Keeping it Lite

Thought I would pull myself back (as is needed once-in-a-while) to bring some levity into the world.
The world can always use a little more levity. IMO – we all need to quit taking ourselves so seriously, no else is so we should all relieve ourselves of that behavior.

Anyway… back to levity.

I love a good laugh. It has been a long time since I’ve seen a sit down movie that really makes me laugh out loud. And I mean really laugh. Maybe Hollywood doesn’t like that recipe much any longer, but I wish it would come back. I think the last show I saw where everyone in the theatre was laught hysterically all at the same time was Dumb and Dumber. Bring some more of that back. I know it was childish, but it was funny like in elementary school funny. Not the frat style comedy that has plagued the DVD isle the last ten years.

So I offer everyone an option for comedy that everyone can enjoy. My friend introduced me to Brian Regan last year and I look for his new stuff all the time. For those that might be sensitive to some brands of comedy, I would say this is family safe. You won’t try to sink in the couch when watching his comedy DVDs in front of your mother-in-law.

Go check out Brian Regan at http://www.brianregan.com.

2008 Olympic Protests

Hooray for the 1st Amendment!!!

Even those that are not citizens of this country have learned the value of the freedom of speech. Even the China visa carriers, who are now following the torch as an expression of support for the communistic oppression their government imposes upon them don’t realize their presence along the parade route is an expression of freedom they don’t enjoy in their ‘homeland’ in the case where their opinion differs with that of the Chinese government.

If China has a problem with the rest of the world’s disapproval of their treatment to the workers in their factories, well then they ought to listen when the entire world shares in that disapproval.

China should listen as the world disagrees with their violence against the peaceful monks in Tibet.

China wants to be a player with the majors of the world. If they want to be known as a legitimate player, not some cheap imitator, they need to realize the world changed and are smarter than the bland, heavy handed ‘brainwashing’ propaganda being sent across the pond posing as intelligent explanation of human rights violations.

Currently, their propaganda deifies those who choose to voice disapproval of the treatment of the citizens of the country of Tibet (yes, I know, but it’s fun to antagonize). Gatherings, protests, etc. I’m not the biggest fan of trying to squash the torch, but if no-one gets hurt, it gets the attention of the world.
With that said, China tries to condemn the protests as out of place and inappropriate to the season of the Olympic Games and the Olympic ‘spirit’. Hypocrisy at best!

The 1st Amendment and the spirit of the 1st Amendment (in other countries) in this case is providing an open forum for the World to share in a single voice that China has some growing up to do. And if that voice happens to coincide with the Olympic Games, well, the timing couldn’t be better. But let’s make sure no one gets hurt.

Age restriction in professional sports?

Go ahead… share all the usual anecdotes about “The American Way” about the right to make money when the market says you can compete for it. General support for that notwithstanding, just becuase someone is CAPABLE of performing, doesn’t ENTITLE someone to a license.
Case in point, I could drive just as well and even better at 14 as every other 70 year old grandma that can’t see over the stearing wheel. Why couldn’t I get that license? Because someone made that rule.

Dictator/Commissioner Stern and the NBA are mulling over the idea of further delaying the eligibility of the draft to the age of 20. I can’t really believe I’m trying to help make the point for Dictator Stern, but there are some arguments to be shared.

In your neighborhood, find the two 17 year olds with the best and worst character assessments. Give each one 10 million dollars.

Does anyone think that at the end of that $10 million, the one with the worst character will gravitate to the tendencies of the best vs the other way around?

Some make the argument that we all have the right to make bad decisions… When bad decisions result in bad trouble, if there are ways to mitigate those trouble making decisions in advance, we have the responsibility to take advantage of those opportunities.

How True/Untrue are the following?

- Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”

- The more I learn about terrorism, the more I understand customer service from my cellular phone provider.

Dreamhost or nightmare?

For the past year or so, I have hosted a site through Dreamhost. While the cost is cheap, over time I have come to learn why.

In November, my site was hacked. Nasty little bugger got through some “security” Dreamhost is supposed to be responsible for and corrupted files integrating with a database. Some trojan file had been sent through the system.

That begin said, I had been rolling along for sometime thinking everything was OK, the backup design for Dreamhost while does back things up, but if you wait too long to notice an issue, it is and was too late for me. There was not a backup that I could roll back to and get my site up and running. In other words, I was SOL and had to start from scratch.
Then, in the midst of trying to talk to someone, you can never talk to someone, they only want to email you or refer you to their “wiki”, Dreamhost caused another snafu by double (sometimes triple) charging customers.

In the end, things took too long to fix. Support was slow, even non-existent as they haven’t even assured me that the hack won’t be able to happen again. The billing issue was icing on the cake.

I’m not much of a fan any longer of Dreamhost and have since moved on. I wouldn’t recommend it to others based on the customer service recieved through this experience.