edmondthehun

What Is Al Gore's Motivation For His Global Warming Crusade?

2007-07-14T20:28:00.001-07:00

So I'm Thinking About Moving to YouTube....

2007-07-11T20:50:00.001-07:00

Seriously.

Part of it's just my natural restlessness and inability to maintain doing the same thing for a long period of time.

But another part of it is that, besides my faithful friends (thank you, Sanguine, for your consistent checking and commenting on my inconsistent reporting), no one has found this thing after a couple of years.

And that's not a great surprise. There are millions of blogs across the Internet without any real organization or connection.

But YouTube is another matter. People search for videos and find literally almost anything. Videos related to something you are already watching or other videos by the same user are highlighted across the side of the screen.

These connections have propelled over half of my 40 Cornerstone video clips to over 100 views in just a week. On the political side, my random clip that I recorded of Ron Paul on a radio show over a month ago is nearing 12,000 plays, and my recording of Mike Huckabee on NPR last night got 200 views within the first 24 hours. Even my Roller Coaster trip on the Boss (still idling at the Myspace vids) is up to 148 plays in a week (the one dud: my Coldplay stick-figure compilation, still at 7 views in 6 days).

The point is, if it's on YouTube, people find it. They really find it if it's about stuff that interests them. It would be different to "blog" in video form, and it would take more time. I fear that it would become drastically infrequent. But, admittedly, I'm hungry for viewers. And I'm already getting them without even trying at YouTube with my live shows and interviews...

Famous People Playing Music Can Save the World?

2007-07-08T18:22:00.000-07:00

So apparently there's a big deal about these Live Earth concerts going on all over the world this weekend... something about benefit shows for a climate in crisis with Al Gore smiling for the cameras.

I'm guessing that all the Police and the Linkin Park did for Earth was add more carbon dioxide to the air with their singing.

I mean, seriously, this is such a stupid idea. It convinces the MTV-educated masses that global warming is a conclusive issue, and even worse, that somehow by listening to this music they are doing something about it.

I've only looked into the controversy enough to know that there's some very good arguments for all of these positions: Global warming is caused by human activities; global warming is real but not caused by human activities; global warming is not all real. It's a complicated issue, and I bet even I know more about global warming than half the stars on the stages across the continents.

Oh, excuse me, it's climate change now, because sometimes it results in global cooling. Gotta have our terms straight to convince the masses that we really know what we're talking about.

This blog is pretty much devoid of substance. I'm just casually ranting over the simultaneous obvious worthlessness and perceived effectiveness of "Concerts for Climate Change."

Puh-leez.

Edmond the Hun

A Disciplined Celebrity

2007-06-17T11:34:00.001-07:00

Maybe there's still hope for America.

Celebrity headlines are filled with the sad tales of young women who used to be attractive and are now only noted for their friendly encounters with drugs, alcohol, prison, and food (or lack of it).

It's too early to say if 16-year-old Nancy Drew star Emma Roberts, the infamous Julia's niece, will achieve the same popularity status of Lohan or Hilton, but it's not too early to say that if she does, she's got a better chance of surviving with dignity intact.

Why? Parents who aren't afraid to discipline.

She got her cell phone taken away for a week "for talking sassy to her mother." (usatoday.com)

USA Today commenter cambel noted,

thank god her mother is actually disciplining her when she acted like a brat. Sounds like she will turn out ok. If only Lohans mother had tried that once in a while her daughter wouldn't have turned into a coked-out unemployable laughingstock."

Mandy Moore is strikingly absent from the celebrity antics of her peers, although since she accidentally became the poster girl for young Christian women everywhere after A Walk to Remember, followed by her large role in the brilliant but blasphemous comedy Saved, it's hard to say where she now stands in the opinion of the public eye. (How many people will buy her new album that releases Tuesday? How many people even know that she's still a recording artist?)

But if it's too late for Moore, could Emma Roberts be the next role model for impressionable young women? Or are cell-phone privileges that relevant of a punishment? Does this little incident really merit a prediction of her Hollywood success?

I don't know, and I'm not one to be overly optimistic, but considering the trails blazed by those before, I'll be rooting for her.

And I suppose Dakota Fanning's right behind her...

Freedom Is Slavery

2007-06-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, Congress passed and President Bush signed two pieces of legislation that have become highly controversial, despite the complete or near-complete ignorance of the average American, including myself, about their details and contents. Today, we will look at the first.

The Patriot Act was a rather long document signed into law on October 26, 2001. I vaguely remember the Democrats and liberal media whining about losing freedoms, (but of course Democrats and the liberal media were always wrong, and Bush and the Republicans were always right) and I vaguely remember thinking, so what if the government can now see what library books I check out? I have nothing to hide. If it helps catch terrorists, then so be it.

There are also claims that specific provisions in the Patriot Act have resulted in the prevention of terrorist plots on American soil. Well, what greater proof could you need? Who care about what freedoms we do or do not have by this Act if it was this Act and this Act alone that prevented an attack, right?

Unfortunately, life is never that simple.

The passing of the Patriot Act was shady to begin with. Andrew Napolitano, Fox News' Senior Judicial Analyst, states that only two people read the entire Act before the vote was held in Congress, and both voted against it [1]. Napolitano says that Ron Paul and the other Congressmen were given 15 minutes to "look over" the 315-page document on the House intranet. [2]

Napolitano says that John Ashcroft claimed the Act "was so important that they didn't have time to read it before they could vote on it," [3] so Congressmen voted to pass it, even without being aware of what it said. Ron Paul was one of the few who was too suspicious to give them the benefit of the doubt, and he voted NO.

What does all of that mean for us?

First, even if there was absolutely nothing in the Patriot Act that would bother me ~ not a single line that I would have problem giving the government the power to control ~ I still feel uneasy about the fact that our representatives voted to pass it without knowing what all of those things were.

Let's go back to the library books thing. Anyone can check out any book at a library. How could the government know if there are certain books that terrorists are more likely to check out? And if there are, what if I decided to check all of those books out because I wanted to learn things? It's a public library, and I can check out whatever I want! How would that tell the government whether or not I am likely to be a terrorist?

Second, what about this fundamental notion that in a post-9/11 world we have to give up some freedoms in order to protect our freedoms of life and safety? Such a notion would seem to be legitimate, but where does it stop?

Engaging in political discussions on Facebook, I have seen someone named Jyoti Das claiming that his father was looking up stuff online about
9/11 government-caused conspiracy theories, both "for" and "against." A week later, a Secret Service agent showed up at his house and asked some questions. Another man (a white Caucasian) claims that he did "something" to get himself placed on a terrorist watch list, and has spoken with Secret Service agents. If one assumes that these independent stories are not complete lies, there are no doubt other, similar stories out there.

Do you seriously think that there will never be another terrorist attack on American soil? What further liberties will we have to give up so that the government can protect us?

After all, if knowing what library books terrorists check out helps the government identity them, shouldn't knowing what books they buy at bookstores be just as helpful? And what about those who do research online? It's not like it's hard to keep track of what IP addresses my computer requests access to every time I click on a page.

So what is the line? And, yet, if it comes down to giving up freedoms or death ~ how can we argue? Unless, of course, Big Brother only wants us to think that this is what it comes down to.

Such conspiracy-laden speculation, this stripping away of our freedoms in order to protect them, is interesting, that sort of simultaneous exercise in "fun" and "scary." It is probably exaggerated, yet certainly not entirely fabricated, and potentially both frightening and dangeorus.

But, after all, my friends, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35yhSifZ5jI, 4:55
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35yhSifZ5jI, 5:10
[3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35yhSifZ5jI, 4:45

There's Something Really Wrong Here....

2007-05-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

So we used to think our national debt was *only* nine trillion dollars. Then an article on Tuesday revealed that we have a "hidden debt" of fifty-one trillion dollars, stuff like social securtiy and medicare that for various political reaons doesn't get counted in the regular national debt number.

OK, so $60 trillion in debt is ridiculous enough. But, hey, that number's been getting higher for years and we seem to be doing fine, so what does it matter, right?

I don't completely understand how money works on these large scales, but apparently, we're borrowing millions of dollars a day from China to pay for our stuff, hoping they won't ask for it back any time soon (anyone remember the post-war debts and one of the major causes of the Great Depression?).

Even if that doesn't appear to be an urgent danger, somehow our increasing debt makes the dollar worth less compared to other currencies. Again, I'm not an economics expert, but as our government keeps spending more money than it takes in, and we just keep ignoring the issue and watching the number get bigger, we're increasing our chances of economic disaster.

This is crazy! I'd never heard of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul until three weeks ago, but almost every day I read news articles that confirm that we need someone like him in office to reduce government power and cut federal spending to a reasonable amount, just to get us out of debt before something drastic happens. Another longshot, Mike Huckabee, claims to want to reduce spending and balance the federal budget, but while he was governor of Arkansas he increased spending there by 60%.

By voting against his own Congressional pay raises during nine terms in Congress and never taking a free trip on taxpayer money, Ron Paul has the integrity that no other candidate has yet claimed to match.

Sometimes it is not difficult for me to understand why so many people are passionately convinced that he is the only hope for America.

Ron Paul For President?

2007-05-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

USAToday.com posts way too many articles about the presidential candidates with 18 months to go, but I like to click on them and see what comments people leave to get an idea of how much support different candidates have (Regardless of poll results, Hillary, for instance, has virtually no support among USAToday's readers, Republican or Democrat).

Anyway, many of them have made comments to the tune of "Ron Paul is the only real candidate" or "Ron Paul is the only candidate who supports the Constitution" and other such positive statements.

Ron Paul? Who is this guy? I'd never heard of him . So I looked him up on Wikipedia. He's an interesting guy, and while it's still way too early to worry about, I might like him the most out of the candidates so far. A bit of information on the guy:

Right now he's a Republican Congressman, listed as a Protestant, for whatever that's worth
His nickname is "Dr. No" because he supposedly always votes no for bills that are against the Constitution. He has never voted to raise taxes or congressional pay. He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program and returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.
Interestingly enough, he has always voted against the War, the Patriot Act, seeming to prefer targeted strikes against individuals. Not sure if that's good, bad, or neutral, but it means he's got a shot at support for votes from the Democratic types
He used to "be a specialist in obstetrics/gynecology and has delivered more than 4,000 babies. Paul didn't accept Medicare or Medicaid as a physician; instead, he would do the work for free or work out a lowered payment for needy patients."
He's for limited government that does not pay to solve our problems with our tax money, against amnesty for immigrants and for a fence.
He's got 17 grandchildren.

It's hard to know how to true some of that information is (coming from Wikipedia and the obviously pro-Paul official website), but he at least sounds like a guy who supports capitalism and democracy, and maybe hasn't even been corrupted by his couple decades of experience as a law-maker (returns extra money from his own budget?! Supposedly he gets 96% of his contributions from individuals, suggesting a lot of support as well as not being tied to lobbyists?!)

Although a former Libertarian candidate for president, due to his political ideals and voting record he probably has a better chance at a Republican nomination than Guiliani (unclear abortion views), Romney (unwillingness to elect a Mormon), McCain (too liberal), or Brownback (too unknown).

I'm tempted to predict Ron Paul and Obama as the future contenders at this point, but again, it's way too early. Just thought I'd let my readers know about Ron Paul, since he's an interesting guy whose been getting more attention and rising in various polls.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/AboutRon_fx.html
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/html/Issues_fx.html

Cartoon Monday: Election 08 (Gary Brookins)

2007-05-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Chart Thursday: Spidey sets records

2007-05-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

MOVIES (Last weekend, May 4-6)

1. Spiderman 3 ($151 mil, 1st wk)
2. Disturbia ($5.8 mil, 4th wk, $60 mil total)
3. Fracture ($3.7 mil, 3rd wk, $26.7 mil total)
4. The Invisible ($3.3 mil, 2nd wk, $12.4 mil total)
5. Next ($2.9 mil, 2nd wk, $12 mil total)

ALBUMS (5/1 - 5/7)

The top five:
1. Ne-Yo, Because of You, 251K (new)
2. Michael Buble, Call Me Irresponsible, 212K (new)
3. Rush, Snakes and Arrows, 93K (new)
4. Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing, 86K (495K in 3 weeks)
5. Tori Amos, American Doll Posse, 54K (new)
------
Other interesting selections:
7. Daughtry, Daughtry, 50K (2.4 mil in 24 weeks)
10. Carrie Underwood, Some Hearts, 44K (5.3 mil in 77 weeks)
87. Elliot Yamin, 8K (180K in 7 weeks)
93. High School Musical Soundtrack, 7K (3.9 mil in 69 weeks)
114. Kellie Pickler, Small Town Girl, 6K (518K in 27 weeks)
157. Kidz Bop, Kidz Bop 11, 5K (242K in 11 weeks)

SONG DOWNLOADS (5/1 - 5/7)

The top five:
1. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder," 177K (421K total)
2. Ne-Yo, "Because of You," 117K (206K total)
3. Carrie Underwood, "I'll Stand By You," 114K (238K total)
4. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend," 103K (1.2 mil total)
5. T-Pain, "Buy U A Drank," 89K (535K total)
------
Other interesting selections:
12. Carrie Underwood, "Before He Cheats," 52K (1.17 mil total)
32. Daughtry, "It's Not Over," 23K (1.20 mil total)

COMMENTARY

Thanks to excessive popularity and ever-increasing ticket prices, Spiderman 3 broke various records as it took in five times as much money as all other movies combined last weekend. I must be the only one in the country who hasn't seen it yet.

Meanwhile, some rapper who calls himself Ne-Yo sold the most albums and came in second on downloads. I haven't bothered to look up the lyrics yet. Maroon 5's new song stays on top for a second week. I've heard it once; it's OK.

Unfortunately, pop radio keeps playing the latest country single from Carrie Underwood, pushing her album's sales well over five million and threatening to overtake Daughtry's average yet decent single in downloads.

Speaking of Idol economics, Bon Jovi's feature on American Idol put all six of his performed songs in the top 50 for last week's downloads. Regardless of the overall talent or actual interest of the show in successive seasons, it continues to generate loads of money for both performers and the performed.

Terrorists Can't Burn DVDs, or Military Forts

2007-05-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Sounds like we got lucky on this one.

The big headline is that they foiled a terrorist plot by six Islamic militants to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey.

The details are still unfolding, but it appears that these guys weren't in any hurry. The feds have been investigating this for fifteen months, apparently. They also say that they don't know if it's linked to al-Qaeda, although the guys were watching bin Laden videos in their free time. I suppose the government is paranoid about linking anything without undeniable evidence these days...

It also appears that the first tip came from a store clerk when a customer asked to have a DVD made of a video that "showed men in military fatigues shooting assault weapons while calling for jihad, or holy war, and shouting in Arabic, 'God is great.' "

Wait... so we caught the guys because they didn't have DVD-writeable technology? And they were dumb enough to have it done at a store?

Thank God for snooping, curious clerks. But what does that say about our official intelligence? It was only after the clerk called police that the smart boys discovered that some of them were here illegally and had illegal firearms. What if they had actually been smart enough to avoid letting incriminatory footage into the hands of an outsider?

Well, New Jersey's safe for now. Mother Nature's looking more dangerous than Father Turban these days. A tornado wiped out 90% of a small Kansas town, only killing 10, while the rest of the state as well as parts of Missouri are flooding, thanks to all the recent rainfall.

And there's thunderstorms forecasted for tomorrow.

Gas Breaks Record, Breaks From Pattern

2007-05-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Gas prices have risen a lot over the last three years, and there's been a lot of fluctuation. I've carefully followed the prices of both gasoline and crude oil since Katrina damages sent crude oil to a record $70 and local gasoline to a record $3.09 a gallon.

There have plenty of gas price spikes since then, and many like to accuse the big oil companies of deciding to gouge prices because they can. However, I knew there was more than that, because gas prices would typically spike whenever the price of crude oil jumped, and trickle down when it had some catching up to do. After two years, I became familiar with the relative prices (for a while, $70 meant $3 a gallon; $65 meant $2.50, and $60 meant $2) and I could guess with decent accuracy what days the price of gas would go up.

This custom graph from stlouisgasprices.com shows that in the last three years overall gas prices and crude oil have risen and fallen together, suggesting that the big oil companies aren't randomly raising prices because they can. The two red spikes in the middle are post-Katrina and post-Rita, after which crude oil dropped back to "normal" and gas prices trickled down to under $2 through the end of 2005.

Suddenly, last month, that pattern was broken. Gas jumped several times without a justified spike in crude oil. Notice the very end of the above graph, where blue drops and red rises. If we zoom in to the last six months, there is a clear and sudden disparity:

Since the beginning of April, I have not been able to predict what gas prices will do. At the end of this week, St. Louis prices shot up to a record $3.19, while crude oil dropped to $62. Last summer, crude oil in the record $70's kept us under $3 for gas.

Before, conspiracy theorists claimed that big oil companies jacked up the price just to make more money, but the data showed a different cause. But now, I don't know. For the last month the past patterns led to the prediction that gas would slowly trickle down until it had caught up with crude oil. Instead, gas has continued to spike, reaching new records.

Reading several articles across the 'net gives some insight. "Reduced output due to refinery problems" seems to mean that the crude oil bought is not being refined into gas as quickly as it usually is. If gasoline supplies have been declining for twelve consecutive weeks, a decreasing supply coupled with increasing demand (of US gas short-term, not world oil long-term) this would anticipate a rise in gas prices that was unrelated to the price of crude oil.

I still don't like that it's broken years of its pattern, though. I don't like it.

Chart Thursday: Avril and Disturbia top low sales week

2007-05-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

MOVIES (Last weekend, 4/27-4/29)

1. Disturbia ($9 mil, 3rd wk, $52 mil total)
2. The Invisible ($7.7, 1st wk)
3. Next ($7.1, 1st wk)
4. Fracture ($6.8 mil, 2nd wk, $21 mil total)
5. Blades of Glory ($5.1 mil, 5th wk, $108 mil total)

ALBUMS (4/24 - 4/30)

The top five:
1. Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing, 121K (408K total in two weeks)
2. Joe, Ain't Nothing Like Me, 98K (first week)
3. Nine Inch Nails, Zero, 57K (246K in two weeks)
4. Various, Now 24, 55K (656K in five weeks)
5. Daughtry, Daughtry, 49K (2.3 mil in 23 weeks)
------
Some interesting albums:
108. tobyMac, Portable Sounds, 7K (156K in 10 weeks)
129. Relient K, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, 6K (158K in 8 weeks)

SONG DOWNLOADS (4/24 - 4/30)

The top five:
1. Maroon 5, "Makes Me Wonder," 244K (new song)
2. Carrie Underwood, "I'll Stand By You," 124K (new song)
3. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend," 116K (1.1 mil total)
4. Kelly Clarkson, "Never Again," 107K (new song)
5. Timbaland, "Give It To Me," 97K (648K total)

COMMENTARY

Last weekend no movie made $10 million. I remember articles fretting about the movie industry last year when the top movie was under $30 million. Regardless, they're up 3% on the year, and besides, Spiderman 3 will make more money this weekend than all the movies put together did last weekend.

Meanwhile, album sales, which have been dropping for several years, thanks to illegal downloading and not helped by legal single-song downloading, hit a new record low last week. Avril's latest sits at the top for two weeks in a row, although the stupid song "Girlfriend" finally fell from the top downloads, thanks to a new Maroon 5 song.

Health Care, Haircuts, and A Republican Actor (553 days to go)

2007-05-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

One poll says Obama is ahead of Hillary in Democratic polls. Not that you can't find one poll that says almost anything you want.

Hillary has said she has a universal health care plan for a while now, without admitting where the money will come from. Obama has pretty much said, me too. Now Edwards says, "Me three... but it might take more taxes." At least he's honest. Apparently all the Dems are for this Universal Health Care thing.

Not sure whether it's better to take even more money from the wealthy just because they can afford it (the fundamentals of socialism) or leave the poor hard-working folk in debt from hospital bills. Not sure whether the President has much say over health care, either... I need to check my Constitution, but I would've thought that was more of a Congress thing (which Obama and Hillary are supposed to be a part of when they're not campaigning for an election 18 months away). Maybe Congress should just regulate ridiculous hospital bills ~ that might solve a lot.

Meanwhile, conservatives are having a lot of fun with the $400 haircut that John Edwards took out of our tax dollars or his campaign funds or whatever... He said it was a "mistake." Ad hominems are so much fun in politics, because the character of the person is just as important as their arguments.

On the Republican side of things, the latest rumors are that Fred Thompson will be entering the race (what's with this "enter the race" colloquialism anyway? If you don't enter soon enough, will you be too far behind? Not if the race hasn't even started yet.) Apparently he was an actor turned senator. *shrug* Everybody seems to have fond memories of Reagan. But everybody's also glad that Ahnold doesn't qualify.

Well, that's about all we have for now. I can't say much more because I just can't bring myself to do in-depth research into the qualifications, viewpoints, and policies of anybody when we still have 553 days to go.

Edmond the Hun

Just Say No to Crushing That Baby's Skull

2007-04-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

So yesterday the Supreme Court voted 5-4 that it was not unconstitutional to ban partial-birth abortion. I guess that's a good thing. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not so sympathetic of a type of second-trimester abortion that involves cutting open the baby's (excuse me, fetus's) skull so you can suck out the brains and collapse the skull to make the dead thing easier to remove. What about the baby's rights?

But I digress.

The bottom line is that I don't really like the method of this decision any more than I do the original decision that made abortion OK in the first place. Sure, I'm all for it, just like I'd be all for the Supreme Court deciding that it's unconstitutional to play Nickelback on the radio (cruel and unusual punishment). But that's not the way these decisions should be made.

The commenters and bloggers are all dissecting this decision and arguing about women's rights and child's rights and all the hashed and re-hashed arguments. But frankly, the Supreme Court decision had nothing to do with any of that. It all came down to the personal opinions of whoever happened to be presiding at the time of the decision, just like the first decision did.

The problem with the judicial system is that they have to decide between constitutional and non-constitutional. This is an either/or fallacy because sometimes events are simply a-constitutional, not mentioned one way or the other. And thus, our conservative victory yesterday is a shallow one, because in the future a different set of judges could use the opposite arguments to make the opposite decision. Much of our law has been reduced to an oligarchy of nine.

But that is all the stuff of old conservative rantings. What's new here is that we feel the need to get the feedback of all the presidential candidates. As if their opinion would really make that much difference if they were elected (unless a justice happens to die and they get to pick a new one that agrees with their abortion views AND gets confirmed by Congress. But we just replaced two). As if their statements are any more meaningful than the decision itself, since they are only saying what will appeal to their potential voters. In case you hadn't guessed, all the Republican candidates supported it, and all the Democratic candidates opposed it. (see http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/04/high_court_upho.html for specifics)

In other words, things have become so politicized that we can't even know what the candidates really think about anything. Everything they say will be dissected by the media and public, so every response has to be carefully orchestrated. Even the sincerity of something like sending condolences to Virginia Tech loses its meaning because... well, what else are they going to say?

Supreme Court making laws... Presidential candidates forced to say things... we are simply experiencing the inevitable results of massive-scale democracy mixed with the corruption of power. I guess Carmen (don't you remember, back in the day, when he was cool?) got it right when he said, "The only hope for America is Jesus..." Let's humble ourselves, turn from our wicked ways, and pray for God to hear from heaven and heal our land. May corruption be removed, and may truth be made known and set us free.

Edmond the Hun

It started out with a kiss, how did it end up like this...

2007-04-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

I watched three very different movies recently, and noticed an eerie similarity. There's not a whole lot of common elements among an insightful, blasphemous commentary on the world's perception of Christians, a completely random but hilarious sci-fi spoof, and an intense but over-the-top drama about malevolent weather patterns.

Except when it comes to romance...

In Saved, the guy likes the girl from the beginning. A couple scenes before the end, just before the resolution, she realizes she likes him too. They kiss. Now the relationship starts and carries into the conclusion...

In Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the guy likes the girl from the beginning. At the very end, just after the resolution, she realizes she likes him too. And here comes the kiss. And now they're together for whatever sequel does or does not come...

In The Day After Tomorrow, the guy likes the girl from the beginning (no way). A couple scenes before the resolution, she realizes - no, not that she likes him too. She realized this awhile ago. Instead, she realizes that he likes her, too (what a plot twist!). And there's the cue for the kiss. And now as the movie ends, they have a relationship...

We have a very definite pattern. Whether the guy chases the girl across the galaxy, around a Christian school, or into a public library in downtown New York, once they both realize they like each other, it's "Let's make out and now we're together..."

Something's terribly wrong here. Now don't mistake me for being prudish or old-fashioned. Although I have heard that in the "old days" you didn't kiss a girl until you knew you were going to marry her ~ something that doesn't strike me as a bad concept. But that's not my point. Let's dig deeper. I've frequently pointed out how popular music's lyrics about sex reveal an underlying focus on selfish pleasure instead of unselfish love and respect. I think kissing in movies reveals the same thing.

Let's be real. At the risk of oversimplification, making out is pretty unique as far as romantic pleasures go. On one side of it we have kid stuff like putting your arm around her, which also works for encouragement and comfort and manly stuff like that. On the other side of it we have adult stuff like sex, which also works for getting pregnant. But I'm pretty sure that the only direct purpose of making out is to have a lot of fun.

And it's simply not smart or mature to begin a relationship based on the pleasure you get out of it. That's why I roll my eyes whenever the movie couples have to kiss as soon as they realize their mutual attraction. That's why I love the scene in Return of the King when Faramir and Eowyn look into each other's eyes and she just puts her head on his chest and he holds her and they both smile.

It's easy to forget about how these ultra-pretty movie hero relationships might have gone after the movie was over. It's easy to forget that their characters were engineered to be "perfect" for each other, something that may or may not be true about whomever you happen to "like" at the moment. So this is just a friendly reminder that if you don't feel like making out the moment you find that special person, that's quite alright.

Quite alright, indeed.

Edmond the Hun

Kiva.org: A Stroke of Brilliance

2007-03-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

So I logged into MySpace yesterday and was greeted with banners telling me about a new MySpace section about making a difference in the world and all of that. This being related to my purpose in life, I clicked on it to see if it was all talk or if there was anything real to it.

To my surprise, there was.

Amidst the fluff and vague optimism was a link to Kiva.org. This website is using a truly unique idea to help people out of poverty in poor countries. It involves people with money giving money to people without money. But it's a far cry from the generic donate-money-to-some-charity-and hope-it-gets-to-an-African-kid-and-not-the-CEO-of-the-charity stuff that usually stops me from running to charities with even some of the little money that I have.

At Kiva.org, you lend money to an entrepreneur in another country (translation: somebody trying to start a business but having no money to meet the start-up costs), and after they get their business going, they pay you back. Kiva hooks up with your PayPal account (used safely by millions of eBayers to take care of the transaction)

Sound like a scam? Far from it.

I googled "Kiva.org" to see what people were saying about it. You know, see if it was for real and if it really worked. Well, that took me to the Wikipedia page for Kiva.org (yeah, there's a page for everything), which told me that

1) this thing is being supported and encouraged by PayPal (duh), MySpace (where I found it), YouTube, Google, and Microsoft. With these gigantic corporations involved, it doesn't sound like a sneaky scam for your money.

2) Depending on which part of the Wikipedia article you read, these loans are being repayed, a few months or a year later, at a rate of 100% or 99%.

"In a little over a year, Kiva has rapidly grown to become the most trafficked site in microfinance with +35,000 Internet lenders generating +$3 million in loans to thousands of entrepreneurs in +25 developing countries – all with a +99% on time repayment rate thus far. Kiva is staffed and governed by experienced consumer Internet and microfinance leaders."

Just go to Kiva.org and look at the home page. These aren't random guys from poor countries asking for some money with a vague idea of starting a business with it. They're asking for specific amounts to meet specific needs to get a specific business going in a specific location. You can donate in multiplies of $25 to meet a percentage of their need. Kiva takes care of the rest. A few months later, their business is going, and you get your money back. You can then reinvest or keep it.

So, what do you have to lose? Nothing. Unless you just happen to invest in the less than 1% whose business fails. And even that seems more productive than donating to a random charity, where you have no idea where the money goes or what good it does.

I'm definitely going to pick somebody and lend some money. You should, too. Especially if you have a job. If you have more than a couple hundred dollars sitting in the bank, taking out $50 of it has no real effect on your life. And then, a year later, when you get it back, it'll feel like free money, and you'll know (not just hope) that you helped somebody out by getting a business going in a poor country.

This is an excellent idea and I offer it my full support.

Edmond the Hun

We keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change...

2007-03-11T11:54:00.000-07:00

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

John Mayer's hit single "Waiting on the World to Change" beautifully captures the apathy of today's youth. We know the world's not perfect, but we just don't know what we can do about it. This often causes us to just give up or stop caring. After all, what real difference could I make even if I wanted to? So we just keep on waiting and maybe something will change.

I think deep down inside most of us have a desire to do something of significance. Every now and then I'll get a glimpse of this, such as the Facebook group "For Every 1,000 that join this group I will donate $1 for Darfur," maxing out at almost 500,000, and its hundreds of spin-off groups. We'd all love to do something to help the suffering over there, but when you think about it, even if this guy gives $498 to some charity, what is that really going to do? How do we know that throwing money out there will even do anything? So we keep on waiting...

But that doesn't have to be the end of it! The individual today has more power to change the world than at any previous point in history. A regular college student can start a facebook group with the potential to unite hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. Anybody can upload a home-made video to YouTube and get millions of views. Admittedly, the majority of the groups and videos never rise above the double- or triple-digit status in recognition, but the point is that the potential is there for something that wasn't possible even five years ago.

Music sales used to be influenced by how well record labels marketed their artists into radio stations and MTV, etc. Now a regular guy who makes it on American Idol can choose to sing a song and see iTunes downloads for the week go up 1000% or even more. (3300 to 36,000 for Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" two weeks ago; 600 to 24,000 for Jason Mraz's "Geek In the Pink" last week)

Do you realize how incredible that is? Thousands of dollars are made (or not made) based on one individual's song choice. Alan Greenspan used to be the only single person with that kind of economic power. Every single person has a greater potential for influence than ever before!

So how do we bring peace to Darfur? How do we feed the homeless and reduce crime and change social attitudes of abortion and reduce the selfish message of pop culture and stop political corruption? How do we move from the hypocritical irony of words to real, effective action that changes the world?

Well, I don't know. I just know that it's possible. Anyone can do something to make a change, but anyone can't change everything. God has put different passions in the hearts of different people, and they'll each have to work with others to get things done.

One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change

I don't know how it's going to happen. I just know that waiting isn't going to do it.

Edmond the Hun

We’re just the boys and girls that think they always know...

2007-03-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

There are very few things that make me angry. One of them is pop culture's destructive degeneration of healthy relationships.

It's time for some more venting.

The fourth-highest selling album of last week was Kidz Bop 11. If you don't know, Kidz Bop is a strangely successful series that takes radio hits and re-records them with kids singing them. Apparently 75,000 kids convinced their parents to buy the latest one. Cute? Maybe occasionally.

Some of the hit songs are harmless. As much as I despise Nickelback, at least "Far Away" is about commitment through the distance. But something about ten-year-olds singing about destructive relationships just really gets me. James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" was bad enough. But this latest installement includes Beyonce's You're-not-"Irreplaceable" (I could have another you in a minute) and Hinder's "Lips of An Angel" (It's hard to be faithful to my new woman because I'm still in love with you).

Seriously?! And then we wonder why these kids grow up to be teenagers who sleep around and cheat on each other and break each other's hearts and have no idea what a healthy relationship looks like.

I'll tell you why. It's because our culture doesn't know what a healthy relationship is anymore. We've forgotten that having sex whenever you want isn't any better for you than eating whenever you want (Parenthetical citation: C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity). Pop culture seems to think that relationships are simply about getting what you want.

We haven't quite forgotten that relationships are about the simple joy of spending time with someone, that when she's in your arms there's nothing else in the world. But we have forgotten that relationships are about unselfishness. They're about respect. They're about your attraction for that special someone causing you to desire their happiness and safety above anything else. Some people call that love.

Emery said it best in their song "So Cold I Could See My Breath"

How quickly lust can pretend it's love
Designing words to help us believe
It’s so much more than just tonight
So we have got to get this right
How quickly words can become our hands (you want it more, you want it more)
Resigning everything we believe (you want it more, you want it...)
You want it, you want it
More

We’re just the boys and girls that think they always know
With answers for the world
The ambiguity shows

Even those who don’t agree with the Christian view of sex within a lifetime-lasting marriage must see that it’s dangerous to teach kids that relationships are not at all about commitment or respect or any of those unselfish virtues that actually make relationships work…

Edmond the Hun

Let's Talk About...

2007-02-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

Rice: US Will Join Iraq Talks Involving Iran And Syria... US-North Korea Talks Set for March... Iran hopes to resume nuclear talks ...

Talk, talk, talk. Everybody seems to think that talking is the way to prevent international crises involving nuclear weapons in the hands of bad guys. Or, at least, everybody hopes it will. Because if it doesn't, somebody's gonna have to start fighting, and the U.N. won't start it and the Americans are getting tired of fighting, period.

This is nothing new. In April 2006, my last post before my unexplained hiatus was about this same issue... I re-read it and everything I said was still true: Everybody wants Iran to stop; Iran doesn't want to stop; Nobody's willing to make Iran stop. It doesn't take a master of Aristotleian logic to figure out what's bound to happen in a few years.

The Economist thinks that "economic sanctions" (whatever that really means) will begin to take its toll on Iran's, er, economy. It also notes rising dissent and criticism for their leader's positions and statements, something unheard of a couple decades ago. There still seems to be optimism that we can convince Iran to stop researching nukes without military action.

Maybe so. Or maybe by the time they get nukes they'll be smart enough not to use them on anybody. But the only thing that's changed amidst the haze of diplomacy and rhetoric these last ten months is that Iran is 10 months closer to a nuke than it was before. And as long as Iran holds the trump card of the price of oil, that's the only thing that will continue to change.

Maybe I'm being pessimistic. Or maybe I'm just not in denial about diplomacy as a panacea. Sooner or a later things are bound to get messy...

Edmond the Hun

Pirates hijack food aid ship off Somalia

2007-02-26T10:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-25-shiphijacked_x.htm

I just thought that was a cool headline. And they even waited until after the aid was dropped off.

Everybody wants to be president... (616 days to go)

2007-02-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

Well, we only have 616 days left until it's time to vote for another president, so I better update you on the latest. Tom Vilsack (Tom who?) has dropped out of the race, bringing the Democrats down to seven wanna-bes. The Republican number is steady at five.

Since this is my first post about the Presidential race, I'll lay out all of my notes thus far:

1) Hillary and Obama haven't been getting along in their recent campaigning. This might damper hopes of a Clinton-Obama ticket.

2) I don't think Hillary will get the Democratic nomination. She leads in some polls but a lot of people hate her. Enough Democrats are aware of this that they will be reluctant to give her the nomination because it might cause potential voters to swing Republican simply to avoid making Hillary the First Man.

3) A lot of people hate her. I already said this, but it deserves its own point for this reason: Some radical conservatives hate her so much that they would rather see her dead than become president. I suppose this scenario is more like a Tom Clancy novel than real life, but I cannot say that I would be surprised if someone attempted to assassinate her while she was campaigning, especially if she actually gets the Democratic nomination. I'm just being real about the level of hatred and disgust some people have for this woman.

4) So far Republican candidate Sam Brownback is my favorite based on his beliefs and positions. However, I would like to learn more about his experience, knowledge, and abilities before I would commit to supporting him. Because there lies the moral dilemma: do you vote for the one who believes all the right things about abortion and gay marriage (things which the President alone has little control over), or the one who would be the best at leading the country and interacting with other countries and all of that political stuff?

Well, that's all I got for now. We got plenty of time to decide...

Edmond the Hun

Run For Your Lives...

2007-02-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

So apparently on April 13, 2036, an asteroid will a few thousand miles by Earth. There is a 1 in 45,000 chance that Earth's gravity will suck it in and spell doom for lots and lots of people. Cool, huh?

The scientists that figured this out think the U.N. should do something about it. Blowing it up might cause lots of little asteroid fragments to hit us, so that option's out. A boring but safer idea (anyone ever read Asimov's Nemesis?) is to get a spaceship or something with some mass and use Newton's gravity formula to nudge it off course just a bit.

Three things here. One, I'm not too worried about dying from an asteroid hit with those odds (which are much worse than my odds of fatally slipping in the bathtub or dying in a car accident, and much better than my odds of dating a supermodel, according to http://www.funny2.com/odds.htm). Besides, a big explosion might be pretty cool.

Two, regarding the state of the Earth in thirty years, I'd be more concerned about all this global warming stuff than a 1/45,000 asteroid. Whether or not you believe humans are the cause of it or not, there are some pretty interesting graphs and figures out there. And how much less oil will we have by then?

Third, they're expecting the U.N. to get something done?

painting your trash gold while you sleep

2007-02-18T19:52:00.000-08:00

Fall Out Boy's first single from their new album, "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race," has been the most (legally) downloaded song for the past four weeks. I still haven't heard it, but I did look up the lyrics just to see if it contained sexual innuendo like their previous hits.

Well, I didn't find any, but what I did find made me laugh at its blunt irony. Let's take a look at some of these lyrics:

I am an arms dealer
Fitting you with weapons in the form of words
And I don't really care, which side wins
As long as the room keeps singing
That's just the business I'm in
This ain't a scene, it’s a god damn arms race

This is what I get out of that: The guy's saying, We're feeding words to our fans, and we don't really care about the meaning of the actual words as long as everyone keeps listening to our music.

I'm a leading man
And the lies I weave are oh so intricate, oh so intricate

I love this line! Fall Out Boy is one of the most popular bands right now, and the guy here is freely admitting that they are feeding their listeners lies about life, love, and relationships. But the lies are so intricate and subtle that most people don't even notice.

...At night we're painting your trash gold while you sleep

That's my favorite line of the whole song, because in one line it describes what most of pop culture does to its listeners... it takes our trash ~ our selfishness, our pride, our lust ~ and paints it to look like gold, to make us think that we want it, that it's cool to pursue and fulfill our desires and pleasures regardless of the consequences, all while we're sleeping and don't even notice.

How many hundreds of thousands of people have this song and don't even realize what it's admitting ~ and therefore confirming the very things it's admitting: We're corrupting you, but you don't care, and we don't care, just keep giving us your money.

I'm tired of them painting our trash gold while we sleep. But I'm awake now. Are you?

The Return of the Hun

2007-02-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time, but I'm back. I will be focusing, as before, on news and politics and what it has to do with our daily lives, but also on pop culture and its influence on youth.

I'm sick of watching Christians argue about the proper things to do instead of going out and telling the lost about Jesus.

I'm sick of watching pop culture corrupt youth with its twisted ideas about love, relationships, and God.

I'm sick of reading things like 18,000 children dying every day of hunger, knowing that even if somehow I could give one of them my lunch, they might still die the next day, and knowing that even if I could somehow feed one of them for a lifetime, they would still die and maybe miss heaven, and there would still be millions of others who suffered hungry deaths, wondering, with all the corruption in the church, and the corruption in the world's political systems, and the corruptions in modern culture, if it's even possible to make a difference anymore, but knowing that these passions burn inside me and that I cannot give up or despair.

So I will work. I will learn about the world and what's going on inside it. I will observe modern culture and how it affects us. I will figure out how to use the incredible new technologies of networking and information flow, such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and others, to spread the love and hope found in Jesus Christ. I will find others who share these passions and work together to be part of a revolution. And most of all, I will cry out to God to save my generation.

Maybe I'm a little fanatical. Maybe these ambitions won't last. Maybe I can't do anything to make a difference in the world and all I'll ever do is work a job accomplishing some tasks along with everyone else.

But there's a dying world out there, and I'm sick of my own inability even to reach the ones I see every day. Besides, what have I got to lose?

Iran, Nukes, and Diplomacy

2006-04-20T19:19:00.000-07:00

Things just keep getting better and better. Iran has proudly announced that it has successfully begun enriching uranium. Apparently they're still a long ways off from getting enough enrichment to make nuclear weapons, but they're obviously heading there, and it's only a matter of time.

It was OK when Russia had nukes in the Cold War, because they didn't want to use them on us because we'd just use ours on them. But Iran's president doesn't care about Iran's existence quite as much. He's the guy that's been calling the Holocaust a myth and declaring that Israel should be wiped off the map. What do you think he'll do when they get nukes ready?

So the US and other people who think they hold some world power have been telling Iran to stop. Iran says, yeah right. Because they know no army's going to come stop them. No country is going to instigate military action against them unless the US starts it, and they won't start it because the military's already stretched too thin in Iraq, and because the corrupted American media and politics won't let their own country take military force again because diplomacy is the peaceful way to resolve conflict. If only we had tried diplomacy with Iraq, we wouldn't have our present troubles, right?

Actually, we tried diplomacy with Iraq. Hussein didn't listen. We've been trying diplomacy with North Korea. They haven't stopped their nuclear program, either. And so now we're trying diplomacy with Iran. They're not going to stop, because if all we try is diplomacy then they can just ignore us and continue until they get some nukes and launch them on Israel.

If I didn't believe in God and his plan for Israel, their destruction would seem rather inevitable at this point. I'm not really sure what's going to happen with Iran, or if and when and how and who is going to stop them from continuing their nuclear program and launching them on Israel. Actually, it's not too far-fetched that Israel would launch nukes on Iran first. But then things would get really crazy...

Edmond the Hun

How to Solve the Problem of Illegal Immigration

2006-04-12T08:11:00.000-07:00

Everybody's all hyped up about what to do about illegal immigration, since we got several million of them in our country and Congress is finally trying to pass laws to do something about it. But all of the solutions only deal with the result. Whether we try to build a wall of some sort, or deport them all, or make them legal---all of this only deals with the result: illegals in our country.

This is ignoring the cause, which won't change: Mexicans are poor and it's easier for them to support themselves by coming here and getting a job. No matter what we do to the illegals here, thousands more are still going to try to come in because they're poor.

This morning I was struck with an obvious solution: help Mexico's economy. I don't mean give them money; every government in the world is too corrupt for that to help anything. I mean, do things to help their economy. I haven't thought through all of this yet, but surely we can do some things to help their economy and country function in a way similar enough to ours that the people there can actually get a job and make a living. Then they won't have to come up here.

The problem is that this is currently impossible. Mexico doesn't want us to help them, because the ones who are in power are corrupt and have plenty of money and are content to let their economy be sustained by the millions of dollars flowing back across the border from relatives with jobs in the U.S. And don't even pretend that diplomacy would work. How well has that worked with Iraq, North Korea, and Iran in the last couple years?

Therefore, the only way to help their economy would be to force them, and that would mean at least some sort of military action. Not a war; some sort of governmental coup. But just as in Iraq, the people would welcome it with open arms, except we wouldn't have to worry about terrorists quite as much.

I don't really know what I'm saying here. But I think the key to stopping illegals from crossing the border is by dealing with the root of the problem and fixing Mexican poverty. However impossible that may be.

Edmond the Hun

Port Deal...

2006-02-26T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, I still don't know a whole lot, since I missed the first couple days when the story broke and have had to rely on what recent editorials and news updates have had to offer.

This is what I know: The government wants to hand control of some major US ports to an Arab firm based out of the United Arab Emirates. This has something to do with them being a good company who will watch our ports better than we are and make our country safer. A bunch of Congressfolk are upset that letting Arabs control our ports is akin to giving it straight to the terrorists and will make our country much less safer. It appears that these Arabs are a lot nicer than the terrorist Arab types, but the outcry was enough to cause a delay and an intense investigation, with the possibility of dissolving the whole thing altogether.

This is what I think: It's been known for years that we only inspect a small percentage of what comes through our ports as it is. So handing some ports over to an experienced firm who will guard it for us is probably not a bad idea. Admittedly, the Arab ties are cause for concern, but isn't that being stereotypical and intolerant? On paper, these guys look like good Arabs. While some proponents are worried that these delays will severely hurt a budding international friendship, I will consent to say, hey, it's probably a good thing. Bush wouldn't OK it if he thought it would endanger us. But what does it matter? If it's alright, then the investigations will reveal that, and we'll end up doing it anyway.

Unless, of course, you no longer have confidence that the government knows how to conduct unbiased, unpartial, legitimate investigations...

Edmond the Hun

In Response to My Fans...

2006-02-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

Sanguine, I apologize for the fake cursing. If you can tell me how "d--n" is worse than your "crap" and "dang it" I promise to never write it again :)

Swedish Eskimo, have fun running away. I hope you guys enjoy yourself in the Alps. And I'm too nice to say anything mean about your lack of interest in trying to help fix this stupid, stupid world :)

Finien, I don't know enough about the selling the ports thing to officially blog about it. I've just seen or heard blurbs on the net, in the news, and on the radio. On the positive side, I've heard that the United Arab Emirates are more "good guys," as far as Muslim countries go, that they've been anti-terrorists and pro-US and stuff like that, and that this is supposed to have something to do with building our alliance with them. But it still makes no sense for us to give control of our own ports to another country -- especially a Muslim country in the middle east. If I didn't go to school, work, and do track, I would read some Internet articles, the Post-Dispatch, USA Today, Newsweek, and Time, but I don't have enough of the latter. So I have no opinion at this point. But I will try to learn about it, and maybe on Sunday I can blog intelligently about it :)

Thank you, friends, for your consistent support. It means a lot. You guys rock!

Edmond the Hun

P.S. Aeropostalegirl, where've you been?

McDonald's Faces Lawsuits...

2006-02-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

Apparently my employer is facing potential lawsuits from several sources after its recent disclosure that its fries contain more ingredients than we once thought. Wheat and dairy products and gluten or whatever.

Come on, folks, let's not give Ronald any more trouble. He's not trying to be secretive. He disclosed that information voluntarily after the FDA made the packaged foods industry do it. The best solution is to simply stop eating their fries, since at any given moment you have about a fifty percent chance that they will have been sitting out for too long anyway.

The truth is that for every person who shuns McDonald's for its fattening substances, there are ten more who will continue eating it because it tastes good and they don't give a d--n about the ingredients. Lawsuits will change nothing.

Edmond the Hun

Dick Cheney and the News

2006-02-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

Monday's headlines: Cheney shoots fellow hunter in accident
Tuesday's headlines: Cheney is 'very safe' shooter, hunting comrade says
Tomorrow's headlines: Cheney issued a warning for breaking Texas hunting law

Let's see how many days in a row we can keep this trivial story in the front page!

Edmond the Hun

TOP 5 NOTEWORTHY SUPER BOWL ADS

2006-02-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

#5. Kurt Warner and John 3:16. It's great that the message of Christianity is being preached to this huge market. Forgive me for being cynical, but I couldn't help thinking, how many drunk viewers even cared, and how many homeless people could they have fed for those $3 million dollars? And now I'm probably a heathen for not supporting Jesus in the media.

#4. The streaking goat. Or was it a sheep? I don't remember. But animal personification always has great potential. It was funny.

#3. Wife and daughter go to visit daddy in the hospital. Assistant doctor is bothered by fly and kills it with his instrument. Just as the wife and daughter walks in, he says, "Well, that killed him." Don't judge too quickly, it said. Hilarious. Except that until I read the paper I didn't know what the company was advertizing. Looks like they just gave away $3 million to make people laugh.

#2. The cave man who couldn't use Fed-Ex and then got trampled by a huge dinosaur at the end. For some reason there's just something funny about people getting unexpectedly smashed by giant animals. And since the company was part of the dialogue, I remember what the company was!

#1. My personal favorite, the Emerald Nuts acronym of Even Machete Enthusiasts Recognize A Little Druid Networking Under the Stairs. The randomness of three guys making chopping sounds at a fern while watching a hooded robed guy talking on a cell phone with his laptop is just hilarious. It had me laughing even when the game came back on. Not that I've ever seen emerald nuts or know where to find them.

Edmond the Hun

Seahawks 20, Steelers 13

2006-02-05T12:12:00.000-08:00

That's my prediction. Not that I really care. Watch both teams get 20 points before the end of the first half...

Edmond the Hun

Happy Birthday Sanguine

2006-02-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

Congratulations on the big one-eight! Despite your love of writing, may God bless you with a long and prosperous life full of daisies and gold stars. Thanks for brightening my life.

Edmond the Hun

Hamas Wins; Don't Be Fooled

2006-01-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

So Hamas won most of the seats in Palestine's parliamentary elections. In case you didn't know, Hamas is the Palestinian terrorist and political group that openly admits that they want to drive Israel out of existence.

Many in the liberal media are already trying to spin this to say that Hamas really won't focus on killing all the Jews, even though that agenda is the reason for their existence. Oh, no, they'll focus on realistic things and try to advance their people and all of that nice stuff.

How can anyone believe that? How can the writers of these articles believe that? I am convinced that there is a demonic influence on the media against Israel. How else could a group that consistently denies Israel's existence, a group that consistently attacks and kills Jews, a group that consistently admits its goal of killing every Jew in the world and wiping Israel into non-existence because of their intense hatred ~ How else could this group even be tempted to be put in a positive light by people of the developed world who claim to be open-minded and rational?

It would be like if the "Al-Qaeda Party" won most of the positions in Iraq and editorialists said, oh, they won't try to kill Americans. They'll definitely work on getting electricity to their citizens. No one would believe that for a second. There is simply no natural explanation for the treatment of Palestine by the world today.

Edmond the Hun

Important Business News

2006-01-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

www.stltoday.com

McDonald's Corp. stock rose to a 5 1/2-year high Tuesday after the fast-food chain reported a 53-percent jump in fourth-quarter profit on continuing strong sales at its U.S. outlets and improving results in Europe...

Extended operating hours, cashless payments and new menu items all have helped keep the momentum going in McDonald's U.S. restaurants, which also got a fourth-quarter boost from stronger breakfast sales.

Link Update: Super B

2006-01-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

By the way, I've updated the link on the left to my friend SuperBgirl06, formerly known as The Local Superhero. Anyway, she has left Blogger for Xanga. A little heavy on the purple and pink, perhaps, but a valiant effort nonetheless. Feel free to check it out sometime.

And don't forget about Onataura's Xanga, either. Currently you can read the harrowing account of his minor and untragic accident.

I would say don't forget about John's (Truth For Free) but I can't always access that myself. Silly Myspace. He should convert to Blogger. Or at least Xanga.

Edmond the Hun

$227 Million For Some Stardust

2006-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

Apparently we sent up a little spaceship a few years ago to catch some comet material. And apparently it came back successfully. The scientists are excited about analyzing the material to discover clues about the universe's origins. I'm not up on my cometology, although I am fascinated by outer space, both its vastness and its varied contents.

I'm just interested in what the scientists observe because I believe the universe began differently than most of them do. For example, they don't know exactly how the earth got all of its water. They used to think that comets could have provided it (don't ask me how, this is what the article said). But recent advances have discovered that comet water seems to have a different chemical signature than Earth water does.

Again, I don't understand all of that. I do understand that God created the water with a word, so I'm not surprised if comet water doesn't seem to do the job. And I won't be surprised if analyzing these comet particles proves that theory wrong for good. To what will they turn next? After all the comet dust is settled, what will be revealed?

Edmond the Hun

(Source: www.msnbc.com)

The Stupid People and the Angry Spies

2006-01-10T19:39:00.000-08:00

There once was a land full of stupid people. This land was ruled by a smart president. The stupid people wanted to live their lives in safety, without the smart president interfering.

Now there was some angry people who hated the stupid people and wanted to kill them, so they sent some spies to pretend to be stupid people and figure out how to kill them. The angry spies called their angry leader with information. They made a bomb and killed some of the stupid people.

“This is bad,” said the smart president. “To find out which stupid people are really angry spies, I will send my grasshoppers to the people's houses, and whenever they call someone from another land, my bugs will come tell me what they said.”

For four years, the president's bugs listened and helped him stop the angry spies from killing any more stupid people. But one day, a stupid person called his grandmother in another land to say “Happy Birthday,” and he caught a bug listening to him.

He was mad, and told everyone, “The president is listening to our phone calls!”

This made all the stupid people mad. “How dare you!” they yelled at the president.

“I have to figure out which of you are angry spies!” he said.

“That's an invasion of privacy,” they said. “From now on, you can't send your grasshoppers to a house unless you have evidence that the person is an angry spy.”

“But how will I know who's a spy if I don't listen?”

“We don't know. You're the smart one.”

So the smart president stopped sending his bugs because it wasn't nice. The angry spies called their leader, but no one knew what they said. So they made a really big bomb, and all the stupid people died.

But they were happy. Death is a small price to pay for privacy.

The Radio vs. the iPod

2006-01-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

www.stltoday.com

I read in the paper yesterday that some radio stations believe they are losing listeners to iPods, because while they only have playlists of a few hundred songs of a specific genre, the iPod owner has thousands of songs of all sorts of genres. In other words, the radio is a lot more boring.

The radio people have concluded that to increase and retain their audience, they need to play a much bigger variety of songs. This new format is called "jack." They don't care whether it's country or hip-hop, as long as it's a song that will sound familiar.

As St. Louis's 106.5 programmer Jewels Riley says, "I think there is enough variety that if they don't like Madonna, they can switch back in three minutes and hear Aerosmith."

I disagree.

If radios are losing audiences to iPods, trying to copy the iPod is not going to solve the problem. If someone doesn't like Madonna, they're not going to come back. They're going to go back to their iPod, where they can just skip Madonna, and not have to listen to commercial breaks. And people who used to like the station for a certain style will be unsatisfied when half of the songs are not of a style they enjoy.

In trying to please all of the people all of the time, I am afraid they will end up pleasing no one. What do you think?

Edmond the Hun

The Art of Music

2006-01-09T16:25:00.000-08:00

It'll be a day like this one, when the world caves in...

Just thought I'd take a quick post to comment on the wonderful powers of music. When life is at its confusingest, there's nothing like figuring out the piano chords to a Switchfoot song to get away and set one's mind at ease. I think playing the piano is for me what painting is for Finien.

Edmond the Hun

Interesting News: Regarding Wardrobes

2006-01-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a bit of fun, lightheard, non-political, interesting news:

Dueling claims to inspiration for Narnia story
www.boston.com

Two small Christian colleges both lay claim to owning a big, portable closet that may have inspired Lewis when he penned ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the first tale written in his ''Chronicles of Narnia" series for children.

Which campus deserves bragging rights?

Nobody knows. But with a $150 million hit movie drawing holiday crowds, some 95 million ''Narnia" books in circulation since 1950, and a current ''Christianity Today" cover story likening Clive Staples Lewis of Oxford to Elvis Aron Presley of Memphis, there has been plenty of interest.

Further fueling the curiosity, the Disney film has riled critics who say it serves an evangelical agenda. Lewis, one of the 20th century's most noted theologians, built his children's stories around themes of sin and redemption, with Aslan, Narnia's lion, standing in for Jesus.

Besieged with media inquiries, each school tells reporters much the same thing: Their wardrobes were certainly owned by the prolific don, who died Nov. 22, 1963; however, it is unclear whether Lewis had either one in mind when the four children in his story poked into an armoire and somehow wound up cavorting with the chatty animals inhabiting Narnia.

At Westmont's campus outside Santa Barbara, Paul Delaney, a professor, recently showed visitors the piece of furniture at issue in the lobby outside faculty offices.

''We can't say for sure that it's the wardrobe," he said, ''but it definitely came from his house and closely matches the description in the book."

Westmont's website is less reserved, saying the Lewis wardrobe in Reynolds Hall ''served as a model for the magical one he described in his famous children's book."

At Wheaton, officials downplay the possibility that their Marion E. Wade Center library holds the portal to Narnia. Even so, they've posted a sign near their wardrobe that leaves little doubt as to their true position: ''We do not take responsibility for people disappearing."

Built to resemble an English cottage, the center also has Lewis's writing desk and more than 2,000 of his letters, as well as a mountain of documents chronicling the careers of Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and five other British writers.

''For casual visitors, the wardrobe is the biggest draw," said archivist Heidi Truty. ''When families -- even students -- come through the door, the question we hear most often is: 'Where's the wardrobe?' "

Snagged at a 1973 auction in England by a Wheaton economics professor, the school's ornate double-door black oak wardrobe was handcrafted by Lewis's grandfather, a shipbuilder in Belfast. Although it barely resembles the modest piece described in ''Narnia," it still may have triggered the imagination of Lewis, known by friends as ''Jack."

''A cousin of Lewis's visited and mentioned that, as children, they used to climb into this wardrobe and Jack would tell adventure stories to his playmates," Truty said.

The year after Wheaton's find, Westmont students doing a semester in England learned that the owners of the author's old house had found a wardrobe that was to be turned into scrap because it could not be carted out whole through a remodeled, narrower doorway. The students took it off their hands for about $50, had it dismantled, and shipped it to campus.

Unlike Wheaton's version, this wardrobe is as ''perfectly ordinary" as the Narnia entryway into a world of fantasy, Delaney of Westmont said. Like the one in the book, it has a single door with a mirror and a threshold low enough for a small child to step into -- as opposed to the 3-foot-high jump required to access the Wheaton wardrobe.

''Read the book," Delaney said.

KC Chiefs Coach Dick Vermeil Retires For A Third Time

2006-01-04T17:41:00.000-08:00

I wonder which NFL team he'll be coaching next year... :)

The Impossibility of Protecting Stupid People From Terrorist Attacks

2005-12-29T09:21:00.000-08:00

The media folks ~ and, unfortunately, all the people who believe them ~ are mad at Bush for invading their privacy in his efforts to stop terrorism. Their main and only argument is that he did it without getting a warrant first, and this is unconstitutional, a breach of power, a horrible evil thing that makes Bush a really bad guy!

I realized something this morning, and I can't figure out why no one has pointed it out yet! How can Bush get a warrant to eavesdrop on someone if he doesn't have evidence that they're terrorists? But how can he have evidence that they're terrorists if he doesn't have a warrant to eavesdrop on them? It's impossible!

They want him to figure out who the terrorists are without spying on the people who aren't. It's like placing a hundred cups in front of him, asking him to pick the cup with the pea under it, and getting mad when he starts lifting all the cups.

If the government is forced to stop spying on people without warrants, here's what is going to happen:

Ahmed A calls his grandmother in Afghanistan to wish her a happy birthday. Ahmed B calls Osama to tell him they've secured the bombs for the oil refineries, or maybe the lethal mutation of the avian flu virus.

The government wants to listen to both calls, forget about the innocent grandma, and work on the attack. But it doesn't have enough outside evidence to get a warrant for either one. So, guess what? No one knows about the attack.

Hopefully, even if they're "forced" to stop, they'll keep doing it behind our back like they always have. Buf if not, take comfort, citizens, that even though the terrorists may kill you, the government won't know what you're doing.

Edmond the Hun

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T19:40:00.000-08:00

God bless us, every one.

Welcome, Commentors

2005-12-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

Just thought I'd take a little time to thank my visitors and commenters to my blog...

Sanguine and Swedish Eskimo, I never said I didn't want to come to the Alps, and everything I read in the news makes America sound like less of a great place to live (see following post) and Switzerland a much better place. And I know a few tricks to keep out the yeti.

Finien, I don't know for sure who you are, but I do know you. Regardless, I appreciate your frequent visiting and wise, knowledgable comments. Thank you.

Aeropostalegirl, welcome! I'm excited to have attracted another returning reader! I will not pressure you into revealing your identity (as I usually keep my own a secret on this blog), but I am curious as to whether you know me, as my other commentors do, or whether you actually came across my blog somehow while traveling through cyberspace and liked it enough to stop and leave comments and even come back and leave more (you would be the first). Merry Christmas.

Edmond the Hun

Oh Boy! There's Hope for America!

2005-12-20T18:01:00.000-08:00

Isn't it exciting to learn that cigarette and illicit drug use among teenagers have gone down in the last few years? Why, marijauna use dropped nearly a whole percent among seniors! Only 44% of them use it now!

Actually, while this report may mean teens are using less substances, it also may simply mean that less teens are admitting to using these substances.

What a joke...

Edmond the Hun

Big Brother Is Watching You

2005-12-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

Not really. He's only listening to some of you. And it's to protect you all from the bully across the street who wants to kill you. Confused?

Some people, including Democrats in Congress, are alarmed at the revelation that Bush authorized such things as tapping phone lines. Oh, the horror! The government is intruding on the common man's right to privacy! Oh, the humanity! It's 1984! It's Big Brother!

First of all, the government is not listening to everything you say to your boyfriend or grandma. A few thousand people working for the government simply do not have the capacity to listen to all the signals sent by three hundred million Americans every day. The best they could do was somehow record everything and computer search for phrases like "bomb" and "jihad" and "I hate Americans." In which case they're not listening in on your conversations.

And second of all, even if they are, hey, I'm not surprised. I've read enough thriller novels to freely assume the government does a lot more than we're aware of. But I don't really care. At least right now. I don't care if they intercept my cell phone signal and hear me asking my friend about Finien's or aeropostalegirl's identity if they're also intercepting cell phone signals of Mohammed asking Mohammed about which bridge they're going to blow up tomorrow.

The problem is that while the snooping of a good government is fine, it is not guaranteed that a future government would have the same noble intentions. And if a precedent is in place, then they can stop good guys from trying to stop their evil schemes.

It all comes down to the balance between freedom and security. To have more of one, you have to give up some of the other. It's hard to know where to draw the line.

Edmond the Hun

Liam Neeson: A Gay Jedi Lion

2005-12-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

I was intrigued and slightly disturbed today to learn that Star Wars figure Liam Neeson, the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, also played a gay man, including a kissing scene, in last year's sexplicit non-hit Kinsey. An interesting role for someone who also represented the Christian Messiah...

Edmond the Hun

I Stand Corrected

2005-12-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

I have learned that the Honda commercial is actually singing "We wish you a happy Honda-day." It's still an implied change of words, but in this context it's even arguable that they're making fun of the "happy holidays" crowd.

So my explicit example is gone, but I still can't stand the liberals who claim that conservative are bunch of hooeys for complaining about an alleged war on Christmas.

Why can't we all just get along?

Edmond the Hun

Movie Review: Chronicles of Narnia 1 (4.5 of 5)

2005-12-11T16:26:00.000-08:00

I left Narnia somewhat disappointed. But perhaps that was my fault. I almost forget it was a children's movie.

I'll just start out and clarify that this movie falls far short of the grandeur and epic-dom of Lord of the Rings. It lacks the rich and incredibly deep, complicated, and fascinating storyline. The PG violence, while not pathetic, lacks the dramatic intensity. The score, while professional, lacks the memorable themes and tunes, and just feels like classically expected suspense-strings and triumphant-brass.

But let's forget comparisons to that three-movie mega-epic with an obsessive director. After all, C. S. Lewis wrote the book to be a children's story. This one is great in its own right.

There are three requirements for transforming a beloved book into a magnificent movie. First, there must be a good story to tell. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an excellent story, both allegorically and intrinsically. It's the forces of good vs. the reign of horrible evil, of course, yet there's also a little fun along the way. It has the escapist appeal of an imaginary world of talking creatures, yet it has the realist appeal of ordinary children coming to save the day.

Second, the story must be told correctly. Worries that Disney would corrupt the Christianity will be forgotten. Whether it's because some in charge appreciated the symbolism and vowed to preserve it, or because a post-Passion Hollywood was conscious that a correct telling would satisfy the religious masses and translate into more money, or both, Lion... follows the book, point by point, almost to an extreme, removing items only to speed things up and injecting alterations only to appropriately increase the suspense. (Exceptions are the one-thrust "battle" between Peter and Maugrim and the sometimes-wimpy climactic battle sequence, although as a whole it's probably the best ever in a PG movie.) The dialogue smartly declines to always have the actors quote the book, and there are no complaints here, as audiences will welcome the quotable quips and funny one-liners.

Third, the story must be presented wondrously. Or, in layman's terms, sweet special effects. Obviously, in the technology of 2005, nothing less is expected, and WETA and Co. do not disappoint. Whether it's the witch turning living creatures into stone, or the lion turning them back into living creatures, or especially the realistic-looking and enjoyable beavers, wolves, and centaurs, anyone who has seen the BBC versions will breathe a sigh of relief at the justice that has finally been done. (Indeed, I'm sure someone is already thanking God that there will never be a costumed mouse in Prince Caspian.)

Christians will be more than satisfied. Non-believers will enjoy the story for its own merit, and maybe even come to understand the story at the heart of Christianity a little better. Just don't forget that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is, first and foremost, for better or for worse, a children's tale.

Edmond the Hun

We Wish You An Unoffending Phrase

2005-12-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

I don't feel like getting into the Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas war that most conservatives get excited about every December. While I prefer "Merry Christmas," I suspect that to most people, all such phrases are now meaningless and simply things that people say because it's Christmastime.

Although I must admit I was quite surprised, yea, even shocked, to hear this blasphemous lyrical re-do on a Honda commercial:

We wish you a happy holiday
We wish you a happy holiday
We wish you a happy holiday
And a happy new year!

There's something wrong with that...

Edmond the Hun

I Don't Know Whether This is Funny or Sad...

2005-11-29T07:41:00.000-08:00

A contaminated kiss kills teenager
By Phil Couvrette in Montreal, and agencies
www.smh.com.au

A TEENAGER with an extreme nut allergy has died after kissing her boyfriend hours after he had eaten a peanut-butter sandwich.

Christina Desforges went into anaphylactic shock after the kiss. She was given an adrenaline shot and taken to a hospital in Quebec City but died four days later from acute respiratory failure.

Doctors said the reaction to the minute traces of peanut on the boy's lips was the cause of Christina's death last week. Her boyfriend has not been named.

Dr Karen Sigman, a Canadian allergy expert, said: "If peanuts are still in the mouth, or on the tongue or on the lips, they can cause a reaction.

Besides the fact that 15-year-olds shouldn't be kissing anyway... Well, I'm at a loss for words.

Edmond the Hun

Why $3 A Gallon Was A Good Thing

2005-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Or, at least, an irritation with positive side effects

When gas shot up past $3 a gallon, people cried in horror. Now that things are back to relative normality, I look back and think it was a good thing.

It woke up Americans and gave them a foreshadowing of things to come. Europe is already used to the equivalent of four to five dollars a gallon, and they've adjusted with fuel-efficient cars and smart transportation systems and habits.

Things are only going to get worse. China is becoming more industrialized, and they are adding over 1,000 cars per day to their streets! (Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat) Demand for oil is increasing exponentially, and supply is decreasing exponentially. Once demand overtakes supply, high prices will be a norm.

But this little high blip of September and October forced Americans to prepare a little better for this potentially impending energy crisis. We are buying more energy-efficient vehicles, and auto manufacturers are creating more energy-efficient vehicles. We're learning how to change our habits to adjust to higher prices. All of this helps ease demand and hold the supply.

It spurred on the search for and progress of alternative resources, which will be the only real way to solve an energy crisis and replace finite supplies of oil.

Oil will not last forever, but the panic brought about by these temporary price jumps will help us get ready for the time when they will be high and higher, indefinitely.

Edomdnd the Hun

Woman For President? It May Be Possible...

2005-11-02T20:03:00.000-08:00

Two weeks later, and the results are in. They are only mildly surprising.

The mostly teenage/20's Christian forum was pretty split, with 12 votes yes and 14 votes no.

No: Women are frowned upon by other countries... God created woman as a helper, not leader.
Yes: We have a woman secretary of state, why not president?... I can't think of any harm... It doesn't matter as long as they're qualified...
Best Joke (by a woman): She'd plunge the country into war every 28 days or so.
Best Question (also by a woman): How could her husband have any leadership role at home when his wife is his authority?

General Consensus: Some would, some wouldn't, some object Biblically, some support Biblically.

The gasbuddy forum was almost entirely yes:

Yes: As long as she has the best overall interest in that of the United States... It's sad that people can't realize gender does not make a difference... Women have succeeded as CEO's and Executive Directors... It's depressing that people even ask this question... I think it's simply a matter of merit and qualification, not gender...
No: (no arguments or reasons, just statements like, "No." "Not in a million years!")

General Consensus: A woman president is just as justified as a man president, although it's unlikely to happen in the next election.

The science forum was also overwhelmingly yes:

Yes: Sure, but not as a political ploy... Aperson's gender is no guide to their abilities... Who they are and what they stand for are paramount... We had a female Prime Minister... Of course...
No: (No objections)

General Consensus: There is no difference between a man and woman regarding their ability to lead, although a woman candidate could become a sexist icon for people voting either way.

OVERALL RESULTS: While the younger Christians are split, most people have no problem at all with a woman president, providing she is qualified, although no one is anticipating it happening in the next few years. Therefore, it appears that it would be too hasty to conclude already that neither Hillary or Condi stand a chance at all, although I still am doubtful.

Note an argument in Freakonomics regarding an election some time ago involving a black candidate. Pre-election polls indicated the black man would win by a large margin, but he barely squeezed a victory. This implies that some people who objected to a black leader did not want to appear racist in the polls and said that they would vote for him, but did not.

It is possible that Americans are ready for a woman president, and it is equally possible that some say they are because they don't want to appear sexist, or the ones that don't want a woman president simply aren't saying anything. And there's no way to poll for that.

Edmond the Hun

Economy Update: November '05

2005-11-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

As gas prices are under $2.29, the movies produce a movie that makes over $30 million for the first time since mid-September. However, it was a sequel to an alleged hit, and it was a horror flick on the weekend before Halloween, so this might have been expected.

It will be impossible to continue to judge the economy and the spending money of Americans based on the money movies make, because even though gas prices are "down," heating prices are going up, and there are a bunch of hits scheduled to release through the rest of the year, including Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and King Kong, which will be expected to gross big numbers. Too many factors to make justified conclusions.

However, there are two things to watch concering the economy in the next two months. First, people are going to start buying Christmas presents, and we'll see if they have less money to spend than usual. Second, yesterday marked the start of charging for those higher natural gas prices for heating your home, and we'll see if they will really be 25%-45% higher than last year. That could eat up wallets faster than gas prices.

So anyways, I'll keep you updated with what little I know. I'll keep looking for better economic data than movie numbers. But I still don't think we need to panic.

Edmond the Hun

Supreme Court Nominee: Brilliant! (i think)

2005-11-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Bush has now nominated some guy named Samuel Alito Jr. for the Supreme Court. His incredible track record makes him the most qualified candidate of the last seventy years. I think this is a brilliant move by Bush and Co. to either increase the conservative-ness of the Supreme Court, or expose the Democrat's liberal agenda, or both.

Here's why. Harriet Miers was criticized because she had no experience. In response, Bush nominates a guy who is incredibly experienced. (He also happens to be incredibly conservative.)

If Bush had nominated Alito from the start, his experience wouldn't have been that much of an issue, and it wouldn't have been an obvious positive factor. The Dems would have tried to find some objection based on his views, and would have had a decent chance of succeeding.

But since Alito is a post-Miers nominee, everyone looks at his experience and thinks, Hey, what a great choice! The only way the Dems can object is to make it obvious that they don't like his conservative-ness, which is no real reason at all.

Just as gas for $2.26 feels a lot cheaper after $2.99, an experienced nominee looks a lot better and more qualified after an unexperienced one. Thanks to this chain of events, there is now a good chance that this conservative president will increase the conservative-ness of the Court.

Brilliant!

Edmond the Hun

Anti-Bush Media, Continued

2005-10-31T07:31:00.000-08:00

So some guy in the Bush administration was indicted Friday.

Today's Monday, right?

Then why are there still 4,000 articles about it? Just look at some of these headlines:

"Democrat leader: Rove should resign, Bush and Cheney apologize"..."Democrats after Rove's job"..."President should apologize, change staff, some say"..."Rove should be fired, spy’s husband says"..."Reid Says Rove Should Resign"..."Cheney emerges as key figure in leak"... and that's just from the last hour.

Google News counts about 3,950 related articles. Currently, Rosa Park stuff and Supreme Court nominee stuff are each around 2,000, and nothing else is even close.

Basically, there's about twice as many news articles about the latest problems of the Bush administration than anything else in the news! And this is three days after it happened!

And who still says the media is not biased?

Edmond the Hun

News Flash: It's Racist to Compliment Black People!

2005-10-28T07:35:00.000-07:00

This is stupid.

Air Force Acadmey Coach Fisher DeBerry, after losing a game, remarked that the other team had more black people, and that in general, blacks are faster runners than whites. He got attacked for these statements, which have been dubbed as "racist remarks," and he had to apologize!

The guy said the other team "had a lot more Afro-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. It just seems to me to be that way. Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run extremely well."

Hey, it's the truth! Obviously, you can't over-generalize, and statements won't be true in every situation, but, in general, these are true statements. Just look at the 100-meter dash in the Olympics. The top male times are always faster than the top female times, and the top finishers for either gender are almost always black.

That's just the way God made us. Males in top form are stronger and more athletic than females in top form, and it's the same for blacks to whites. There's nothing racist or sexist about it; that's just established fact.

By calling DeBerry a racist, the criticizers are actually admitting racism of their own. The only way someone could have a problem with that statement is if they inferred that there was some sort of shame in the fact that the fastest blacks are faster than the fastest whites. Now that's racist. But DeBerry's comments were not.

We have just discovered that it is now racist to compliment black people.

Edmond the Hun

(Source: allsports.com)

Let's Wipe Israel Off the Map, Act 2005

2005-10-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

It's like a horrible play.

WORLD: Come on, Israel, give up some of your land to the Palestinians, and you'll have peace.
ISRAEL: I doubt it.
WORLD: Come on, just do it. Peace! Peace!
CONSERVATIVE MEDIA/BLOGGERS: This is the stupidest idea in the world. Radical Muslims will only be happy when Israel is wiped off the map. It won't work at all.
WORLD: Did you hear something? Come on, Israel, give up land! Give up land! Peace! Peace!
ISRAEL: Well, OK, we'll do it.

[Israel gives up some land.]

RADICAL MUSLIMS: Yay, we have land! Now let's go attack some Israelis!
IRAN PRESIDENT: Israel must be wiped off the map! (actual quote)
ISRAEL: Here we go again...
WORLD: Hmm... I wonder what happened to the peace!
CONSERVATIVE MEDIA/BLOGGERS: Hate to say I told you so, but the world's not listening anyway...

You know there's something wrong with the world when a coach can't compliment black people without getting attacked and mutilated (allsports.com) while an Islamist president can call for the extermination of Israel and stand by his comments without apology.

Green Bay Packers Off to Bad Start

2005-10-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

Six games into the 2005 season, the Green Bay Packers, forever an excellent or at least decent team run by consecutive-game-record-holding Brett Favre, are off to a 1-5 start, their worst in years. On a positive note, maybe this will help lighten up their 68,000-person waiting list for season tickets...

Edmond the Hun

Open-Sourcing: Beats Microsoft to the Punch

2005-10-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably don't know what open-sourcing is. It's where lots of programmers and computer geeks make programs, openly revealing the source code to promote collaboration and improvement, simply because they believe information and products should be free and open to everyone (and also because many of them hate Microsoft, which charges hundreds of dollars for its closed-source software).

OpenOffice.org has had a free downloadable software called OpenOffice.org 1.0 for some time now. It is basically a non-brandname copycat of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as a few other less-popular programs. But even though it's non-brandname and doesn't cost $100 or more, Writer is basically the same thing as Word, is completely compatible with Word documents, and even supposedly contains extra features (I cannot confirm this with specific details because some of the features that I thought "extra" are actually already on the latest version of Word, which I do not own).

So, what's the point?

OpenOffice.org has just released version 2.0. I'm not sure all what this means, but when software goes to a new number, it's basically a full and complete upgrade (as opposed to going from 1.0 to 1.1, which might just fix a few bugs or add a couple components).

What interests me is the timing. Microsoft has promised to fully upgrade its Office Suite along with its new operating system Vista, due next year. You might expect OpenOffice to wait for this to come out to see what the new software has to offer, so they can copy it and make it available for free.

Instead, they have come up with things by themselves, offering new and upgraded features without waiting to see what Microsoft will offer. This shows confidence and a desire to beat Microsoft to the punch. In fact, if 2.0 contains some truly new and useful features (I have yet to download it with my feeble dial-up connection), Microsoft may end up being the one incorporating some of OpenOffice's features! There's irony for you!

Microsoft still does not fear competition from OpenOffice, largely because most people have still never heard of it. But what appeals to me is the same quality without the hundred-dollar price tag. By deciding to release a new version before Microsoft releases theirs, OpenOffice is proving that they are not just providing a free copycat of expensive products. They are taking open-sourcing to a new paradigm by taking an initiatve of their own.

Edmond the Hun

Controversy: Prisoner Abortion?

2005-10-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest conervative/liberal controversy: Anonymous Lady is in jail and wants to get an abortion. Does she have the right to get one, to have transportation provided to take her to an abortion clinic, payed by (who else) taxpayers?

Well, the Supreme Court ruled that she has that right. Liberals contend that of course it's her right, how dare the Republican government try to control her reproductive choices! Conservatives contend that besides the fact that abortion is murder, prisoners aren't allowed to vote or bear arms, so why should they be allowed to get an abortion?

I don't have much to offer besides the already-established conervative viewpoint. What are the liberals gonna try to argue next? "Hey, this guy in jail wants a gun, how dare you Republicans try to control his weapons choices!" But at the same time, you can't say prisoners are deprived of all rights (food and shelter, for instance).

So when a line has to be drawn, we have to let the Supreme Court draw it, instead of the people or the people-elected Congress. Once again, I support an amendment that would send these kinds of cases to Congress or to the people to draw up a law defining prisoner's rights. Until then, the Supreme Court will continue to make "laws" without checks and balances.

I did find it ironic, though, that the Supreme Court decided that a woman, who was put in prison to restrict her from committing further crimes, is now allowed to leave prison to commit another crime.

Edmond the Hun

Women & Election 2008

2005-10-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

A book came out earlier this year called like "The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She'll Goto Become President." And now there's a book out called "Condi vs. Hillary: The Next Great Presidential Race."

Umm... isn't the election still over three years away? Doesn't anyone know that Condoleeza Rice doesn't even want to run for president? And who said Hillary could even get the nomination from her own party?

Wouldn't it be hilarious if there's enough people out there who don't even want to vote for a woman president, whether because they believe God doesn't want women in charge, or because women aren't suited to be in charge, or because other countries wouldn't appreciate or respect a woman in charge, or for whatever other reason... if there's enough of them, neither of them stands a chance to begin with!

So I've started a thread in three different forums from websites that target three different demographics (teenage and young adult Christians, scientists, and gasoline price watchers), asking the question and seeing what results I get:

Should a woman be president?

We'll see how the results look in a couple weeks...

Book Review: Freakonomics (4 of 5)

2005-10-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

Freakonomics is an interesting book, especially for anyone who likes numbers. There is no specific purpose, as the book itself admits, except maybe to challenge you not to accept at face value statistics that politicians and the media throw out at you, and to maybe dig a little deeper for the truth. Problem is, I already know not to always accept these statistics, and unless you are an economist who has access to large pools of data from governments, schools, and sumo wrestlers, you really don't have a way to check the numbers you are given.

That said, it's still a very interesting book. Levitt asks random unasked questions and pores over lots of data to find unexpected correlations. While he admits that a correlation between two things cannot determine why, he still concludes or strongly encourages us about the why's. Abortion in the 1970's caused a crime drop in the 1990's. Incompetent school teachers change their students' test answers to correct ones so No Child will get Left Behind and they won't look bad. Real estate agents don't work their hardest at selling your home because the difference between a $300,000 and a $310,000 sale is only an extra $150 in commission for them.

It's all good and interesting, except that as the book progresses, the Stevens offer us less examples of the actual data and resort to simply telling us that when this happened, this tended to happen. They make very convincing arguments, except if we are to take their own advice, we cannot accept the correlations they give us. States with higher abortion rates in the 1970's tended to experience higher crime drops in the 1990's. OK. Was that true for every single high-abortion-rate state or just most of them? Obviously, they can't give us all the raw data for all of their examples, because then the book would be several hundred boring pages of numbers. Although it is unavoidable, this by nature lessens the credibility of his conclusions.

For the most part, however, Freakonomics is a smart book that finds interesting and enlightening patterns in unexpected places. And they even do a good job of attempting to explain and find causes for these patterns. I only wish I had that kind of access to that kind of data...

Edmond the Hun

Movie Review: Elizabethtown (3 of 5)

2005-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

Elizabethtown is a chick flick. In one sense, they're all the same. In another sense, they're all slightly different, and some things work, and some things really do not.

Most chick flicks do not start out with the guy losing his company a billion dollars. This has potential. Most chick flicks also do not revolve around the death of the guy's dad, and the ensuing family relations and squabbles and funerals and memorial services. And now we know why. It's just kind of an awkward clash ~ not only the death with the romance but the comic relief with with death ~ you're not always sure whether you're supposed to be sad or laughing.

The romance is much more entertaining, and it's too bad it didn't get more focus. Kirsten Dunst is hilarious as a too-forward slightly-crazy flight attendant with a halfway-consistent Southern accent. Orlando Bloom is also fun to watch in a rare swordless role, espeically in some animated moments (There's nothing quite like watching this sword- and bow-wielding elf/pirate erupt in frustration and bang his horn after missing an exit and getting lost by a cornfield).

Elizabethtown is also smartly modern. Cell phones are a major part of their relationship. Crowe maximizes the potentials of cell phone multi-tasking to humourous effect, as they talk for hours. The relationship is also refreshingly non-physical, for a large part, at least. Yes, they make out eventually, but for a time just get to know each other and even refrain from a kiss at one point, as Dunst says, "Didn't it feel better when we didn't do something impulsive?"

Overall, the move is entertaining, but the death/family subplot is too much of a distraction, and when the travel-deprived Bloom leaves town and goes on a "road trip" specifically designed for him by Dunst, complete with a map/scrapbook/mix CDs package that is sweet (in both senses of the word), you find yourself wishing the movie had more of this sort of thing. The mini bits of language and sexual references are also a distraction, enhanced by the fact that the rest of the movie is laregly void of them (For example, I would not criticize I, Robot for the language so much because it's an action movie with language throughout. Here, it's a mostly innocent romance with a few random words thrown in.)

Elizabethtown, then, is an anomaly. It's a typical chick flick with several twists and differences, some funny and some distracting. It's up to you. Not that September/October 2005 have had much else to offer...

Edmond the Hun

Economy, continued

2005-10-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

An anonymous "Fresh Eavesdropper" left an insightful and knowledgable comment on my previous economic-related post. The trickle-down related information was especially insightful. (Although it doesn't help me decide how likely the economy will crash this Christmas if people can't and don't spend enough on stuff).

While I recognize that movies are a far from ideal measure of the status of the economy and the people's amount of spending money, it is the only set for which I have readily available data (via www.boxofficemojo.com). Book publishers release rankings only, not numbers. And I simply don't know where to find other useful numbers.

Yet we have now had three weekends in a row without a $20-million grossing movie. Can this be attributed solely to a lack of good movies?

Edmond the Hun

Movies: Elizabethtown

2005-10-16T18:31:00.000-07:00

Saw it today. Expect a full review later this week. Probably a 3 of 5.

Pros: Good overall production and presentation, especially regarding the romance element. Modern and smart (cell phones are a major part of the relationship, for example), yet unmodernly unphyscial (yes, they make out eventually, but for a large part simply get to know each other). Plenty of humourous hilarious moments and catch phrases/dialogue.

Cons: The other major element, regarding the death of Orlando's father, subsequent relations with southern country-type family, the memorial service, etc, clashes awkwardly with the romance element, which is much more entertaining. Kirsten's southern accent is wonderfully amusing, except she's not consistent with it. And the brief language and sexual references are random, standing out awkwardly and unnecessarily because the rest of the movie is so devoid of them.

Edmond the Hun

The Economy: Don't Panic (yet)

2005-10-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

I love numbers, perhaps too much for my own good. I concluded that an analysis of the numbers alone does not justify accusing Reggie Sanders of taking steroids, even though from 2000 to 2001 he went from 11 home runs to 33 home runs, and even though he hit as many home runs in 2005 as 2004 in only half as many at-bats. If he started steroids in 2001 why didn't he hit as well in 2004 as 2005? Or, if he started steroids in 2005, why the jump between 2000 and 2001? Without outside evidence, it's far more logical to chalk it up to natural fluctuation and inconsistency.

But we're getting off topic. I was speculating last week about gas prices and what it would do to the economy. But I'm not too worried.

Take the movies, for example. It is true that two weekends ago, the top movie only grossed $15 million, the first under-$20 mil this year. And it's true that last weekend's top movie only grossed $16 million. Two in a row!

But you could also argue that none of the recent movies have had anything really exciting to offer and attract large movie crowds, certainly a viable theory. And last weekend had five opening movies in the top seven, which means there were a bunch of new movies competing for money, all of them making just enough to not allow one of them to make a whole bunch.

It's true that the last two weekends have made less money than the same weekends of 2003 and 2004. But it's also true that the last weekend made more money than the previous six weekends.

It's all about which numbers you look at, and the general result is: While money-making among movies does seem to be slightly down, it cannot single-handedly be attributed to gas prices, and even if it could, the numbers aren't different enough to cause alarm.

Or take fast food. I've seen several difference statistics that between 10-30% of people have altered their fast food habits, or semi-formal dining habits, or are clipping more coupons, etc, because of higher gas prices. In one sense, that's a decent percent. But in another sense, it's also very low. The majority of people aren't changing how they spend their money because of higher gas prices! At McDonald's, where I work, we're still plenty busy. Sure, the last two days were pretty slow, but that's just normal fluctuation. At a McTeacher night last week, the gas station across the street said $2.99, and we were packed nonstop for three hours.

The bottom line: Don't panic. The economy's not crumbling yet. (But don't hold your breath for holiday sales) I'll keep analyzing those numbers that none of you probably even care about...

Edmond the Hun

Ramblings: Bagels, Barnes, and Baseball

2005-10-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

Got up at 7:30, since I had to work at nine. Read the paper. Surprised to see nothing about Bush's remarks that we've foiled twelve terrorist plots since 9/11, including five for our soil. But why would the media report something that's both positive AND pro-Bush?

Worked six hours, with a break. 'Twas very busy. Only second time doing a breakfast shift, since I'm not really "available" during those hours, and only work then when I'm needed. Managers were again impressed with my quick grasping of the concepts of toasting bagels and heating biscuits and hotcakes and whatnot. I guess they don't expect employees to do what they're told and remember it when they learn something new. But it means they like me more, and it's always good to have your managers like you. It's even better to have them like you because you're a good and hard worker. I think I'm due for a raise in the near future...

Called my girlfriend to see about checking out the new Barnes and Nobles with her tomorrow, or finish watching The Prince of Egypt, which has an amazing musical score. Speaking of which, I need to write more music for the school's play tomorrow, too. I've got a bunch of various ditties floating around that need to be strapped down and molded, but I'm still clueless about the big fight scene.

Played some football with some friends from my former youth group and their friends. Wide receiver, missed some embarrassingly easy grabs since I lack skills, but still caught an interception for a touchdown that finished the first game, and received two more in the second game. Haven't exercised much lately besides sporadic weightlifting, and I was mildly worn out.

Cardinals play tonight after 10. Commissioner Bud Selig apologized to fans for the late start, saying it was unavoidable due to other baseball and football games scheduled on the same day. Makes him look good that he even bothered to apologize, though, right? Until you read in the paper that Kit Bond noted that when a 10 o'clock playoff game occurred a few years ago, he promised "no more 10 o'clock games." And now he broke his promise. Sure, it was unavoidable, but now he gets scolded because of his previous comments.

A tip to my friend who wants to become president (and any other hopefuls out there): When you make promises, only promise to try. Never say that you will make something happen, or that you will not let something happen again. Because the Murphy demons will make sure the opposite comes true, and the media will never forget it. Poor Bud.

Edmond the Hun

Halo Update (A Major, Major Update)

2005-10-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

Director: Peter Jackson
Design: WETA

This news is so big that it's making Halo fanatics crazy about how awesome the movie's going to be. I'm excited but still waiting to see how King Kong looks, to see if Jackson can carry his amazing talent with Lord of the Rings through another movie (since all his pre-LOTR movies were sick cheap horror flicks). But if he succeeds with King Kong, Halo will be incredible.

Edmond the Hun

Gas Prices: The Economy In the Long Run

2005-10-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

It appears as if gas prices will stay in this $3 range throughout the next month or two, at least, until we can get these Gulf refineries up and running again. Of course, that's providing another hurricane doesn't hit it...

I'm wondering how all of this will affect the American economy. I saw something in today's paper that said there is an expected 5% increase in retail sales this holiday season compared to last year. And I thought, did they take into account this 75% increase in gas prices? If this really maintains, I think it would seriously cut down on the average American's spending money for Christmas presents.

I freely admit that I'm ignorant about demographics and economical factors, and I think it wouldn't affect the upper class, because $5 a gallon would mean nothing to them, except that they might have to wait til next week to buy the newest iPod. And it wouldn't affect the lower class, because they can't afford to own a car anyway. But it would affect the majority of Americans, the middle class, who own a house and a car or two (or three) and pay lots of bills every month but can still afford to pay them and have money left over to buy stuff with.

It's that disposable cash ~ what most commercial businesses rely on for their profits ~ that gas prices will eat into.

The top grossing movie last weekend only made $15 million, less than half of a normal weekend. Is this an early sign of people having less disposable cash? Or is that just because the last two weekends haven't offered anything too exciting and attractive?

I read somewhere that most companies get a quarter of their annual revenue from Christmas/holiday sales. Will they get that quarter this time? Will companies go out of business? Cut workers? Increase unemployment? Start a second Great Depression?

Or am I just a seventeen year old who doesn't understand the economy?

Edmond the Hun

The First Time I Felt Old...

2005-09-28T17:08:00.000-07:00

was when I saw an advertisement for the Toy Story 10th Anniversary DVD.

Music Review: Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound (4 of 5)

2005-09-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

It was a given that the new Switchfoot CD would be oozing with professionalism ~ the quality, the sound mixing, all the various sound effects... it's a piece of art in itself. Unfortunately, it's not really all that exciting.

The music is hard to describe. It's anything but cookie cutter or formulaic. But at the same time it doesn't mean that everything they do works, either. It's professional, creative, and cool, but nothing with the instant catchiness of "Gone" or "Meant to Live." It's the sort of interesting, elegant stuff that builds up and comes down and grows on you after awhile.

I'm not sure what all the songs are about. At first glance, it seems to be nothing more than an everything-sucks album. "I want more than my desperation... Maybe I'm the one to blame... Everyone dies... My heart is darker than these oceans... It'll be a day like this one when the world caves in... I've got a wound that doesn't heal... Everything is broken... I am the crisis..." A far cry from the hope-and-encouragement message of Beautiful Letdown.!

If you look deeper, you realize that it's not so much "the world is falling apart and I'm depressed," but more like, "the world is falling apart and I want to be somewhere else." I can infer that "somewhere else" is heaven, but Switchfoot, while recognizing problems, doesn't really offer any real solutions. I think they're falling into the crossover paradox: You don't want to be too Christian, or you'll turn people off and you can't witness to them. But if you leave out the Christianity altogether, you're not witnessing to them anyway.

Two exceptions are "Golden," which is an encouraging you-are-worth-something song (although not nearly as powerful as "Dare You To Move,") and "Easier Than Love," which just frankly says that sex has pervaded our culture and media and is unfortunately easier than love.

It's obvious that Switchfoot is talented and has money to spend on professional sound quality and mixing. It's obvious that they realize the world's full of problems. But it's not obvious that they realize that God is the solution. We can only hope for that in the next album.

Edmond the Hun

Rita Clears Bush

2005-09-25T16:27:00.000-07:00

The events surrounding Hurricane Rita should make it clear to everyone that it is ridiculous to blame Bush for his lack of response to Hurricane Katrina. In the case of Rita, local officials did everything necessary to forewarn and evacuate citizens, even if the highway clog was a mess. All Bush had to do was sit back and watch on giant TV screens and order a few federal troops in.

Katrina taught us to beware of incoming hurricanes, watch them develop and prepare accordingly. Rita proved that we learned. It also proved that the president doesn't have to get involved.

Edmond the Hun

Luke 21:25

2005-09-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.

If the Media Was Unbiased and Consistent...

2005-09-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness!! Hurricane Rita struck the Keys! Where was Bush? Why didn't he come and do something? What's wrong with him? What's wrong with his administration? Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!

Supreme Court: Dems Dodge Doozy

2005-09-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

It's just too bad. Just when Bush had the Dems where we wanted them, he goes and switches Roberts to be the chief justice, instead of replacing O'Connor. It looks like he's a smart guy and will get confirmed, blah blah blah. Except Roberts is only moderately conservative, replacing Rehnquist, who was extremely conservative. That means that under Bush's nomination we've already lost some conservative. And there's no way Bush is going to replace moderate O'Connor with a conservative to balance things out. No, by all appearances the court is going to become even more liberal, and Bush is the president who's nominating them!

It's not right! I don't get it! What is Bush thinking? Why can't we stop the Supreme Court from voting on conservative/liberal issues so it won't matter anyway! Isn't their something in the Declaration of Independence about when the government gets bad it's the right of the people to alter or abolish it? Why can't we just add a provision for ambigous court cases to go to Congress for legislation instead of a final one-time decision by nine people?

Edmond the Hun

The World Gets Flatter...

2005-09-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

It appears that AOL and MSN may merge. I don't know enough to start rambling about ramifications, but I do know one thing: if it happens, the world will get even flatter.

I'm referring to an excellent book called The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman, in which he outlines the ways in the last few years that the world has been getting "flatter" as technology helps everything become so related and interconnected, leveling the playing field and empowering individuals as never before.

If this AOL-MSN merge happens, the playing field will be leveled on a new... level: Instant Messenging. Currently, Instant Messenging is very non-flat. Lots of people have AIM; lots of people have MSN Messenger. But unlike e-mail, where no matter who your provider is, you can e-mail anyone else and receive e-mails from anyone else, Instant Messenging is still localized. AIM users can't IM people using MSN Messenger.

If this merge happens, they'll all be brought together. Everyone will have to have a unique screen name, but they'll probably just add a suffix of sorts, similar to e-mail.

Let the flattening continue...

Edmond the Hun

Google Wins Again

2005-09-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

Google is smart. First they became an excellent engine for searching the entire web. Then they added a host of other options for searching specific parts of the web. I use Google to search and browse the news all the time.

I was wondering if they would add a feature that lets you search blogs as well, and now they've done it. I searched a very specific phrase from my last post and it found my blog immediately. That means that there's a greater chance more people will find this thing. Maybe.

Edmond the Hun

The President: Why Are They Pointing Fingers At You?

2005-09-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

Once again, the media uses an event as an excuse to portray President Bush in a bad light. Why didn't he respond sooner? If he had done something quicker, thousands would have been saved!

But there are some facts the media is not emphasizing, and that I have gleaned either by reading the articles closely or from conservative radio. First, the hurricane wiped out the communications systems that emergency response people normally rely on, so it was harder for them to make things happen. Second, the mayor of New Orleans and governor of Louisiana didn't do anything to help helpless people evacuate in time, and they certainly had more resources and time than Bush did, who has 49 other states to worry about, too.

Which brings me to my own point: Perhaps the reason Bush did not take more action sooner was because he didn't realize he needed to! That may sound farfetched, but hindsight is always 20/20. Think about it.

How often does the federal government get involved in most hurricanes, anyway? People board up and hoard supplies, some people evacuate, some homes get wiped away, the Red Cross and Coast Guard take care of everything, no need for the President, right? In other words, we've never expected Bush to have buses full of water bottles ready to go whenever a hurricane hit. It wasn't needed.

OK, so it's true that Katrina was not your average hurricane, and we knew it wasn't going to be your average hurricane before it hit. But that still doesn't make it Bush's responsibility. Why didn't the mayor or governor or other local officials organize and load up the buses? No, somehow, Bush was supposed to be doing that, even though he still had all his normal presidential responsibilities to worry about as well.

For years the media has been treating Bush in a strange way. Whenever anything in this country doesn't go as it should, somehow it's Bush's fault that it went wrong. And that's really not fair.

Edmond the Hun

The President: Why Are You Letting Them Point Fingers At You?

2005-09-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

It's been almost five years since Bush was first elected president. The media has criticized him for just about everything ~ from not being prepared for 9/11 to not winning the war in Iraq to not being prepared for Hurricane Katrina. While I don't like how the media responds, I also don't like how Bush responds to the media response: typically, with nothing.

I don't understand it. When the media criticizes Bush about something, either they're wrong or they're right. If they're right, Bush should admit it and, if possible, correct it. If they're wrong, Bush should explain to everyone why they're wrong. It's not that hard, is it? What, is he wrong and too proud to admit it? Are the explanations too complicated for people to understand? Do the explanations involve classified information? Then at least tell us the explanation is classified! At least tell us there's an explanation!

Yet Bush has responded with neither. We either have to assume that Bush has an explanation he for some reason won't tell us, or that he has no explanation and is wrong. It's got to be one or the other! And we know which one the media assumes...

This leaves the conservative radio folks to explain why the media is wrong, but obviously not enough people are listening. And then they wonder why Bush's ratings are slipping to all-time lows.

I am beginning to think of Bush as an incompetent president. Not because of what the media says about him, but because of what Bush says about what the media says about him: Nothing.

To defend yourself, Bush, you either have to admit error or explain to everyone why you're not in error. To do neither is to be incompetent.

Edmond the Hun

Surpise! Embryonic Stem Cells Aren's So Great

2005-09-07T06:53:00.000-07:00

Remember all the hype and debate a few months ago about using embryonic stem cells to find cures for diseases? I believe I blogged something about the immorality about it.

Anyway, it turns out that these embryonic stem cells aren't as great as we once thought. They mutate after awhile and... I'll spare you the scientific stuff, but essentially, they're not that useful.

Gotta love the scientists these days. They promise that embryonic stem cells will be the cure for all diseases so they can get government funding, and then it turns out they were wrong.

Edmond the Hun

(Proof: http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050906/01)

Supreme Court: Democrats in Deep

2005-09-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

The analysis has only just begun regarding the impact of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist's death. What does it mean for the Court? For Bush? For nominee Roberts? Well, I know what it means for the Democrats.

They're in a tough spot.

They are already risking a loss of credibility by their desire to grill Roberts with extensive questions to make sure he will uphold certain rights, which obviously simply means, make sure he believes what we believe so he'll vote the way we want him to, instead of the way Bush wants him to. Otherwise we won't vote him in. Clearly, as long as Roberts will uphold the Constituion, his opinions regarding specific things is irrelevant. It won't take the public long to recognize the Democrat's hopless scheme.

However, Rehnquist's vacancy makes things even harder for them. They threatened everything but murder if Bush tried to replace moderate O'Conner with a hardcore conservative. Now, Rehnquist was a hardcore conservative, but the Democrats will surely want to replace him a liberal or at least a moderate. Anything but a conservative! Yet if they suggest that, they will be practicing a double standard by wanting to do themselves what they would not allow Bush to do.

It will interesting to see how the Democrats will react in the days and weeks to come. If they ask Roberts too many questions, they will be exposed as only willing to accept someone who will behave the way they like. But if they don't, they won't have a reason not to vote for him. If they try to replace Rehnquist with a non-conservative, they will be exposed as holding to a double standard. But they don't want Rehnquist replaced with another conservative either.

They're stuck in what appears to be a lose-lose situation for both vacancies. Let's see what they can cook up...

Edmond the Hun

Hurricane Katrina: No Surprises Here

2005-09-05T08:32:00.000-07:00

The news has been plastered with Hurricane Katrina lately, but I haven't found anything too surprising.

I was not surprised that there was widespread looting, even among police officers. In a society that largely ignores any religion or accompanying morals, there is nothing to prevent someone from a desire to take available goods. Even for those who have religious beliefs against stealing, if you're out of food and water...

I was not surprised that it took the government a few days to get relief flowing. Just because a hurricane hit doesn't mean that they didn't lose all their other responsibilites. Plus, the huge extent of the hurricane's damage added to the difficulty of organizing a sufficient response.

I was not surprised that the government was criticized for their slow reponse, especially President Bush. Criticizm of Bush often stems from an apparent belief that he is a king who can do whatever he wants whenever he wants. Either that or a belief that buses and bottled water spring out of the ground ready for use.

I was not surprised that celebrities donated money as a publicity stunt (I mean, really, how much of a sacrifice is $250,000 for Hilary Fluff?).

I was not surprised that gas prices spiked with a decrease of supply and that they are already dropping as the supply is slowly reinstated.

It's all about cause and effect.

OK, so there was one fact that has surprised me. The rate at which money is being donated and collected is equal to and even exceeds the rate at which it was gathered for 9/11 or for the tsunami victims. I might have guessed that with higher gas prices people would have less money to give to homeless people they don't know. I would have been wrong.

Yes, selfishness and greed are healthy and alive in America. But compassion is too.

Edmond the Hun

Halo Movie, Reconsidered

2005-09-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

Two of my friends strongly disagreed with me about my assertion that a Halo movie would flop. I started a poll on a forum that I frequent to discuss this very issue. As it stands after two days, the votes are:

4 for "Can't wait, I'll definitely see it"
3 for "Maybe, I'll wait for more info"
2 for "It won't work, I'll save my money"

Now, I realize that this is a very localized poll, consisting of a few visitors to an online Christian forum, and can in no way represent the overall enthusiasm of the nation as a whole toward this movie. But it would at least appear that a Halo movie would be more popular and better received than I initially believed.

Here are a few excerpts of posters' comments:

"Sounds like a heckuva good movie to me. Master Chief massacring aliens sounds just as good to watch as to control."

"Well, I think the Halo movie will do quite well. It has an immensely deep storyline, with or without the alien killing."

"sounds kinda cool. I flip for the video game, but a movie might be a bit of a stretch... lets just see how it turns out."

I'll keep you updated on further poll results or relevant comments.

Edmond the Hun

More on the End of the World

2005-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

$2.99 and counting.

It can't be much longer before people start responding. Riots, strikes, I don't know. Something's gonna happen. This wouldn't be such a big deal if OPEC didn't exist. If we could buy oil from nations individually, they would all be competing for lower prices, instead of binding together to make oil $70 a barrel.

On the other hand, gas stations in America aren't united in a union, and yet when one station jumps thirty cents, all the ones around it do too. Except Casey's gas station, which waits a few hours to get all the people.

So maybe breaking up OPEC wouldn't help much. But I still think President Bush should tell the OPEC nations that if any of them want to leave OPEC and sell oil cheaper, we'll buy from them. It's the Casey's principle. We should at least give it a try.

Edmond the Hun

The End of the World Continues...

2005-08-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

$2.69 a gallon!! Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!

One gas station by my house only went up to $2.46, and it was completely packed when I went to work at 4. When I came home at 7, it had gone up to $2.51, but it was still completely packed. Smart gas station.

But it's rumored to go up even more before the weekend's over??

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!

The Piano Man: Wrapping Up

2005-08-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well, the mystery is mostly over.

Here is a synopsis of the facts that have emerged in recent days:

His name is Andreas Grassl.
He learned to play keyboard at age 10, and he plays well, but is not a concert pianist.
He was the only gay in his village.
He yearned for fame and asked people such as Bill Gates and Robbie Williams to help him launch a career in media.
He got a column in a local paper and criticized the instant fame of celebrities and longed to be a millionaire.
He said he suffered a breakdown, but other than that we still don't know exactly what happened, and the jury's still out on whether he was faking it all or it was something trauma-realted.

And that's about all.

As one German newspaper said, "The truth is often so awfully banal."

Edmond the Hun

Halo Movie?

2005-08-29T18:29:00.000-07:00

So I read this article about a Halo movie. Something about Microsoft selling rights or buying them or something or other ~ I don't remember. The point is there's plans, as preliminary as they may be at this point, for a Halo movie based off the bestselling and ever-popular game.

The movie, if it is ever released, will flop.

There's no way around it. Games-to-movies, from Resident Evil to Tomb Raider, have never worked too well. Why? Games are entertaining because they are repetitive yet increasingly challenging, while movies are entertaining because of an excellent plot, or humor, or something literary like that. In a game, it might be different every time you play it, depending on how good you are, while a movie is always the same. They're just completely different types of media.

And in a more specific sense, Halo would not work. Halo is not loved and worshipped because of its one-player storyline shooting aliens (and what else could they make the movie about?). It is loved and worshipped because of its multi-player humans-shoot-humans, allowing for endless fun as you develop your skill relative to that of everyone else in the world (literally). There's no way to translate that into a game.

So, if this Halo movie thing comes true, I just can't see it making a lot of money. Gamers would rather save their eight bucks and play more Halo.

Edmond the Hun

And Then Marquis Pitches A Shutout...

2005-08-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Whoops.

The unpredictability of sports strikes again. Only two days after I begged LaRussa to spare the Cardinals and take Jason Marquis out of the lineup, he pitches a complete game shutout.

Sports: Cards Need to Can Starter

2005-08-25T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Cardinals starting pitcher Jason Marquis lost again Tuesday night. He's lost seven in a row, having not won sine July 16. I know you can argue that several of his losses were not all his fault, but his ERA has climbed to the worst in the team, 4.67, and there's no denying that he's not starter quality any more.

I don't understand why Tony LaRussa isn't demoting the guy back to minor league, or at least a reliever or something. In the NFL, when the starting quarterback loses games consistently, they replace him. In fact, they even replace him when he doesn't lose all the games. That's why Kurt Warner's on his third team in three years.

There's no reason to guarantee a Cardinal's loss with each start by Marquis. Let him be a pinch-hitter. He's got the best batting average on the team.

Edmond the Hun

The Piano Man: End of the Mystery?

2005-08-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Piano Man has been released from the hospital. (see current for brief details if you don't know what I'm talking about)

There is a report that he finally spoke and said he was from Germany and he came to Britain after losing his job in Paris. A hospital official refused to comment. German officials confirmed he was a 20-year-old from Bavaria and flew home to Germany on Saturday.

Is this the end of the story, then? He's just a regular guy from Germany? Or is that report false? If it's not, why don't we have a name?

I don't know what to think. If the report's true, it's a rather anticlimactic and boring end to this intriguing mystery. But the article didn't seem to imply that they could guarantee the report was true. Guess we'll have to stick around for more information...

Edmond the Hun

(Proof: www.msn.com)

Demotivation Poster #1

2005-08-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

So here I am updating my blog. Except there's nothing in the news worth blogging about. So here's a demotivation poster for you from www.despair.com. There are a lot more where that came from.

Edmond the Hun

Note: The philosophies expressed on these posters are not necessarily those of edmondthehun.blogspot.com. They may or may not be serving merely humorous value.

Movie Review: March of the Penguins (5 of 5)

2005-08-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

So a bunch of guys who like cold weather go to Antarctica and film some penguins. They come back and turn it into a documentary for a few small theaters. It's so well-received that they expand to over two thousand theaters, including one close enough for me to go see it.

Let me start out by telling you what March of the Penguins is not. It's not an action-packed thriller, although penguins getting chased by a seal is a little suspenseful. It's not a romantic comedy, although there is plenty of info about penguin love, and it is very amusing when waddling penguins fall over on the ice.

It's a first-rate documentary. Simple, interesting, informative, and very cute. Learning about these penguins isn't at all boring. The background music is almost classical, almost jazz, almost elevator music ~ perfect for a documentary, and yet I can still recall some of the tunes four days later (I want the soundtrack, if it's for sale). The fabulous shots of glittering icebergs as the setting is a nice bonus, too.

Even if you don't like informative nature documentaries, this movie is so well-done that I think you'll still find it enjoyable. I do admit that I wouldn't pay another $6.75 to see it once, but it is something that I will definitely want to see again.

Edmond the Hun

The Last First Day

2005-08-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

Here I am, at my last first day of high school. Fun stuff. I'm blogging from the computer class, of which I am trying to retain an open mind and try to learn something about computers I don't know. Yay.

Edmond the Hun

The End of the World Has Begun

2005-08-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

$2.58 a gallon! A crime against humanity! Aaaaaahhhh!

Mother Loses 37 Pounds Eating McDonald's

2005-08-12T12:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true.

Many of you have probably heard about the documentary Super Size Me, where this guy ate nothing but McDonald's for a period of time and gained weight or something like that. Well, he was eating 5,000 calories a day, eating everything on the menu at least once.

This lady decided that McDonald's was being unfairly criticized, that the responsibility for obesity was shifting to the providers of the food and not the ones who actually eat it (smart woman).

So she ate at McDonald's three times a day for 90 days. She used their website to select meals that amounted to no more than 1,400 calories a day, eating mostly salads and burgers and hardly any french fries.

And she lost 37 pounds.

This woman is living proof that it's not McDonald's---or any other unhealthy fast food provider's---fault if you're fat and unhealthy. It's your own fault for eating the food. You have the power to know the nutritional information of the food you're eating, and you have the power to adjust your diet accordingly.

It's about time people started taking responsbility for their own actions and stopped blaming it on corporate giants who pay me $6 an hour to give you food so I can go buy gas that may soon cost me half an hour per gallon.

Edmond the Hun

(Proof: www.cnn.com)

War on Terrorism: Racial Profiling

2005-08-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

Liberals are getting all freaked out about this new concept of racial profiling. I, for one, hope that it becomes fully implemented into our transportation system, and very quickly, at that.

Racial profiling is the idea that security offers focus their random bag searches on male Arabs/Muslims and related types of suspicious people groups. The reasons are fairly obvious: the major terrorist attacks on Western civilization in recent years have come from those male Arab/Muslim types. If we checked them thoroughly before allowing them on our trains or subways or airplanes, then we would make it much harder for them to penetrate with an attack.

Of course, civil liberties obsessives are crying foul. That's unfair discrimination, they claim. That's unfair to all the poor peace-loving Muslims who want to live a simple life here.

My response: Too bad. Live with it.

If there was an outbreak of bombs blowing up in the US caused exclusively by male teenagers, and the government decided to carefully check the baggage of every male teenager that boarded a plane, sure, I would hate the extra difficulties presented to me personally, but I would understand that it was necessary. In fact, this sort of group-specific discrimination has already been present in our society for years. It's called car insurance.

Male teenagers are irresponsible, or so the statistics say. We immature young adults don't pay attention and cause considerably more wrecks than any other driving demographic. So the insurance companies hit us up with considerably larger payments. I sigh and submit, because I need to use my car. Where are the same liberal groups in this situation? Why aren't they crying, foul! You can't discriminate against all those poor responsible male teenagers who just want to live a simple life and drive their cars around!

But they don't do that, because there are enough irresponsible crash-causing male teenagers that it makes sense to just charge them all more money instead of wasting time trying to find some way to measure responsibility and driving skill. Likewise, there are enough Arab Muslim types that have made terrorist attacks on our society and are continuing to plan them, that it makes sense to just screen all of them before boarding planes and trains instead of wasting time trying to find some way to figure out which ones are peace-loving and which ones aren't.

Peace-loving Muslims of America, I'm sorry for the extra trouble racial profiling may cause you. But you have no choice. You must sigh and submit. It's the only way to protect us from further attacks.

But oddly enough, they're not the ones that I'm hearing complaints from. This anti-profiling stuff is all from the civil liberties groups. So to you, I say: Shut up! Stop preventing us from preventing terrorist attacks! Or, if you're so excited about group-specific discrimination, find a way to lower my insurance bill.

Edmond the Hun

Sports: Preventing Indian Mascots

2005-08-06T08:58:00.000-07:00

The NCAA has banned 18 college mascots, which are Indian-related, from championship events, calling them "hostile and abusive." Indians---or Blackwhawks, or Braves, or Seminoles, or whatever---have been used as mascots for American sports teams for years, and there has always been debate over whether it's demeaning to our real Native Americans. Apparently, the NCAA thinks it is.

However, they're not offering a reason for why they think it's "hostile and abusive." Come to think of it, I've never heard a good reason at all. I don't see why any Indians should be offended at all.

Think about it. When a team picks a mascot, what are they looking for? Something strong, something powerful, something inspiring. That's why we lions, tigers, bears, and eagles are so powerful. Would a lion complain that it was being abused because a team used his species for a mascot? No, for the same reason a celebrity doesn't complain when she's put on one of those "50 Most Influential People" lists (or whatever they're called.) It's a compliment! It's an honor! It's saying, you're so cool that we want to honor you. You're special enough to be a symbol of our team's strength and inspiration.

Teams don't pick mice or caterpillars for their mascots. They're weak. They're not inspiring.

Teams pick worthy icons for their mascots. And Native American Indians are certainly worthy.

Their warriors are historically famous for their incredible strength, endurance, and ferocity in battle. Naming a team after an Indian is simply honoring those virtuous characteristics and delcaring their desire to emulate them. There's nothing "hostile" or "abusive" about it!
Leaders of the NCAA, don't prevent your colleges from honoring this special ethnic group of our country. Native Americans, when a team picks you for their mascot, they're saying that you are worthy of honor and respect! What's so offensive about it?

Edmond the Hun

Mysteries Revealed: The Life of A French Fry

2005-08-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

Doubtlessly, you have consumed thousands of those potato by-products known as "French fries" without giving the slightest thought to the long and arduous process by which they are prepared. This dark and mysterous pathway shall be illuminated by the light of my experience in a little McDonald's restaurant in the heart of America.

Let us begin the journey.

The shaping of the fries is a part of the process not known to me, but I imagine it involves slicing potatoes into thin strips a few inches long and freezing them. These frozen fries are placed into brown paper bags. About six brown paper bags are placed into a cardboard box. Thousands of cardboard boxes donate their residence to these paper bags with frozen fries.

These boxes, bags, and fries arrive at the restaurant via the truck. Or should I say, the Truck. I have never seen the vehicle mentioned in writing, but it is referred to so uncompromisingly as "the Truck,"---never "a truck," or "the supply truck," or "the big truck," but simply, "the Truck,"---that one almost imagines it has reverently been entitled to a capital letter. The Truck is as necessary to the life of the restaurant as the ships were to the early colonists. It brings not only fries, but meat patties, chicken, cups, lids, sauces, ice cream, apples, grapes, lettuce, pickles, onions, cheese, buns, nuts strawberries, toys, stickers, straws, napkins, cookies, croutons, syrup, coffee filters, coffee, fry bags, take out bags, burger boxes, tray liners, bottles of water, containers of milk, containers of chocolate milk, apple juice, salad dressings, forks, knives, trash bags, and a host of other things that I have forgotten or am not yet aware of.

The cardboard boxes containing the bags containing the fries are taken from the Truck and carried into the walk-in freezer. A reinforced steel door opens into the first room, which averages 38 degrees Fahrenheit and holds the aforementioned items that need to remain cooled. A second reinforced steel door opens into a second room, which averages 11 degress Fahrenheit and holds the aforementioned itmes that need to remain frozen. This is where the fries are kept.

(On a completely unrelated note, it feels very good to walk into the walk-in after you've been standing over the fry station or grease vats or grill.)

When fries are needed, a lucky employee is chosen to carry a box from the freezer into the fry hopper, which is a large plastic container shaped somewhat like an upside-down triangle with tiny metal doors at the bottom right. The cardboard box is opened. The brown paper bags are opened and dumped into the fry hopper.

Below the large plastic container is a sort of mini conveyor belt for metal baskets with handles. The fry hopper is somewhat intelligent, and it knows when there is a basket on the top ledge of the belt, and it opens its tiny metal doors and drops fries into the basket. The basket then slides down to the end of the bottom ledge of the belt.

Another employee, or perhaps the same one, takes the basket by the handle and places it into a vat of pure grease. This is known as "dropping a fry basket." The employee presses a timer on the side of the vat, which is set for three minutes and ten seconds.

The employee waits three minutes and ten seconds.

The timer beeps and flashes "PULL." The employee pushes the timer (to stop the irritating beeping) and pulls the basket up and dumps the hot, cooked, fresh fries into the adjacent fry station. He pours salt from a salt dispenser onto the fries.

There are empty bags of small, medium, and large fries. The employee takes the desired bag in one hand, and with a little metal container in the other, sccops up fries and funnels them into the bag.

The bag is then placed onto a tray or into a bag, depending on the method of your order.

You pick up a fry with your fingers, and place it in your mouth, where it passes in and out of your body. But we will leave the details of that process unexplored.

Edmond the Hun