I am Girl Hear me Roar

I got sick about four days ago. It got me real tired. Tired to the point where I just slept and said to heck with any kind of exercise. I finally got over it today and decided to go on a long run to get all the bugs out. I went to a fitness club that I am a member of and started running on the track. It was a good run for the most part. About an hour into it a new group entered the track. One of them was a girl that could not have been older than 11. She started running and it was apparent she was having a good time. She was zigg zagging, and a smile on her face and a spring in her step. Then I noticed she was slowing down drasticly. I was catching up to her pretty fast. When I got within about 10 meters she just darted off extending the distance zigg zagging and laughing, then she would slow down and wait till I got close again, then piff she was off again. I thought oh no there is no way an 11 year old girl is going to show me up on a track. So I picked up the pace. As she kept on darting ahead of me I realized I couldn't catch this girl no matter how much I tried. It was sort of demoralizing seeing this little girl out run me, laughing the whole time, while I couldn't stop thinking how much my feet were burning. Granted I was running for about an hour before her and I was coming off an illness, but still.

I’m Still a Man

I felt hungry a little while ago. I hadn't gone to Carl's in a while. So I went. I had this conversation:

 

RFB: I'm still deciding, oh I'd like the chili fries, six dollar guack burger, the six south west, and gees do you think that will fill me up?

 

Clerk: Sir that's two six dollar burgers and chili fries; I don't think you can eat anymore.

 

RFB: OK then I'll get the teriyaki burger as well.

 

The clerk then looked at me like I was crazy and placed the order. After I had eaten all the burgers and fries with ease I dumped all the paper in the trash and the clerk looked at me as with the look of I can't believe he just did that.

Me: 1, People who doubt my ability to be both stupid and consume: 0

Be Careful What You Wish for You Already Have it.

I haven't realized it but I haven't been fully myself until recently. For some reason I had shut down emotionally for a while. I had thought that phase of my life was over. I think it was all the vacationing and being back from my travels that gave me an emotional high. I know what you are saying, how can I get an emotional high if I've shut down my emotions? It isn't the extreme things that don't get felt it is the day to day stuff. I had a bit of trouble handling it. But now I'm doing pretty well processing and getting use to feeling things on a daily basis. It makes me feel like my old self again. Then again what is my old self? Can I really call it my "self" if it has been so long? Or how about if I intentionally do things that make me not that way, can I still consider that a part of my identity? Things I have to figure out I suppose. The one thing I have noticed is that feelings and emotions do need to be expressed and process or otherwise they tend to control you much more than is healthy or functional.

On that note I would like to express something that has been bothering me as of late. I feel that I lack the experience and credentials to talk for the American soldier. However I do feel that I can make some assertions as to how the American soldier is treated and really viewed in our society. In general I think our culture and the people in it are a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to soldiers. On one hand we praise them for fighting for the most important things in our country, we constantly shower them with the words of gratitude, and we consider these people honorable and heroes. On further examination our view isn't really that simple. What I see in day to day life of soldiers is that the appreciation for what they do is largely lip service. Constantly they are told what they do is great and of noble worth, but when it affects the personal lives of civilians all that hero stuff and noble values stuff goes out the window. Once common example is when a soldier is talked about people say yeah he is a real good guy. They mention how they really respect what he is doing and how it takes a real man/woman to do the things he is doing and to make the sacrifices he is making. Then the soldier does the dating bit. Then all those great things and wonderful choices which exemplify selfless service becomes mud in the eyes of people. It is hard for him to find a woman. When he does find a woman, she is constantly told what a mistake it is being with a man that would choose such a life; how selfish he is in not leaving the military behind. Thing is good people make decisions that require real sacrifice. These real sacrifices give us the benefits of society and social change we enjoy. However it just seems that we never want to be affected by the sacrifice in any way but to enjoy it and say we appreciate it. So let us heap our burdens on the backs of the few and stone them if their bruised backs need healing. No matter how much we say we respect these people, we don't. One cannot claim to have virtue when one is never given a choice to choose between one thing or the other. So what does that say about us when we are actually given a choice we chose to not be the very thing we say we respect?

Midnight Music

I have been having trouble sleeping (I'm having doubts if I'll ever sleep normally again). So I've been listening to music again. That is to say I've been getting back into music and not just passively listening to it. I was going through a playlist of The Shins and I realized I listen to "Oh, Inverted World" more and more. I had some mixed emotions about his. The Shins are one of the few new bands I get excited for. I always thought they would develop. When I heard "Wincing the Night Away" I thought they grew as a band and produced a better album. Oddly enough I keep coming back to the first of their three albums. Is it possible for a band to make a better album that I like to listen to less than inferior work (not that any of the albums are bad)? It struck me as close to tragic as I like all the music The Shins have put out. Am I doomed to like the first the most even when a band has developed and improved? Or am I just in a mood that brings me to songs like: "Caring is Creepy", "Know Your Onion!", "New Slang", and "The Past and Pending". Then again: "A Comet Appears"," Sealegs", and "Splited Needles" are some really really good songs.

I've also made a decision my favorite "new" band is no longer Islands. Part of reason is I've heard the band has broken up and are no more. Even if they were making music I think LCD Soundsystem would take the title anyways. There are a lot of ways one could describe LCD, but I like saying they are like the Killers if the Killers were as good as they thought they were. I doubt any of my readers have heard of either Islands or LCD, but give them a try, you won't be disappointed. Also if you are looking for songs to download to see if you would be interested in LCD Soundsystem I personally like "Get Innocuous!" and "Someone Great" the most. However others have said "North American Scum" is the best.

Keeping it Real with RealFruitBeverage

When I think about myself who I am and what I am I sometimes find some interesting generalities that extend to a larger group besides me. To the ladies who read this blog (all two or maybe three of you) I'm going to let you in on a little secret about men. The vast majority of men are jealous and violent. I'm not saying all guys are that way, but enough to say you can assume that a guy is a jealous and violent person unless proven otherwise. This generality is limited I think to romantic relations for the most part. I don't know where these tendencies come from: are they socially taught, do they come from a sense of inadequacy or lack of self esteem, is it biologically hard wired for us to want to dominate competitors, or are we just jerks? I don't know, and I'm sure the reasons for a guy being jealous and having violent thoughts vary from guy to guy and are probably a mixture of different factors. So the cause is complicated. I'm not making a commentary on the cause I'm simply stating what is.

I know what the couple of ladies are saying, "wait I know plenty of guys who aren't that way, or I've dated several guys that aren't that way, or I'm married to a great man who isn't that way." Another argument if my claim is true, why aren't guys just beating the life out of each other all the time? This becomes an issue of guys controlling tendencies or the output of thoughts. That is to say while you might have a perfectly calm and reasonable guy on the outside, inside he is a turbulent storm, or he just wants to punch the face in of another guy he is jealous of and of course he is jealous. I have a lot of friends that are mild mannered. From them I've heard them say they would like to punch in the face every ex a girlfriend has had, or bite the nose off of all the ex's, set fire to an ex's car, stab, shoot, elbow, or put an ex in a reverse arm bar and whisper something unpleasant in his ear while thinking that the poor sap has no idea he will never be able to use that arm again.

We don't act out these very real desires for a number of reasons. The most common pointed to (but I don't know if it is the most common reason) is we know that things like that are wrong so we choose not to execute these very real desires. Other reasons range from fear of doing the act, inability, laziness, and many others. The reasons and excuses not to act on our jealousy in a violent manner are enough to keep the male population in good behavior for the most part. But remember no matter how mild mannered a guy seems there is a good chance he has very strong real feelings of jealousy that express themselves in violent thoughts.

I'm not advocating men do act on such desires or that feeling this way is a good thing. I just think it is important to recognize every once in a while that there are things about us that aren't pleasant.

The Strongest Men

A very important man died today. I am sure the world will go on without him but it will be a less kind and friendly place now that he is gone. I can't state how important he was to me. Without him I wouldn't be the man that I am in all the good aspects. I don't know how to react to it. I know that I shouldn't be sad. I can't help but feel I would have liked to hear him talk one more time. He took care of me; I don't know if he knew it, he kept me from losing my humanity at times when it would have been easy and sometimes understood for me to throw it away for a moment. He reminded me that no matter how complex life gets the answers are always simple. That being a strong man in these times means that you are a soft human being. My life compared to his and what he would have expected of me would probably be a shortcoming. I can't but thank him though for letting me know where the bar was set and that it was that high.

Random Road Thoughts

I've had a moment now after my vacation to think about what kind of person I have become. I've really been neglecting being introspective. One way to catch up on who you are is a long road trip, alone. I had the opportunity to drive from Utah to Seattle so I could have my vehicle shipped to Alaska. I didn't do much thinking about myself as I normally do when presented with such an opportunity, but I did notice a lot of things that I have been affected by. I watch Futurama quit a bit and one of the sayings goes, "You watched it now you can't unwatch it!" There is an interesting concept in that phrase. Once you take something in the mind you really can't undo what it did. Now this doesn't hold true for some things, but it does for law school. As I was crossing the Utah border entering Idaho; do you know what thought entered my mind? It wasn't oh I'm entering a new state, or I wonder what different radio stations I'll encounter, or does the speed limit change here, or does this mean I'll get some different scenery. I thought I'm entering a new jurisdiction and body of law. I realized I will never be normal when compared to the rest of society.

When traveling through a section of one unnamed state I thought, "Man the radio music sucks here." I then did another seek on the radio. I found a station to my liking. It played two songs in a row that I really liked. Then it got a little strange, the station then played a little Radio Head. I was thinking that this was a strange mix as I got two classic rock songs and then Radio Head. I kept listening out of pure fascination. Would you know it the Shins came on the air. Nobody plays The Shins, let alone in a lineup that has Radio Head and two really good classic rock songs. I was thinking I discovered pure gold. I couldn't wait for the next song. To my surprise they played one of my favorite rap songs of all time. That's when I realized it wasn't a radio station but just my ipod broadcasting.

Baby Steps

I’ve been told by everyone and their dog that I need to get normal, whatever that is. Thing is I haven’t any sense of what normal is suppose to be. My body is completely confused. For those of you who don’t know I spent some time in the Middle East this last summer. It was hot. I got as use to the heat as possible. Now I’m in Alaska. It is cold in Alaska. The funny thing is I was colder when I was in the Middle East more than I am here. I attribute it to a number of things; I was not sleeping properly, eating properly, and in general working too much. All those things made it feel colder when it was actually warmer. Maybe it is also because now I have the good sense to get in out of the cold when I start feeling cold. I just think my body has come to terms with it sucking all the time so it doesn’t complain as much as it use to.

When I got back to Alaska I decided I was going to start a healthy diet plan. This was going great for about the first week or so when I was back. I got hungry and ordered a pizza with Buffalo wings. I know not the healthiest combo, but I figured I could splurge a little. What I didn’t figure is that I would eat the entire pizza in one sitting and the wings soon after. I don’t think I’ve made myself a meal to date. That has got to be a record for me I’ve gone over eight months without preparing food for myself.

All these items of stupidity tend to show that I am back to my old self. Every now and then I do get a clip that shows that maybe I need a little more adjustment time before I give myself a clean bill of health. One such instance, I was riding in a car down the free way. We were going fast about 75 mph. To me that is zooming. I saw a black tar line on the road. I nearly had a heart attack.

I basically have about a week before I got fly back to Utah. I think I’ll reconnect a couple more dots there. Till the days of winter are over I guess I’ll learn to deal with the cold.

Virtually Back

Well I’ve now got internet in my room again. Odd how things like that have no real existence in the material sense have so much existence. Now what to do with these idle hands, besides type that is.

Not Home Yet

I haven’t known what home really is in the past year and a half or so. I haven’t been able to place roots down. I think I’ve moved too much, spent too much time from my old home, and changed too much to call my old place home. People always say home is where the heart is. My heart is generally where all my loved ones are. But as this last year went by more and more of my loved ones have dispersed. My heart isn’t really anywhere, not that I’m a drifter. My heart has roots but just not in a place. I think I’ve taken one more step in finding my new home.

Green Time

You know I’ve seen my fair share of crappy movies. I’m talking I wonder how some of these ideas get the OK. I’ve concluded that movie execs will pretty much give any movie idea a chance. That is unless you got a really good idea that is based on good plot and will require convincing acting. So I thought to myself what kind of movies would I like to make? I’ve already discussed this with a few of my friends and I have two that come to mind.

The first movie is called “8 string cowboy”. An old buddy of mine told me about the idea of a cowboy that went around with a guitar and got into adventures. I thought that would be really cool if this cowboy knew kung fu. Obviously it would have to be a western. What is the source of conflict; zombies. You got it, a guitar playing kung fu master cowboy in a zombie survival western. I’m thinking of making a twist to it by having it set in the future where it is a post apocalyptic nuclear western. Honestly how many of you wouldn’t want to see this movie?

The second movie is called “B +”. It has Eric Roberts playing a super villain sorcerer who is the head of a crime syndicate ran by various thugs played by the Baldwin family. The sorcerer can only be defeated by the brothers of destiny. The brothers are actually long lost brothers played by Jean Claude Van Dam and Steven Seagal. Pretty straight forward right? Here is the twist, two other brothers think they are the brothers of destiny and so does everyone else. These brothers are played by Pauly Shore and Rob Schneider. It isn’t that you would want to watch this move, it is you can’t help but watch this movie.

Music

I think people take music too seriously. Music is a wonderful thing it can inspire, change moods, give insights into human nature, and all sort of other stuff. People take all these wonderful things and start making evaluative judgments about the music. I really don’t have a problem with that as I do it more than the average bear. People (myself included) then take it to the next level, they make evaluative judgments about people based on the judgments they made about the music. I think people need to stop taking music so seriously. So what, so and so likes really lame music, if it jingles their bell it’s their choice. Does a person liking lame music make them lame? No. Unless you like Creed, then you are lame.

Hate Speech

One of my favorite topics to think and talk about is zombies. Why? I don’t know. Another thing I do a lot is argue. Great facilitators for argument are top X number lists. My work buddies and I started to talk about various zombie scenarios and what would be the top whatever for such and such situation. I noticed a trend in our discussions, when I talk about zombies taking over I refer to it as a zombie infestation while my work buddies call them zombie insurrections.

You are probably wondering what the big deal is. Come on they both start with the letter “I” and heck it really doesn’t change the reality of ten thousand zombies looking to eat your delicious brains. See these words are the beginnings of a serious point, zombies are not people! As you can see the word insurrection implies some kind of rebellion. In that implication is the notion that zombies have some kind of intelligence, a will even. With a will we can even attempt to say they might have a soul, or rights. Let’s get this straight people zombies while once human are not humans. The more we start using human quality words on them the more dangerous it becomes. One of the classic mistakes made in every zombie movie is having feelings of attachment for a zombie that was once a loved one. The zombie lover then falls prey to their attachment because they don’t realize that this isn’t a human and you got a zombie loose on the inside of your defenses. Zombies are a disease or at best an invasion of an unwanted entity. Heck I would say that zombies aren’t even alive, they are the undead after all. Think this is not a problem; just look at all the zombie movies that are starting to add little human characteristics to zombies. We have a problem; when the infestation does happen we can have no doubt, zombies must go. Remember the Simpsons episode where Homer ends up at his house being chased by flesh eating mutants and they start talking peace, and then they blast them? We need to have that kind of mentality.

Other fine points of zombie infestations I would like to make, a chain saw is not a good melee weapon. First it can run out of fuel. That is the last thing you want in a melee weapon. Second it is extremely heavy. Granted it can cause a lot of damage but that leads to three, the amount of splatter with a chain saw is high. The amount of fluids that could possibly transmit the zombie bug (for the sci-fi zombie scenarios where it is a virus that causes it) increases dramatically and increases the odds you will be infected which is death. My personal choice is an aluminum bat. It is light and causes a lot of blunt trauma. This mean you can hit the head of the zombie (its only true weak spot) and not worry about a lot of issues. Wooden blunt objects are to prone to breaking thus the aluminum bat is a better choice. There are some other blunt melee weapons that are good but generally to heavy. I think you will fatigue and be swarmed.

There is still a robust debate regarding which vehicle would be best. I’m of the opinion that one where you can limit in and out access to the top of it and good fuel economy are considerations. The best place to hold up has been Walmart, but I don’t think that is an absolute conclusion. I’ve also tossed the idea around that an area with extreme cold weather would be a good spot to. Zombies must have extremely low heat output thus they would freeze and basically be harmless or even better completely neutralized. Alaska would be a good consideration, sort of like the latest Resident Evil movie (we thought of this way before the movie by the way and they didn’t even site the cold as a possible advantage).

Just remember zombies are not humans. If that sounds like a hate speech, then call me a zombie hater.

Conflict

I was watching football (American) this last weekend. For those of you that follow the sport you all realized the big game was between the New England Patriots and the Dallas Cowboys. I felt conflicted. I didn't know who to root for, or should I say I couldn't find who to root against. See I'm a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. On one hand I have the historical hatred of the Cowboys. We have this rivalry that dates back to the 70's Super Bowls. I was also pissed when they beat us in the 90's at the big show. That and the Cowboy fans are some of the most annoying ever. Then the Pats; they knocked us out of the playoffs twice in the last ten years, both times I think the Steelers had a legit shot at it all. Come to think of it Patriot fans are some of the most annoying in football. I was glad that someone had to lose, then again I was sad that someone had to win. In the end Dallas lost. I guess it is all for the best.

The Power of Empty Words

It is a shame that often words of importance only matter to people where we don’t have to worry about those words. There is an upcoming issue with the word “genocide”. US lawmakers are poised to pass a resolution on whether or not to call the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during the WWI time frame, genocide. There is a bit of political tension on this topic. Modern Turkey is an important NATO ally with the United States. Currently Turkey is strategically important to the United States joint operations in Iraq.

This issue, being political, is complicated. It is clear that calling the activities that happened during the time frame of the Armenian mass killings/genocide, genocide would embarrass Turkey. Turkey has already received a rebuff from the West by being denied membership in the EU. France has taken it a step further and made a law making it illegal to say the killings were not genocide. For all of Turkey’s efforts to demonstrate that it is a modern westernized state it hasn’t been given much slack.
Turkey’s claim is not an outright denial of the killings. Rather they point to the fall of the Ottoman Turk Empire and the chaos that followed as the cause of the killing. The killings according the Turkish government wasn’t a planned and organized slaughter like the Nazis. People of this view generally contend that it is not the business of government to define history, let the historians define it. They propose that academics examine all the records on both the Turk and Armenian side and render a verdict.

The view mentioned seems very reasonable. Unfortunately for that stance, the majority of historians have concluded that it was genocide. The argument of defining genocide being an academic endeavor not a government one has some weight to it. I keep wondering why the government would call something genocide if it is recognized as genocide by historians. The only answer I can think of is that it must have some kind of legal ramifications and actions to follow. Another possibility is putting the country on notice that we are aware of the past history of genocide and it won’t happen again.
The odd thing is from my understanding of Turkey; the odds of another genocidal incident would be pretty rare. So it comes down to some kind of legal action right? Well the classification is useless. It isn’t going to lead to sanctions or some kind of reprimand.

I got to thinking about the broader issue of genocide and what it means in the United States. Genocide is a nasty word. It is on par with being liken unto Hitler or a communist. I want to be candid about what I think genocide means in the United States. What I might say will probably offend people so you’ve been warned, stop reading now. People in the United States don’t care about genocide. We fake it. It might be more accurate to say we don’t care enough about genocide, but I’m sticking to my guns, we don’t care about genocide. We feign our strong distaste for genocide. I know what you are going to say, every American opposes genocide. Really, on what level?

My case for my point is Darfur. We’ve know genocide was/is happening. It was just a matter of reporting the numbers. Don’t tell me the public doesn’t know. Time dedicated a lot of recourses reporting on it (excellently I might add). All those rock stars and movie stars have been yelling about it for some time now. What have we done? Nothing. Let me bring it home for you. For those of you who pray where is genocide on the list of things you pray about? Does it wrench your heart to know that genocide is going on? How much do you feel knowing that thousands upon thousands of innocents are being killed? Do you think daily what sacrifices you can make to help it stop? Have you cried one tear for the dead of Darfur? Would you be willing to give up your new HD TV to help, or your PS3, Xbox 360, your new ipod, or how about Christmas, would you be willing to give all that you would receive for Christmas to save one life in Darfur? Well you’ve been able to for several years now, and I’m willing to bet just like me you haven’t done a thing. That’s right we have been able to do something and we haven’t. So when we say Americans care about genocide are we just puffing up and putting on a good face? I think so.

It is hard for me. Realizing how magnificent we were created to be yet seeing how despicable we are. I know my pain gives little to my penitence for inaction, but I suppose it is something, just not something that means anything to the dead. Humanity is an odd meal to eat. It’s flavor a constant paradox.

Suprise

Jake finally woke up to the buzz sound of his alarm clock. He was careful in selecting which alarm he would buy. This particular clock had the helpful and reassuring feature of non-stop buzzing. He felt dull even though he was supposedly sharpening himself for the last four days. His dreams were stressful, even though he really couldn’t recall what they were about. Looking over his cramp quarters, Jake tried to make an inventory of things he need to do right away, maybe he could get some order in his mind if he couldn’t generate such in the piles of chaos he called his room.

Looking over his equipment Jake made his final double check to make sure they were in accordance to the specifications published for the board of review. Seeing his weapon so clean gave Jake a grin. The fabric on his body armor was brushed and soaped clean. Everything was in order, double checked the night before and checked again this morning. Topics, facts, and questions began to buzz in Jake’s mind: numbers, words, definitions, protocols, and on and on. Doubt seemed to cling to very thing he had memorized, but a doubtful recall was all he had and it was better than nothing.

He was told that boards were all about confidence. Confidence was so important that even fake confidence was better than the truth. Well a little fake goes a long way in presentations. Being pulled off the line would be considered a vacation by some, but he couldn’t help feel a little guilty. This was strictly a career move. This board would set him up for another, and eventually an early promotion board. He felt a little sick. He didn’t know if it was the time of day or how he felt. Jake had the feeling all he needed to do was show up and he would win. It was almost set up that way from the get go.

As the door opened and the early light hit his eyes, Jake contemplated what deep thoughts he could gather. Wonderings of the nature of competition, the worth of knowledge, and even his self interest entered his mind. Even though everyone he worked with understood him leaving the line for just a little bit, he couldn’t understand it, or come to grips with it. He just knew that it was what everyone expected anyone to do.

Then it hit him. Like a shimmering glossed katana edge, wait it was a simmering katana edge. A kia was sounded and in a flash the dark shadow zoomed past, steel on flesh. Luckily the victim was only sliced on the meaty parts of his legs. Obviously a low level ninja, otherwise Jake would be dead. “Great” Jake thought, “I get ambushed by a ninja right before the board, who would have thought.” “Well I better stop the bleeding, where’s my medical pouch?”

Beach Master

A little while ago I was looking at some pictures online of the Camp Loll Staffs trough out the ages. It is a bit bitter sweet for me as I have never worked on any Camp Loll staff, even though I have worked with many Camp Loll staffers. I often feel like a human watching his elf buddies sail off into the west when the subject of Loll comes up. I don’t mind so much as I am entertained by the stories and the purpose of Loll.

As I was scrolling down the web page I saw familiar faces. One face I saw was a man by the name of Carlo. Then all of a sudden he stopped appearing in the staff pictures. This reminded me that Carlo is no longer with us. It made me sad. I did what anyone would do with this memory; I went and ate a slice of cheesecake. I know that sounds odd but every conversation that I had with Carlo boiled down to how delicious cheesecake was or looking at pretty women. So have a bit of cheesecake, for Carlo.

Royal Season

Ah the NFL season is here in full swing. So many dreams and hopes for so many fans; so many crushed dreams and hopes for so many fans. It is only week two and expectations are being raised and crushed all at the same time. My team, the Stealers, greatest football organization in the history of the NFL, is doing well, but still it is only week two. I was thinking about all the forgotten people in the history of the NFL. Then the nerd in me took over and I created my list of the most underrated quarterbacks of all time. I’m not a sports expert; these are just my uneducated opinions. Remember this not the list of greatest, but most underrated, you could be horrible and still the most underrated.
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5. Bernie Kosar. Remember when Cleveland was good? You are probably remembering when Bernie Kosar was there. If it weren’t for the heartbreak of the most hated quarterback ever, John Elway, Bernie might have gotten a little more respect. Is he one of the best quarterbacks of all time? No, but he is good enough where people should remember the guy besides Cleveland fans. He was usually in the top 10 in most statistical categories when with Cleveland.

4. Trent Dilfer. Not much to talk about. Then again when have the Ravens ever gotten to the big show since they got rid of him? He wasn’t a great quarterback, but definitely underrated; especially if you consider he has a championship and the Ravens have yet to produce another.

3. Phil Simms. You know for a guy that won a Super Bowl you would think he’d get a little more props. Basically Simms is a very, very good version of Dilfer. For six years he was in the top ten for TD passes. While the Giants at the time were an awesome team they couldn’t have done it without a good quarterback. I think people forget that Simms was a very good quarterback.

2. Steve Young. He has the best QB rating life time. He has been to the big show and won. The two biggest things said against Steve Young: He had Jerry Rice, John Taylor, TO, and a lot of other talent to throw to, and he is no Joe Montana. Yeah it is true that he had a lot of talent around him, but he did well with it. So what he isn’t Joe Montana, nobody is Joe Montana, not even Joe Montana. You are talking about the greatest quarterback of all time. For some reason nobody puts this guy in the same league as the greats of all times. Why? The response is always well Joe Montana was better. Steve Young is/was the best mobile quarterback ever. Michel Vick could only dream of being as good as Steve Young, and at one time people were talking like Michel Vick was the best quarterback ever.

1. Warren Moon. Statistically speaking, this guy rocked. He is on par with Dan Marino, the most overrated quarterback of all time. If Moon had started his career in the NFL there is a good shot some of those records held my Dan might have been held by Moon. But, if you would ever mention Warren Moon in the same breath as Dan Marino people would just laugh at you. I guess that championship Marino won puts him on a different level than Warren Moon. Warren Moon is 4th in all time pass attempts, completions, passing yards, and 5th in all time passing TDs.

Universal Boxes

I remember a while back I posted about how kids are cool. Kids are so cool they can turn the most harden cynic into a softy. Kids also remind me no matter how different two groups of people are there are some universals that transcend race, culture, and religion. What is the unifying element that I observed? Cardboard.

You see kids love cardboard. Cardboard to a kid is like gold. From my memory of my childhood I remember cardboard races down grass/weed hills. Nothing says a good fort to keep icky girls out of like cardboard. You need a sword or club? Cardboard is your answer. You need a shield to block the sword your buddy made? Cardboard is the answer. How tragic a childhood would be without cardboard? I watched a kid use cardboard as a cape, obviously transforming into a superhero of some sort. Then he used it to make wings. Brilliant, that’s absolutely brilliant.

That’s another thing, kids daydream about flying. Anywhere in the world there is a kid dreaming about flying right now.

The Best Minds

I was reading “The Oprah Magazine” or “O”. I will once again claim the defense; my current job leaves limited choices in what I can do for entertainment. I would normally just chalk this magazine as a smarter version of “Cosmo” (yes I read Cosmo too). The thing that prevents me from taking that paradigm when reading O is that Oprah is a cultural phenomenon. For the most part I consider Oprah a force for good in the world, and it appears her heart is in the right place (I really can’t divine this because I don’t know the lady and I make no claims about powers to ascertain the worth of one’s soul by looking into someone’s eyes via the TV.) For those of you unfamiliar with the format of O it generally has your standard beauty magazine kind of stuff, then it usually has a section on how to make your life better, and there always seems to be a couple of articles about making the world a better place.

A reoccurring contribution to O (yes that means I’ve read more than one issue) is a section called, “A Million Ways to Save the World”. The description of the section goes as follows, “Award-winning playwright Eve Ensler resumes her monthly mission: to canvass the best brains around the globe for their earth-fixing ideas. “ Another statement follows about Ensler’s specific causes, but the ideas/advice gathered from the contributing people varies in their scope. Normally I don’t have too many problems with the advice people dish out. I’ve noticed that the people Ensler selects is a bit thin when it comes to selecting scientist, award winning economist, and experts on international law, but that is to be expected considering Ensler’s background. I’m sure if I were to select my great minds for advice there would be several sectors lacking, it is natural.

Now when it comes to having people give ideas that could radically or subtly change the world there is bound to be a conflict of ideas. I understand I’m not likely to agree with all the ideas presented in the article. This particular issue seemed to bother the heck out of me. There were two contributors that really chapped my rear.

The first bit is by James Gilligan, author of Preventing Violence. He states, “In our thermonuclear era, the most immediate threat to our continued survival is human violence. So how do we prevent it? By eliminating inequalities of power and wealth based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. Throughout the world, the most powerful predictor of violence is the size of the gap in income and wealth between the rich and the poor. The answer? Elect a Democrat as president. Historically, that has been the most direct and effective way to reduce the gap. As equality increases, violence decreases. This is love in action.”

My first thought was wow did I just hear a high school debate thermonuclear war argument? Yes I just did. Mr. Gilligan fails to address the concept, something is the most immediate doesn’t necessarily make it the most probable. For instance the moon spontaneously falling out of orbit is much more of an immediate threat to human survival than nuclear war. It is however much less likely to happen. But according to Hume you never know, well non empirically that is. But I’m willing to accept that we should be worried about nuclear weapons. Mr. Gilligan makes some jumps I’m not quit willing to take. The assertion that inequality is an indicator of violence I will grant, but to assert that inequality leads to the kind of violence that leads to thermonuclear war I will not grant. The statement also indicates that in order for violence to be curbed one has to decrease arbitrary inequality between individuals. What about nations? Should it be the prerogative of those in one nation to eliminate cultural inequalities of another nation in order to avoid nuclear war? I think such cavalier notions would cause more hostilities than it could cease. The key to Mr. Gilligan’s assertions comes from this comment, Elect a Democrat President. I’ll accept that historically a Democrat president decreases equality gaps more than a Republican within the USA. Trends however do little to shed light on the instance in this case. My example for examination, Jimmy Carter. During the craziness that was the Carter Era, the economy got so bad that the pure madness of supply side economics seemed like a good idea, and it turned out to be better than Carter’s economic policy. Let me say that again, Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, POTUS, had an economic system so bad it made supply side look good. The world was a much more dangerous place and much more likely to go into nuclear war than when a Republican took office. Another factor is the with the powers of globalization inequality gaps that rise in the United States can often lead to decreases in gaps elsewhere. An example of a Democrat leading to the opposite of this is say a Democrat that is a protectionist and while increases average wages in the United States prevents other countries from entering certain sectors of the economy, thus preventing them from having sustainable economic growth that would lead to gaps closing. So while inequalities my decrease at home, where it has been stable regardless, inequalities may grow or be perpetuated abroad where it is less stable. I’m not saying a Democrat would make a bad president or that one shouldn’t vote Democrat. In fact I think there are a lot of Democratic candidates with good ideas, but there are also just as many Republicans with equally valid ideas. Consider the ideas instead of each candidate regardless of their political affiliation. Regardless Mr. Gilligan does convey a good idea about different strategies to curbing violence.

The next brain to pick is an “Award-winning actress and activist”. It is none other than Jane Fonda. Jane Fn’ Fonda. That’s right Jane Fonda. Let me repeat the purpose of the article, “to canvass the best brains around the globe for their earth-fixing ideas.” So you’re telling me that one of the best minds in the world is an actress who’s most notable accomplishments is a film where she plays a space vixen who crash lands on a planet with a man who wears furs. That’s right Jane Fonda. The same Jane Fonda that didn’t mind all too much when the Communist party in Cambodia wiped out nearly a third of its population in a genocide fest. The same Jane Fonda that while not calling the Communist war criminals for genocide would gladly and gleefully call US soldiers war criminals. Yes the same Jane Fonda that never apologized for calling US soldiers war criminals, and never once thought maybe just maybe the communist were a bad thing for south east Asia. So what is the advice of Jane, almost a noble peace prize winner, Fonda? Let me quote, “Mothers and grandmothers, teachers, coaches, and mentors, let’s help our boys become emotionally literate.” Yes we need those people because you know fathers can’t possibly help boys become emotionally literate. Yes because I’ve never heard of a man teaching a boy, “it’s okay to cry, to forgive, to express love.” I’m sorry I didn’t realize that was OK for women to be role models to girls, but for heaven sakes don’t let men be a role model to boys. You know what happens when a father tries to teach a boy how to be a man, that boy grows up to be a homicidal maniac that has the emotions of a sociopath that will no doubt oppress every woman he sees. I’m all about teaching boys to be more advanced when it comes to understanding emotions, but when did fathers lose the capacity to teach those things?