anything fair?

apparently though the people who live in the apartment below me think that their yelling and screaming and fighting and repeated slamming of doors is appropriate at the wee hours of the morning, they have decided that MY noisy leather work is NOT appropriate at ANY time of day, even at, oh, in the afternoon when MOST people are awake....

last night or this morning they put a note under my door asking that I refrain from pounding before 5pm because they work third shift... so ok, no problem, I can comply to that... so I even waited for a few minutes after 5 to start so it didn't look like some sort of "statement"... but despite that, the guy comes upstairs and asks me to refrain. um... NO. I'm way the hell over in the back corner away from the bedrooms and living room as it is, I'm doing what I can do attempt to keep the noise from carrying down through the floor...

well at least this project is closing in on finished... making the holes is the loudest pounding. Rivets I can do on my lap... and is there anything much quieter than hand stitching with lacing? Not really, there isn't even a sharp needle with which to poke myself!

makes me smile

I smile every time I see this commercial, probably mostly because the nonchalant bear eating the sandwich looks like my friend Spot

in your FACE... book

I'm over on FaceBook now and I actually like it. MySpace was kinda useless in my opinion because to FIND anyone you had to know their clever screen name. Over on facebook, I'm actually FINDING people... I had a couple friend requests just sitting in my e-mail for months... now that I have an account, I've been able to find people through other people... and on and on... it's actually USEFUL! WOO!

a REAL birthday present this year?

I am bidding on this on eBay, and it ends on my birthday...

Bootblack shinebox

Eight is apparently not enough

the big news these days is the recent birth of the octuplet babies and whether or not the doctor should have maybe done more to discourage the mother from having all eight embryos from being implanted in the first place.

She says "they were all my babies; they were all successfully fertilized and so I wanted to keep them all..."

But looking at a graphic representing the children and their birth weights... they were all 3 lbs or less with some just above a pound.

So far all the babies have survived, but the potential for health problems will persist for months to come. It is still possible that some, many, or all of them will have developmental problems because of their abnormally low birth weights.

Is this responsible parenting?

And these eight babies are on top of the sextuplets she had in a previous pregnancy.

It doesn't help that she is also a single mother living with her parents. I am not morally opposed to single parents, but going it alone makes it a LOT harder for her to have to means and money to take care of fourteen children. And yes, she has her parents NOW, but without knowing how old they are, they might be too old to help her for very long.

Doctors should have advised against her having a second fertility-assisted pregnancy when she had already given birth to sextuplets. All of these kids are going to have a hard time in life , no matter how much their mother loves them

trying AGAIN...

Last year I was all jazzed about trying out for the Brew City Bruisers roller derby team... but I never made it to tryouts; tryouts were during the time I had mono last year.

Year before that I missed tryouts because I had pneumonia...

hoping THIS will be my year.

I'm pricing out gear online. This ain't a cheap hobby, but it doesn't have to be expensive either. Found a pair of skates under $100 shipped on eBay, and they are unused condition.

I'm finding skates that are over $600. I know people who have bought cars for less...

IT'S COMING!!!!!!!!

G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA

seeing the commercial tonight was the highlight of the Super Bowl...

SADDLEBACKING DEFINED!

Ok, I am a huge Dan Savage fan, even got the chance to hear him speak at Schwartz' Bookstore (the Shorewood location) few years back... I think I was even amongst the first five in line to get their shiny new copy of Skipping Towards Gommorrah signed.

A few years back, Dan and his readers "invented" and defined a new word: santorum (1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.) in reaction to Sen Rick Santorum's far right wing policy making.

The new word for the year is "Saddlebacking"

Saddlebacking: sad•dle•back•ing \ˈsa-dəl-ˈba-kiŋ\ vb [fr. Saddleback Church] (2009): the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities

After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she’s saving herself for marriage. Unfortunately her parents found out because they got santorum all over the sheets.

In Dan's own words from his column:

"Here's why this definition is perfect: Saddlebacking, like barebacking, involves one person riding up on another's backside. But in this case, it's not the bare-naked cock-in-ass that's the most important feature of the ride, but the fact that the person being ridden has been saddled—thanks to the efforts of the Rick Warrens of this world—with religious hang-ups and serious misconceptions about sex. Like the barebacker who casually tosses away his health—or his partner's health—because he believes, quite erroneously, that "risky = sexy," the saddlebacker offers up her ass because she believes, quite erroneously, that she can get fucked in the ass—vigorously, religiously—and still be considered a virgin on her wedding night.

I've set up a website—www.saddlebacking.com—to popularize the new definition. (Get to work, Google bombers!) Now let's get this term into common usage as quickly as possible."

"SNUGGIE"... the Chia Pet of the 21st Century?

The SNUGGIE... commercial shows an inept woman STRUGGLING with a blanket the size of a dish towel... how on EARTH did mankind progress as far as we have with just mere BLANKETS?

No need to worry any more... To the rescue is... the SNUGGIE! the "Blanket with Sleeves"...

or, what it actually is... a robe, on backwards...

that's revolutionary...

I love the pictures: the first guy looks like Malcom McDowell pretending to be a Jedi Knight. The woman knitting looks a bit like a monk. The woman with the baby isn't sharing her Snuggie Warmth... baby just gets to suffer until he is older... such Spartan lifestyle will toughen him up for a future without blankets.

My future is also sans Snuggie... but what does not kill me makes me stronger.

WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

VIPERS IN LEGO

"Sexiest Movie EVER"

First time I ever saw Logan's Run was way back in the 1970's before it was made into a (short lived) TV show. Yes, the movie is dated in appearance, but the story is quite timeless.

Based on a 1967 dystopian sci-fi novel by William Nolan, in the world of "Logan's Run" no one is allowed to live long enough to age and die of natural causes. The movie was released in 1976 and, especially compared to a movie like "Star Wars", looks a bit like an odd night at the Playboy Mansion.

I've been hearing for years that there was going to be a remake... not of the original movie, but a more faithful retelling of the original book. The 1976 movie got the basics down, but a lot of details were changed... it happens any time a book is made into a movie, and for various reasons.

But as this is a high quality story, I am looking forward to seeing a movie version that people will take more seriously than the 1976 version.

Slated for 2010...!

if you shop through Amazon....

if you shop through Amazon... use the link provided on Half Price Books .... HPB will get a commission for all sales made through that link... might be as little as a half of a percent (I really don't know how much...) but it helps us out... not money directly into my pocket... but it costs you nothing extra to do so!

Word Association

ok... less "word" and more "photo", but what do YOU think of when you see this photo?

That's right, Muhammad Ali...

GOAT...

I love the Shroud of Turin

I was just watching Ben-Hur on PBS, the ending which is the implication of the ressurection of the Christ. Got me thinking about one of my favorite historical artifacts of all time.... the Shroud of Turin.

That's right.

I say this with pure sincerity and zero sarchasm: I LOVE the Shroud of Turin.

I'm not Christian beyond being raised in a "Judeo-Christian" environment, so I do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Son of God, healer of our sins, etc etc etc... Despite that, he was of flesh and blood and walked the Earth 2000-ish years ago and made significant contributions to history and society directly and moreso indirectly. Even if you are not Christian, if you grew up in a Judeo-Christian world, he means SOMETHING to you, even if you think he means NOTHING to you... because if you think that he means "nothing" to you, you have taken the time to decide that he means nothing to you...

Go ahead... DON'T think about Jesus... actively DON'T think about Jesus... you can't... how very Zen... mwuah hahaha

But back to the Shroud...

Things in my life don't have value for their price, but for their meaning and significance. "Treasures" of a society say as much, or maybe more, than heroes and events, because they speak of the common man and his personal values. This is similar to why I love old history books; they are innacurate, biased, and slanted... which says more about the time in which they were written than the facts themselves. I had a history book from 1904 that talked of Christopher Columbus as if he himself planted the US flag on Capitol Hill. Gives you NO useful information about Columbus, but it tells you a lot about what the US was like in 1904...

I digress again... Back to the Shroud...

About a year ago, I watched a program on PBS that neither proved nor disproved the divinity of the Shroud as a relic. Actually, the science that it demonstrated proved almost equally that it could be either... For instance, one test showed how bacteria on human skin could create the "photographic" image on a cloth under the right conditions and with enough time (hours, not years). Hoax or not, most the tests showed that it was very possible and likely that the Shroud image was created because of interaction of skin and cloth...

In other words, the cloth that is the Shroud contained SOMEONE at some time. But why is this significant? It's one of many possibilities, some of which are:

1. The Shroud is the Death Shroud of the Christ, proving his divinity
2. The Shroud is the Death Shroud of the Christ and proves his humanity
3. The Shroud is a "fake" relic, but the fact that someone took the time to create it, IT SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF RELICS TO RELIGIOUS FOLLOWERS.

Around the world, churches and cathedrals are filled with relics, enough that you would think that each Saint must have had nearly twenty fingers each, the Cross was built from an entire forest, and popes were each filled with gallons of blood to accomodate the demand for such. I've even heard that there are 13 cathedrals in France alone that claim to have the Holy Foreskin of Christ. Amongst the hundreds of finger bones of Saints, splinters of The Cross, gallons of blood... believers tend to just take their authenticity at face value.

But not The Shroud.

The image is not paint, ink, dye, pencil, lacquer, shellac,... it's blood, sweat, and tears... literally. If it's a hoax, the creator knew it would be under rigorous scrutiny.

Even if the Shroud is a manufactured fake, someone took the time to create something SO realistic and believable, it continues to stump and baffle science the hoaxer could have never even dreamed of.


WE CAN SEND A MAN TO THE MOON, BUT WE CANNOT PROVE OR DISPROVE WITH ANY CERTAINTY THE ORIGINS OF THE TURIN SHROUD.

Of course, individuals have made up their minds on its authenticity, just as there are individuals who have made up their minds on whether or not the Moon Landing was a government hoax. But there is no absolute, world wide, universally accepted conclusion, and I don't think that there ever will be.

And I don't think that will matter.

As long as even non-Christians like myself understand that this hunk of linen is an important historical artifact as EITHER hoax or authentic relic, the truth might never really matter.

More links:

C  H  I  E  S  A     C  A  T  T  O  L  I  C  A     I  T  A  L  I  A  N  A

The Shroud of Turin Genuine artifact or manufactured relic? Jack Kilmon

The Shroud.com by Barrie Schwortz, Editor and Publisher

The Shroud on Wikipedia

Shroud of Turin Story

It was Twenty Years Ago Today....

mom made me grow out my Mohawk for months and then took me to get my hair cut somewhere... was my first paid-for hair cut in a couple years. I'd been cutting it myself for several years...

But this was "Senior Pictures"... and as they cost MONEY, I had to do as she said. I didn't mind actually. I knew it was coming, and I knew I would have to comply.

The coat was something I bought for $8 at Ragstock in Madison, and I practically lived in it for... well... too long... the cuffs were frayed, and the pockets had holes. ...

Did you notice the "rat tail"?

For years I was opposed to having my hair cut AT ALL... the tail was a throwback to that time. I bleached it somewhat with... I'm not sure what, but I got it lighter color. I would color it literally with markers or Kool-Aid... anything non-permanent. I cut it off one day, shortly before graduation.. and I still have it. It's actually in a cassette case.

I actually remember my first day to school without it... my friend Julie Janes wold greet me by tugging on it. She reached for it and.. grasped at nothing...

This year is my twentieth highschool reunion year. I will probably go... just to hear people say how little I have changed

Scary Mary....

Found this when I was looking at the "happy trailer" of The Shining...

Isn't that kid an ADULT yet?

Christian Children's Fund has been playing the very same commercial for at least ten years... little Raquel isn't little anymore... but they still play that commercial.

Yeah, I know the point of the organization is to raise money for the community, not just the one kid, but come on...