not even get started on the frankenstein shoes…

a few years back, johnny knoxville popularized the gigantic aviator/cop sunglasses for guys. i don’t know if the women’s thing evolved from that or what… but wow, this is a little crazy. do you remember that show land of the lost? well, all i can say is D&G must’ve really fallen in love with the sleestak.

i know you guys don’t care what i think… but can we please have less of the reptilian dinosaur alien look (especially the swashbuckling reptilian dinosaur alien bride of frankenstein look)?

kids these days…

Sunday, July 9th, 2006

there was a post on slashdot regarding this article, which talks about how “School administrators in Framingham MA have implemented a policy allowing them to not only confiscate cell phones, but also to search through students’ cell phone data as part of their anti drug/violence efforts. Students claim that the policy is an invasion of their privacy.” as i was skimming through the comments posted by other readers, i came across probably one of the most intelligent things i’ve read in a while and figured i’d repost it for you here.

Part of the purpose of school, and in raising kids in general, is to socialize them: meaning, to raise them so that they will be able to live in society. I am not for minors having the full-fledged rights of adults; but, we have to remember that how we raise them will affect what kind of adults they turn out to be. For kids, school is, to a great degree, society. The society we create for them in school is the society they will learn to live with.

When kids have to show ID at every turn, live out their day under the surveillance of security cameras, surrender their personal belongings on the whim of any authority figure, so on and so forth, it is far more likely that the great mass of them will grow up to be the kind of adults that will submit to an overbearing authority that allows them few rights.

It’s one thing when this kind of policy is instituted in a private school. I still think it’s a bad idea; but, the parents sent the kid there and had a choice as to where to send him. But, if we are talking about a government school (though, the euphamism in the US is “public” school), this presents, in my opinion, a serious threat to our future. Public schools in the US hold a near monopoly in education; and though I am not going to accuse the government of a concious conspiracy to indoctrinate the youth of america with anti-liberal ideas, the results, if such policies become widespread, will be no different.

To my mind, adults act as the custodians for the rights of kids: releasing various rights to kids as they become able to handle them responsibly. I’m all for adults being in charge; but any responsible adult realizes the grave responsibility he has towards the kids with which he has been given charge, and weilds that power in the service of raising kids to be responsible adults jealous of their liberty, rather than cowed wretches with no backbone in the face of authority.

Kids deserve respect above all; and this needs to trump the illiberal policies instituted under the cover of promoting “safe schools.”

thanks, mariox19.

for what have i to do with judging outsiders?

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

earlier today, i received an instant message from a friend of mine complaining that, “this chick told me i couldn’t cuss, because the bible said i couldn’t.” he was understandably annoyed at the notion that he, an (self-proclaimed) unbeliever, was expected by a coworker to adhere to the moral obligations set forth by a religious text to which he does not subscribe. how would she feel if he were to deride her for eating beef, stating that the rigveda says cattle are sacred. the rigveda means nothing to her, why should she care what it allows and forbids?

obviously, we as Christians believe that the Bible applies to all of mankind, but in what capacity? the Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and also that “no one comes to the Father except through [Jesus].” the Bible also tells us that “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” will be cast into the lake of fire.

but are we given the authority to hold our fellow man accountable to the standards set forth by the Bible?

paul makes an important distinction in his first letter to the believers in corinth:

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (NASB)

9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

(more…)