monday morning mayhem...

well, it's back to work after a wonderful weekend. here's two photos to make you think about making mistakes at work that will put your work hassles in a better perspective and two photos that you might want to keep in mind if you find yourself on, well, on the dole...

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see.... things can be worse and you can still feel better!

iPhone madness...

No, I'm not talking about all of the people who stood in line for the new 3G version, nor the problems with activation on the first day of sales, nor the update problems with the previous versions.

I'm talking about all the headlines in most all major news sources - papers, television, and radio - that focused on the fact that there were problems.

It happens every time Apple has problems with a new product of any kind. It's made into BIG news, as if it's spelling out the death of the brand.

Think! how many times do you hear about snafus by Microsoft? Hardly ever, compared to the vast amount of problems they seem to have on a daily basis. Do they consistently make the headlines?

No.

Does Microsoft's stock tank a bit each time?

No.

Does it take days or weeks for Microsoft to fix the problem?

Yes. In the case of Vista, it's still not fixed almost three years later.

Apple fixed all the problems by the afternoon yesterday. After trying around noon, I had version 2.0 of the software completely installed and working by 5:00 pm.

I've gone through this Apple scenario for, well, my first Apple was a II so you can imagine how long it's been.

As far as the stock, it went down $4.05 yesterday, but so did most other stocks. Some media said it went down because of the problems. Hell, I've watched the stock go down when they come out with a brand new, phenomenal product. It's Apple! People have this mindset that it is a toy company. If it weren't for Apple, think about this, there would be no Microsoft. Mr. Gates borrowed the whole idea.

Also, as far as the stock, I bought it at $17 and some change years ago. Even though it went down $4.05 yesterday, ending at $172.58 for the day, my investment has a increased 1000%!

Hello!!! buy an iPhone. Please...




my retirement funding needs a little help more help...

quick F.I.S.A. challenge

I predicted in my post F.I.S.A. bill passed..., on Wednesday that as I wrote the post someone was preparing to take it to court.

heads up...

ACLU Sues Over Unconstitutional Dragnet Wiretapping Law

You can read the entire post at the ACLU website by clicking above, but here are a couple of highlights.

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a landmark lawsuit today to stop the government from conducting surveillance under a new wiretapping law that gives the Bush administration virtually unchecked power to intercept Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls. The case was filed on behalf of a broad coalition of attorneys and human rights, labor, legal and media organizations whose ability to perform their work - which relies on confidential communications - will be greatly compromised by the new law.

The main point:

Spying on Americans without warrants or judicial approval is an abuse of government power - and that's exactly what this law allows. The ACLU will not sit by and let this evisceration of the Fourth Amendment go unchallenged," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Electronic surveillance must be conducted in a constitutional manner that affords the greatest possible protection for individual privacy and free speech rights. The new wiretapping law fails to provide fundamental safeguards that the Constitution unambiguously requires."

hmmm, let's see...

This means that someone in some officious [notice i didn't say official] government office or Comcast Cable cubicle may be reading this right now and notating that I am writing something that they may determine is a threat to the country's security and forwarding this to who know what other officious office or cubicle.

Oh, and they also know that you are reading this right now; so, they have just sent your IP Address along with the report or opened another report/file all about you.

SURPRISE!!!

Well, you might say, "This is all for national security."

I ask. How are you or I a threat to national security? And, what about the officious person in that officious office or cubicle who now has information on us? Who will/can guarantee that they will not use anything that they determined to be information for spurious reasons of their or the government's design? This law eviscerates the 4th Amendment.

see...

be careful, if you are a Jehovah Witness, Black, American gueer you do have a lot to worry about whether you are going to Montenegro or staying in Chattanooga...

as F.I.S.A. crosses borders...

The United States is negotiating deals with European countries to exchange fingerprint and DNA data in criminal and terrorist cases, and in some circumstances to transfer data on race or ethnic origin, political and religious beliefs, or sexual orientation.

Such agreements are a condition for granting citizens of newer European Union member states the right to enter the United States without visas, and for maintaining that right for older E.U. members. U.S. citizens already enjoy such a right when traveling to Europe.

U.S. Seeks Data Exchange, The Washington Post, 8 July 2008

all in the name of Homeland Security, of course.

when's the last time you heard of a Jehovah Witness, Black, Montengran gueer strap a bomb around his middle and get onto a Unite Airlines 777 and fly to the United States?

or...

when's the last time you ever heard of a Jehovah Witness, Black, American gueer get on a plane and fly to Montengro with a bomb strapped around his middle?

you see it's going to go both ways. they can tell the U.S. who is a Jehovah Witness, Black, Montengran gueer and we can tell them who is Jehovah Witness, Black, American gueer.

what is wrong with this picture?

just asking...

weekender...

Now... where is that damn duck????


the gecko drives me nuts, especially, since the vast majority of geckos are from the Pacific Ocean and almost ALL are females, reproducing asexually except for every 5th or 6th generation when they produce a few males in order for the genetic line to add variance and adaptability.

i LIKE the Aflac duck though. he reminds of someone i know...


hey, you worked hard this week. catch something fun... go out to eat... have a glass of gin!

F.I.S.A. bill passed...

Anyone with any sense of the news was aware it would happen. What was surprising to me is the vote was 69 - 28 with 3 not voting: Sessions, Kennedy and McCain. (Maybe, I shouldn't have been so surprised.)

Living in Illinois, it was a split decision. Senator Durbin was one of the 28 voting Nay. Senator Obama was part of the 69 voting Yea. Since there is no such thing as a present vote in the U.S. Senate, he only had one other choice: the not voting one.

You can go to the U.S. Senate website to see how your Senators voted: On Passage of the Bill (H.R. 6304)



you all don't know how difficult it has been for me over the last couple of weeks, listening to the parsing that has been happening in the Obama campaign, to bite my tongue and not say, "I told you so."

trust me, this is just the beginning...

one of the hopes regarding the F.I.S.A. bill is, as you read this, someone is already making the move to have it in court the minute the Tsar signs it into law. so far, even his own Republican federal judges have held against him on things like this.

we'll see...



i'm sorry, i forgot to mention that Hillary was also one of the 28 voting Nay, as was Majority Leader Sen. Reid!

the best lawn tractor...

Yep, it's a Porsche!

Found it over on Autoblog.com (one, if not the, favorite blogs i peruse daily) and instantly thought of my friend, Ed. He just retired from teaching high school, lives in one of the top suburbs in Chicagoland, and has at least an acre of land.

Sent it to him, but I haven't gotten a response yet. I did send a copy to his son, and this was his reply:

Dad i see a good retirement gift for yourself. The wheel might not fall off every other year.

oops!

it's not a Bugatti, but Ed's tastes are much simpler than mine...

fun website...

someone sent me a link to a website called youniverse.com

it's a site that gives you a profile of yourself as a visual DNA. There are different categories like mind, personality, love, travel, etc. and what you do is answer or complete questions/thoughts by choosing one of 15 pictures in a set. at the end, it gives you a little write-up about what your picture choices say about you. it was fun.

below are my results for the nine areas. i can agree with most of them. there is one i don't and i'll tell you after you read them.

1. Party: WANNABE VIP
2. Mind: THE REFORMER
3. Light My Fire: TENDER
4. Dating: FEARLESS FLIRT
5. Personality: GO GETTER
6. Love: WISTFUL SOUL
7. Travel: LUXURY ESCAPISTS
8. Well-Being: COUCH POTATO
9. Election Fever: HILARYITE

the one i don't agree with is Well-Being. though i can be a couch potato, like anyone else, lately, i've been more like a slug because of the back problem and surgery i had. i have no patience with being sick. with others? no problem. for me? i'm not a good sick person...

the rest of the categories? well, not all the time...

one must be coy from time to time.

i dare you...

to NOT smile at some point while watching the newest "Where the hell is Matt (2008)" video:






Even today's New York Times has an article about the phenomenon of the newest video - A Private Dance? Four Million Web Fans Say No. It has been viewed over 4,000,000 times in just three weeks. The original has over 10,000,000 hits!

when hope is gone, life is over goes the Hopi Native American adage.

there is still hope...

monday morning mayhem...

the way to achieve inner peace

We could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace.

Dr. Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."

Therefore, I looked around my house to see all the things I had started and had not finished before leaving the house this morning.

In quick order, I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a bottle of Kahlua, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel.

A LESSON IN FINANCES

Young Chuck, moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died.'

Chuck replied, 'Well, then just give me my money back.'

The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already.'

Chuck said, 'Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'

The farmer asked, 'What ya gonna do with him?

Chuck said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'

The farmer said, ¡You can't raffle off a dead donkey!'

Chuck said, 'Sure I can Watch me.. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, 'What happened with that dead donkey?'

Chuck said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00.'

The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'

Chuck said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back.'

Chuck now works for the government.


i want these for the back of my car...










one of the next two is my favorite, but i can't decide which one. can you?







hope your week is great...

and don't forget to start again...

pure genius?

or just plain silly?

Every once in a while....
In life........
You run into a genius with a true talent!!

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:

1. Innovative
2. Preliminary
3. Proliferation
4. Cinnamon

THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:

1. Specificity
2. Anti-constitutionalistically
3. Passive-aggressive disorder
4. Transubstantiate

THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN DRUNK:

1. No thanks, I'm married.
2. Nope, no more booze for me!
3. Sorry, but you're not really my type.
4. Taco Bell? No thanks, I'm not hungry.
5. Good evening, officer. Isn't it lovely out tonight?
6. Oh, I couldn't! No one wants to hear me sing karaoke.
7. I'm not interested in fighting you.
8. Thank you, but I won't make any attempt to dance, I have no coordination. I'd hate to look like a fool!
9. Where is the nearest bathroom? I refuse to pee in this parking lot or on the side of the road.
10. I must be going home now , as I have to work in the morning.


hope you're having a smart but safe 4th... i'm on my way up to the swollen Fox River for the day.

unbelievable...

doesn't help all those conspiracy theorists who say a rocket, not a plane, hit the Pentagon in 2001...


i've always found conspiracy theories a bit daunting.

first, i don't think everyone can keep there mouth's closed if they're part of a conspiracy. second, i don't believe that there is a group of people smart enough to pull off some of the wild, intricate conspiracies we've read about over the years. people are just not that careful by nature.

"oh, yeah?" you might ask. "what about 9/11? those guys pulled it off."

in hindsight from the investigations, there were lots of signs that they weren't that bright. of course, there were also a lot of signs that neither was our government for not seeing the signs or heeding the warnings of a few people who pointed out those signs, or to the Clinton administration who said, "this is going to happen. be careful."

duh... proves my original point...


and reminds me of a joke...

A Japanese doctor said, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks."

A German doctor said, "That's nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks."

A British doctor said, "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half of a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in two weeks."

A Texas doctor, not to be outdone said, "You guys are way behind. We took a man with no brains out of Texas, put him in the White House and now half the country is looking for work."

weekender...

My Resimay

To hoom it mae cunsern,

I waunt to apply for the job what I saw in the paper.






I can Type realee quik wit one finggar and do sum a counting.

I think I am good on the phone and I no I am a pepole person,




Pepole really seam to respond to me well. Certain men and all the ladies.

I no my spelling is not to good but find that I Offen can get a job thru my persinalety.









My salerery is open so we can discus wat you want to pay me and wat you think that I am werth,

I ca n s tart emeditely. Thank you in advanse fore yore ! anser.

hopifuly Yore best aplicant so farr.

Sinseerly,

BRYAN nikname Beefy

PS : Because my resimay is a bit short - below is a pickture of me.

















Employer's response:...

Dear Beefy... I mean Bryan,

It's OK honey, we've got spell check.




See you Monday


in the meantime...

have a great 4th! enjoy the extended weekend...

right-wingnuts may be, umm, right...

from today's Chicago Sun-Times:

North Carolina Democrat accused of satanic rituals — husband charged with rape

URHAM, N.C. -- Durham County Democratic Party officials are shocked about allegations that a local Democratic leader was involved in satanic rituals that included shackling people to beds, caging them, and depriving them of food and water.

Joy Johnson, 30, a third vice chairwoman of the county Democratic party and vice chairwoman of the Young Democrats, was charged Friday with two counts of aiding and abetting.

wait! a question...

can satanic worshipers/religions qualify for faith-based governmental initiatives?

just asking...

i don't understand why they're so surprised...

Arianna Huffington: Memo to Obama: Moving to the Middle is for Losers

Last Friday afternoon, the guests taking part in Sunday's roundtable discussion on This Week had a pre-show call with George Stephanopoulos. One of the topics he raised was Obama's perceived move to the center, and what it means. Thus began my weekend obsession. If you were within shouting distance of me, odds are we talked about it. I talked about it over lunch with HuffPost's DC team, over dinner with friends, with the doorman at the hotel, and the driver on the way to the airport.

duh...

She's been obsessing. She's surprised. She maybe feels betrayed.

AND why wasn't she listening when a lot of us were saying, "Don't put too much faith and trust in the man. He's known for being flexible!"

Like I said in the past, I worked for his election in Illinois; I supported him for the Senate; and I did it with trepidation knowing his means of decision making and position-taking.

and every time he was merely present...

i never thought i would ever think of myself as a possible swing voter. People may not vote for McCain, but they just might not vote at all or vote for the Libertarian Bob Barr...

or worse...