It's An Oddball World: Chicken Crosses Road

Yes, this is for real. A chicken crossed the road. In California. Linc and Helena Moore received a $54 citation because it's illegal in California for livestock to be on highways. But their attorney won the case, arguing that the chicken was domesticated, not livestock.

Three questions:

1) Can chickens really become domseticated?
2) Did they spend more on the attorney than they would have paying the $54 citation?
3) Why did that chicken cross the road?

Edmond the Hun

Movie Review: Star Wars Episode III (3.5 of 5)

At first glance, Star Wars Episode III is nothing more than a glamorous movie with cool special effects, a shallow plot, cheezy dialogue, and too many lightsaber battles. But there's much more to it than that. It's an interesting study of the corruption of politics, and a sad, powerful story of the consequences of lies and deception. In other words, there's a plot, too.

But the special effects definitely take center stage. And they are marvelous. Definitely the best I've seen in any movie to date, including Lord of the Rings and all previous Star Wars. The opening scene alone involves an galactic battle in outer space, with huge spaceships and little fighters (all incredibly detailed), lots of firing and explosion, homing missiles, buzz droids attacking fighters, R2-D2 attacking buzz droids... how marvelous! And the marvel continues throughout the movie. Just thinking about all the work that went into sets and costumes and computer effects and everything else makes my head spin. There are lots of classic breath-taking aerial shots of planet surfaces or huge cities with their arrays of odd-shaped buildings. There's a planet full of erupting volcanoes. Obi-Wan rides a giant lizard. A droid wields four lightsabers. I mean, what more could you want?

Coinciding with the special effects is all the action and fighting. This is definitely PG-13 violence. Not only do virtually all of the Jedi get killed (this movie is about their demise, after all), but sometimes a character is disarmed by another and then helplessly murdered. It's just rather dark. And the action is almost overloaded. Scenes change quickly at fast paces with the classic Star Wars transitions, but sometimes it's almost at random. Oh, the scene's over already? There are about a dozen different characters that use lightsabers for countless battles. It would get old if it wasn't for the constant change of landscape: spaceships, volcano planets, barren rocky planets, Jedi temples, senate council chambers... it really is quite exciting.

There is the unfortunate dialogue, of course. Hayden Christensen will be picked on for years to come as we mock his monotone. ("I'm overwhelmed," he says at one point, but by his facial expression and body language, I couldn't even tell.) Some characters' lines are just random and useless. But every now and then something comes across as funny.

On to the plot. It's really not too bad. It's interesting to watch the three different branches of power as they struggle for control. And it's sad to watch Palpatine deceive Anakin into thinking the Jedi are the bad guys. But Anakin really does have a noble, if deceived, purpose for turning to the Dark side, although I won't spoil it for you. The point is, behind the special effects, action, and dialogue, this movie's got a pretty good plot.

And no matter what your opinion of Star Wars is, you can't deny the wonder of the whole complicated Star Wars universe, involving so many characters of so many races of so many planets, with so many histories and technologies and... I mean, it's really incredible, falling short only to the world of Lord of the Rings. (But, come on, who else really has time to invent complete languages?)

So, if you can survive the poor dialogue and the constant fighting and violence, marvel at the special effects as you watch the plot unfold and see how everything comes together for the final piece of the Star Wards duo-trilogy, or whatever the zeus you call it.

Edmond the Hun

Hat saves impaled man from bleeding to death

Wow... I don't even know what to say... Just read the article...
___________________
(thecouriermail.com.au)

BIGGENDEN farmer Keith Weinholz can thank his trusty hat for saving his life.

When his neighbour's cow kicked out and sent a 2m drafting stick spearing through his throat and shoulder, puncturing his jugular vein, it was the string and toggle from Mr Weinholz's Akubra that stopped him bleeding to death on the spot.

"The stick took the hat string with it and the toggle," said Mr Weinholz yesterday as he resumed light chores around his Boompa property, west of Maryborough.

"It (the toggle) went against the jugular vein and blocked the blood flow."

The accident happened on February 7 this year as Mr Weinholz, 66, helped draft a neighbour's pet Brahman-cross cow from calves in a small yard.

"As I reached through the rail, she must have been a bit anxious and she kicked out behind and my stick came flying back at me."

The stick pierced his throat, damaging his vocal cords, penetrated his rib cage and punctured a lung.

Mr Weinholz said he was conscious the whole time and remembers being given relief for the excruciating pain when an ambulance officer arrived.

His condition was so serious that the Energex rescue helicopter flew a retrieval team to Bundaberg from Brisbane to accompany him to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital for surgery when the stick was removed.

He spent nine days in intensive care followed by stints in Bundaberg Base Hospital and then Biggenden hospital where physiotherapy was started to try to get his voice back. He is still a bit husky and still suffering the physical effects of his brush with death, including slivers of wood in his healing wounds, but reckons he's "getting along okay".

Mr Weinholz said he had been able to resume one of his favourite past-times - dancing with his wife Audrey.

And he still has that lucky hat.

"Although it's missing a bit of the string," he said.

Stem-Cell Research: Immoral and Unnecessary

The House just passed a bill lifting restrictions on stem-cell research. Bush said he would veto it if it passed thorugh the Senate. Supporters say stem-cell research has great promise in leading to cures for various and sundry diseases. Opponents say stem-cell reserach is immoral because it involves the "discarding" (i.e. murdering) of embryos after they're used, or something like that.

I don't know a lot about stem-cell research, and I'm not sure what baby embryos have to do with discovering cures for diessaes. Although I have heard that stem-cells taken from livng adults are just as, if not more, effective than stem-cells taken from embryos. I do know that destroying life at any stage, even an embyonic stage, is murder, and if stem-cell research involves murder, then it's wrong.

I don't care if the end purpose is to save life. You're destroying life in the process---the opposite of what you say is the purpose. What if they discovered that blood sucked from one-year-olds is effective as a cure from cancer? Would people be supporing that? You bet not! Why? Because it's obvious that life is being destroyed in the process. Even though it's not as obvious, the embryos in stem-cell research are just as alive as a one-year-old baby. Besides, if adult stem cells are just as effective, why do we even need to involve embryos?

The bottom line is that I don't know very much about stem-cell reserach, but I know that it's wrong, and I support Bush's threat to veto the bill.

Edmond the Hun

More Opposition to Hardee's Commercial

Hey, I'm not alone. A "media watchdog group," whatever that means, is also griping about this upcoming Hardee's & Hilton commercial, likening it to "soft-care porn." They want the FCC to declare the commercial "indecent," and they think they can get a million people to support them.
Again, to contact Hardee's, go to: http://www.hardees.com/info/contact/ to ask them not to show this commercial.

Edmond the Hun

Current Events: Israel and Palestine

President Bush has been meeting with Palestinian leader Abbas, saying that Israel should give to Palestine land they took in a war in 1967. Not only is this idea just another disgrace to Israel and a display of ignorance of their difficult history, but it doesn't even make sense. Israel took that land (which they arguably deserved anyway) in a war forty years ago. Why should they give it back? Would President Bush suggest giving Arizona, New Mexico, and his precious Texas back to Mexico? Probably not. (that point was originally heard from Michael Savage, radical radio talk host who now and then makes a good point)

Mr. Bush, don't force Israel to give up more land that's not theirs. It will not cause peace. Radical Islamic groups are still sworn to wipe all of Israel off the map. Don't help them by wiping out part of it.

Edmond the Hun

Strange News: the Piano Man

Unnamed guy shows up at a hospital wearing a soaked suit and tie, not saying a word. They take him in, check up on him, and he's physically generally alright, but he still won't say a word. They give him pencil and paper, and he draws a detailed sketch of a grand piano. They show him a piano, and he sits down and plays classical music for two hours. In six weeks, he still hasn't said anything and all he's done is play classical music on the piano. he seems vulnerable and agitated, and has even cried some, as if he has been through some great trauma. Almost like he lost all his memory, except for playing the piano...

Where did he come from? What happened to him? More importantly, why was his suit and tie soaked? This is like something out of a modern thriller...

Edmond the Hun

Sex or Burgers: What Is Hardee's Really Trying to Sell?

Hardee's is at it again. This time it's Paris Hilton wearing a revoltingly revealing outfit. The commericals won't start showing until sometime in June. That's enough time for them to decide not to actually show them, right? I contacted Hardee's and told them I thought it was disugsting and inappropriate. And I'm part of the gender and age group they're trying to target...

I love Hardee's Thickburgers, and their loads of calories and fat. They are a little expensive, but they're delicious and large and filling! But sex and burgers are incompatible. Besides, even from a marketing standpoint, I don't see how they think this is going to help their sales. Young men aren't gonna see the commercial and go, "Wow, I wanna eat a new Thickburger cuz Paris Hilton was eating one." No, they're just gonna stare at her. If anything, she's a distraction from what they're really trying to sell: the burger. 'Course, who said the point of the commerical was to sell the burger anyway?

Click here to tell Hardee's to stop selling sex and return to the burgers.

At any rate, Hardee's is losing any respect and integrity I had for them. I still love their burgers, but there may come a point where I cannot support them. At least I don't go there often enough to worry about that yet.

Edmond the Hun

Troubled Writers - Another One Bites the Dust

If you paid attention in English class, you quickly discovered something that many writers have or had in common. (And, no, it's not that they wrote boring stories you don't understand.) They all had troubled childhoods! Poe's parents died when he was young, and he got drunk and married his cousin and died at a young age... etc, etc. And Poe's not isolated, either. I can't think of any other examples at the moment, but I know that writer after writer either had a troubled childhood or a troubled adulthood or died young or whatever---something unhappy!

Anyway, it's happened again. Some new dashing 33-year-old writer, Tristan Egolf, committed suicide last Saturday. His first novel caused critics to favorably compare his style to William Faulkner and John Steinbeck. Now I never heard of him while he was alive. But the point is: He was another writer, and he was another troubled writer.

I just can't figure out what writing novels has to do with living unhappy lives (or ending them)! It bothers me. Especially because I want to be an author. But more so because I love rationality and logic, and irrational things just bother me. If I had time I would research the lives of all these writers and isolate their forms of unhappiness. Some forms of unhappiness are unrelated to their actions---their parents dying, for instance. Some forms are related to their actions---getting drunk, or committing suicide. And of course there are many writers who didn't live such strikingly unhappy lives. But there are still too many that did.

I'm sure there's a logical reason for it. But until I figure out why, just memorize this axiom: Writers live unhappy lives.

I still want to be a writer, though. Now you know I'm crazy.

(Source: www.charlotte.com)

Edmond the Hun

I Just Don't Understand: U.S. Sailor Punished

Pablo Paredes is a sailor in the U.S. Navy. He refused to board a ship to the Persian Gulf, and was sentenced to three months of hard labor and demoted to "seaman recruit, the lowest rank in the Navy." Apparently he was protesting the war in Iraq and called it "illegal and immoral."

Now, unless Congress passed a major act while I was sleeping and all the media ignored it, we still don't have a draft. That measn this Paredes signed up on his own. My question is: If he was against the war in Iraq, why was he in the navy in the first place? Isn't that the whole point of being in the armed forces---to go serve your country?

I'm not saying it's wrong to believe a war is wrong. If we declared war on Mongolia because we wanted them to pay us for no reason, I would say that was wrong. But if I was in the army voluntarily, I would just leave voluntarily.

The war in Iraq has been going on for over two years. If Paredes believed it was wrong, why was he still in the navy? Then he gets demoted and looks bad because he believes it's "illegal and immoral" to get rid of a dictator who won't let us come in to see if he's hiding nuclear weapons.

I just don't understand...

Edmond the Hun

Sports: Unselfish Team Player Wins MVP

Another Worthy Role Model

I rarely talk about sports celebrities to applaud their numbers or accomplishments. If you're a fan of such-and-such a sport, you already know that so-and-so broke such-and-such a record; and if you're not a fan, then you don't care. When I talk about sports celebrities, it's to either commend or condemn something less numerical, such as their behavior.

After being traded to the Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash won the MVP award for the 2004-2005 NBA season, which is currently in the second round of the playoffs. But he's not the Most Valuable Player because he hogs the ball and scores all the points. In fact, he's quite the opposite of, say, Shaquille O'Neal, who came in second. His average points per game wasn't all that impressive, but he had a great amount of assists. He's a team player. And it paid off, too. The Suns went from winning a sad 29 games last season to a league-best 62.

Nash invited his whole team up to the podium to accept the MVP trophy. He said, "I really just want to share this with my teammates. This has been an incredible year for me and for our team..." (and other subsequent, unselfish phrases) Nothing like the Eagle's wide receiver Freddie Mitchell, who thanked his hands for being so great and dissed the Patriots secondary the week before they beat him in the Super Bowl (Mitchell, incidentally, has been released, according to SportsCenter). Nope. Nash seems to be a nice celebrity.

In football season, we have Peyton Manning, who broke the NFL touchdown pass record and said he didn't really care about the record and was more concerned with getting them into the playoffs. (see " Sports: Manning (Humbly) Breaks Record," Dec. 27, 2004) And now we have a worthy role model for basketball season: Steve Nash.

Steve, thanks for proving that professional sports isn't all about money and fame. And good luck in the playoffs, especially if you happen to face Duncan and Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs.

Edmond the Hun

Sports: World Track Records

Wow... who would have thought a hun who bills himself as an editorialist on politics and current events would post two simultaneous posts about sports? Well, anyway, this is just to provide a link for all interested parties (i.e. Sanguine ;) who would like to know what the world track and field records are:

www.iaaf.org appears to be the official international athletics organization, and these records are guaranteed to be up-to-date. Also of interest may be www.sporting-heroes.net, which has a history of most records as they have been broken though the years, although it seems less official and I can't guarantee its accuracy or if it's up-to-date.

(Note: These links don't show every event and number in one nice list. They have links to each event, which has its own page, containing several varieties of the record)

Enjoy!

Edmond the Hun

Happy Day After Mother's Day

Well, now that track is over, perhaps I'll have more free time to frequently update this thing for all two of my adoring fans. Our school got second at the track meet, as always, losing to Blue Ridge. We don't have a high enough black population, for one thing. But don't get me started. I equaled my best triple jump (to the same half inch), but Ben ends up with the school record with two additional inches at 35 feet, 3 and a half inches. No hard feelings. The record was broken four times during the season, and there's always next year. I'm already working out in preparation.

However, I'm planning to get a job in the very near future, which would deplete my free time once again. But with the free time that I have, I want to focus more on writing. I have two well-developed science fiction short story plots, one of which is more than halfway written. That will help get my name out there. My dream, tho, is to write bestselling novels whose underlying themes will influence millions of people for the better. Take Harriet's Uncle Tom's Cabin, for instance. Fiction. It inflamed people about slavery. Similarly, people can't get it through their heads that abortion is murder. What if there was a novel written that was symbolic of that, but it would make it more obvious to all the dense people out there.

But that just popped into my head today. Far more developed (and with a couple chapters written) is a fantasy novel (complete with battles and bad guys) with some subtle themes of trust and hope and other nice things. Or the science fiction trilogy involving a special metal that enables hyperspeed, that I'm trying to work in some of my philosophies about life. But I haven't even started writing that yet. Or some vague idea about a secret group called "The Adamant" that has something to do with absolute truth. Ah, it'd be so much simpler to just write a story for its own sake, without carrying some noble purpose. Just good guys defeating bad guys, you know? But I just can't bring myself to waste time and effort on such simplicity... Oh, the pains of being a part-time wanna-be author...

Edmond the Hun

P.S. I messed a lot with the sidebar; let me know what you don't like.

Junior Suspended For Talking To Mom

And The Decay of Moral Absolutes

Kevin Francois, 17, a junior at Spencer High School in Columbus, was eating lunch at school last Wednesday when his cell phone rang. It was his mother, who is serving in Iraq. He hadn't talked to her in a month. He went outside the building to get a better reception. A teacher saw him and told him to end the call. He says he told her he was talking to his mom in Iraq. She said he didn't say that until later. At any rate, he refused to hang up and got sent to the office and got suspended "for three days for cursing and for being defiant."

This incident has provoked national outcry, and the school has received hundreds of calls and e-mails complaining about the suspension. I don't get it. He wouldn't obey the teacher, and he cussed at her---even he doesn't seem to be denying that part of it. So what gives? Are all these complaints out of sympathy for the kid? I feel sorry for him, too. His dad died when he was five, and his mom's away at Iraq. But I don't care what was going on---it's never right to disobey the rules and be defiant and cuss at a teacher.

People who disagree with this suspension are saying, It was OK for him to disobey the teacher because he was talking to his mom in Iraq. Are they saying that it's OK to disobey your authority if you have a good reason for it? That you don't always have to obey the rules? That there are no absolutes? Maybe I'm carrying this too far. But that's what the logic of these people's emotional argument seems to be saying.

A 13-year-old girl in Florida, after some apparent controversy, had an abortion last week. Now I don't know any of the details of this case, and I'm sure it's very, very sad. But whether the murder was in the best interests of the girl or not---the abortion was still a murder! A living, breathing, heart-beating, innocent person was killed. There are many people, including President Bush, who believe that abortion is OK under some circumstances.

It's not always wrong to disobey teachers. It's not always wrong to kill babies. What's next? What else isn't always wrong? I don't like where this is heading...

Edmond the Hun

Music News: Switchfoot's New Recording

Here's some interesting news for any fans of Switchfoot: They have finished the recording for their new album, and it wil be entitled Nothing Is Sound, which is a classic elegant, confusing title from the band that brought us "The Beautiful Letdown," "Learning to Breathe," "New Way To Be Human," and "Legend of Chin." Anyway, they think it's their best album yet, and it is rumored to be "edgier" or "darker," vague adjectives that are nice and well, vague. They're still working on finishing touches and a tentative release date is August 2nd.

I'm most curious about what their lyrics will be like, especially in light of their recent mainstream success. The Beautiful Letdown already was the least "blatantly Christian" record to date, only directly mentioning God once, although it was flooded with lots of indirect and subtler references, including nice moral themes of hope and encouragement, and there was certainly nothing anti-Christian or immoral about it. So, will this new release continue with the subtle pattern of Beautiful Letdown, or will they have appeared to reject Christianese lyrics altogether? Blatant? Subtle? Non-existent? They're trying to be a light in the world, and they know non-Christians will certainly buy this next album. They don't have to blast "Jesus loves me" in every line, but many "Christian" bands go mainstream to the point where you can't tell they're Christian, and then I wonder if they're really being much of a light. It's a delicate balance, but Switchfoot has proven worthy so far. What will happen on Nothing Is Sound? We'll have to wait and... hear.

Edmond the Hun

Hello Sunday

OK, so it took me 'til the next meet but I did finally break the school triple jump record again. It's only at 35' 1", which is still comparatively sad, but it's two feet longer than last year's record, and I should be able to place at state and actually contribute to the team. Fun stuff!

So... what's up with the news lately? It's too late now to blog about the lady and the Wendy's chili, and what's there to say, anyway? The lady was obviously looking for a lawsuit, and, hmm, where the Zeus did the finger come from? Although I did hear that Wendy's sales are down, which makes me indignant. Like, who gave that lady the authority to mess with Wendy's sales? I feel like going to Wendy's and buying some chili.

Actually, this event may have been good free advertising for Wendy's. Before this incident, I didn't even know they served chili.

Edmond the Hun