September 14, 2005
Failure of an Idea -- And a People
By David Brooks
In his 1935 State of the Union Address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(FDR) spoke to a nation mired in the Depression, but still marinated
in conservative values:
"Continued dependence" upon welfare, said FDR, "induces a spiritual
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To
dole our relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle
destroyer of the human spirit."
Behind FDR's statement was the conviction that, while the government
must step in in an emergency, in normal times, men provide the food,
clothing and shelter for their families.
And we did, until the war pulled us out of the Depression and a
postwar boom made us, in John K. Galbraith's phrase, The Affluent
Society. By the 1960s, America, the richest country on earth, was
growing ever more prosperous. But with the 1964 landslide of LBJ,
liberalism triumphed and began its great experiment.
Behind the Great Society was a great idea: to lift America's poor out
of poverty, government should now take care of all their basic needs.
By giving the poor welfare, subsidized food, public housing and free
medical care, government will end poverty in America.
At the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center, we saw the failure
of 40 years of the Great Society. No sooner had Katrina passed by and
the 17th Street levee broke than hundreds of young men who should have
taken charge in helping the aged, the sick and the women with babies
to safety took to the streets to shoot, loot and rape. The New Orleans
police, their numbers cut by deserters who left their posts to look
after their families, engaged in running gun battles all day long to
stay alive and protect people.
It was the character and conduct of its people that makes the New
Orleans disaster unique. After a hurricane, people's needs are simple:
food, water, shelter, medical attention. But they can be hard to meet.
People buried in rubble or hiding in attics of flooded homes are tough
to get to. But, even with the incompetence of the mayor and governor,
and the torpor of federal officials, this was possible.
Coast Guard helicopters were operating Tuesday. There were roads open
into the city for SUVs, buses and trucks. While New Orleans was
flooded, the water was stagnant. People walked through to the
convention center and Superdome. The flimsiest boat could navigate.
Even if government dithered for days -- what else is new -- this does
not explain the failure of the people themselves!
Between 1865 and 1940, the South -- having lost a fourth of its best
and bravest in battle, devastated by war, mired in poverty -- was
famous for the hardy self-reliance of her people, black and white.
In 1940, hundreds of British fishermen and yachtsmen sailed back and
forth daily under fire across a turbulent 23-mile Channel to rescue
300,000 soldiers from Dunkirk. How do we explain to the world that a
tenth of that number of Americans could not be reached in four days
from across a stagnant pond?
The real disaster of Katrina was that society broke down. An entire
community could not cope. Liberalism, the idea that good intentions
and government programs can build a Great Society, was exposed as
fraud. After trillions of tax dollars for welfare, food stamps, public
housing, job training and education have poured out since 1965,
poverty remains pandemic. But today, when the police vanish, the
community disappears and men take to the streets to prey on women and
the weak.
Stranded for days in a pool of fetid water, almost everyone waited for
the government to come save them. They screamed into the cameras for
help, and the reporters screamed into the cameras for help, and the
"civil rights leaders" screamed into the cameras that Bush was
responsible and Bush was a racist.
Americans were once famous for taking the initiative, for having young
leaders rise up to take command in a crisis. See any of that at the
Superdome? Sri Lankans and Indonesians, far poorer than we, did not
behave like this in a tsunami that took 400 times as many lives as
Katrina has thus far.
We are the descendants of men and women who braved the North Atlantic
in wooden boats to build a country in a strange land. Our ancestors
traveled thousands of miles in covered wagons, fighting off Indians
far braver than those cowards preying on New Orleans' poor.
Watching that performance in the Crescent City, it seems clear: We are
not the people our parents were. And what are all our Lords Temporal
now howling for? Though government failed at every level, they want
more government.
FDR was right. A "spiritual disintegration" has overtaken us.
Government-as-first provider, the big idea of the Great Society, has
proven to be "a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit."
Either we get off this narcotic, or it kills us.
Mike Peabody
The Evans Group, LLC
918-606-3329
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Concept Art for Sylvan and Academy Factions!
OH YES!
These guys look great. And is that gremlin holding a blunderbuss? Ubisoft might be French but I love them.
First Academy.
Master Gremlin, Obsidian Gargoyle.
Now that gargoyl is looking mighty weird but I trust them, it'll be cool.
Next Golem, and Mage (man they look good!)
Now the biggies. A replacement for the naga, and a good one at that. And the Titan got a whole new bada** image.
Man that took some work...ok since I love you here are the Sylvan units!
The level 1 unit is a spirit, like a nymph. And a War Dancer (some elf sword dude)
I do not miss the stupid leprechauns. Whose brainchild was that?
The next two are a ranged elf (i think) and um...something else.
it's hard to make a walking tree look cool. I like the swirling etchings though.
next is a unicorn and druid.
FINALLY
They look great. Shoop, it will be an all out brawl to get that first copy. Even if it is just you an me.
These guys look great. And is that gremlin holding a blunderbuss? Ubisoft might be French but I love them.
First Academy.
Master Gremlin, Obsidian Gargoyle.
Now that gargoyl is looking mighty weird but I trust them, it'll be cool.
Next Golem, and Mage (man they look good!)
Now the biggies. A replacement for the naga, and a good one at that. And the Titan got a whole new bada** image.
Man that took some work...ok since I love you here are the Sylvan units!
The level 1 unit is a spirit, like a nymph. And a War Dancer (some elf sword dude)
I do not miss the stupid leprechauns. Whose brainchild was that?
The next two are a ranged elf (i think) and um...something else.
it's hard to make a walking tree look cool. I like the swirling etchings though.
next is a unicorn and druid.
FINALLY
They look great. Shoop, it will be an all out brawl to get that first copy. Even if it is just you an me.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Might and Magic 5
They just released concept and screenshots for the Dungeon faction! Looks great!!!
Take 3 parts Warhammer Fantasy Dark Elves and 2 parts HOMM and presto! You have these newly revised faction. Lead by dark elves ..well here, look for yourself...
and the piece de resistance!
Well actually the shadow upgradeable to black dragon would be that but the image was immense. These guys rock. The last 2 games with harpies and beholders were completely lame, I hated playing them. This game is going to be great.
They also released two other factions but no info on them. Sylvan (elves) and the Academy which seems to have a very similiar creature line up to Heroes 3.
The screenshots look great. Feb get here quick!
Take 3 parts Warhammer Fantasy Dark Elves and 2 parts HOMM and presto! You have these newly revised faction. Lead by dark elves ..well here, look for yourself...
and the piece de resistance!
Well actually the shadow upgradeable to black dragon would be that but the image was immense. These guys rock. The last 2 games with harpies and beholders were completely lame, I hated playing them. This game is going to be great.
They also released two other factions but no info on them. Sylvan (elves) and the Academy which seems to have a very similiar creature line up to Heroes 3.
The screenshots look great. Feb get here quick!
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
The living Dead!!!
Just discovered a brand new online game. It's free, a low tech for sure but the gameplay is great!
It's called Urban Dead
and it's awesome.
basically you start the game by making a character, one of 3 military types, several scientific positions, or civilians (cops, firefighters, normal people) or a zombie.
Every person and zombie in the game is a real player. The cool thing is, if a human is killed they become a zombie, and the zombies can get experience and better skills etc. Zombies with aid from scientists can be turned back to humans it's really cool.
You can read logs of huddled groups of survivors trapped in a mall with hundreds of player zombies trying to bash the doors in. Low level zombies are unable to open doors but higher level zombies begin to regain memories and can open doors, so players ahve to make larger and larger barricades to keep the zombies out of their ransackled bunker.
Right now my cop is out of ammo and hold up in the Birmingham Hotel. I have the doors secure but against a larger pack of zombies I'm dead! The neighborhood is quiet for now, although the church down the street is packed with bodies. I've only I could get into the gun store down the block.
I heard that the local precinct was completely overrun. 30 people wiped out in one night. Word of advice, don't sleep in police stations.
Yeah I know this isn't healthy for me.
It's called Urban Dead
and it's awesome.
basically you start the game by making a character, one of 3 military types, several scientific positions, or civilians (cops, firefighters, normal people) or a zombie.
Every person and zombie in the game is a real player. The cool thing is, if a human is killed they become a zombie, and the zombies can get experience and better skills etc. Zombies with aid from scientists can be turned back to humans it's really cool.
You can read logs of huddled groups of survivors trapped in a mall with hundreds of player zombies trying to bash the doors in. Low level zombies are unable to open doors but higher level zombies begin to regain memories and can open doors, so players ahve to make larger and larger barricades to keep the zombies out of their ransackled bunker.
Right now my cop is out of ammo and hold up in the Birmingham Hotel. I have the doors secure but against a larger pack of zombies I'm dead! The neighborhood is quiet for now, although the church down the street is packed with bodies. I've only I could get into the gun store down the block.
I heard that the local precinct was completely overrun. 30 people wiped out in one night. Word of advice, don't sleep in police stations.
Yeah I know this isn't healthy for me.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Fwd:
George was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place.
Looking up toward heaven, he said "Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and give up tequila."
Miraculously, a parking place appeared.
George looked up again and said, "Never mind. I found one."
Looking up toward heaven, he said "Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of my life and give up tequila."
Miraculously, a parking place appeared.
George looked up again and said, "Never mind. I found one."
Friday, September 09, 2005
Birthdays of Sept 9th
Deion Sanders 1967
Adam Sandler 1966
Hugh Grant 1960
Micheal Keaton 1951
Tom Wopat, Luke from Dukes of Hazzard 1951
George Roger Waters, Pink Floyd 1943
William Bligh, captain of the HMS Bounty 1754
and the crown jewel
Cardinal Richelieu, 1585
he said this
"If you give me six lines written
by the most honest man, I will find
something in them to hang him."
Known for his crushing of a Huguenot rebellion.
Great guy to share a birthday with.
And he's FRENCH!
Adam Sandler 1966
Hugh Grant 1960
Micheal Keaton 1951
Tom Wopat, Luke from Dukes of Hazzard 1951
George Roger Waters, Pink Floyd 1943
William Bligh, captain of the HMS Bounty 1754
and the crown jewel
Cardinal Richelieu, 1585
he said this
"If you give me six lines written
by the most honest man, I will find
something in them to hang him."
Known for his crushing of a Huguenot rebellion.
Great guy to share a birthday with.
And he's FRENCH!
WHOLE CRAP!
Read about a new project that includes germ-line genetic engineering. I shouldn't have to explain the major problems with this sort of research.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Vacations Done...Now the Real Work begins
Yup. I'm back from RI. The whole ProteinClan is back. Suntanned and exfoliated from the glorious beaches of the Ocean State.
Tomorrow The Spouse of Proteinstar starts school. I start watching The Brood.
Saints protect me.
Ubisoft has released the creatures for the necropolis. The ghosts look great. No death knights though.
Looks like another P2P is going to bite the dust. Kazaa lost a major court battle. In the end the music industry is going to lose. Information is so easily obtained today tomorrow will be even easier. File sharing will continue to to go further and further underground. Until the industry realizes that paying nearly $20 bucks for a 1 dollar album is insane they will lose.
A compnay named Mashboxx is kind of neat in that it allows you to listen to a track several times before deciding the purchase. It's nice to hear the whole thing rather than 20 seconds. Unfortunately they only have Sony in their corner.
I'm taking 3 courses this semester. Saturday goes from 8am to 5pm. And I thought those guys in Abu Ghraib had it bad. I'd wear womens underwear on my head to waive these courses.
Good to see Shoop posting 5 days apart. Sorry Matt for that diatribe about #16, that's what you were trolling for though right?
Well that's about it. I'm reading some "non-fiction" book about the Ark of the Convenant. It mentions the Urim and Thummim. Yeah those are magical stones mentioned by Joesph Smith. Any book that gets it's "factual" information from a prophet from 1830 who has since given prophetic utterings which have been found false is useless. Check your sources Randall!
Yeah I promise to one of these days actually write a blog post that isn't ADD.
Here's a Proteinstar insight.
The majority of the people evacuated from New Orleans where horribly poor. Most were renters. With their place of residence completely destroyed and their jobs gone they have no reason to return. The only people who can afford to return to that city once it is rebuilt will be the wealthy or those with valuable technical skills. It being a major port city would of course require dockworkers and the like. New Orleans may have cleaned itself of it's massive poverty problem by foisting the dispossessed and poor on the likes of Houston and Baton Rouge. With the help of government aid the city will rebuild, with major adaptations, ie. no more slums in the low lands. I think in 5 to 10 years that city will be a BOOMING tourism town, hailed for it's utopian qualities. The liberal democrats claiming it a victory for their modern and progressive policies...all the while missing the very truth that it was the local liberal government that failed the very people they claimed to support. Rather that deal with underdeveloped canals and levees they focused on giant floating casinos. Rather than dealing with government aid cuts by selling bonds to raise funds for their cities required protection, they drew up plans for a huge casino island in the middle of their lake. Rather than develop functioning methods for evacuating their populace they blame the federal government for not doing what they should have.
They fell for their own lie that life is Mardi Gras, and did nothing about their sinking city.
There, that's a poignant little rant.
Mission accomplished.
Tomorrow The Spouse of Proteinstar starts school. I start watching The Brood.
Saints protect me.
Ubisoft has released the creatures for the necropolis. The ghosts look great. No death knights though.
Looks like another P2P is going to bite the dust. Kazaa lost a major court battle. In the end the music industry is going to lose. Information is so easily obtained today tomorrow will be even easier. File sharing will continue to to go further and further underground. Until the industry realizes that paying nearly $20 bucks for a 1 dollar album is insane they will lose.
A compnay named Mashboxx is kind of neat in that it allows you to listen to a track several times before deciding the purchase. It's nice to hear the whole thing rather than 20 seconds. Unfortunately they only have Sony in their corner.
I'm taking 3 courses this semester. Saturday goes from 8am to 5pm. And I thought those guys in Abu Ghraib had it bad. I'd wear womens underwear on my head to waive these courses.
Good to see Shoop posting 5 days apart. Sorry Matt for that diatribe about #16, that's what you were trolling for though right?
Well that's about it. I'm reading some "non-fiction" book about the Ark of the Convenant. It mentions the Urim and Thummim. Yeah those are magical stones mentioned by Joesph Smith. Any book that gets it's "factual" information from a prophet from 1830 who has since given prophetic utterings which have been found false is useless. Check your sources Randall!
Yeah I promise to one of these days actually write a blog post that isn't ADD.
Here's a Proteinstar insight.
The majority of the people evacuated from New Orleans where horribly poor. Most were renters. With their place of residence completely destroyed and their jobs gone they have no reason to return. The only people who can afford to return to that city once it is rebuilt will be the wealthy or those with valuable technical skills. It being a major port city would of course require dockworkers and the like. New Orleans may have cleaned itself of it's massive poverty problem by foisting the dispossessed and poor on the likes of Houston and Baton Rouge. With the help of government aid the city will rebuild, with major adaptations, ie. no more slums in the low lands. I think in 5 to 10 years that city will be a BOOMING tourism town, hailed for it's utopian qualities. The liberal democrats claiming it a victory for their modern and progressive policies...all the while missing the very truth that it was the local liberal government that failed the very people they claimed to support. Rather that deal with underdeveloped canals and levees they focused on giant floating casinos. Rather than dealing with government aid cuts by selling bonds to raise funds for their cities required protection, they drew up plans for a huge casino island in the middle of their lake. Rather than develop functioning methods for evacuating their populace they blame the federal government for not doing what they should have.
They fell for their own lie that life is Mardi Gras, and did nothing about their sinking city.
There, that's a poignant little rant.
Mission accomplished.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Just a few things.
Got A's in my first 2 grad courses at Alvernia. Very easy. I'm taking 3 more this Fall. Why doesn't Messiah offer grad courses? It's 10 times the school Alvernia is.
My youngest daughter now exceeds 10 lbs. She is calmer, will allow me to hold her, and is nearly sleeping through the night. Right before the Spouse of Proteinstar goes back to teach.
I might be getting my hands on a little videocard with a pipeline that's twice my current Geforce.
Add 512 more Ram and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is looking real good. As in perhaps my machine can play it with half it's glory.
Heading up to the Ocean State this week. Hopefully Katrina just sends some waves.
Kids screaming...gotta work.
My youngest daughter now exceeds 10 lbs. She is calmer, will allow me to hold her, and is nearly sleeping through the night. Right before the Spouse of Proteinstar goes back to teach.
I might be getting my hands on a little videocard with a pipeline that's twice my current Geforce.
Add 512 more Ram and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is looking real good. As in perhaps my machine can play it with half it's glory.
Heading up to the Ocean State this week. Hopefully Katrina just sends some waves.
Kids screaming...gotta work.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Discovered what EGTY is.
SPAM.
Yup. It's called comment spam and their hitting blogs. The more links they can make for their product the higher on the internet search listings it will be, or so they hope. Blogs being a slightly different animal it might not work quite the way they want. Wired had an article on it.
Anyway, if you care to look I've deleted all references to a certain stock product and have also instituted a word verification program in order to thwart spambots in the future. I hope it doesn't cut down on all those nice comments I really do care for.
Yup. It's called comment spam and their hitting blogs. The more links they can make for their product the higher on the internet search listings it will be, or so they hope. Blogs being a slightly different animal it might not work quite the way they want. Wired had an article on it.
Anyway, if you care to look I've deleted all references to a certain stock product and have also instituted a word verification program in order to thwart spambots in the future. I hope it doesn't cut down on all those nice comments I really do care for.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Yikes it's what time in the morning?!
That pretty much sums up my evenings of late.
Jumped into a great game of Farcry and have been playing like a god for 3 days straight.
I had been stuck for months at this one portion, 6 guys onto me and I just couldn't kill them all. So I stopped. Early this week I picked it up again and rushed through them like a hot knife through congealed milk.
I'm at the end now I can feel it, gigantic mutant soldier things with rocket launchers in a even bigger battle raging across the island chain. I'm driving this jeep thing around flaming trucks and exploding dudes. Mercenaries flying through the air screaming. Awesome.
So anyway, just wanted to touch base with this nearly useless factoid about my current gaming experience.
Oh and The Spouse of Proteinstar and I kicked some serious butt in Puerto Rico. Love that game.
Hey Superswede going to Gencon with me next Summer?
We really missed you Tues.
And a certain lady friend.
Jumped into a great game of Farcry and have been playing like a god for 3 days straight.
I had been stuck for months at this one portion, 6 guys onto me and I just couldn't kill them all. So I stopped. Early this week I picked it up again and rushed through them like a hot knife through congealed milk.
I'm at the end now I can feel it, gigantic mutant soldier things with rocket launchers in a even bigger battle raging across the island chain. I'm driving this jeep thing around flaming trucks and exploding dudes. Mercenaries flying through the air screaming. Awesome.
So anyway, just wanted to touch base with this nearly useless factoid about my current gaming experience.
Oh and The Spouse of Proteinstar and I kicked some serious butt in Puerto Rico. Love that game.
Hey Superswede going to Gencon with me next Summer?
We really missed you Tues.
And a certain lady friend.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
I could kiss him
My brother came through in spades today. Braving the hordes of gamers and intense "geek reek" he was able to procure a limited edition Gencon 2005 only Heroscape figure. He's beautiful and will actually make my sword gruts playable.
Thank you dearest bro.
In my world I am single mindedly focused on 3 things. OK well not so single minded. Heroes of Might and Magic V (thats number 1), Heroscape and the zillions of expansions for it (thats 2), the third being either Turbine's Middleearth Online or collecting every aspect of Supremacy.
Tomorrow I will most likely take part in the Mt. Gretna Art festival. Good gracious I've released information about my current whereabouts! Well, as it turns out I have to drive hundreds of miles in a nondisclosed direction to reach the art festival. Boy, that was close.
Thank you dearest bro.
In my world I am single mindedly focused on 3 things. OK well not so single minded. Heroes of Might and Magic V (thats number 1), Heroscape and the zillions of expansions for it (thats 2), the third being either Turbine's Middleearth Online or collecting every aspect of Supremacy.
Tomorrow I will most likely take part in the Mt. Gretna Art festival. Good gracious I've released information about my current whereabouts! Well, as it turns out I have to drive hundreds of miles in a nondisclosed direction to reach the art festival. Boy, that was close.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
It's been a busy night
My brother has just arrived in Indianapolis for Gencon.
My sister got her Civic destroyed by some drunk and she's finally back from the ER.
And I squandered a couple hours watching an XPN music video montage called Garden State.
yeah yeah Braff was his normal, lithiumed to the gills, self. But man did Portman telegraph that performance. She stank (I've never been impressed with her acting..."Anakin! You are breaking my heart!" Well most of that suckage belongs on Lucas). Ian Holm was awesome as usual.
But my main beef was the music. It was like Braff wanted an excuse to show America what his current playlist was on his i-pod. No wonder Rolling Stone loved it. Coldplay, Remy Zero, The Shins (although I liked Know your onion). And he gives a little nod to the lounge scene with lebanese blonde by Thievery Corp (those 2 have a nice little club in DC). The album that track comes from is really good but I don't know where my copy got to.
Don't get me wrong, I like these groups and their music but it was so jarring. Several scenes were only about a particular song. I'll watch VH1 thanks. On second thought, I won't. I'll listen to XPN, um...nah...it's a telethon.
With that said, I really enjoyed every scene with Ian Holm. The father son relationship was great.
Ok, review done.
There's a new link...www.mikefranchina.com. I don't think i's up till after Gencon.
Man I wish I was there.
Oh and www.mightandmagic.com just released screenshots of necropolis. Yeah..I'm in love. Looks like Ubisoft took a page from Gamesworkshop when it comes to vampires. Looks great.
Oh and my sis should be ok. Right sis?
My sister got her Civic destroyed by some drunk and she's finally back from the ER.
And I squandered a couple hours watching an XPN music video montage called Garden State.
yeah yeah Braff was his normal, lithiumed to the gills, self. But man did Portman telegraph that performance. She stank (I've never been impressed with her acting..."Anakin! You are breaking my heart!" Well most of that suckage belongs on Lucas). Ian Holm was awesome as usual.
But my main beef was the music. It was like Braff wanted an excuse to show America what his current playlist was on his i-pod. No wonder Rolling Stone loved it. Coldplay, Remy Zero, The Shins (although I liked Know your onion). And he gives a little nod to the lounge scene with lebanese blonde by Thievery Corp (those 2 have a nice little club in DC). The album that track comes from is really good but I don't know where my copy got to.
Don't get me wrong, I like these groups and their music but it was so jarring. Several scenes were only about a particular song. I'll watch VH1 thanks. On second thought, I won't. I'll listen to XPN, um...nah...it's a telethon.
With that said, I really enjoyed every scene with Ian Holm. The father son relationship was great.
Ok, review done.
There's a new link...www.mikefranchina.com. I don't think i's up till after Gencon.
Man I wish I was there.
Oh and www.mightandmagic.com just released screenshots of necropolis. Yeah..I'm in love. Looks like Ubisoft took a page from Gamesworkshop when it comes to vampires. Looks great.
Oh and my sis should be ok. Right sis?
Friday, August 12, 2005
I'm back!
A one week vacation with family. AT points I thought I'd need a vacation from the one I was taking. But all in all...it was great.
Long Beach Island, although a hive of human residence, has some very nice beaches. And being only 40 feet from the beach makes them that much nicer.
The body surfing was intense. I suffered bodily injuries to horrible to relate. Ask Rover if you really need to know...even he will probably hedge.
How about this for exciting...live ...action...AEON FLUX.
Yeah, just had to order the old animated from Netflix.
Man I love the movies.
Long Beach Island, although a hive of human residence, has some very nice beaches. And being only 40 feet from the beach makes them that much nicer.
The body surfing was intense. I suffered bodily injuries to horrible to relate. Ask Rover if you really need to know...even he will probably hedge.
How about this for exciting...live ...action...AEON FLUX.
Yeah, just had to order the old animated from Netflix.
Man I love the movies.
Monday, August 01, 2005
Um...I'm here...not sentient.. but here.
hi guys, A 3 week old is draining. Seriously.
Grad class, BK, Youth group. Ugh.
Just watched a movie called The Yes Men. It's a documentary about a bunch of guys who posed as the WTO. It's crazy to explain but the started a webpage called www.gatt.org
And if you visit both sites you'll see something interesting. They are identical. Except one makes fun of the WTO and the other one IS the WTO. These guys had all sorts of hug conglomerations thinking they were the legitimate thing. They were invited to huge conferences, spoke on MSNBC as if they were the WTO. Their hijinks are now legendary. I recommend it.
I was going to post something else but I completely forgot what.
I'm going to the beach next weekend, thank goodness. I have to come back early for grad class. Bummer.
Grad class, BK, Youth group. Ugh.
Just watched a movie called The Yes Men. It's a documentary about a bunch of guys who posed as the WTO. It's crazy to explain but the started a webpage called www.gatt.org
And if you visit both sites you'll see something interesting. They are identical. Except one makes fun of the WTO and the other one IS the WTO. These guys had all sorts of hug conglomerations thinking they were the legitimate thing. They were invited to huge conferences, spoke on MSNBC as if they were the WTO. Their hijinks are now legendary. I recommend it.
I was going to post something else but I completely forgot what.
I'm going to the beach next weekend, thank goodness. I have to come back early for grad class. Bummer.
Monday, July 25, 2005
I"M FIRST!
EA has just announced that it will be making Battle for Middle Earth II.
Furthermore, they announced that have received the rights to the literary properties in addition to the movies. We can look forward to huge Elven armies and Dwarven armies led by old Oaky himself! Melkor vs Sauron can be put to rest for good!
SMAUG!!!!!!!!!!!
I need a bucket. My head just popped.
Furthermore, they announced that have received the rights to the literary properties in addition to the movies. We can look forward to huge Elven armies and Dwarven armies led by old Oaky himself! Melkor vs Sauron can be put to rest for good!
SMAUG!!!!!!!!!!!
I need a bucket. My head just popped.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Constantine
This was going to be a simple review of the movie Constantine, not a nightmare of Proustian duration. But I decided against it and wanted to focus on Hollywood's obsession with the Zoroastrian religion.
Simply put Zoroastrianism was and still is a religion based in Persia about 600BC. Considered a monotheistic faith it puts great stock in the concept of dualities.
They posit that since anything evil cannot come from God that it is from something else and that something is given, in the ancient Zoroastrian forms, an entity of equal stature to God. I say ancient forms because the more modern Zoroastrian writings do not consider the two to be balanced.
Recent movies about hell and Satan and all that, and this list is hardly exhaustive: Devil's Advocate, The End of Days, Spawn, Constantine, to name a few recent ones.
The majority play out in a world where God and Satan are warring over the souls of mankind. Satan is always pulling some, Third Reich 4th quarter crazy play, in which some poor lady is impregnated with his seed, (ala Anti-Christ) and now the whole world is threatened and everyone, including God, is relying on one underdog hero to stop it.
The day God needs us is the day He is no longer God. "What does God need with a spaceship?"
Constantine pulls a concept out of the book of Job in which God and Satan have a wager about Job's enduring faith. The movie extends this wager to include all of humanity and makes the outcome uncertain.
It makes for a thrilling movie but I am so glad our world doesn't work like that.
A tangent I know, the day I get my html code to play a stinking wav file will be the day the Lord returns. So if you hear some tinny voice projecting out of your speakers the day you visit again get ready!
Simply put Zoroastrianism was and still is a religion based in Persia about 600BC. Considered a monotheistic faith it puts great stock in the concept of dualities.
They posit that since anything evil cannot come from God that it is from something else and that something is given, in the ancient Zoroastrian forms, an entity of equal stature to God. I say ancient forms because the more modern Zoroastrian writings do not consider the two to be balanced.
Recent movies about hell and Satan and all that, and this list is hardly exhaustive: Devil's Advocate, The End of Days, Spawn, Constantine, to name a few recent ones.
The majority play out in a world where God and Satan are warring over the souls of mankind. Satan is always pulling some, Third Reich 4th quarter crazy play, in which some poor lady is impregnated with his seed, (ala Anti-Christ) and now the whole world is threatened and everyone, including God, is relying on one underdog hero to stop it.
The day God needs us is the day He is no longer God. "What does God need with a spaceship?"
Constantine pulls a concept out of the book of Job in which God and Satan have a wager about Job's enduring faith. The movie extends this wager to include all of humanity and makes the outcome uncertain.
It makes for a thrilling movie but I am so glad our world doesn't work like that.
A tangent I know, the day I get my html code to play a stinking wav file will be the day the Lord returns. So if you hear some tinny voice projecting out of your speakers the day you visit again get ready!
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
War of the Worlds
"...intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us."
Ah the smooth vernacular of 1898, how it traipses across the tongue and palate. Mr. H.G. Wells created a novel of such horrifying substance that even a century later we are still frightened by it.
With that said I will begin my analysis of Steven Speilberg's latest creation.
I will start with significant departures from the book. I will keep this piece to only major plot changing alterations as it is a given that the medium of film is quite different than the written and as such must be treated differently.
1. The Martians have been on earth before mankind. Or at the very least their machinery of war. It is stated that the Tripods were buried "millions of years ago". HG Wells has them arrive by "shells" as if they were literally fired from a canon.
Problems with this change? Tons. If the Martians had already been here to plant their machinery in advanced preparation of exterminating us once we became the dominate species than why not just settle here anyway. Populate both Mars and Earth at the same time? The environment hasn't changed significantly enough to warrant waiting. Not at least in comparison to Mar's environment. It's been like that for millions of years, perhaps billions. In addition, if they have already been here and are studying us so carefully then they should have some concept of single cellular life. We have them in our guts. They make up the foundations of our entire ecosystems which provide us with life. You mean to tell me advanced creatures from another planet who have already been here are not aware of bacteria? They have no clue about disease and they have been studying us as a species since we came on the scene? Please.
Even if they were not resistant to our microbes, do you honestly think they could not have made those amazing sophisticated machines hermetically sealed? They would have space suits if they needed them.
But doesn't HG Wells run into this problem? Nope. Why? The Martians have never been here before. They have been viewing us as we view Mars, by massive telescopes (remember this was written in 1898). They understand our ways of basic society, where we live, how we war. They have no concept as to our physiological natures or that of our fellow species. They know the constituents of the air and the size of our planet, it's gravitational pull and atmospheric pressures. Physics. They are totally taken by surprise by our pico-sized friends. HG Wells must have assumed that there was no such entities as bacteria on Mars, otherwise his Martians would have expected as much on earth.
Furthermore, what is the chance of mankind not stumbling upon one of these buried Tripods? They've been here for millions of years and yet erosion and changes in the courses of rivers has not exposed one? The drilling of oil shafts, subway tunnels, and quarries has never turned upon one of these titanic beings. Just how deep where they? Not terribly as was shown in the scene when it first appears in the movie.
2. The Tripods were dead-on. I was proud of those things. Menacing and titanic and yet still resembling HG Wells descriptions. Very cool. The Tripods did 3 things to eliminate man from the face of the earth in the book. They fire their super cool heat ray (singular), they collect people and stick them in jar-like canisters, and they spray a black gas that poisons and kills people. In the movie they do only 2, they fire their heat rays (plural) and they collect people and stick them in cages for future use as fertilizer for their red vines.
I don't mind the extra heat ray, it looked cool. Collecting people in cages is neat, no black toxic clouds, ok. Pumping out peoples blood for use as fertilizer? What the...?
What is that but simply a chance for gratuitous gore and not even that since the whole scene is hidden behind a tractor? Who would have thought that our blood chemistry makes great Miracle Grow for those red ropy vines from ANOTHER PLANET!? Dumb. And lets say that it wasn't fertilizer but fluid food, suspension media, for the pilots of the Tripod. Which would explain the massive gush of red fluid from within the capsule when opened at the end. What did they do before they started collecting people? And why not make the operation selfcontained. Why not have that long tentacle arm thing that appears in the cage just harpoon them there and suck out the blood? Just a dumb scene.
The vines are never explained. At first I thought they meant that the people were being transformed into them, now that would be gross. Maybe they were. Moving on.
Forcefields make sense. HG Wells was way to early to have even thought of such a farout concept but back then a massive walking titan with a heat ray was more than a match for early howitzers. I mean whats the firing rate on those ancient guns? In fact in the book the military actually takes out a few. One lucky shot hits one Tripod in the knee and brings it down. And I think a battleship in the Thames takes out another.
If the Tripods didn't have forcefields then they all would have been toasted by thousands of cruise missiles fired from deep sea subs. So although it's kind of Independence Dayish we'll let it slide.
Now that instance when Cruise is getting sucked up by that giant sphincter (Evolution was just screaming at me) and he blows up the whole Tripod with 2 grenades. Nice but come on! 2 grenades wouldn't blow up an Abrams Tank from the inside. That Tripod was huge and a grenade in it's sphincter chamber blows the whole thing up?! Well it looked cool though.
Did you notice though that this scene was the only one in which mankind kills a FULLY FUNCTIONING tripod? It's done by some hopeless schmuck loaded with explosives getting eaten. During the movie a person mentions that in Osaka Japan they were reported as having killed several Tripods. What people perfected the kamikaze attack which is exactly what Cruise did? I think that's awesome. Japanese soldiers getting eaten on purpose and loaded down with explosives to blow the Martians to kingdom come.
The heatray effects were cool. I liked the concept of the body being vaporized and the clothing that wasn't incinerated by direct contact just getting blown away by the force of the blast. All that ash was disturbing.
The scene with the church steeple falling was from the book, except it was shot by the heat ray from quite a distance and wasn't toppled because the Tripod was underneath it. And honestly if a huge soccerfield sized sinkhole opened up at my feet I would be hustling my little self out of there. And you can definitely be sure that if a massive 6-7 story alien walker crawls out of it I am way gone! Those NJ morons just stood around! What did they think it was? The Transit authority putting in a new subway station? Unlikely Mr. Spielberg.
3. Flaming Amtrak was cool.
4. That battle with the Hummers. Weak. They should have at least shown it. They could have made it horrendous. With those sad little trucks just getting pounded. Then a quick cut to a bunch more hummers driving over the hill without any clue what happened to their brethren. Honestly, those things get blown up by cellphones strapped to old mortar shells, like they could do squat against those beasts?
5. Although the aliens were not tentacle squamous octopus things they still looked cool. And I suppose it makes sense that they have 3 legs like their walkers. Just like we have 4 wheels like our cars...Wait...
6. How sweet that the whole family survived. Especially Robbie. Um dude didn't that entire hill get napalmed? Where the heck did you go to survive that disaster. Deus Ex Machina...gotta love it.
7. The scene in the farmhouse...too long with a guy that looked to much like Tim Robbins. They could have truncated that thing by 15 minutes and lost that whole gotta kill the raving idiot scene.
8. It would have been great to have had a scene from the International Space station looking down on earth getting smeared, the astronauts losing contact with each other's respective bases.
Man I should be a director, or at least an author.
9. I'm not bothering to talk about the car's ability to drive when no one else could. The movie explained that fine. I do think that when a Jumbo Jet falls on your house the chances of your van surviving should be close to zero. If it does survive the chances that a clear path should be made between the 2 halves of the fuselage and the wings should be nil.
10. The tipping ferry was neat. But seriously, what idiot packs onto a boat full of people when giant walking machines of death are marching all over the place. HERE WE ARE! ALL IN ONE PLACE! IN WATER! LIKE FISH IN A BARREL! COME KILL US!
11. The scene with all the floating bodies was neat. But where did they come from? Heat rays don't leave bodies. Did a dam burst or something? A bridge collapse upstream? Well I suppose those are highly likely. OK not a nitpick.
12. Um...where were the nukes? If I was the President and this must be the first alien invasion movie not to include a President, I would be nuking everything.
13. I find it interesting that creatures who live on a planet with a different atmosphere than ours, not to mention temperature. Could walk around without any issues.
Mars
Earth
78% Nitrogen (N2)
21% Oxygen (O2)
1% Argon (Ar)
0-7% water vapor (H2O)
0-0.01% Ozone (O3) both the H20 and O3 should be tiny 2's and 3's.
0.01-0.1% Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Surface pressure 1013 millibars, depending on altitude of course.
The surface pressure of earth is the equivalent of 14.7 lbs per square inch. Mar's is about 1/150th of that. For a Martian it would be like breathing mud.
Did HG Wells know this? Nope...Should Spielberg...you bet.
The only way it could work is if the Martians breath Argon and the other elements have zero effect on them. Yeah not likely.
Oh and the average temp on Mars. -63 Celsius!!!! Celsius!!! Whole Crap! They would have been hotter than a monkey's bum down here!!
But honestly HG Wells did mention the aliens complete discomfort and lack of mobility while within the crater trying to assemble the Tripod. Score 1 for HG!
Well it's after midnight and I'm sure I could go on.
My opinion of the movie. Good not great. It could have been great if it wasn't so summer time popcorn fun. Or STPF as I like to say stupf pronounced st-upf. As in stupid with a F and no id. yeah that's stupid.
Liked the big explosions. Whatever that city was in NJ, they got hammered. I loved seeing entire buildings just get shredded by that beam. Cool.
The book is by far superior and it's also free domain being over 70 years old. I think that's how long it takes to be free domain. Which means Conan is up in 2007! YES!
Ah the smooth vernacular of 1898, how it traipses across the tongue and palate. Mr. H.G. Wells created a novel of such horrifying substance that even a century later we are still frightened by it.
With that said I will begin my analysis of Steven Speilberg's latest creation.
I will start with significant departures from the book. I will keep this piece to only major plot changing alterations as it is a given that the medium of film is quite different than the written and as such must be treated differently.
1. The Martians have been on earth before mankind. Or at the very least their machinery of war. It is stated that the Tripods were buried "millions of years ago". HG Wells has them arrive by "shells" as if they were literally fired from a canon.
Problems with this change? Tons. If the Martians had already been here to plant their machinery in advanced preparation of exterminating us once we became the dominate species than why not just settle here anyway. Populate both Mars and Earth at the same time? The environment hasn't changed significantly enough to warrant waiting. Not at least in comparison to Mar's environment. It's been like that for millions of years, perhaps billions. In addition, if they have already been here and are studying us so carefully then they should have some concept of single cellular life. We have them in our guts. They make up the foundations of our entire ecosystems which provide us with life. You mean to tell me advanced creatures from another planet who have already been here are not aware of bacteria? They have no clue about disease and they have been studying us as a species since we came on the scene? Please.
Even if they were not resistant to our microbes, do you honestly think they could not have made those amazing sophisticated machines hermetically sealed? They would have space suits if they needed them.
But doesn't HG Wells run into this problem? Nope. Why? The Martians have never been here before. They have been viewing us as we view Mars, by massive telescopes (remember this was written in 1898). They understand our ways of basic society, where we live, how we war. They have no concept as to our physiological natures or that of our fellow species. They know the constituents of the air and the size of our planet, it's gravitational pull and atmospheric pressures. Physics. They are totally taken by surprise by our pico-sized friends. HG Wells must have assumed that there was no such entities as bacteria on Mars, otherwise his Martians would have expected as much on earth.
Furthermore, what is the chance of mankind not stumbling upon one of these buried Tripods? They've been here for millions of years and yet erosion and changes in the courses of rivers has not exposed one? The drilling of oil shafts, subway tunnels, and quarries has never turned upon one of these titanic beings. Just how deep where they? Not terribly as was shown in the scene when it first appears in the movie.
2. The Tripods were dead-on. I was proud of those things. Menacing and titanic and yet still resembling HG Wells descriptions. Very cool. The Tripods did 3 things to eliminate man from the face of the earth in the book. They fire their super cool heat ray (singular), they collect people and stick them in jar-like canisters, and they spray a black gas that poisons and kills people. In the movie they do only 2, they fire their heat rays (plural) and they collect people and stick them in cages for future use as fertilizer for their red vines.
I don't mind the extra heat ray, it looked cool. Collecting people in cages is neat, no black toxic clouds, ok. Pumping out peoples blood for use as fertilizer? What the...?
What is that but simply a chance for gratuitous gore and not even that since the whole scene is hidden behind a tractor? Who would have thought that our blood chemistry makes great Miracle Grow for those red ropy vines from ANOTHER PLANET!? Dumb. And lets say that it wasn't fertilizer but fluid food, suspension media, for the pilots of the Tripod. Which would explain the massive gush of red fluid from within the capsule when opened at the end. What did they do before they started collecting people? And why not make the operation selfcontained. Why not have that long tentacle arm thing that appears in the cage just harpoon them there and suck out the blood? Just a dumb scene.
The vines are never explained. At first I thought they meant that the people were being transformed into them, now that would be gross. Maybe they were. Moving on.
Forcefields make sense. HG Wells was way to early to have even thought of such a farout concept but back then a massive walking titan with a heat ray was more than a match for early howitzers. I mean whats the firing rate on those ancient guns? In fact in the book the military actually takes out a few. One lucky shot hits one Tripod in the knee and brings it down. And I think a battleship in the Thames takes out another.
If the Tripods didn't have forcefields then they all would have been toasted by thousands of cruise missiles fired from deep sea subs. So although it's kind of Independence Dayish we'll let it slide.
Now that instance when Cruise is getting sucked up by that giant sphincter (Evolution was just screaming at me) and he blows up the whole Tripod with 2 grenades. Nice but come on! 2 grenades wouldn't blow up an Abrams Tank from the inside. That Tripod was huge and a grenade in it's sphincter chamber blows the whole thing up?! Well it looked cool though.
Did you notice though that this scene was the only one in which mankind kills a FULLY FUNCTIONING tripod? It's done by some hopeless schmuck loaded with explosives getting eaten. During the movie a person mentions that in Osaka Japan they were reported as having killed several Tripods. What people perfected the kamikaze attack which is exactly what Cruise did? I think that's awesome. Japanese soldiers getting eaten on purpose and loaded down with explosives to blow the Martians to kingdom come.
The heatray effects were cool. I liked the concept of the body being vaporized and the clothing that wasn't incinerated by direct contact just getting blown away by the force of the blast. All that ash was disturbing.
The scene with the church steeple falling was from the book, except it was shot by the heat ray from quite a distance and wasn't toppled because the Tripod was underneath it. And honestly if a huge soccerfield sized sinkhole opened up at my feet I would be hustling my little self out of there. And you can definitely be sure that if a massive 6-7 story alien walker crawls out of it I am way gone! Those NJ morons just stood around! What did they think it was? The Transit authority putting in a new subway station? Unlikely Mr. Spielberg.
3. Flaming Amtrak was cool.
4. That battle with the Hummers. Weak. They should have at least shown it. They could have made it horrendous. With those sad little trucks just getting pounded. Then a quick cut to a bunch more hummers driving over the hill without any clue what happened to their brethren. Honestly, those things get blown up by cellphones strapped to old mortar shells, like they could do squat against those beasts?
5. Although the aliens were not tentacle squamous octopus things they still looked cool. And I suppose it makes sense that they have 3 legs like their walkers. Just like we have 4 wheels like our cars...Wait...
6. How sweet that the whole family survived. Especially Robbie. Um dude didn't that entire hill get napalmed? Where the heck did you go to survive that disaster. Deus Ex Machina...gotta love it.
7. The scene in the farmhouse...too long with a guy that looked to much like Tim Robbins. They could have truncated that thing by 15 minutes and lost that whole gotta kill the raving idiot scene.
8. It would have been great to have had a scene from the International Space station looking down on earth getting smeared, the astronauts losing contact with each other's respective bases.
Man I should be a director, or at least an author.
9. I'm not bothering to talk about the car's ability to drive when no one else could. The movie explained that fine. I do think that when a Jumbo Jet falls on your house the chances of your van surviving should be close to zero. If it does survive the chances that a clear path should be made between the 2 halves of the fuselage and the wings should be nil.
10. The tipping ferry was neat. But seriously, what idiot packs onto a boat full of people when giant walking machines of death are marching all over the place. HERE WE ARE! ALL IN ONE PLACE! IN WATER! LIKE FISH IN A BARREL! COME KILL US!
11. The scene with all the floating bodies was neat. But where did they come from? Heat rays don't leave bodies. Did a dam burst or something? A bridge collapse upstream? Well I suppose those are highly likely. OK not a nitpick.
12. Um...where were the nukes? If I was the President and this must be the first alien invasion movie not to include a President, I would be nuking everything.
13. I find it interesting that creatures who live on a planet with a different atmosphere than ours, not to mention temperature. Could walk around without any issues.
Mars
95.3% carbon dioxide (CO2),
2.7% nitrogen (N2),
1.6% argon (Ar),
0.15% oxygen (O2),
0.08% Carbon monoxide (CO),
Surface pressure 1-9 millibars, depending on altitude; average 6 mb
2.7% nitrogen (N2),
1.6% argon (Ar),
0.15% oxygen (O2),
0.08% Carbon monoxide (CO),
Surface pressure 1-9 millibars, depending on altitude; average 6 mb
Earth
78% Nitrogen (N2)
21% Oxygen (O2)
1% Argon (Ar)
0-7% water vapor (H2O)
0-0.01% Ozone (O3) both the H20 and O3 should be tiny 2's and 3's.
0.01-0.1% Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Surface pressure 1013 millibars, depending on altitude of course.
The surface pressure of earth is the equivalent of 14.7 lbs per square inch. Mar's is about 1/150th of that. For a Martian it would be like breathing mud.
Did HG Wells know this? Nope...Should Spielberg...you bet.
The only way it could work is if the Martians breath Argon and the other elements have zero effect on them. Yeah not likely.
Oh and the average temp on Mars. -63 Celsius!!!! Celsius!!! Whole Crap! They would have been hotter than a monkey's bum down here!!
But honestly HG Wells did mention the aliens complete discomfort and lack of mobility while within the crater trying to assemble the Tripod. Score 1 for HG!
Well it's after midnight and I'm sure I could go on.
My opinion of the movie. Good not great. It could have been great if it wasn't so summer time popcorn fun. Or STPF as I like to say stupf pronounced st-upf. As in stupid with a F and no id. yeah that's stupid.
Liked the big explosions. Whatever that city was in NJ, they got hammered. I loved seeing entire buildings just get shredded by that beam. Cool.
The book is by far superior and it's also free domain being over 70 years old. I think that's how long it takes to be free domain. Which means Conan is up in 2007! YES!
Monday, July 18, 2005
Props to my Homeboy!
Well my good bud Mr. Shoop turned one year older yesterday. And in honor of him I am contributing a list of famous and not so famous people who share his date of birth. The sad thing is, he will know 3 of these people at best. This is for you SHOOP!
1952 David Hasselhoff. The beau of Germany. The croaner of the Rhineland. The Knight Rider. I'm sorry Shoop, not much of a start.
Although he rode in K.I.T.T. That's something.
1947 Camilla Parker. Who? Prince Charles' mistress chick. yeah definately getting worse.
1934 Donald Sutherland.
Um.. yeah he's old and stuff.
1917 Phyllis Diller. I could only find one picture of her.
Dude you have the worst birthday buddies.
1912 Art Linkletter. Even I don't have a clue.
1900 James Cagney. Yeah Great. Well I saved the best for last. Here's some one you can be proud to share a birthdate with.
1674 Isaac Watts. The man.
He was an English pastor, preacher, poet, and hymn writer. Wrote about 600 hymns including When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Am I a Soldier of the Cross, and Joy to the World. Considered the founder of English hymnody and children's hymnody. Published books of poetry, hymns, and three volumes of theological discourses.
The best part though was during the Revolutionary War.
In an attack upon Springfield when the patriots' wadding gave out, Rev. James Caldwell (of Huguenot descent) ran into the Presbyterian church returning with his arms and pockets crammed full with Watts' Psalms and Hymns saying, "Now, boys, give them Watts!"
This is where the term "give him/her/them/it what(watt) for!" comes from.
Well Shoop for the most part your birthday buddies suck but good old Wattsy there just saved the day. I was seriously hoping for a dude named Lothar from Norway born around 1228 or something. Oh well.
1952 David Hasselhoff. The beau of Germany. The croaner of the Rhineland. The Knight Rider. I'm sorry Shoop, not much of a start.
Although he rode in K.I.T.T. That's something.
1947 Camilla Parker. Who? Prince Charles' mistress chick. yeah definately getting worse.
1934 Donald Sutherland.
Um.. yeah he's old and stuff.
1917 Phyllis Diller. I could only find one picture of her.
Dude you have the worst birthday buddies.
1912 Art Linkletter. Even I don't have a clue.
1900 James Cagney. Yeah Great. Well I saved the best for last. Here's some one you can be proud to share a birthdate with.
1674 Isaac Watts. The man.
He was an English pastor, preacher, poet, and hymn writer. Wrote about 600 hymns including When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Am I a Soldier of the Cross, and Joy to the World. Considered the founder of English hymnody and children's hymnody. Published books of poetry, hymns, and three volumes of theological discourses.
The best part though was during the Revolutionary War.
In an attack upon Springfield when the patriots' wadding gave out, Rev. James Caldwell (of Huguenot descent) ran into the Presbyterian church returning with his arms and pockets crammed full with Watts' Psalms and Hymns saying, "Now, boys, give them Watts!"
This is where the term "give him/her/them/it what(watt) for!" comes from.
Well Shoop for the most part your birthday buddies suck but good old Wattsy there just saved the day. I was seriously hoping for a dude named Lothar from Norway born around 1228 or something. Oh well.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Those who took their first breath on April 7th.
My eldest daughter was born on April 7th, 2003. It snowed. She weighed 3.5 lbs.
Victoria Adams was born in 1975. She is now known as "Posh Spice" and married a soccer player.
Jack Black was born in 1969. He's a lot older than I thought. He'll be photographing a giant gorilla some time this fall/winter.
Russell Crowe was born in 1964 and beat the obstetrician over the head with a bedpan.
Jackie Chan was born in 1954, apparently 2 months late and weighing close to 13 pounds. yeah right. He also is a huge pop star and has released 100 songs in 20 albums since 1984. Ugh.
Billie Holiday was born in 1915. She died in a hospital in 1959. Boooorrrriiiinggg.
W. K. Kellogg was born in 1860.
That's the guy over there. Pretty handsome, why the ditched him for the rooster I'll never know.
And finally Francis Xavier 1506. He was a Jesuit Priest/Saint who traveled to India, Malaysia and Japan.
Man my family rocks. Well the folks that we share birthdates with rock. I even left out a bunch, like the bassist for The Grateful Dead. yeah. Should have kept him out.
Victoria Adams was born in 1975. She is now known as "Posh Spice" and married a soccer player.
Jack Black was born in 1969. He's a lot older than I thought. He'll be photographing a giant gorilla some time this fall/winter.
Russell Crowe was born in 1964 and beat the obstetrician over the head with a bedpan.
Jackie Chan was born in 1954, apparently 2 months late and weighing close to 13 pounds. yeah right. He also is a huge pop star and has released 100 songs in 20 albums since 1984. Ugh.
Billie Holiday was born in 1915. She died in a hospital in 1959. Boooorrrriiiinggg.
W. K. Kellogg was born in 1860.
That's the guy over there. Pretty handsome, why the ditched him for the rooster I'll never know.
And finally Francis Xavier 1506. He was a Jesuit Priest/Saint who traveled to India, Malaysia and Japan.
Man my family rocks. Well the folks that we share birthdates with rock. I even left out a bunch, like the bassist for The Grateful Dead. yeah. Should have kept him out.
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