Recently I had a pretty dramatic hard disk failure and it put my collection in serious jeopardy.  Luckily I have triple redundant backups of ALL my important computer files, music included. 

    The last few days I have been spending some time gently loving and massaging my music by cleaning up and adding missing ID3 tags and making sure that the album art is embedded into the files.  Its a loooooong, tedious process.  I have made it through the letter N in my FULL ALBUMS folder.  I will probably be working on it all throughout the week.  It will pay off though because it will look and sound great on my music player of choice.

   I noticed during this love fest that I was also really picky about the quality of music I have collected.  There was a time when I didn’t have a clue what a “bit-rate” was or why it mattered.  Now, I don’t care for the sound of any bit-rate lower than 192 kbps.  The ubiquitous 128 kbps is just too scratchy and tinny for me.  I actually prefer my tunes be at 320 kbps and a constant bit-rate not variable.  Look it up if you are reading this with a perplexed look on your face.

   What this all really means is that I have a lot of great music.  My kids enjoy it, I enjoy it and its worth the snobbishness and effort.  Now, go love on your music collection.  Nuff’ said.

Related posts:

1. 80′s Music IS Back..sort of
2. Pirate Tennants

    Jamie Palsgrove used to be a coworker friend of mine at TeamDesign.  He moved on to another job but we have kept in touch and still hang out.  We were tossing the idea around before he left of doing a quick weekend trip to someplace close by with out kids since neither one of us could really afford a full blown vacation this year.  He and his lovely wife, Jennifer, really ended up doing all the work organizing the thing.  Enough so that I felt terribly guilty by the time it was all over.  The destination we decided on ended up being St. Louis, to visit the free zoo and the arch monument.

    He offered to drive and use his Ford Explorer to take us there.  We originally planned on making the 5.5 hour drive visiting the zoo and possibly the arch then driving home, knowing full well it would be a long long day for all. I really just can’t afford a hotel room this year. Now, you have to know Jamie and Jennifer.

     They will give ya the shirts off their backs even if that means they will be without a shirt, that’s just how they are.  Jamie and Jennifer both travel a lot for their jobs and they offered to use their travel points to get a couple of hotel rooms for us so we could stay the night.

    We got up super early on Saturday and met the Palsgroves at their house and off we went.  It was a long drive but the company and conversation were always lively.  We visited the zoo in the 100 degree heat.  It was an enormous zoo.  We got our hotel rooms which were SUPER nice and we went swimming in the hotels pool.  It was really the perfect end to a really nice day.  We topped that off with a great Italian restaurant that had magnificent pasta called Portabella and then a great nights sleep.

    Now, if the mini-vacation had ended there it would have been a super nice vacation, but here once again you have to know these guys and how sweet they are.

    We got up the next morning and enjoyed breakfast then shuttled off to the Arch Monument.  We had a great walk through the city to the Arch Park by the river and spent a long time snapping photos and enjoying the very cool monument.  When we tried to visit the museum under the arch i figured out that being a federally run institution with metal detectors and x-ray machines that you can’t bring a spring assisted knife into the place.  It’s kinda funny.  The boys went in and I just stayed outside snapping more pictures while they enjoyed.

   On the drive home we made a stop in Woodlawn Illinois for gas where I had to explain to the boys that rednecks live everywhere not just Tennessee.

   It was a tremendous chance to see sights I don’t think I would have otherwise seen.  It was great company and time well spent with my great friends and their family.  I want this post to be a personal thank you to both Jamie and Jenn because without their generosity the boys and I would not have had a vacation at all this summer.

   Get to the Arch it is a fantastic building that you have to see. 

Related posts:

1. Magnetic Personalities
2. Road Trips
3. Friends, Romans, Countrymen..

  Ah, the middle finger, also known as the long finger or bird finger, and usually the longest finger, is the third digit of the human hand, located between the index finger and the ring finger. It is also referred to as digitus medius, digitus tertius, “digitus infamous”, or digitus III in anatomy.

    In many Western countries, extending the middle finger (either on its own or along with the index finger in the United Kingdom & Australia) is an offensive and obscene hand gesture, colloquially known as the highway salute, the bird, “flipping the bird”, “flipping someone off”, “giving the finger” (as in giving someone the finger), often meaning the phrase “fuck you” or “up yours.” It is performed by showing the back of the hand, extending the middle finger of the hand upwards while bending the other fingers down into the palm.

    Giving someone “the finger” is one of the basest violations in modern culture, but its origins date back over 2500 years. The first written record of the insult occurred in ancient Greece, where the playwright Aristophanes (the Adam Sandler of his day) made a crude joke in an ancient Greek comedy mixing up the middle finger and the penis. Even back then, the bird was considered an aggressive, phallic put-down.  Greeks began calling upon their substitute wieners by raising their own hands to mock, threaten, and humiliate others.

    The widespread usage of the finger in many cultures is likely due to the geographical influence of the Roman Empire and Greco-Roman civilization.  When the Romans imported the art, music, and culture of the Greeks, the finger came along, too. The Roman Emperor Caligula, a pioneer in perversity, frequently shocked his citizens by forcing them to kiss his middle finger instead of his hand. One of his subjects, Cassius, who Caligula often taunted as being too effeminate, finally had enough humiliation and assassinated him. Clearly, the bird was not to be taken lightly.

     During the Middle Ages, the finger went underground. It was still known, but the Catholic Church frowned upon its use, as the middle finger was supposed to be holy in the Mass. The unholy insult lurked deep within the hearts of filthy- minded folks everywhere, hiding from sight until the 19th century when it began to crop up again thanks to a new invention -photography.

    In 1886, Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn slipped his little finger fastball into the Boston Beaneaters team picture. The split-second art of photography could turn the once-boring painted portrait into a spontaneous work of rebellion, humor and spunk. Americans everywhere quickly got into the act.

  The finger is a near universal insult that we can all use.  Men, Women, children, old folks, Farmers, bankers and even computer nerds like me can use the finger with virtually perfect understanding of its meaning.  In this fast paced day and age, who has time to formulate real, meaningful insults?

 We should embrace the finger since it is truly part of our culture and something to be respected.  So here’s to you.  Up yours!

Related posts:

1. The Freindly Athiest is Always Relevant
2. Firday the 13th:THE BLOG POST
3. Dirty Little Matt

Related posts:

1. 80′s Music IS Back..sort of
2. I love British Humor
3. Man, I sure miss the 80′s

                I was amazed at what I found.   It seems my Moderate Republican stance tends to skew a bit towards some Libertarian ideas BUT I can see seeds of utter chaos in most of what they stand for.

Don’t get me wrong I do still have a few bones to pick with some Libertarian ideals.

1.6    Self-Defense

The only legitimate use of force is in defense of individual rights — life, liberty, and justly acquired property — against aggression. This right inheres in the individual, who may agree to be aided by any other individual or group. We affirm the right to keep and bear arms, and oppose the prosecution of individuals for exercising their rights of self-defense. We oppose all laws at any level of government requiring registration of, or restricting, the ownership, manufacture, or transfer or sale of firearms or ammunition.

Gun control – They want NONE.  I want MORE (democratic I know)

                Too many people get shot today by irresponsible gun owners.  I realize by and large gun owners are responsible but it is simple common sense to oppose carrying ANY weapon into a public park or a drinking establishment.  This is a debate we are having here in Tennessee right now.  I feel like strict regulation of gun ownership and their uses will help reduce gun related accidents, death and violence.  Guns should only be owned by folks that know how to use them and have regular practice.  You have to get a driver’s license, and a marriage license you should get a GUN LICENSE.  I feel it should also be checked and renewed often.

2.4    Government Finance and Spending

All persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor. We call for the repeal of the income tax, the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service and all federal programs and services not required under the U.S. Constitution.  We oppose any legal requirements forcing employers to serve as tax collectors. Government should not incur debt, which burdens future generations without their consent. We support the passage of a “Balanced Budget Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes.

                I am sorry but our entire country would collapse if the income tax were repealed.  Roads and bridges would crumble.  I am all for reducing the burden that taxation places on people but you cannot do away with an institution that helped produce the country you live in.  In my opinion this is simply unrealistic and shows a vein of selfishness.  Let’s reap the harvest while everyone else starves?  I don’t think so.

I am getting further into the chaotic aspects I was talking about earlier.  This second point begins what I can see as being s slow decline of the quality of life we and our families before us have all worked very hard to achieve.  If that doesn’t scare you, check this last one out.

2.6    Monopolies and Corporations

We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives and other types of companies based on voluntary association. We seek to divest government of all functions that can be provided by non-governmental organizations or private individuals. We oppose government subsidies to business, labor, or any other special interest. Industries should be governed by free markets.

                I guess this one goes without saying.  The current recession is evidence enough that without proper oversight by some form of responsible body, monopolistic greedy money grubbing corporations and the super rich would put the rest of us into poverty.  There would be utter and total chaos.  Has anyone seen Soylent green?  Scary isn’t it?

Aside from that I like a lot of what I read.  I do feel that the government should be smaller and stay out of people’s lives as much as possible but in the same breath we all must have some kind of compass group to help guide us.  Maybe it is a “government” maybe it should be a different kind of group, who knows.  I know this, I learned a lot about Libertarians and respect their positions a lot more now.

Related posts:

1. Government Mandated Prayer?
2. National Day of Bigotry
3. Health Care Hocus-Pocus

   If you get the opportunity go see this film, its fast paced, beautifully done and masterfully directed.  You won’t be disappointed I promise!

Related posts:

1. Teleport-errific