B.C. Not P.C.

At my new job I am the newest employee there. So everyone has more of a say in what we listen to during our work than I do. Every once in a while I get to listen to what I want. Most of the time we listen to thrashing heavy metal or talk radio. Not a big fan of metal so I don't complain much when it is a talk radio day. Well while going about my work one day something caught my attention. It said that many departments of education, mostly in Europe but around the world and even in the united states, are pushing to change the term B.C. to B.C.E. in history books and on government documents. B.C. of course meaning Before Christ. B.C.E. Meaning Before Common Era. They also want to change A.D. to C.E. A.D. Meaning Anno Domini which is Latin for "In the year of our lord." And C.E. of course meaning Current Era. I found an article talking about the same thing. I am including it. I have bold the part which I thought made a great point.


In what's perceived as a case of political correctness trumping history and everyday usage, students in Australia are now seeing the calendar term B.C. – which stands for "Before Christ" – being replaced with BCE, meaning "Before Common Era."

"This is political correctness gone mad," Shadow Education Minister Jillian Skinner told the Sydney Daily Telegraph. "You ask the average mum and dad out there how they refer to time and calendars, they will use Before Christ [B.C.]."

The change by the Department of Education was first noticed during this week's English Language and Literacy Assessment test, as 157,000 students in New South Wales were presented with the new term.

A history portion of the test described an ancient flooding problem this way:

"A government surveyor stood beside the Nile River looking worried. Beside him stood his assistants, carrying his equipment. The year was 590 BCE."

A footnote was included to explain to students that BCE means "Before Common Era" (also known as B.C.).

"This is a case of history being rewritten and abandonment of the use of a calendar which has been around for centuries on the basis that the term might offend someone," Skinner told the paper.

She says she's spoken to parents and other educators who are extremely angry over the move.

The headline in the Telegraph declares: "'Mad' bureaucrats censor Jesus Christ."

"They probably replaced an imagined potential controversy – the use of the term B.C. – with a real one," Steven O'Doherty of Christian Schools Australia told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "The fact that they've taken it away has now generated the very controversy they may have been hoping to avoid."

While B.C. is used in normal language as a historical and scientific chronology guide, BCE is often footnoted in international academic, scientific and museum contexts.

New South Wales Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt admits her department changed B.C. to BCE, but says it was done without her consent.

"The point I've made to the department is that both terms are in usage," Tebbutt told ABC. "I'm completely comfortable with that. But if a text actually has B.C. in it, then we should be leaving it as B.C. We shouldn't be changing it to BCE."

The case is reminiscent of a December 2002 controversy in North America.

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Canadian museum displaying an ancient box purported to be the ossuary of Jesus' brother James was no longer using the Christian designations of B.C. and A.D. to mark the calendar, opting instead for more "modern and palatable" terms.

After a long internal debate, the Royal Ontario Museum decided to change "anno Domini" – Latin for "in the year of our Lord" – to C.E., referring to the "Common Era." It also shelved B.C. in favor of BCE.

Well I am going to take a purely historical standpoint on this one. Million s of people do not accept Jesus as Christ. But Most of those people accept him as a Historical Figure. Lets pretend that the bible isn't full of things that he did. He is a historical figure and obviously he must have done some pretty important or influential things in order for people to want to make a calender, in which the focal point was the birth of Jesus and extended forward and backward from that point. Not to mention that calender is called the Gregorian Calendar which is the most widely used calendar in the world. They didn't just one day decide to pick a random day and base a calendar around it. No we counting to an event and from and event and that event is the birth of Jesus Christ. It isn't 2007 years since we decided to call this the Current Era. It is 2007 years since the birth of Jesus Christ. So in turn any time before that would have to be.....um...um.... Before Christ. Yeah I think that's what it is. Let take some of the People that are important to the united states and look at them. Christopher Columbus. He is the historical figure credited with discovering America. Some people refer to the time before Columbus as Pre-Columbian and the time after Post-Columbian. Well you know what? I don't accept Chris Columbus as anything other than a historical figure. So lets not say Pre and Post Columbian. Lets say Pre- that guy who thought the earth was round and really wasn't even looking for America he was looking for a good trade route to India and Post- that guy who thought the earth was round and really wasn't even looking for America he was looking for a good trade route to India. Or we could just cut the BS and give us BC not PC.

5 to 10

I was sitting reading the MSN news page when an article caught my eye. The Name of the article was "Prison releases felon after getting phony fax." I had the read that, right? So I read it. And I couldn't believe how stupid these people were. So stupid, you have to read it for yourself.

HICKMAN, Ky. - Officials released a prisoner from a state facility after receiving a phony fax that ordered the man be freed, and didn’t catch the mistake for nearly two weeks.

Timothy Rouse, 19, is charged with beating an elderly western Kentucky man and was at the Kentucky Correctional & Psychiatric Center in La Grange for a mental evaluation. He was released from that facility on April 6 after officials received the fake court order.

It contained grammatical errors, was not typed on letterhead and was faxed from a local grocery store. The fax falsely claimed that the Kentucky Supreme Court “demanded” Rouse be released.

Lexington police arrested Rouse at his mother’s home Thursday evening.

“It’s outrageous that it happened,” Fulton County Attorney Rick Major said. “I’m just glad nobody got hurt because he’s dangerous.”

Police are still investigating who faxed it.

Attorney Carlos Moran, who is representing Rouse, declined to comment.

Prison officials did not notice that the fax came from the grocery store because policies in place did not require checking the source of a faxed order, said the LaGrange facility’s director, Greg Taylor.

“It’s not part of a routine check, but certainly, in hindsight, that would perhaps have caused somebody to ask a question,” he said. He added that misspellings on orders are common.

Holy Crap. Where do I Start?

1. They released him and didn't know anything was wrong for 2 weeks after they did it.
2. Contained Grammatical Errors.
3. It was not on any sort of letterhead.
4. It was faxed from a local Grocery store.

It had grammatical errors. "Hey Earl this fax is kinda funny looking. It has all sorts of funny looking words that just don't make sense." "Don't worry Roy, we're in Kentucky, it's supposed to look like that.

Maybe it's just me but it seems like the Paper the fax came on would have been official letterhead not to mention have a watermark of the state seal or something like that.

It said prison officials did not notice that the fax came from the grocery store because policies in place did not require checking the source of a faxed order. First of all, why isn't there a policy like that? Second, why do we need one? Shouldn't any intelligent person automatically look to see where it came from. "Alright Earl it looks like we got a fax here that says to execute prisoner #254." "Who it from Roy?" "Well Earl, it's from the local grocery store but the governor is probably just doing a bit of shopping on the may home." "Good thing we don't have some policy that says we have to look where the fax came from or we would never get this execution overwith with before our shift ends."

Well it seems to me that the Kentucky Prison system is full of retards. Maybe we should take the kids, or whoever was responsible for sending the fax and pulling this prank off, and give them a job in the Kentucky prison system. They are obviously smarter than the people currently in the position. At least it would be a step up.

"I sentence you to serve 5 to 10 years in the Kentucky State Pen. Or until someone pulls a fast one on the guards.

Church Vs State

Church vs State. That is how it always goes. Have you ever wondered why they can't play on the same team? I read this article in Time. I agree with the ruling about the gay scoutmasters and don't really have a stance on the Terri Schiavo case. But I think it makes a point about church vs state.

Imagine Olivia Turton, all grin and energy, bounding to the front of Erica Bruner's music room at Frenchtown Elementary School in New Jersey. "There's thunder in His footsteps and lightning in His fists," chirps the eight-year-old with fine brown hair. "And so you better be believing that our God is an awesome God." A few minutes later, the song is over, and Olivia is relieved. After weeks of rehearsal and a big disappointment — she initially wanted to sing "Part of Your World" from the movie The Little Mermaid, but she didn't have a karaoke version and Ms. Bruner's tape of the song was too fast and, well, don't ask — Olivia has finally perfected her performance for the annual after-school talent show, "Frenchtown Idol." And "Awesome God" sounds great. But not to everyone.

The lyrics, Bruner tells her, are a bit religious, and principal Joyce Brennan will have to approve them. The next day, word comes down from Brennan: find another tune, one without the God stuff. Olivia can't believe it. She is in tears when her mother, Mary Ann Turton, picks her up at school.

I can understand why Olivia would be upset. After her first choice of a song to perform at what is the most glamorous event of her school year doesn't pan out, she has to give up her second choice, a favorite since birth, thanks to the nonsense of grownups. Brutal. I can understand the tears, and I can understand her parents complaining to the principal and then the school board, each time without success. Your kid feels bad, you do what you can to make her feel better.

But go to federal court?

At the time, more than a year go, Olivia could not have dreamed that her sweet, unassuming performance would become the subject of a church/state lawsuit, one that brought together such strange bedfellows as the Alliance Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union, both fighting for her right to sing about God after school. But that's exactly what happened.

Claiming that the school board, its president and Brennan violated her First Amendment right to religious expression, Olivia now waits for U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler to decide this month whether a trial is necessary before he rules on her demand that kids be allowed to sing religious songs at the annual talent contest. It's not really her demand, of course, because Olivia's parents filed the lawsuit on her behalf. But with three of the nation's most ideologically driven legal organizations — the conservative ADF, the ACLU and the Bush Justice Department — all arguing Olivia's side, you wonder whether it is even the Turtons' lawsuit.

When public institutions like schools do anything, one of the basic rules is this: It must be for a secular reason, it must have primarily a secular effect and it can't entangle them with religion. That's why the U.S. Supreme Court struck down prayer and Bible reading in class. But Olivia's case raises unusual issues on the entanglement point. Her song was religious, but the talent show was open to the public and held after school, no students were required to attend, and no rule prohibited acts with religious themes. Yet school officials worried that someone, especially a child, might still think they endorsed the message of "Awesome God" because they sponsored the show, so they pulled the plug on the song. Olivia's supporters said this was nonsense — as well as illegal: She has the free-speech right to sing any song within the rules, and no one could possibly believe that her speech was also Frenchtown Elementary's.

Few school districts are nimble enough to navigate between religion and speech without tumbling into a lawsuit, so I can't blame the Frenchtown officials for trying to play it safe. But despite their conflicting politics and agendas, the ADF, ACLU and Justice Department all seem to find the district's position ridiculous, a reaction that suggests they have more than the law on their minds.

For the Alliance Defense Fund, whose lawyers represent the Turtons, it's pretty clearly the promotion of Christian causes. The organization was created in 1994 largely to counterbalance the ACLU in court, and it has since successfully defended the Boy Scout ban on gay scoutmasters, helped stop San Francisco from instituting gay marriage, and backed efforts to keep Terri Schiavo alive. Now it's on the same side as the ACLU, which makes local ADF counsel in the Turton case very uncomfortable. "I almost see it as a conflict," said Demetrios Stratis of the ACLU's role in the case. "They're just throwing a bone to Christians, if you will, so they can say they support everyone."

For the ACLU, though, it's the chance to change that irksome perception, to show that the organization is as much a defender of religious speech as it is of the political kind. The ACLU of New Jersey filed a brief supporting the Turtons because "we have a dedication to ensuring the right to religious expression," said legal director Edward Barocas, who stressed, a little defensively, that his office has supported "numerous such cases in recent years."

For the Justice Department, it's the need to burnish the Bush Administration's image among its political base, the Christian right. In recent years, the department has rarely participated in civil rights cases, except when pro-life and other conservative causes were at issue. Its position that the school district's "censorship was unconstitutional" squares with that record.

Not that Olivia's case is weak. In fact, constitutional law expert Michael Dorf at Columbia University Law School says her free-speech argument should make a decision in her favor "a no brainer" for the court. But lost in the legal posturing is what the Turtons, and particularly Olivia, get out of all this.

Her father, Robert, said he went to the ADF because the suggestion that religious songs are unacceptable "was the wrong message to relay to our daughter." But the case is in its second year, Olivia is entering the fourth grade, and it is all beginning to wear on the family. "She feels it's a lot of trouble over something that seems so simple to her," said Robert. "She doesn't really understand it. She just wanted to sing a song."

So why can't they play on the same team? Maybe it's just me but the history books told me at one time they did. And they trusted in god so much they didn't try to hide it. They wanted to tell everyone. So they put it on our
money that we use everyday.

I was watching A TV show called The Colbert Report. A Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream flavor has been named after the host Stephen Colbert. The Flavor is called "Americone Dream" In his words that ice cream flavor was the American Dream. He took a Bite of the Ice cream and said "oh that is a bite of heaven. That's right, no separation of church and state on this tongue." He actually teaches bible study for his church. He trusts in god.

So if I had to make a stand on this, it would be
1. Trust in God
2. Trust in Stephen Colbert
3 Americone Dream is better then Cherry Garcia

Boys Bike vs Girls Bike

Ding! Ding! Ding! Hello and welcome to tonight's death match. My Name is Easy Rider, now lets meet our competitors. In this corner, weighing 25 pounds and sporting the blue rolled steel frame and four reflectors, we have Velocity. In this Corner, weighing 20 pounds and sporting the pink and white rolled steel frame and the pink sidewall tires, we have Raleigh. They are both fierce competitors who deserve to be here tonight but only one will leave victorious. Lets go to Jim who is down on the floor interviewing the crowd to see who tonight's favorite is. Are you there Jim? Yes Easy I'm here . The crowd seems to be torn on this one . The girls favor Raleigh while the boys seem to favor Velocity. Why do you think that is Jim? Well Easy, I would have to say because one is a girls bike and one is a boys bike. Oh yes, very insightful Jim. Thank you Easy. Easy, we do have one person here in the crowd who is a boy but is favoring Raleigh. Lets see what he has to say. State your name and tell us why you favor The Girls Bike. My name is Derek. I like the girls bike because I just don't like the straight bar on the boys bike. No one likes sliding off the seat and smashing your package on the bar. Oops, am I allowed to say package on TV? Well anyway, with a boys bike if you slide off the seat you hit the bar and that is bad for the ball bearings if you know what I mean. But with a girls bike you can slide off the seat and because the bar is angled you are good to go. Well Derek I can see where you are coming from. Derek if you had to predict a winner tonight who would it be? I would have to go with the girls bike Jim. Well back to Easy who will be covering tonights match. Thank you Jim. Alright. Velocity. Raleigh. When you hear the bell come out fighting. Ding. Well Raleigh and Velocity are circling neither but one has made a move yet. Oh, Raleigh just rammed Velocity and broke one of his reflectors. It looks like Velocity wont take this lying down, he just rammed Raleigh and bent one of her spokes. Raleigh is circling faster and faster and picking up speed. Wham!! Oh my gosh Velocity is down for the count. Raleigh just rammed him right in the sprocket. That one is going to hurt in the morning. Lets talk to our winner. Raleigh that was quite a finish but weren't you afraid that Velocity might have reciprocated and rammed you in the sprocket? I wasn't to worried because my angled bar doesn't offer a lot of access to my sprocket. Not to mention I have a chain protector. Well folks there you have it. Raleigh the girl bike is victorious. And now we know the girl bike is better. Derek called it. And Like Derek I would rather ride a girls bike than rattle my ball bearings. This is Easy Rider signing off. Goodnight everyone.

Fine!! Have it Your Way!!

Hold the pickles. Hold the lettuce. Special orders don't upset us. All we ask is that you let us have your way. That's right. If you hold the pickles or the lettuce they wont get upset, and they just might get it right on a good day. Anything beyond that is too much for this burger establishment's hive mind to comprehend. I say hive mind because any Burger King you go to will do the same thing. Hold the pickles. Great. Add more mayonnaise. Done. They can remove and add components of the burger all day long. But what I asked them to do, I dare not ask again, because it nearly burst the very small hive mind that they all share. I love meat and I love cheese. For that reason I am a frequent at the local Burger King. They have the choice of a single, double, and a triple cheeseburger. They have the double, triple, and even the quad BK Stackers. The have the single, double, and triple whopper with cheese. There is no doubt that Burger King loves their meat and cheese almost as much as I do. If you get a single, double or triple cheeseburger or a double, triple, or quad BK Stacker they seem to have it figured out. They build all those burgers in the correct order. That order being one layer of cheese for every layer of meat. Meat cheese meat cheese meat cheese. There is only one problem. If you order a whopper they get it all wrong. There must be some sort or brain damage in the part or the hive mind that is in charge of making whoppers. When they make a single whopper they start with meat, then cheese, then all the vegetables. So far so good. But as soon as you order a double or a triple whopper the "meat cheese " logic goes out the window. Double whopper. How do they start? Meat Meat Cheese Cheese. Triple Whopper. Meat Meat Meat Cheese Cheese Cheese. Why? Why is it different only for these burgers? I don't like it that way. I have asked many times for them to make it "my way" but they never get it right. I have shown up to burger king with friends and we all order. I ask them to make it how I would like it. We all get our food. What do you know? Mine wasn't made correctly. Everyone else starts eating while I take mine back and ask them to make it my way. I wait. I finally get my burger. I go sit down and open up my burger. Again it is made incorrectly. But by this time my friends are nearly done with their meal. So, frustrated, I just accept the bum burger and eat my meal so we can leave. This has happened more than once. By ordering I gave them one chance for them to let me "Have it my way." When I took it back that was their second chance. How many chances do I need to give them. 3? 4? Have it your way? Don't they really mean have it your way as long as it is limited to the adding or withholding of certain items on your burger? Or is it Have it your way if you get the cheeseburger or the stacker? The only way the "Have it your way" slogan would apply to me is if I were speaking to them. "That's right Burger King, I will Have it YOUR way."

The Curse of the Idiot Box

"Gather round the box boys and babes it's time for your all time favorite radio program. Little Orphan Annie. Brought to you by rich, chocolaty Ovaltine. More Ovaltine Please." Oh the days when the family would gather around the radio each evening for quality radio programs.
This possibly should have been included in a blog I wrote previously called "Card Games, TV, or Video Games, but since it just recently happened I will report it anyway. Obviously I don't remember the days of family radio. My family has had a color TV for as long as I can remember. Yet I still remember gathering in font of that Television to watch many different quality programs. For some reason our society thinks that the radio is just more wholesome than the television. Why is that? The reason that I ask, is because of an instance that happened at work this last week. I work with mentally and physically handicapped adults. Because of privacy laws I can't mention the resident's names. But because no one cares about the staff's rights I can tell you the staff's names. We have hired a new lady to work with us. Her name is Anastasia. She has previously worked with handicapped children and you can tell because it carries over into the job she has now. She has yet to get it through her head that they are adults and most of them can make educated decisions. And the ones that can communicate will let you know the decisions they've made. So last Tuesday while watching American Idol, one of the resident's favorite shows , Anastasia came and turned off the Television and said "music time" and then turned on the radio so we could now listen to music. Before I could even say anything, the resident who's favorite show it was said "what the hell are you doing?" "It's music time" said Anastasia. "No it isn't" said the resident. I decided to step in before the use of a power wheelchair as a weapon became prevalent. I turned off the radio, turned the TV back on and then asked Anastasia to come in the office with me. "What are you doing?" I asked. "It's music time." She replied. I told her "that the residents were not children and you don't have to govern what they do at certain times." Her response is what inspired this blog. She said "too much TV will rot their brain out." So to much TV will rot their brain out, but in her eyes it was alright to listen to the radio all day. Now if there were programs on the radio like there were back in the day, when the family radio ruled the roost, I would agree. To listen to those would be better than modern television. What is on the radio today? Well, depending what station you listen to, you may here anything from something slightly wholesome to shootin' up gangstas and slappin' biatches with my homies. What I think the problem is that many people can't adapt to new technology or new situations. It seems to me that 9 times out of 10 the people that can adapt are more intelligent and are more successful. For instance Anastasia is in jeopardy of losing her job because she will not let go of her old ideas of working with children and let the residents do things for themselves. She has tried to force many of the residents to do things "her way" after being repeatedly asked by the boss not to. Her way is the way of "I am the parent and you are the child." Is this intelligent? Is she going to be successful? I think the answer is no for both questions. There have been may technological advancements in my life and I consider myself intelligent enough to have kept up with them. I just hope one day I'm not saying " turn off the 3D image replicator, it's time for some television. " Because the day that happens I will have fallen victim to The Curse of the Idiot Box.

Batteries Not included

Batteries Not included. It is a common phrase heard when buying electronic devices. But what else isn't included? I went to Wal-Mart and bought a printer for my computer. Listed on the side were the contents of the box. It said Printer, one tri color ink cartridge, HP software , instruction manual, and power cord. I take it home and I open the box. I see a printer..... Nothing else. So by now it is three in the morning. I decide that I am going to go exchange it despite the time. I get to Wal-Mart and I am met by the greeter. He politely gave me my little pink sticker and I proceeded to the return counter. I get there and lucky me, at 3 in the morning, there was no line. I hand my product to the man working the return counter. He asked why I was returning it? I said on the box there was a list of contents and nothing was inside except the printer. He said ok. He looked in the box and then looked at me and said we can't take a product back unless all the parts that were in the box at the time of purchase are here. I said don't you understand? That is the reason that I am bringing it back. All the items that were promised to me on the box were not there at the time of purchase. He still didn't understand. After talking with him for about 3 minutes he finally got it through his head that I didn't get everything and that was the reason I was exchanging it. I went and got a new printer and then went on my way. I came home and hooked it up and now it works great. As I was throwing the box out I looked down and saw a disclaimer on the box. It said "Everything that makes the product cool, worthwhile or otherwise functional not included but the batteries are our gift to you." I guess the batteries were included.

The Family Car.

We have all had a time when the police have offered some sort of assistance to us. Maybe we were in an accident and the police helped with sorting out what happened and helped with the exchanging of insurance information. Or maybe our house was broken into and the police helped hunt down the perpetrator. Most of us appreciate having them around. They put their lives on the line to serve and protect us. But there is a flaw in the system. There is a street near my friends house where 2 cops live. How do I know they live there? Because every time I drive by there is a cop car parked in front of their house. Ok, ok. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I drive by only when they are off duty. Well let me quote Wesley from The Princess Bride. "Possible Pig" That could be it, if I drove by at the same time everyday, but I don't. I have driven by at 6 in the morning. I have driven by in the mid afternoon. I have driven by at midnight. I have driven by at 1, 2, 3, and even 4 in the morning. Every time and at any time I drive by the cop cars are there. When do these people work? Do they work? Well if they don't there are 2 perfectly good cop cars, that our tax dollars paid
for, that could be being used by someone who is working. The only thing that may be worse than that is misusing the cars. The other day I saw a cop holding a woman's hand while walking out of Wal-Mart. A young boy around 8 and a young girl around 12 were walking behind them. The cop opened the passenger door of his squad car for the woman and then got in himself. The young boy and girl both got in the backseat themselves. Personal use of cop cars? Either that or it was a "mother and children" heist at Wal-Mart and the manager called the cops. But they decided to come peacefully. So the cop held the woman's hand while leading her to the car and the children walked quietly behind. Doubtful. Why is this allowed? A citizen style basic model of the car pictured starts at $21,575. But police don't have the basic model. They have the supercharged engine. They have the cage put in to hold criminals. They have the on board computer. They have the radar gun. Not to mention they have to have a custom paint job and a special light and siren package and the computer to run that. With all that it most likely costs closer to 35 or 40,000. Pretty expensive family car. Because a police car always has to be in good working order and not run down, I would assume that the average life of a police car is about 5 years. Well if police officers get to use these cars for personal use, how many years does that take of the 5 year life span of the car? Over the years that extra usage of cars adds up. If every cop on the force is doing it, it adds up even quicker. If they weren't allowed to do it we could save a lot of tax money. And if you aren't in a money saving mood. I am willing to bet that if all cops on one force didn't have personal use of police cars for one year, you could afford to add one cop to the force for that year. Then you would have less crime and more protection for the same price. But I can see why they would want to use it for themselves. There is a cage in the back. Who couldn't use that at one time or another on vacation. It's the perfect family car.

Over the top? Maybe. But Definately Not Underneath

The Classic Question. Over the top of the roll or underneath the roll. You've done your business. You reach over and naturally put your hand on top of the roll. But the edge of the toilet paper isn't there. Baffled, you wonder what could have caused this phenomenon. You turn, you look, and you see that someone has put the toilet paper in the dispenser with the edge towards the wall. Ludicrous. How could someone not see that this is the perfectly wrong way of doing things? Many a dating and married couples have fought over this problem. Second only to seat up or down. Is there a solution? Many of the town elders have given prophecy of a toilet paper dispenser that has a swivel on it. If you like over the top great. If not, twist the dispenser and it will magically be coming from the bottom. Oh the great things of which they speak. A time when over-the-toppers and underneathers can live in harmony and not dissonance. But until that day we must ask ourselves, is over the top over the top? Maybe. But definitely not from underneath.

Card Games, TV or Video Games?

Are you ready for a history lesson? Nearly everyone has a card game that they love to play. If not love, at least enjoy playing with friends from time to time. According to Wikipedia it is almost certain that playing cards originated in China after the invention of paper. The first formal printing of cards was in the mid 10th or early 11th century. They were used as money cards. These money cards evolved over the next few hundred years taking on many different uses. Actual playing cards have been traced back to the 13th century in England. With such a long history, no doubt most of us learned a card game growing up. Also, with such a history, most of us would consider a card game an acceptable way to pass time. On the other hand television and video games have a much shorter history. Electromechanical techniques, which make television possible, were developed from the 1900's into the 1920's, with the first broadcast being made in 1926. The many inventions of Philo T. Farnsworth and others made way for a Television system suitable for mass distribution of television programming. Farnsworth gave the world's first public demonstration of an all-electronic television system at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on the 25th of August 1934. Regular network broadcasting began in the United States in 1946, and television became common in American homes by the middle of the 1950s. The history of video games traces to 1948 where the idea of a video game was conceived and patented by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. In 1958, the first video game was introduced to the public, William Higinbotham's Tennis for Two. Since cards have been around for hundreds of years it's easy to see why card games are widely accepted. Of television and video games, the final product both being released in the early to mid 1950's, video games have now been labeled as a social stigma. They have been blamed for the obesity of our youth, attributed to school shootings and violence among teens, and generally viewed as a waste of time. Why are card games and television not viewed as negatively? My friends and I were playing a 3 player card game on the Nintendo DS when the wife of one of my friends entered the room. She said "why don't you do something productive? All you do is play DS." Now I am willing to bet had we been playing that same card game with actual cards nothing would have been said. Why are physical cards better than digital ones? They say that video games are violent. Is TV not? Being a lover of both television and video games, I can tell you that TV is twice as violent as video games. Crimes dramas such as CSI, Law and Order as well as many others show gruesome crimes being committed. In one CSI I saw a recreation of a murder where the murder weapon was an ice pick and it was repeatedly jabbed into the neck of someone. Is that not violent? Don't get me wrong, video games are violent. But it could be argued that they are just dots, lines, and pixels. As far as video games making our youth obese, they do. But we need to add television to that list. We are sitting on the couch getting fat whether our TV is hooked to a coaxial cable bringing us "quality" programing, or hooked to a gaming machine bringing us "violent " video games. As for card games, Solitaire on our computers in the workplace is one of the biggest contributers to non productivity out there. Oh, but wait, that is a video game right? Card Games, TV or Video Games? If one is accepted they all should be. If one is a stigma they all are. Choose your evil wisely.

A Full 16 Hours

Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Some people say without their full eight hours I'm just a wreck. Is that true? According to wikipedia The National Sleep Foundation maintains that eight hours of sleep for humans is optimal, claiming that it brings improved performance in tests, reduced risk of accidents, and a better immune system. For most people 8 hours is the goal when we go to sleep. Some go to bed at 10pm. and get up at 6am. Some prefer to go to bed at midnight an get up a 8am. Well that is all good and fine if that is your schedule. What about those of us that don't have a normal schedule? People with kids, Night Owls, and people who work graveyard shifts don't have normal schedules. When do they get there eight hours? Well I am one of the many that don't have a regular schedule. I work graves. A few nights a week I work 10pm.-6am. rather than sleep it. By the time I get home it is 6:30. If I go to sleep at that moment, a good 8 hours would be 2:30pm. Some experts say that every hour slept before midnight is worth 2 afterwards. So how many hours of sleep do the majority of people, who don't have a 10pm.-6am. or a 12am.-8am. sleep schedule, actually need? It could be argued that because I went to sleep at 6:30am. , which is after midnight, that I would need double the hours to get a full night sleep. So If I went to bed at 6:30am. I would need to sleep till 10:30pm. to get my full night sleep. Well you can't argue with science. If I don't get a full 16 hours I'm just a wreck.

Soda : The Man's Addiction

When was the last time you heard your Wife, Girlfriend, Aunt, Mother, Grandma, Sister or even a friend that is a girl say "I need some chocolate"? If they are sitting next to you reading aloud you probably just heard it. It's just a fact. Girls like chocolate. It is widely accepted. It is also known that when a girl needs chocolate you don't argue. Why don't you argue? Because usually by the time they voice their need for chocolate, they are so far in to what I like to call "The PMS Chocolate Feeding Frenzy", that if you argue they will bitch slap you into next month. By then they will be PMSing again. So don't argue. I think it is fair to say that chocolate is the woman's addiction. So what is the mans addiction? Soda. But I have recently found many of the women in my life have been saying "you drink to much soda." The impulsive comeback would be "well you eat to much chocolate." But because I fear the bitch slap into march 4th i just say "sorry." I do drink a lot of soda. At the moment I have 10 fountain drink cups sitting around the apartment. That is not including the empty 2 liter bottle and all the soda containers in the garbage can. But why shouldn't I be able to have my addiction. Am I not free to consume something that will add a little weight to my hips. Well it is time this came to an end. I am making a statement here and now "Men are allowed to drink soda and we will not be reprimanded. Just like the opposite sex will not be reprimanded for their chocolate consumption." If you read the can (click picture to enlarge) you will find that Dr. Pepper was invented by Dr. Charles T. Pepper. That's right a Doctor. So if you ladies try to reprimand us, remember it's just what the doctor ordered.