I think I've been a bad influence on one of my friends, or more accurately her and her boy friend.

Neither of them are wine drinkers, but a few weeks ago I was invited over to their place (actually up to their place since their apartment in one floor above mine) for Lasagna. I figured I would bring along a bottle of wine I had , Blackberry wine to be exact. As I said neither of them are wine drinkers, but they enjoyed it anyways.

Fast forward to today, and while I was preparing supper, I got a call from them inviting me up. since I was nearly finished I declined, but they asked if they could barrow a few wine glasses. seems they went to New Ulm, and while there they picked up a bottle of wine. Not sure what type, but she poured me some before leaving and it was good.

Like I said, I think I've been a bad influence, but there are worse things to be responsible for then introducing someone to good wine.

This is kind of cool. Looks like Prince Harry will be serving in Iraq. Not only that, but he wants to be treated like any other soldier.

Obviously his bro won't be serving, so it is cool that he is although the timing of the announcement is curious. Maybe this is why Blair all of a sudden want's to pull british troops out of Iraq.

Saw this in the Letters section of today's Star Tribune. There are a few other letters that I may comment on (the full letter section for today's edition can be found here, but the main letter I wanted to comment on is below.

Rep. Michele Bachmann said that the 9/11 attacks and the need to prevent future attacks are two of the reasons that we need to continue our policy in Iraq.

Is she kidding? Anyone knowledgeable would never have linked the tragic events of 9/11 to the current situation in Iraq. Al-Qaida, which was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, operates out of Pakistan, not Iraq.

Few problems here, mainly the part about Al-Qaida being based in Pakistan. They aren't, because they have no actual base. They have clls all over the place, but no actual base of operations.

That aside, this person needs to stop drinking the anti-war kool aid and think for a moment. If we pull the troops out of Iraq before the job is done there, it will set a dangerous precident for the future, and will in fact put us at risk for future terrorist attacks.

Think about it. we leave Iraq, it will send a message to terrorists. if they hold out long enough, or kill enough of our soldiers, then we will back off. If we stay there until we finish everything we set out to do in Iraq, it will send a different message to terrorists. We will not back down. We will not leave until we accomplish our mission. and we will not allow terrorists to to attack our country.

While Iraq may not have had a connections to Al-Qaida, the war is just as important as the battle against terrorists.

Captain Picard's Ressikan Flute Sells Fo $48,000

I was just watching a show on the History Channel about Star Trek, and specificly the recent Auction of Star Trek memerabelia. While it was interesting to see how much some of that stuff went for, the one I was most interested in was Captain Picard's Ressikan Flute.

The captain first got the flute in The Inner Light, and it showed up from time to time afterwards. This is one of the best episodes in Star Trek history, and at the auction, it went for $40,000 (plus $8000 seller's fee to Christie's)

If I had the cash, I would have tried to win it. In addition to loving the episode, I am a fan of Woodwinds and Flutes. Who ever won it is a lucky person.

Now if you will excuse me, I think I will try to find a replica online, hopefully one that accually plays, unlike the real one.

Army Of Darkness

This story is part 2 of The Siege, a 5 part series that started in Enamies At The Gates

Army Of Darkness

The demonic horde flooded into the courtyard; some through the now open gates, some jumping off the top of the wall. Although it was a good twenty feet to the ground, they did not appear to sustain any damage.

In the light of the fires scattered around the courtyard, I got a good look at the enemy for the first time since the assault began nearly twenty-five minutes ago.

Their swords were just as wicked as I had imagined, dripping with the blood of soldiers who had been unfortunate enough to get in their way. They cut through leather armor and plate make with ease, leaving bodies in their wake.

Their armor, black as a moonless night, was impressive and fearsome at the same time. From their shoulders to their waist slithered four golden serpents, two entwined on each side. In the flickering light of the fires, the appeared to be alive.

Their helmets were just as black, a dark version of my own. Similar golden serpents replaced the red crosses on mine; their black shields carried a similar insignia
The army of darkness advanced, striking fear into the hearts of the soldiers.

Several would have fled, but there was no place to go. I pondered the contrast of their black armor against my white suit. That is all the time I had. They charged.

I urged our warriors forward. This was it. If we failed to stop them, all was lost.

Kansas Repeals Science Guidlines

TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- Kansas has repealed public school science guidelines questioning the theory of evolution that brought the state international ridicule.

The guidelines were changed a few years ago to include language that questioned the validity of Evolution and helped support teaching Intelligent Design. This put the state at the center of a debate that is being fought across the country; whether or not Intelligent Design should be taught in public schools.

While I have no doubt that groups like the ACLU were involved in this decision, I can't help but wonder if the main reason the guidelines were changed is because they didn't want to be made fun of. Why else would the AP article open with the above line, mentioning the fact that they were mocked by people around the world.

My opinion has long been that I have no problem with teaching Evolution--as a theory. Like I said back in September 2005, I have no problem with Evolution or Intelligent Design being taught in schools as long as they are taught as what they are, theories. The problem is the fact that, because of the efforts of groups like the ACLU, most schools ignore Intelligent Design, fearful that they will offend someone, be sued by someone, or be mocked by others.

Evolution is not science. For it to be science it must be re creatable under controlled conditions or at least be observed, neither of which has happened. The same is true for Intelligent Design.

So what is wrong with teaching both theories and letting the students decide which they want to believe, even if it means questioning Evolution. Nothing. But as long as there are people who refuse to accept Evolution as simply a theory, and that there are other possible options, this debate will continue.

By The Light Of The Moon

By The Light Of The Moon

Will Tennant squinted, following the nearly nonexistent trail in the moonlight. He looked back with a smile, holding Carole’s hand in his. They had spent a lot of time hiking in the Barrens, and as Will patted his pocket, he hoped that this wouldn’t be the last time they did this together.

For the next few minutes, they walked until the trees parted, revealing a clearing over looking Pine Creek. They walked across the clearing, enjoying the view as the full moon shown down upon them.

Carol commented on the beautiful view, and Will replied that it wasn’t as beautiful as her. He turned to face her, looking into her eyes and telling her how much he loved her as he took a box from his pocket. Will fell to his knee and held the box open before him, asking Carole to marry him.
She held her hand to her mouth as she gasped with surprise, tears welling up in her eyes as she said yes. Will smiled and placed the ring on her finger as he stood, kissing her. They held each other close, looking into each other’s eyes, swaying as if they were dancing to music only they could hear.

After several minutes they were startled by a low growl coming from the trees. The couple turned, making their way towards the car as a creature jumped from the trees. It landed on Will, knocking him to the ground. He struggled with it, yelling for Carole to run, reaching out to her as it ripped out his throat.

Carole screamed in horror as the creature turned towards her, blood running from it’s mouth. She ran, branches scratching her as she ran through the forest, not caring if she was going in the right direction, just wanting to get away from the creature. She could hear it growling as it tore through the trees behind her.

She ran for what seemed like an eternity as she returned to the clearing, Carole ran to the center of the clearing kneeling over Will’s body, weeping as a shadow covered her. She looked up and saw nothing as the creature entered the clearing.

Carole turned to run as the creature leapt at her, knocking her down as it had Will. She cried for mercy as it stood over her. Carole saw a pair of glowing red eyes staring down from the trees as she reached for will’s lifeless hand. The creature tore her throat out as it had his.

As Carole lay there, blood flowing from her neck, she saw what looked like a winged creature dive from the trees, attacking the creature that had killed her.



Rose Hartnell walked through the Barrens as the last rays of sunlight disappeared beyond the horizon. She took out her Mag-Lite, illuminating the ground in front of her as she made her way towards the car. She had been out on a hike and sat down to rest, falling asleep. Now she hurried to return to her car, to get back home. No one wanted to be this deep in the Barrens at night. Not after what happened to Will Tennet and Carole Piper six months ago. No one know what had killed them, but until it was caught or killed. The authorities had advised that no one enter the Barrens at night.

Rose entered a clearing and realized that it was where they had died. She started to make her way across, knowing that her car was beyond the clearing. As she reached the center of the clearing she realized that she was not alone. She looked over towards the edge of the clearing, where it looked out upon Pine City. Standing there were two people, holding each other, looking into each other’s eyes as they swayed as if to music that only they could hear. Dancing by the light of the moon.

Saw the following quote on Kim Du Toit's site, where he got it from the person mentioned in the quote. I never really thught about it, but it makes alot of sense. I woould comment on it more, but I think the quote speaks for it's self.

Suzy Gratia-Hupp of Texas: “How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual… as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of.”

Modern Ninjas

I am watching a show on Snipers right now, and they keep saying that sniper training outside of war time was limited until the 50's, because sniping was looked down upon or seen as not being honerable.

I prefere to think of snipers as modern day Ninjas. Think about it. Both can serve as assasins or do recon. Both try to concel themselves. Both strike without warning and both work from the shadows.

Sure Ninja's used swords while Snipers use rifles, but I still think the analogy works.

I'm watching ECW, kind of suprised that the match I wanted to see (Lashly VS Hardcore Holly in an extreme rules match for the title) is on before WSX starts, and I saw a sign in the crowd, probably in the third or fourth row, that said "R.I.P. ECW 1994-2001. I couldn't help but smile when I saw that.

As I type this, there are Divas dancing in the ring, which just helps suppor tthe sign. unless changes are made for the better, Tommy Dreamer was right.

ECW is dead.

Long live ECW

Filesharing Not Effecting Record Sales?

I had to laugh when I read on Slashdot that apparently the RIAA was wrong about Filesharing causing record sales to drop. (here is the article.)

What the RIAA fails to realize is the fact that most people are like me. either that A.) download a song because that is the only one on the album they want (ether using P@P software or sights like Itunes) or B.) They download an album because they want it, but can't get it , either because they can't find it or can't afford it at that time (I downloaded Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell 3 because I was broke due to being out of work. I planned on buying it when I could, but Ranger John got it for me a few weeks ago.)

Sales have dropped slightly, and I am sure that a few hundred of those sales were lost due to people just downloading it, but for the most part, Filesharing has little to no effect on sales.


On a related not, there is an article on Pirate Bay in Vanity Fair. It's kind of nice to see an artcle on a Torrent sight in something other then a "nerd" mag.

Send In Captain America!

I think I finaly realized why I am seemingly addicted to watching shows about World War 2. After watching them almost all day today on History Channel (taking a brief brake to watch a show on haunted houses on Discovery) I have come to the realization that Hitlar was the closest we will ever get to a comic book super villian.

Think about it. He wanted to wipe out other races (Magneto) He wanted to take over the plant (Countless Super Villians) He had people who were seemingly mindlessly loyal to him (also countless super villians) There is a reason why Captain America faught against him.

Dating and World Domination

How To Take Over The World:
Dating and World Domination

“‘Ello. Reginald Butterfield, brining you another installment in our sure to be award winning series on ‘ow to take over the world. Last time, we said that this would be a daily series, but after the first part aired, we decided to be a bunch of cruel ‘earted bastards and create new installments whenever we bloody well felt like it. That type of cruelty is required if one wants to be truly evil. I’m not talking evil as in Adolph ‘itler or Saddam ‘ussien, I’m talking about comic book super villian Saturday morning cartoon evil, which is far more demented than anything those bastards could ever come up with.”

“We originally planned on doing this installment on 'ow to take over the world through economic means, but instead we decided to answer a question several people have asked since the first part aired.”

“With Valentine’s Day rapidly approaching, thousands of would be megalomaniacs will spend the night the same way they spend every night. Sitting in their parent’s basement surfing the Sportsman’s for porn, but it doesn’t have to be that way, there is still hope for even these pathetic beings.”

“With us today the world famous Dr. Phil, Doctor, welcome to the show.”
“I’m happy to be here.”

“Also with us tonight is a man known to all as one bad mother…”
“Shut your mouth.”

“I’m just talking about Samuel L. Jackson.”

“I can dig it.”

“Welcome to the show Samuel.”

“Glad to be here Reggie.”

“Now Doctor, would you be so kind as to explain why the average megalomaniac can’t get a date?”

“Certainly. The reason is because…”

Bezshzshzshzshzshzsh
“AARRGGHH!!”

“Samuel L Jackson!? Where did you get a lightsaber!? Oh, and why did you kill Dr. Phil?”

“George Lucas gave them to us after we finished filming Revenge Of The Sith. Everyone in the main cast for both Trilogies got them.”

”But I thought they were just props and special effects?”

“They were. We weren’t stupid enough to use the real ones while filming.”

“Hmmm. Good point. Well, thank you for doing what we ‘ave all dreamed of; kill Dr. Phil.”

“No problem. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go make a movie.”

“Not at all. Thank you Samuel. Now, as the cleaning crew disposes of the body, I would like to introduce our second guest, Dr. Phil! Not another one!!!!!! Oh wait. This is Dr. Philip Boogershitte. Thank you for joining us “

“Da, it is my pleasure to be here, but my name is pronounced Boogerschmidt.”
“Are you sure? My notes say Boogershitte.”

“Da, I think I know vhat my own name is.”

“True. Someone must have made a bit of a Jaffa. Anyways, Dr Boogershitte…sorry. Boogerschmidt. Could you please explain why so many megalomaniacs can not get a date.”

“Da. I could explain vhy so many megalomaniacs can’t get a date.”
“Excellent. Wait. Schmidt is a German name, but you are Russian. Was one of your parents German?”

“Sigh. Look. Ya want to know the truth? I’m from Brooklyn, ok? Problem is, most people don’t trust a therapist with a Brooklyn accent. Since everyone else, even my own brother uses a German accent, I decided to use a Russian one ta kinda set myself apart from the rest of the crowd. Ya got a problem with that?”
“Not at all. Now, could you please give us some advice to help would be dictators get n After Eight?”

“Sure. Ya see, the reason they can’t get a date is because they advertise in personnel ads and tell their dates right away that they want to take over the world. Most women don’t like that. They hear that their date wants to conquer the planet and they’re either intimidated or think that the guy might not have time for her, which is a bad “

“An excellent point, but is there anything that can be done? After all, most would be dictators are notorious for being egotistical.”

“Yeah, there’s lots of stuff they can do, but my advice is to just wait before dropping that on a girl. GO out on a few dates with her, get to know here, and after about 4 or 5 dates, say ‘hey baby. I want to take over the planet.’ By that point she already knows if she wants to break up with you anyways, so it won’t mess anything up. Kinda play it by ear, and if you think she won’t be able to handle it, then wait a while longer.”

“Excellent advice Dr Boogerschmidt.”

“No problem Reggie. And if the guy is lucky, his girl will want to take over the world too.”

“One can only hope to be that lucky. Well, that’s all the time we have for tonight. I would like to thank our guests, Samuel L. Jackson and Dr. Philip Boogerschmidt. Make sure to tune in whenever ‘ell we feel like posting a new part of ‘ow To Take Over The World. Now if you will excuse me, I must help search for Dr Phil’s head. Good night, and, ummm, May The Force Be With You.

So another Iraqi official who served under Hussein has been sentenced to death. and just like last time, I have a problem with it. Should they be punished for what they did? Yes. But not until after their trials are done.

Maybe this last guy's trial was done, in that case, no problem. But Saddam and the other two were in the middle of a trial when they were sentenced/executed. They should have been allowed to stand trial before the sentence was carried out.

Who Cares!!!!!!!

This morning started like any other morning. I hit the snooze button a few times before finaly getting up, grumbling something about not wanting to go to work. I went to the bathroom, took a shower, and returned to my bedroom to change into my work cloths. So far, pretty normal.

Then I turned on the T.V. I normaly watch CNN while getting ready for work, and today is no exception. I turn it on and what is the first thing I hear? Anna Nicole Smith died yesterday. No big deal. It is, after all, a news story.

But then they kept talking about it. And kept talking about it and kept talking about it. The did stop for a few minutes to do weather and sports, but then it was right back to talking about her death. When they did their top headlines, was the lead story the fact that Congress is investigating whether or not intelligance agancies manipulated data to show that Iraq was helping Al Quida? Nope. it was "Anna Nicole Smith dead at age 39."

So her death is more important then the war. Can someone explain that one to me? How is her death mor important then news about the war? Our men and women are over their fighting, and if need be dieing, to defend democaracy and bring freedom to a people who have never known freedom. Anna Nicole Smith on the other hand was a blond chick who posed in Playboy, was a jeans model, had big...tracts of land (wink wink nudge nudge) and married an 80 year old guy.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, apparently even the "most trusted name in news" thinks that a celebrity death is more important then accuall news.

Apparently the body count in Iraq wasn't high enough yesterday.

It gets better though. I was at work for about 7 1/2 hours, and when I got home, I changed into some bumming around cloths before turning on the T.V. to see....They are still talking about her! Not only that but they were "Eagerly awaiting the start of a press conferance along with the rest of us." I wasn't waiting for it. I could care less about it!

Finaly, around 3:45, they had some accuall news stories before going abck to talking about here. I changed the channel. Mythbusters is on.

The thing I want to know is why we are so obsessed by this, not just her death, but anything having to do with celebrities. They have become the new gods, worshiped by the vast majority of the country.

There are a few celebs who deserve to get a lot of attention in death. Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, or John Wayne. Ronald Regan, deserves attention because he was a president. Tupac deserves attention due to the way he died (murdered.)

Smith, on the other hand hasn't really done anything that deserves the attention she is getting

But then again, this is American, and we worship celebrities as gods.


Update (2/10/07): This story gets better still. Habbs and I were at Ranger John's last night. While flipping through the channels, we saw that CNN was still talking about here, at Midnight!

Cycle World Cycle Show 2007

This past weekend, Me, my dad, and my brother once again ventured into the Cycle World Motorcycle Show. this year we were joined by our Friend Justin.

As always it was a good show. Lots of nice bikes, Some sweet looking customs, and a good time had by all (oh, and some nice looking booth babes, some of which were sales reps, so they accually knew something about the bikes. Bonus :)

The Boss Stunt Team was there again this year, with a few new stunts inside the Ball Of Death, and they did some impressive ramp work as well, including one guy who hopped on a 50cc bike and did a Flip while doing a Superman.

I think the best booth was on enear the stunt show. I was just a normal book, with a T.V. sitting on an uncovered table with a bored looking woman manning the booth. Across theback was a banner that said Ghost Rider, on the T.V. was an extended (probably theatrical) trailer for the movie, and on the table were movie posters. Of course I grabbed one. Now I just need to get a frame for it.

I didn't grab nearly as many pamphlets this year as I normaly did, mainly because I was thinking more about stuff I could post about then just stuff to look at, and I will be posting about the stuff we saw over the next week or two.

In the end, except for the fact that my glasses broke (was able to superglue them back together, an un-noticable repair) and the fact that we had forgotten owr free calender cards (now I have to buy one :( It was a good day.



Update: I don't have to buy a callender. I forgot that a friend of my parents had soem promotional calenders from work and had given one to me. It's all nature scenes, but it is better then nothing.

Proof That Global Warming Is Man Made?

Apparently there has been a report presented to the UN that says that Global Warming is indeed Man-Made stating that scienetist are 90 percent certain.

And while their statistics do seem bad, I still ask, why can't this be a warm cycle in the planet's history?

No matter who you ask, most will agree that the planet is at least 5000 years old. we have only been collecting data on high and low temps, rain fall, stuff like that for the last 100-150 years. That is like being alive for about 3.5 days (slightly mroe then 5000 minutes) and only being awake for 2 1/2 hours.Lots can happen in 3.5 days, and you would miss it all.

Is the planet getting warmer, yes. are ociean levels rising, apparently so (being in the center of the continent, I have no first hand knowledge of this, so I have to rely of reports from others.) But why can't this be natural

In the end, there isn't enough data to confirm that Global warming is man-made, and and anyone who says that it is, does so with only partial knowledge