Festivus

Happy Festivus. Enjoy your feat of strength and the airing of grievences.

Festivus Web Site explaining the holiday.

Christmas 1776

A Revolutionary Christmas Story - good read.

Cold

Just got in from walking back from a friend's house. It is 12 degrees outside. That is cold. Artic blast I believe is how they describe it.

Bush as Antichrist

Good article from Seattle Weekly News about Bush as the antichrist.

I have trouble buying into the whole Bush is an evil liar and we are entering a dark period in our country's history, but the article makes some good points. What is it to be a Christian? We are not called to judge one another. Without compassion the message of Christ falls apart. But, and this is where I think the Church is going down the wrong path, Christ calls us to change our sinful ways and follow him. So the Church should welcome all, we are all sinners, but call everyone to change their lifes and follow Christ. The Church can not accept sinful lifestyles, behavior as o.k. because it is politically correct to do so.

Also, Christians must help the poor and less fortunate. Our country is extremely wealthy and I think the biggest obsticle in an American's walk with Christ is money.

Another note, Christ did not come for a political kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom.

ROTC in the Ivy League

Outstanding article in the Wall Street Journal on the effort to bring ROTC back to the Ivy Leagues, specifically Havard, Yale, Brown and Columbia. The ROTC was banned from the campuses during Vietnam as a protest of the Vietnam War. The current reason to keep them off campus is related to the school's opposition to the don't ask don't tell policy the military has that bans gays from the ranks.

To Ivy League cadets, a return has historical resonance. Among the earliest students of King's College, the name under which Columbia was founded in 1754, was Alexander Hamilton, who rose to prominence as a Revolutionary War hero and aide de-camp to George Washington.

At Yale, freshmen dorms surround a statue of Nathan Hale (class of 1773), executed by the British and credited with the parting words: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Lt. Tuohey, the Army lieutenant in Baghdad who graduated from Harvard in 2001, draws inspiration from his great-uncle, a U.S. Army first lieutenant who died in France during World War II.

"I've learned more in Iraq than I learned during four years at Harvard," Lt. Tuohey says in a telephone interview. "There's no greater honor than leading men in defense of your country."

ROTC was established after World War I to provide the nation with a group of citzen soliders read to take up the defense of the nation when called. It is a shame that the most elite universities in the nation don't agree that this is a noble worthwhile cause and choose to ban the activity all together from their campuses.

World's Tallest Bridge

I thought this was interesting. The French have built the World's Tallest Bridge for automobile traffic. It was designed by a Brit though, Norman Foster, who is doing the Dallas Opera House with TT Structural Engineers.

World's Tallest Bridge on cnn.com

BBC's article

List Eater

Most know the story of the listeater at Texas A&M. The Aggies made the Cotton Bowl this year and the students were camping out for tickets. The way it has worked for decades at A&M is each window has a list they keep and they have a roll call every now and then to make sure you are still out there. If you don't answer, you are off the list. Well a girl showed up early the morning the tickets went on sale, stood by the window first in line and refused to go to the back of the line or the back of the list. She then ate the list. Yes, ate the list.

Well this story was first told on texags.com an A&M bullentin board. It then spread to the news channel in College Station KBTX and the Bryan-College Station Eagle, the newspaper in town. Now there are videos of the girl on the KBTX site. It is a classic example of the internet fueling the news cycle. Blogs are taking over the news cycle. Of course this is the most bizzare news I've heard in a long time.

Here are the links:

aggiesports.com story:

kbtx story with video: (apparently she went to the cops claiming she was assaulted.)

UPDATE:

10 minute documentary style movie on list eater, great to watch, follow the mirror directory

Vomit Man

For Ginny:

Thursday after work the wife and I went out for Tapas with our friends. We were there at 6:15, so we were the only people in the restaurant as New Yorkers like to eat late. Plus it was rainy weather, but that is beside the point. On our way home we got off the subway at our stop and were soon behind a man covered in vomit. I'm guessing his own vomit. He was stumbling around and had real trouble with the stairs. He had it in his hair, all down the front of his shirt, on his back, on his hands, everywhere. He was carrying a sport coat, covered in throw up. This was a nicely dressed man, not a bum. He seemed completely unaware of the fact he was covered in vomit as well. He was like a vomit zombie. We were maintaining a safe distance. We didn't want to touch him for obvious reasons, but I didn't want him to erupt again. One man behind us was a little irritated at the slow pace on the stairs and stormed past us as I tried to utter, "Watch out for the chunky monkey in front of us." At the gate my wife made a run for it and got around him and ahead of him on the stairs to the street. I stayed safely behind him. Finally at the street he wandered off in a different direction, spreading his holiday cheer. Just another day in the city.

Perhaps he ate a list.

Natalist's and more on "Exburbs"

David Brooks article in today's New York Times is about natalist's.

They are having three, four or more kids. Their personal identity is defined by parenthood. They are more spiritually, emotionally and physically invested in their homes than in any other sphere of life, having concluded that parenthood is the most enriching and elevating thing they can do. Very often they have sacrificed pleasures like sophisticated movies, restaurant dining and foreign travel, let alone competitive careers and disposable income, for the sake of their parental calling.

The article gets better after the initial condeming. He goes on to say that the natalist's see the exburbs as a good place to raise a family while others see it as a materialistic wasteland. Then he concludes his article by saying that natalist's are rejecting the material world and choosing to have a family.

This one will get lots of letters saying these people are escaping reality and not fullfilling their destiny. There is something in the left's message about accepting lifestyles that are different from yours but I forget. Maybe I'm just anticipating the reaction with a pessimistic mind.

Oh Canada...

So, glancing through cnn.com I see this article about a t-shirt company in Albuquerque, New Mexico selling shirts with the Canadian flag for American tourist traveling in Europe.

There's a Canadian flag T-shirt, a Canadian flag lapel pin and a Canadian patch for luggage or a backpack. There's also a quick reference guide -- "How to Speak Canadian, Eh?" -- on answering questions about Canada.

This is all fun and games, but we have heard about people doing this. It is wrong on several accounts. The first and most obivious, you should not be ashamed to be an American because your party is not in power. This country still is the best place in the world to live. While there may be actions the current administration is doing that you don't agree with you should still believe in our system and be proud of the fact that you can voice your alternative opinion.

The company selling the shirts say they are doing it because often people that vacation in Europe are bombarded by questions about US politics from the Europians. This brings me to the second wrong. I thought that the Americans were the rude ones when they traveled to Europe. If I'm on vacation in Germany, I do not represent the United States government, I may or may not have voted for the current administration, and it is really none of their damn business either way. I just find it rude that someone would accost me because they don't believe in the war in Iraq soley because I'm American.

A&M vs. Texas and 1 point safeties

There still exists some confusion on the 1 point safety award Texas in the annual Texas A&M vs. Texas matchup Friday after Thanksgiving. Texas was attempting an extra point and the kick was blocked. An A&M Defensive Lineman then scooped the ball up and took possession. He then fumbled into the end zone and an A&M Defensive Back fell on the ball for a safety. That is the way the TV commentators explained how the refs called it. The 1 point try became a 2 point try for A&M the other way when the DL picked up the ball. A safety in a 2 point try situation is a 1 point safety.

My ref friend Dave Taylor then told me how they should have called it. The kick was an illegal kick because it was a loose ball. You can not kick a lose ball. If you remember the holder was fumbling the ball (he did not have possession) when the kicker kicked it. The penalty is 15 yards and lose of down. Here is the rule from the rule book.

Illegally Kicking Ball
ARTICLE 4. A player shall not kick a loose ball, a forward pass or a ball being held for a place kick by an opponent. These illegal acts do not change the status of the loose ball or forward pass; but if the player holding the ball for a place kick loses possession during a scrimmage down, it is a fumble and a loose ball; if during a free kick, the ball remains dead (A.R. 8-7-2-VII).

PENALTY-15 yards from the basic spot and loss of down if the loss of down is not in conflict with other rules (Rules 10-2-2-c, d, e and f) [S31 and S9] (Exception: No loss of down if the foul occurs when a legal scrimmage kick is beyond the neutral zone).