Friday, December 28, 2007

HMMM...I WONDER WHY?

In Montana, it is illegal to have a sheep in the cab of your
truck without a chaperone.
(According to CNN.com)

Thursday, December 27, 2007

OH THOSE WACKY JAPANESE!


TOKYO (Reuters) - A debate over flying saucers has kept Japanese politicians occupied for much of this week, ensnaring top officials and drawing a promise from the defense minister to send out the army if Godzilla goes on a rampage.


What could I possibly say to top that!?
(With a purposeful grimace and a terrible smell,
he pulls the spitting hi tension wires down.
Helpless people on subway trains scream 'my god'
as he looks in on them...
go go Godzilla)

MERRY XMAS...

...And a happy Valentine's Day???
Would you believe it, there we were on Sunday the
23rd in our local Walgreen's, and out on display was
a header full of giant stuffed animals for Valentine's Day!
What the hell is up with that? Why would anyone even dream
of shopping for Valentine's Day before Xmas? Isn't there enough
to worry about getting done without leapfrogging to the next holiday?
This no break betwen holidays is really getting out of hand, at
least give people a little breathing room before the next
'shopping holiday'. It didn't used to be like that back in prehistoric
times, it really wasn't necessary to shop early for gift giving
occassions that were months away, that's just being downright
greedy.
Besides, what's the point...are they expecting people to shop early,
then lose the stuff and have to re-shop?
Pretty soon, they'll have to combine the pre-Xmas sales with the
after Xmas clearance sales, and then how will they tell them apart?

Thursday, December 20, 2007

JESUS: NOT THE REASON

For the season. I find those signs that claim he is very annoying.
Nothing in the Bible specifies a date when Christ was born; go ahead, I dare you
to find anything that specifies a date. Christmas as a holiday was morphed from the
Roman holiday of Saturnalia; a time when businesses closed, parties held, and gifts were exchanged in the name of the Roman god. The early Christians used the timing of
Saturnalia (mid-December) to their own ends to win over the heathens.
Interestingly, here in the U.S, many major religious denominations; Presbyterians,
Baptists, Quakers, Methodists, & Congregationalists ignored or actively
discouraged Christmas as a holiday until the late 1800s. Most schools & businesses
remained open, Congress met in session, and some churches closed on Christmas day
to keep worshippers from commemorating it. In colonial New England the celebrating
the holiday was actually made illegal, punishable by a fine.
So may all the 'religious' people get off their high horses...

...Let's put the X back in Xmas...

Friday, December 14, 2007

LAST 6 BOOKS READ

1) Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux: An overland trip from Cairo to Capetown as
Paul stops at some places he'd taught at in the 60s/70s(?). A fascinating look
at Africa on a human level, person to person.
2) Merlin's Godson by H Warner Munn: Merlin and the last Roman legionnaires
leave Britain and come to the new world. No classic, but an interesting read.
3) Ash Wednesday by Chet Williams: Blue ghosts come to one town in
Pennsylvania. What do the townspeople do? Apparently not much of
anything. Not really a 'horror' novel in the usual sense of the word, more
of a psychological look at the townspeople's reactions to the ghosts.
4) The Black Ice by Michael Connelly: Det. Harry Bosch encounters the
latest drugs from Mexico. Well-written and interesting. I think this is the 2nd
Harry Bosch story I've read, enjoyed them both.
5) A Cannibal In Manhattan by Tama Janowitz: Well, this was an odd one.
Yes, there is a cannibal. No, he doesn't eat anyone - at least not on purpose.
The book is more of a social satire by seeing how we live as seen through the
eyes of the cannibal; who is not uneducated, just naive. But the real strange
part is the photos that are in the book. Not taken for the book, but real photos,
some from decades ago, that illustrate the novel.
6) The Cook by Harry Kressing: An old book (1965) about a cook, and the
two families he interacts with. Can't really tell you much, because then it would
give away the whole plot line. Suffice it to say "YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK"
Look for it somewhere, bound to find a copy in a used book store somewhere.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

RIP: IKE TURNER

 At the age of 76. Though much maligned for his abuse of Tina,
the man was a early part of R&R history. 
Remember, Ike & TinaTurner wasn't
all Tina...
Well, Ike, join that big band in
the sky...or perhaps the bigger
band down below.

Friday, December 07, 2007

2ND AMENDMENT STRIKES AGAIN

 So once again the NRA has blood on it's hands.
Another wack-job with a gun gets to kill innocent
people to protect the NRA's 2nd Amendment rights.
Boy, will we ever wake up and decide we're not
going to be invaded by the British, or even the Canadians,
and therefore don't really need an armed militia to
protect our homes? Especially a militia that's not
actually part of the government or an organized branch
of the government?
 
And while we're on the subject of stupid - what the
hell is wrong with the killer's landlady? He shows
her the gun the night before, but she doesn't do
anything because she thinks he's not the violent type,
even thought he'd lost his job & his girlfriend.
What is she, stoned or stupid? She should be arrested
as an accomplice, as should the president of the NRA!
 
And as for hunters; how about bowhunting and single
shot muzzle loading black powder rifles? Just to put
a little more sport back into hunting...I mean it is
supposed to be a sport, isn't it?
 
If you disagree, please don't shoot me, I'm much too young
to die; though I'm too old to die young...

 

Thursday, December 06, 2007

LAST 6 BOOKS READ

1) Houston,Houston, Do You Read? by James Tiptree Jr: Interesting tale,
actually a novella, about astronauts who go through a time warp and
find a future of no men.
2) Souls by Joanna Russ: Vikings plunder an abbey; but the abbess
is an alien.
3) Kipling's Works Vol.II by Rudyard Kipling: Contains 'The Phantom Rickshaw'
and other tales of life in Colonial India. Interesting stuff, including
some ghost stories, and also the story 'The Man Who Would Be King', later
made into the movie with Michael Caine & Sean Connery.
4) A Case Of Lone Star by Kinky Freidman: Kinky goes after the 'Hank
Williams Killer' in his latest adventure in NYC. Enjoyable mystery
with a touch of humor.
5) University by Bentley Little: More demented stuff from one of the better
horror writers. What if the University you went to was evil...not
the people, the buildings themselves?
6) The Thieves Of Heaven by Richard Doetsch: Reformed thief steals the Keys
of St Peter in order to save his wife. Interesting twist on the whole DaVinci
Code genre.

ILLEGAL ALIENS

 The real troublwe with illegal aliens...
...is the unregistered UFOs they fly around in...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

YOU DO THE MATH

 Okay, now - this is for real...
 
"L.B.,22 Machinist (Name initialed for privacy)
-L.B. died 11/26/07 from Hypoventilation Syndrome.
Survived by his wife D.W., 1 son, 1 stepson,
3 daughters, 10 grandchildren & 8
great-grandchildren."
 
Well, that's what it says in the paper anyhow.
Never ceases to amaze me how poor a job a
paper(this one in particular) can do at proofreading.
And I don't even read the whole paper, just glance
throught it now and then. And they say they're 'A
New York Times Company'.
 
Well, if I was the NYT, I'd sure make
them take that off their trucks!!