Happy Birthday Mr. President

Friday is somebody's birthday... Happy Birthday Mr. President.

For those of you who don't care about the grammy's but still like music... try this on for size (sorry for the quality. This made me very happy, and I'm sure some of my friends felt similarly.

Hmm... less than 1000 words. Odd.

Inflex-fuel

I have fallen into an opportunity to buy a 1995 F-150. It'll be great for hauling bikes and gear. I can slap a camper shell on it and go play in the woods. However it has a V8... boo. I was thinking, to feel better about myself, I'd retrofit it to a flex fuel system. It's a process than can be fairly cheap ($500-$1000). Think again. There isn't an E-85 gas station within an hour of Joplin/Carthage.

Moral: If you're thinking about converting to flex fuel (and you should be) or other alternative fuel. Go here first, and make sure you can actually buy it.

I've been climbing pretty hard lately. Went with some cats I met at the climbing gym to Lake Lincoln in AR. We found a route nobody knew that looked fun and we all cilmbed it. Turns out it was a 5.10d (which is not incredible, but pretty solid). It's certainly the hardest thing I've climbed outside. I've been climbing too much and not getting enough cardio, so last night I hopped on the rollers for a movie, then went for a run.

They tell me today is Valentine's Day. I have plans to make breakfast burritos with a girl, and another guy. Then we're going climbing. Sounds like a good Valentine's Day to me.

Mish-mash

If you haven't checked out "indexed," do so. I liked this one quite a lot.



Article 7634.12.c in the cases for misanthropism. Short news article about a teacher who was docked 10 days pay for jokingly taping a student to a desk. Both the taper and tapee were laughing throughout the incident, yet the school board fails to see any humor. "It's just not funny for a child to be taped, whether it's in jest or it's a disciplinary measure," said school board chair Betty Burney." Well, thank you Betty, may you burn in hell for being a stupid moron.
-You may email the teacher, Kasey Goodin, here.
-To email Betty Burney - burneyb@educationcentral.org
The level of support we give our educators is shameful.



I was talking this morning with a co-worker who is around 50 years old. He was recounting some family history and lauding the fact that hatred and racism has decrease so much over the course of his lifetime. We all know it's still out there, but it's certainly much better than it was. I made the comment that the problem that faces my generation, isn't hate... but fear of hate. The good people of the milenium generation say everybody is equal, but we are petrified by the thought, that maybe we harbor racist thoughts/feelings. There are plenty of white kids that are just afraid to talk to blacks because they might say something wrong, they might find out they don't like them, they might find out they're racist, or at the least be labeled as racists for an honest mistake.

My generation doesn't want to say African-American, because chances are very good the person has never been to Africa, has no association with Africa... and well, they are just Americans. To call them "African-American" not only sounds phony, but it segregates them verbally. We don't want to say "colored" like our grandparents do. Black seems to be the safe bet, but what if it's not. The potential disgrace from being perceived as racist much outweighs everything else (use gaming theory and you'll see avoidance is the preferred policy)... and the white kids avoid the black kids. Perhaps for similar reasons (perhaps not), the black kids avoid the white kids. Cause and effect, the differences between black and white culture become more defined by the day.

As it just happens, I was looking for Betty Burney's email... and saw her picture. Even though I'd formed an opinion long before seing her picture, a sense of fear came upon me when I discovered she is black. I was afraid that I could be labeled as racist, but more afraid that I'd somehow known she was black and this had fueled my negative thoughts. How illogical is that?

My generation may not struggle with hatred, we will struggle with fear. We will be afraid to speak negatively about any woman, or black person, or minority. We must truly learn that it is perfectly natural to dislike a black person, or a woman, or an Eskimo (not Inuit), or any individual, but disliking the group is right out. We know this in our heads, but some part my generation won't allow us to implement this theory in practice.

The Power of Metal

Thesis: Nintendo music is the driving force in the resurgent popularity of power metal among males in the millennium generation.

While power metal was, is, and will always be awesome, poor costume and hair choices combined with the were major both cause and effect of the wane that inevitably accompanies any over saturated market.

Thankfully, the spirit of power metal was not yet dead in Japan during the rise of the 8 bit NES gaming system. Japanese programmers/composers found the style of power metal just right for electronic games that would grow more rapid and provide more, excessive stimulation until ADD afflicted 5% of the nation's school age children and university students believed Aderol a necessary part of any finals week.

Article 1: Megaman 2: The link will take you to a mega man 2 time trial with the music played by a modern rock band. Power metal influence? I think so. You only need about 90 seconds to hear a soothing ballad turn into dueling guitar solos with boss riffs.

Article 2: Dragonforce & Sonata Arctica (beware, much shredding): There's no way these guys could be popular given today's culture, yet they are. However, the genre evokes the same adrenaline rush experienced 15-20 years ago in the quest to destroy the Vile Red Falcon (with or w/o the Konami code).

There are many more articles in the the exhaustive brief... consider them abridged.
This style of music helped complete the experience that kept us glued to our TVs, forsaking as much as food, water, or excretion necessary before we saw end screens telling us to, "
Consider yourself a hero."