One of my co-workers, Erin, is participating in a walk-a-thon fundraiser to benefit autism research. If you would like to make a donation, it would be greatly appreciated.

You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that blogs. And those blogs have to be guarded by men with Spam-Karma. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Mr. Rather? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for the mainstream media and you curse the network newcasts. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that MSMs death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives…You don’t want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that internet. You need me on that internet. We use words like trackback, commenting, blogroll…we use these words as the backbone to a day spent blogging . You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the posts of the very blog that I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I’d rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you install WordPress and make an entry. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you’re entitled to!

Over at TV Squad there is a brief clip from the journal of a one-time celebrity…I clicked on through and read more of the entry…and present it to you below. Before you read the TV Squad entry, read the clip here — and then see if you can guess who the one-time celebrity is:

I have never known stress like raising these three babies! It is so incredibly emotionally draining. And I think my kids are pretty good kids. But they drive me to want to scream at the top of my lungs and cry at least five times a day. They just don’t do what I want them to do. They argue and are unkind to each other and whine, “Hold me. Hold me.” about 50 times a day. They throw fits, not to mention the hours of battling it sometimes takes to get them to clean their room. This makes them sound horrible and they really are well-behaved kids in general. It’s just they aren’t born that way and it takes a real war to get them to come under the submission of me and the high calling of Jesus Christ.

I feel like I’m spanking them all day long and yet most days it feels like that’s not enough. I can’t spank them any more. I can’t encourage and praise them any more. I could always pray more but I’m beginning to feel like nothing really is going to reduce the stress level around here besides time. About four more years specifically.

I’m telling you, if the kids are all healthy and taking their naps and playing quietly in their rooms then, it feels like life suddenly makes sense. But I don’t think I’ve experienced more than two of those days.

So — did you guess who it is? (more…)

I enjoy watching movies on American Movie Classics (AMC). I liked it even better way back in the day before AMC had commercials, but still…it’s one of the only channels to catch some truly classic films. Hepburn…Stewart…Sinatra…Gable…Williams…Tracy…Kelly…so many incrediblestars, so many memorable and timeless movies. It’s a bit unsettling to see “modern classics” such as “The Breakfast Club” on AMC, however, considering that it was released not just during my lifetime, but after I had graduated from high school. But even given that some latter-day films are already considered classic, it was a bit surprising to notice this morning that AMC was airing “K-19: The Widowmaker,” starring Harrison Ford. This movie was made in 2002. That doesn’t qualify as a “modern classic.” Hell, it’s almost criminal to grant “classic” status of any type to a movie of such recent vintage. What gives?

We live in an age of medical miracles, and thank goodness. Medicine can treat and cure many illnesses; surgery can repair, enhance, and re-attach organs and limbs; medical devices can purify our bodily fluids and keep our heart beating. Most of these incredible discoveries have come about in the last several decades, going back not much farther than the last 100 years. It truly is remarkable - and the future looks even brighter with advances in chemistry, techonology, and biology. So: as a healthcare administrator, as a patient, as a father and husband, and as the son of a physician and a surgical nurse, I am keenly aware of the absolutely incredible discoveries, abilities, and use of medicine and all of the related skills, tools, and technologies. My life is much better with Paxil; my kids are beneficiaries of the occasional round of amoxicillin; my wife would have died during childbirth if she lived 100 years ago; both of my children were C-section; my appendectomy in 2002 was a mini-marvel of laparascopic surgery; my father’s prostate cancer was healed via surgery. We are indeed living in an incredible time.

But when it comes to a simple fractured bone, the best we can do is put a cast on it and keep it immobile. “Don’t move this part of your body for five or six weeks!” Say what? This is really the best that we can do for a broken bone?!?

An article written by a long-ago co-worker, who is now the commander of the Air Force medical clinic in Guam, about teamwork — and debunks the notion that there is no “I” in the word “team.”

Some very in-depth - and quite humourous - reviews of products such as the Burger King Double Ultimate Whopper, the McDonald’s Dollar Menu, Oral-B Brush-Ups, and Glad ForceFlex Kitchen Trash Bags…all over at The Impulsive Buy.

Fellow Objectivists may be interested in checking out Objectivism Online.

Over at AskMeFi is a thread about books that had a profound impact on people’s lives. Based on the link above, you can probably guess what at least a few of my choices are. How about you?

Last week, the snow missed Great Falls completely, but it did hit SE of here pretty hard and shut down many roads in the central part of the state (Lewistown, etc, and near Billings, too, I think). But tonight and tomorrow, I think we’ve got a much better shot of seeing some snow. Keep your fingers crossed!

Oh — and I’m sorry, Keri, JJ, Oli, and other GF/MT bloggers who don’t like snow — but come on, this could be the last shot of winter we’ll see until September or October, so enjoy it!

So…how was your Monday? Anything exciting? Surprising? Unusual? Or was it average, humdrum, routine?

September 2004

It’s been three weeks, and I’m hooked. That’s right — I finally drank deep the kool-aid, and Firefox is now The Browser. As much as I love Avant Browser, my three week test drive with Firefox has convinced me. If you haven’t tried it yet, it’s worth a trial run.

One other tech thing: InFormEnter is great — especially for me during the next several weeks, as I am only able to type with one hand still. It places little arrows next to entry boxes, and when I click on an arrow, I can select from a number of pre-typed entries to auto-fill the entry box. Great when commenting on blogs!

Over at MoFi, there is a wonderful link to a site where you are able to draw a pig. When you are done, there is a lame attempt to do some pop-psych-analysis of your personality, which is just a waste. The fun part is drawing a pig — and seeing other drawings of pigs! Now go draw your very own pig and show it off to all of us! Here is my so-very-lame attempt:

Brother Dave posted a silly-enough-for-Friday questionnaire, and I am nothing if not susceptible to random memes… (more…)

I know that linking to an Onion article is so 2000, but this one about the pope emerging from his chrysalis is just too good to pass up.

Need your fix of 80s commercials? No problem.

The best TV theme songs have been announced — see if your favorite made the cut. I’m glad that “The Avengers” theme is on the list. Other greats: “UFO” and “Mannix” and “Wonder Woman” — very cool. (see also the RetroCrush Top 100)

I saw this wonderful page full-o-foxes over at MeFi. Aren’t they adorable? And plenty of foxy information over here.

(via Donna) I’m a bit surprised, but still comfortable with the results. And over here, the quiz confirmed my position as a neoconservative. Yay! But on with the philosophy stuff… (more…)

I mentioned “Colorforms” to some friends at work today…and got nothing but blank stares. Sad. And I’m not that much older than them — one is only 2 years younger, and the other only 4 years younger. How could they have missed out on Colorforms back in the 70s? My favorite - circa 1972 - was the Batman edition.

Sheila, everyone’s favorite classic-film expert, recently asked: Scariest Movie Ever? My answer was very short, as there have only been two movies that scared me: “The Fly” - with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, and “Breakdown” - with Kurt Russell and J.T. Walsh..

“The Fly” was a great movie, and it didn’t scare me as much as simply shock me and make me gag…when Seth Brundle pulls his fingernails, and then squeezes a fingertip…ugh. And when he arm-wrestled the bar guy — whoa. And the f/x were (are) second to none — BrundleFly is a true classic, one-of-a-kind creature. It remains the only movie that ever made me jump out of my seat. And the only movie with a character oddly named Stathis Borans (which I thought sounded like “Barnes,” but whatever).

“Breakdown” was scary in the true sense of the word: it’s terrifying to imagine being in the situation that Russell’s character finds himself in. J.T. Walsh as the bad guy was chillingly effective; a normal, loving husband and father, but a truly sadistic and evil man on the road. Long road trips never seemed quite the same after seeing this movie.

As for other “scary movies” — well, they simply aren’t. Many of them rely on superstition, religion, or mysticism for their “fear factor,” and that stuff just doesn’t work on me. Many of the rest are simply “crazed killer who won’t die” variations, which aren’t even entertaining as comedy, let alone horror. So…

The Cow Cat simply has no shame…when she’s gotta groom, she’s gotta groom. Possibly NSFW (not Safe For Work): (more…)

‘Swelp me, I really like Sploid. All of the EXCITEMENT and DRAMA of Drudge, but it’s in color and doesn’t have any pop-up ads. I’m baffled by the name, though.

Over at Don’s place, I learned that Ann Coulter (pix) is the focus of this week’s cover story of TIME magazine. Do I agree with everything Ann says? No. Do I agree with a lot of what Ann says? Yes. Do I appreciate her humor and style? Yes. Do I enjoy seeing liberals and “progressives” and Dems and other lefties seethe with barely-contolled rage at the mention of her name? Oh, yeah.

When I switched to WordPress several months ago, something weird happened — my site was no longer being tracked by Bloglines. And now, for some reason, it is…so if you want to add my site to your Bloglines subscriptions, it should be no problem. Oh, and thanks for your support.