Author Archive

I like the real story of Thanksgiving… as told by the right.

On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible. The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work.

“But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford’s detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness,” destined to become the home of the Kennedy family. “There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves. And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford’s own wife – died of either starvation, sickness or exposure.

“When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats.” Yes, it was Indians that taught the white man how to skin beasts. “Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper! This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. “Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments. Here is the part [of Thanksgiving] that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share.

“All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well. They were going to distribute it equally. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well. Nobody owned anything. They just had a share in it. It was a commune, folks. It was the forerunner to the communes we saw in the ’60s and ’70s out in California – and it was complete with organic vegetables, by the way. Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace.

“That’s right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn’t work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation! But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild’s history lesson. If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.
“‘The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years…that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God,’ Bradford wrote. ‘For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense…that was thought injustice.’ Why should you work for other people when you can’t work for yourself? What’s the point?

“Do you hear what he was saying, ladies and gentlemen? The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford’s community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result? ‘This had very good success,’ wrote Bradford, ‘for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.’ Bradford doesn’t sound like much of a…” I wrote “Clintonite” then. He doesn’t sound much like a liberal Democrat, “does he? Is it possible that supply-side economics could have existed before the 1980s? Yes.

“Read the story of Joseph and Pharaoh in Genesis 41. Following Joseph’s suggestion (Gen 41:34), Pharaoh reduced the tax on Egyptians to 20% during the ’seven years of plenty’ and the ‘Earth brought forth in heaps.’ (Gen. 41:47) In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves…. So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the ‘Great Puritan Migration.’” Now, other than on this program every year, have you heard this story before? Is this lesson being taught to your kids today — and if it isn’t, why not? —  Rush Limbaugh

Word Press today announced the new multiuser version, named WordPress MU.

WordPress, the open source way to blog announced it’s new Multi-user blog software today. Named WordPress MU, for people like me who host and manage many blogs, as a writer and website consultant, the idea that I can easily manage multiple users is great. Check out more at WordPress.org - Jon Burgess

The guide has been a bit dry, but we’re back up to speed, check back soon.

Things that we have soon,

• Microsofts new website development tool.
• Google Doc’s and Spreedsheet
• The Miami Fight

Atleast someone is making sense these days,

BAGHDAD — A thinner but combative Saddam Hussein said yesterday he would rather die by firing squad like a soldier than hang “like a common criminal,” as the defiant ex-president made his final appearance before the tribunal until it renders a verdict. - The Washington Times

I’m so ready to go to Wordcamp, it’s going to be just like Space Camp, but a bit more nerdy.

In a not so shocking move, France has forgiven their fallen Soccer leader Zidane, who head-butted a Italian.  I’d say that if the French won the game, Italy would have attacked France, knowing that the streets of Paris where built for foriegn marching armies.

http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5775686

“A poll published Tuesday in Le Parisien newspaper showed 61 percent of the 802 people questioned forgave Zidane. No margin of error was provided, although it would be plus or minus three percentage points in a poll of that size.”

“In the poll, 78 percent of respondents said Zidane was the tournament’s best player - in line with his selection as the Golden Ball winner by World Cup journalists.”

The French are idiots, and soccer is a boring sport.  At least American’s got to see some action when head-butts flew.

The announcement that Google has created a credit card payment system called Google Checkout to compete directly with EBay’s PayPal and the rest of the merchant account industry, is both good and bad news.  This opens up a bigger door to a number of legal responsibly in areas such as Contracts, E-Commerce Disputes, International Transactions, Ethics and Intellectual Property.

Google has always tried to be easy to use and confidential, so the first benefit is to have a system that is safer than using a credit card online. Google stores your credit card data and never gives it to the merchants, so your credit card is not directly used in transactions, which has been PayPal’s exclusive model over the past few years.  This is obviously attractive to buyers, because security is a big issue on the internet.  It also is good for sellers because Google is providing the transaction protection and fraud guarantees to the merchants.

The bad news is that Google is quickly becoming the world’s information giant, which will strongly test Ethics and Intellectual Property rights.  Not only does Google contain the best data mining tools and search ability, but they also store ALL the information they gather.  Google is rumored to have the largest grouping of servers in the world, not to server up web pages searches, but to actually store data, such as whole websites that have been cached, so much of the information found on the internet is actually being stored at Google server farms. Google will now have the ability to collect vast amounts of personal information directly from users, such as address, full names, and credit cards.  Traditionally all information that is in Google databases was collected from other websites, so personal data found on websites isn’t necessarily right or complete, it is only as good as it’s source.  The question must be asked who owns that data?  Does Google because they captured and stored it, or does the creator of that information?

Recently Google refused to turn over information the United States Attoney General about viewing habits of internet surfs in regards to child pornography.  So Google holds its information in high regard and will protect it for as long as possible.  However, once credit cards get tied into the transaction process, more attract against Google may come because of the simple fact that money is involved.

Google must be wary of the contractual agreements with its users.  Credit card information is highly regulated, so they will need to fulfill the government mandated agreements, meaning they may not be able to cross data with search data.  Google will be on the leading edge of the Internet E-Commerce Dispute law, they will need to be prepared to defend against lawsuits and lobby for proper laws and regulations.  They will be the testing ground of internet law.

Pastime is defined as, “An activity that occupies one’s spare time pleasantly.”  I think pleasantly is a nice word.  Pleasant is what a grandma is.  Pleasant is when you take a nap on a Sunday afternoon.

I think drinking a cold beer with friends is a nice pastime, it occupies free time, and it can be quite pleasant, especially if you’re not routing for the Bills or Clippers.

So it begs the question, what makes baseball a pastime, more importantly, America’s pastime?

Baseball can be considered is an activity, sometimes the players run, not too much to break a sweat. They definitely spit and scratch themselves, that’s a decent activity.  Baseball is only done in your spare time, not even real players would play baseball if it wasn’t during their spare time.  Watching baseball can be pleasant, especially on a nice evening with a beer.  I don’t think the players think its to pleasant, especially with drunk fans yelling at you, critiquing your play, telling you your lazy, telling you that you should have a * next to your name.

With what I can think of baseball, it’s a nice pastime, but what I can’t connect is the “America’s” part.  I think calling something “America’s” means that it’s the best, the greatest, the toughest, have the most heart, and provide some action.  Baseball really isn’t any of that.  Baseball is simple, fairly easy to play, and contains about 5% heart and 5% action.

That brings me to my next question, if baseball is easy, played by highly paid “designer” athletes, why the $#%@!!!! did my fantasy team go 1 for 38 tonight?  I mean, that’s more than a perfect game for the other team.  That is an infinitesimal .026 batting average.  That’s so small, I think a sperm is larger.  I have two #$%&@ complete games against me.  I’m losing 16 to 1, to a guy that’s batting .143!!!!!

Why oh why do normal sports fans like myself put up with fantasy baseball?  There isn’t anything you can really do in fantasy baseball to change the outcome.  Anything can happen, the odds prove it, there is no strategy, no thought, and absolutely no reason to give yourself a heart attack over. Baseball is alright, but fantasy baseball sucks.

When asked, “joining our league?” I thought, “I waste too much time watching my scores, and I don’t even win.” But my friend said, “we’ve got to beat my brother“, so that sealed the deal, I was in!  So now I think, this is just like the time I retired from bowling, because it’s a dumb game and definitely not a sport.  So I’ve had all I can take, I’m retiring!!!! I sticking to just the gridiron, America’s true pastime, where the bad asses kick a little ass, and it happens to go well with beer.

Google has a great April’s Fools Joke, new Google Romance.  Check is out at http://www.google.com/romance/tour.html

WordPress Merges with Textpattern, announced just this morning on WordPress.org. It will now be called WordPattern, and can be found at http://www.wordpattern.org.

This is a huge deal, helping position WordPress in the with the top blog tools like Blogger and MovableType (MT). I love Word Press and have used it for more than 8 of my own clients, so this really pleases me.

On behalf of the WordPress community, I’m proud to announce a merger we’ve had on our minds since the first time we saw Dean Allen’s dog — WordPress and Textpattern are joining forces to create the greatest CMSMS ever, WordPattern. “WordPress and Textpattern: Two great tastes that taste great together.” - WordPress.org

Our friend Aaron Finfrock passed away this week.  I and hundreds of people paid tribute to Aaron’s life.  I was moved by his family and friends’ show of love of his life.  I think that some things in life are truly sacred, one of them is death, because I believe that in death we all have a renewed life with God.

With that said, I am absolutely disgusted by out local paper, the Press Enterprise.  I found a nice obituary about Aaron on PE.com, which was disgustingly used as media for advertising space. I’m alright with banner ads and that sort of thing, but placing text ads links (flowers, gift shop, donate)  right in the body of the article, that’s wrong. Would I like to buy something when I’m reading a tribute to the life of a young man?  Who would want to buy something in an obiturary? How can death be used to directly make money?

I guess the Press Enterprise is exactly what its name is, Enterprise of the Press.  We know the “Press” isn’t much more than the presentation of some bias view of something, but rarely do we really see what the press is, the bias of money over ethics.

I will never, as long as I live subscribe to the Press Enterprise.

Google does it again, and blows us out of this world. Google has sent its search engine software to Mars, well…. at least they have a cool map of Mars.

I like talking about Google and our world. Like my last theory that Google and Yahoo are going to be the fall of China, Google has taken it’s Google Map software and inserted a topographical map of Mars.

It’s pretty cool and you can even see where the spacecraft have landed, check it out at http://www.google.com/mars/

I’m not one to give praise to Al Jazeera often, but I don’t want the rest of the world to be ignorant either.  The official website for the Anti-American network is the dot net, not the dot com.  So the next time you try to bring down the website with an American brut force attack, make sure it is http://www.aljazeera.net, you’ll know your in the right place because it wont be in English.

What does Al Jazeera mean?  The Peninsula in Arabic.

So, I was in class, yesterday. I gave my kick-ass presentation with my group.

This 40+ year old know-it-all says, “I like your print job, but your presentation had too much information.”

I said, “I just bought a new printer.”

So, it’s his turn to do his presentation. He absolutely blows it. Not only did it suck, he had too much information, it didn’t work, he spent too much time doing a scary video advertisement… it goes on and on and on. His own group was about to shoot him.

So after all of this pathetic stuff, the guy asks the class if he could put his personal website up on the screen so we could all review it and fill out a questionnaire.

So, here it is, http://www.phantombones.com, it’s a bit scary, but if you manage to look around the odd content, you’ll notice something………..

It really is apparent when you look at my company website, that I personally designed, http://www.redfusionmedia.com

So what do you think? I’m flattered, he stole my website, and not only that, I get to fill in his questionnaire.

Question 8a). What do you think of the navigation?

My answer. I rate it a 10, because I designed it and I know it is perfect, see more at www.redfusionmedia.com.

So at least I got that going for me. That’s my story and I’m sticking too it.

NEW YORK — Paul Tagliabue is retiring as NFL commissioner in July after more than 16 years on the job.

The 65-year-old commissioner has led the league since 1989, when he succeeded Pete Rozelle, and had recently signed a two-year contract extension to complete the television and labor deals.

He finally got that done 12 days ago, finishing the most arduous labor negotiations since the league and union agreed on a free agency-salary cap deal in 1992. - ESPN

I think that Tagliabue has done a great job.  Starting with the keeping the league together though some tough negotiations over the last few player deals.  He also needs to be commended for the toughest drug programs in all of sports.  It is great the NFL hasn’t had the same sort of issues as Major League Baseball.

A great piece of art, the real look at American taxes. This is a great visual look at how much our government spends. I’m not surprised at the military spending, that is to be expected during a war, and after 911. It is much more disgusting how much our country spends on entitlements, so take a look.

Click on the Death and Taxes artwork to see a larger view.

Our best friend, T.O., Terrell Owens finds himself a new team. I will always remember the good old “place the ball on the star” move. It was always better than the “Sharpe” thing, and a lot better than the crap T.O. dished out to Philadelphia. The final word, Owens will help the Cowboys, and I think he’s tired of being the bad boy. Here’s a good ESPN story on T.O.

Basketball - man, the more I watch basketball, the more I wonder, “what am I doing with my time?” We’ll at least I didn’t pick Kansas to go deep. I do think that the Gonzaga guy is pretty good, and I have them going deep.

Brett Favre, I love the guy, but I think that he will retire.

Baseball - I’m tired of the World Baseball League of “Don’t Try To Hard”. How can they call themselves American when they lose to a bunch of teams, Canada, Korea, Mexico, and we stole a game from Japan. They don’t want to loose there pay check, but they don’t mind loosing respect.

Canada? How the hell do we loose a baseball game to Canada? Give me a break!

I love this photo of a USC cheeleader celebrating Texas’ touch down, especially with like 1000 people behind her saying “what the $%9%@ just happened?

Epic Guide’s coverage of the Ferrari Enzo on PCH, you can read the previous posts, Million-Dollar Ferrari Crashes in Malibu. More Twists and turn in the Malibu Crash

A videotape apparently shot from inside the rare $1 million Ferrari that crashed in Malibu last month may shed new light on who was actually driving the speeding sports car, it was reported Thursday - North County Times
The sources said that Ferrari owner Stefan Eriksson and the other man in the car, identified by authorities as Trevor Karney, had a video camera rolling as they raced on Pacific Coast Highway on the morning of Feb. 21 at speeds in excess of 162 mph. - KTLA

• Get the Facts about the Ferrari Enzo Crash

• Watch the Ferrari Crash Video
  

Epicureanism is a philosophy based upon Epicurus teachings. The basis for the philosophy was in materialism, or the idea that the only true existence is in atomic matter, which would sharply contrast idealism.  Epicureanism philosophy died when Constantine approved Christianity.  One of the more famous modern day Epicurean idealists was our own, Tomas Jefferson, whose own tombstone states that he was for Religious Freedom, which may suggest, that he was not much of a Christian.

I do not think Epic Guide subscribes much to this philosophy, however, one of the main Epicurian tenants was that Epicurus and his followers shunned politics, which Epic Guide parallels in many ways.

• http://www.twinleaf.org/articles/jeffersonia.html
• http://www.monticello.org/reports/people/short.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicurian
• Epicurus Greek Guy
• Epicharmus, other  Greek Guy

Jeremy, here’s my response to your comment.

“Anno Domini (”In the Year of the Lord”), abbreviated as AD or A.D. defines an epoch based on the traditionally-reckoned year of the birth (or actually Incarnation) of Jesus of Nazareth.

This Christian era is currently dominant all around the world in both commercial and scientific use.

Presently, it is the common, international standard, recognised by international institutions such as the United Nations and the Universal Postal Union.
This is due both to the tradition and to the fact that the solar Gregorian calendar has long time been considered to be astronomically correct.

Further more, a monk invented the calendar, therefore, why should people strip the meaning out of the original work to suit their purpose? The original works include A.D. /B.C. If someone wants to rename it, they should make there own calendar.

The Anno Domini system was developed by a Scythian monk named Dionysius Exiguus in Rome in 525, as an outcome of his work on calculating the date of Easter. Byzantine chroniclers like Theophanes continued to date each year in their world chronicles on a different Judaeo-Christian basis — from the notional creation of the World as calculated by Christian scholars in the first five centuries of the Christian era. These eras, sometimes called Anno Mundi, “year of the world” (abbreviated AM), by modern scholars, had their own disagreements. No single Anno Mundi epoch was dominant. One popular formulation was that established by Eusebius of Caesarea, a historian at the time of Constantine I. The Latin translator Jerome helped popularize Eusebius’s AM count in the West. Another formulation, dominant in the East during the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire, was developed by the Alexandrian monk Anninus.

Epicurus was a Greek philosopher credited with the founding of Epicuranism, one of the most popular schools of Hellenistic Philosophy. Epicurus lived in Athens from 341-270 before Christ. Epicurus’ school was considered on the of the three dominant schools in Hellenistic Philosophy along with Stoicism and Skepticism.

• http://www.epicurus.info
• Other Epic Guides - Epicharmus of Kos

Oh boy, I’m excited know, we found the missing link, we are all monkeys!! Well at least the press is a bunch of monkeys. Here’s a story about 5 children, out of 19 that can’t walk upright. The parents are already closely related, so add 1 and 1 together, your going to have problems. I can’t believe that scientist that haven’t seen or heard about this are all ready stating that they must have missing genes or have mutated. This may be a case of natural selection, but a gene regression seems a bit far out. Even if these poor people can’t walk, whether it’s due to physical or mental problems, doesn’t mean they are the missing link. I guess we could surmise in the other direction, that people that can’t walk but use wheel chair are a link to the future, and more advanced than those who can walk.

Humans are not built to walk as quadrupeds, our hips, hands, leg length and the fact that we don’t have a tail, might suggest that we walk upright, and always have. I know scientist have been looking for missing links since the 1800’s but seriously, none have ever been found, and these unfortunate people are not them. Lets us leave them alone to live out their lives in peace.

Read some of these articles and tell me the media isn’t stretching on this.

• Family Walks on All Fours, May Offer Evolution Insight, Experts Say
• Human quadrupeds discovered in Turkey
• Human quadrupeds discovered
• Human quadrupeds in Turkey

I have been reading though Technorati, wondering what this “Origami” tag is. So I did some research and figured it out, and it may become a household name (or not).

So what is Origami? Origami is Microsoft’s new portable computer, sort of. Microsoft is not a hardware company so it designed the specs and farmed out the design to manufacturers, supplying its software, a modified version of XP Windows. Microsoft is clearly trying to enter into the handheld world to hold on to its operating market share, not to make the best product on the market. Reviews seem to bash the product, saying it will never handle the software that Microsoft intends it to use.

• Origami looks paper-thin
• Is Microsoft’s Origami Just a Paper Tiger?
• Introduced at CeBIT, the new mobile PC form factor, formerly codenamed “Origami”

Epicharmus was a Greek philosopher and dramatist who is credited as being one of the first comic writers. He is often called Epicharmus of Kos and lived circa 540-450 before Christ. His comic writing from was the origins of “Doric Comedy”; meaning the Greek dialect and also meaning Dorian mode, which is a music theory based on intervals of tones followed by whole tones. He also is credit with Sicilian comic forms, which refers to Italian, or the Sicilian Islands.

In his early life, Epicharmus worked as a poet, and his topics ranged from exhortations against intoxication and laziness. He can be quoted,

“Judgment, not passion should prevail.” – Wikipedia - Epicharmus

More on Epicharmus of Kos

• http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/ridgeway004.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicharmus
• Other Epic Guides - Epicurus of Samos - Greek “Epic” Philosopher

We thought that all little boys need a bit of responsibility. So we bought our 1 year old boy a fish tank and three guppies on his birthday. One girl Guppy and two boy guppies. The Guppy’s had a nice tank and apparently no supervision, so the reproduced. A Guppy has live babies, so one day we had about 10 more. At some point, the boy created the “Great Guppy Tsunami”, only 3 babies survived. So we were down to 6. The wife didn’t like our yellow boy guppy, so down the drain he went. Eventually all the guppies dies, except a young girl and boy. We thought the boy guppy may have been gay, but after two years later, they finally got it on and had a batch of 12 little guys. Then, no less than 3 weeks later, the proud parents had another school of baby guppies, 20. So now I have decided to thin the herd. The 20 babies will be on there way to the corporate head quarters of RedFusion Media, where they will have the best view in downtown Redlands. I really wanted to have a “Blob Fish” in the office, but I can’t seem to find one. Since neither of the other two Epic Guide writers can seem to post anything of meaning, the guppies got posted. If you want to name the guppies, leave a comment.

Game of Shadows : Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports

I think people know where I stand about liars, and I don’t stand next to Barry Bonds, Good Bye! Honestly, it was a matter of time before Bonds burned to the ground. It was his own fault, he was too good of a player before steroids which caught people attention when he ballooned up like Mo Vaughn. He was always a prick, which doesn’t go with the juice. I say every one should buy the book, hopefully it’s not to late to shame the cheater out of baseball before he brakes another record.

“Do you believe Barry Bonds, or the book? I believe the book. I think Bonds is — or was — a human Walgreens, a grotesque and insulting example of better baseball through chemistry. And I think he should slither away, joining Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro in forced baseball exile.” - By Gene Wojciechowski ESPN\

Nintendo has been beat up over the last few years, with Sony Playstation and Microsoft XBox, so they came up with a new idea, market to old guys. Nintendo has created a line of games that stimulate old people’s minds, so they wont go crazy in old age.

“I don’t want to end up some crazy old man,” Mr. Shishido explained at a crowded Tokyo electronics store after trying the game on display. “I want to play a little every day before going to bed.” The Hindu Paper

Nintendo the company is old, that’s why they like old timers, started in 1889, I think that was before microchips. Here’s part of there story,

“Nintendo was founded in Japan on November 6, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in a Japanese playing card game of the same name. In the mid-twentieth century, the company tried several small niche businesses, such as a love hotel and a taxi company. Over the years, it became a video game company, growing into one of the most powerful in the industry. Aside from video games, Nintendo is also the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners, a Major League Baseball team in, Washington.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo

Korea is off to a hot start, going 3-0, but has anyone noticed that the 30 man roster of the Korean team has five guys names “Lee” and four guys name “Park”. How do we know who’s on first anymore? If you thought that was interesting, you’ll notice that they have seven guys name “Kim”, that’s just crazy? Are they all brothers? They do have a token “Bong” on the team, and that should make some high Americans giggle.

After writing on impeaching some pathetic democrats, I found a good republican to pick on. Congressmen Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means committee, announced today that he will not seek reelection.  He’s been in Congress since 1979, that’s 27 years, plus the 10 he served as a California Assembly member.  That’s 37 years of fat-catting around the country on his high horse. 

Here’s a good quote, fairly insightful to how lost our leaders are:

“On Monday, he said he was inspired to retire by the example of former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax, who Thomas said retired at the top of his game.” SFGate.com 

We’ll since for some odd reason, even with our stupid Freak O’ the Week column we run, I don’t know why all of the “Impeachment” ads come up on our website. So I put together a voters guide.

The get the idiots out of office!

• Diane Feinstein was elected in 1992, 14 years.
• Congresswoman Maxine Waters is in her seventh term, that’s 14 years.
• Nancy Pelosi was elected in 1987, 19 years.
• Congressman Steny H. Hoyer is in his 13 term, 26 years.
• Congressman Charles B. Rangel is serving his seventeenth term, that’s 34 years.
• Edward Kennedy is in his seventh full term, 42 years of pickling.
• Robert Byrd was elected in 1958, 48 years racism.

Let’s VOTE OUT the OLD TIMERS!!!

Continued from “Million Dollar Ferrari Crash“

This story keeps getting better, now investigators think that the Ferrari crash is linked to a European mob or may be even James Bond.  Sources now say the Ferrari Enzo ($1,000,000) was traveling at least 160 mph.  They thought it was racing, (I think a tricked out 1998 Mazda 6 with turbo and a patchwork paint job) but now they think the mob was after them.  More to come.

“It’s like a James Bond story,” said Sgt. Philip Brooks, of the Malibu/Lost Hills Station traffic detail. “But I just want to find out who was driving the Ferrari.”
Brooks is heading up the investigation to find out if Stefan Eriksson, of Bel Air, was at the wheel of the red Ferrari Enzo when it crashed into a pole off Pacific Coast Highway on Feb. 21 at an estimated 160 mph. The impact caused the car to split in half and nearly disintegrate, but Eriksson suffered relatively minor injuries. - L.A. NBC 4

In a story I found at Joho, Iran has turned off blogs and social networking websites, which includes “65,000″ plus bloggers.

“Friends in Iran, journalists and technicians, are saying that judiciary officials have ordered all major ISP to filter all blogging services including PersianBlog, BlogSpot, Blogger, BlogSky, and even BlogRolling.”- Horder

This is proof to what Iran’s ruling party is about, holding down the people. I think the a number of nations are clearly being pressed my American technology and information found in the Internet. Other related stories, China and Google, Israel cuts of Palestine, China and Yahoo, and Scott said about Iran’s Nuclear program.

Most people in the know, like to use Google Toolbar. Google, is again making cool free stuff. One on the new additions to the Google Toolbar 4.0 for IE 6 (which is a must-have for any webmaster because of the “Page Rank” feature), is the the ability to create custom buttons and links from your site. I have only found the information for Movable Type and if any one knows where to find simple code for Wordpress, I’d appreciate it.

Here’s how you can create a Google Toolbar Button for your Movable Type site.

Need a Google Toolbar? Find out how to download the Google Toolbar.

After hours of reading the junk on Green Peace’s website, I found something I can agree with. This little fish is pretty cute. I don’t think we should kill or eat cute fish, especially if they live at the bottom of the ocean. I think we should only eat fish we can catch with a pole, like a trout or a carp. If we only eat the fish we catch, then there would never be a shortage of fish.

Read more about the Blobfish.

The Epic Guppy 

Is Civil Disobedience a crime?  I would argue that when masses of citizens use non-violent actions of civil disobedience against government, it isn’t a crime.  Martin Luther King did this well and he changed the course of history.  However, when a few zealots enter military bases, they are breaking the law.

Here is an article trying to spin realty, saying that breaking the law is alright, and I think it’s just wrong. Green Peace broke the law.

“Is painting an anti-war message on the stern of a military supply vessel a crime?”

“all entered an RAF base at Fairford and attempted to immobilise B52 bombers”

” Marchwood Military Port and occupied tanks, locking themselves with chains and padlocks.”

Well, after my last post I decided that I would visit Green Peace to see what they where all about. Here what I found, a commercial about using Giant Condoms to clean up our air. I took a screen shot and even made a link to this dumb commercial.

Green Peace Carbon Condom

Since we have been slow to put anything on the website, I thought this Rock’n Shelby Cobra should be noted.

The King Cobra added garish spoilers, flares, air dams, and decals to the undesirable Mustang II hatchback. Power came from a pathetic 139 horsepower, 302-cid V8 engine drinking through a small 2-barrel carburetor. With just 500 King Cobras ever produced, they are extremely rare but are scorned by true Mustang enthusiasts. ESPN

Art thieves stole four of the worlds most famous painters’ work from the Chacara do Ceu Museum in Brazil. In what seams ironic, the men stole Pablo Picasso’s “The Dance”, during a festival, called the Carnical Commotion, running through the crowded carnival of dancing. Also stolen where Salvador Dali’s “The Two Balconies”, Henri Matisse’s “Luxembourg Gardens” and Claude Monet’s “Marine”.

“They took advantage of a carnival parade passing by the museum and disappeared into the crowd,” said museum director Vera de Alencar. - BBC

On Feb 18, 2006, Southern California native Jimmie Johnson won the season opener at the Daytona 500. He will look for back to back wins as he comes home to Southern California for the Auto club 500. Johnson’s first ever win came at the California Speedway in 2002. Other former winners including Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin will be also be aiming for a spot in the Gatorade Victory Lane.

“All signs point to fun this weekend in Fontana as NASCAR comes to Southern California.” - Jeremy

Google has launched a new product, Google Page Creator, which is used to create web pages on yourdomain.googlepages.com. And what seems to becoming par for the course, its initial launch was too successful, and sign ups where temporary stopped. The other recent launch of Google Analytics which integrates with Google’s flagship, Google AdWords, had the same trouble; its initial launch had too much demand for the beta system. Google Page Creator allows for users to build individual pages, that are individually managed and part of the 100 megabyte space provided. Google has become one of the top two Blog creators with Blogger.com, which would in theory be a close sister to Google Page Creator.

Google Page Creator is much easier to use than the similar application from Yahoo, and a whole lot faster and intuitive than Microsoft Front Page, which Microsoft is apparently preparing to drop and which was considered the simplest web-design program, up until now. - Playfuls.com

Google has clearly continued to move into a wide variety of products, most of them involving the creation of content or dissemination of information. All of which are powering continued advertising sales on there network, which accounts for 99% of there revenue.

GUESS WHAT THIS IS!!

I would like you to figure out what this is.  Those who want to play my little game can leave a post telling me what you think it is.  I will post the answer in a few days. Come back then to find out why this is the funniest thing in the world

This is pathetic, we can’t seem to kill anyone in this state (California).  I am not surprised this happened, our state is so screwed up, so liberal, so sad.  Now, let me say, I’m not really in favor of the death penalty, but when a state can’t administer a punishment, some 20 years after the crime, why should we have capital punishment?

I say until people get guillotined right after the trial, we should end all capital punishment in this country.  It just doesn’t make any sense.

SAN QUENTIN, CALIF. - The state on Tuesday postponed indefinitely the execution of a condemned killer amid a court battle over the state’s method of injection and the role doctors may play in the death chamber.  - Chron.com

I dreamed I had a million dollar car and I crashed it, then ran away because I can, because I’m not dead.

“A driver lost control of a Ferrari sports car traveling 200 mph along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu this morning, slamming into a power pole that cut the car — which sells for up to $1 million — in half, according to authorities. Investigators said they believe the driver was alone in the car and was engaged in a street race at the time of the accident. Erikssen told them the driver of the car fled on foot, but a search turned up no one, Brooks said.” - LA Times

Continue Reading this crazy Ferrari Crash Story –>

Anyone who has a theory, I’ll put my theory up to yours.

My theory is called Follow the Money.

I’ve read every one of the posts, and I’ve decided that the perfect plot is one that forces the viewer to never change the channel, one that never ends or barely makes sense, lots of false leads, and lots of flashbacks. My theory is, YOU ARE ALL “Hostages of Lost”. You have only hope that there is a theory, there is no theory!! No one wins, no one gets off the island, and one day the show will get canceled and you’ll all be-Lost!

Follow the money, it leads to the commercial break.

Feel free to tell my I’m wrong. Everyone gets a say. Here’s what Jeremy said about Lost

Another cheater in our midst.  I will admit, he wasn’t using a performance inhancing drug.

Sources have told ESPN’s Hank Goldberg that Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams’ violation of the NFL’s substance-abuse policy is not a matter of a missed test. Williams has failed a drug test, the sources said, but the substance for which he tested positive is not known.

I’ve started watching the NASCAR Daytona 500, and it kind of sucks. It has a couple of major detractions. First it’s to long. It should be cut together to show only the good parts, crashes, the end, and anytime Jeff Gordon gets passed. In some ways, its exactly like basketball, you only need to watch the last two minutes, everything before that doesn’t matter.

The other thing, it has way too many commercials. In my estimation, 250 laps are televised, 250 laps are commercials. It seems that all the good action happens during the commercial.

NASCAR is just a money whore; every square inch is an advertisement. What happened to “run what ya’ brung” on the beach?

The Winter Olympics suck, almost none of it could be considered a sport, mostly a bunch of cold games. What takes the cake is Ice Dancing, WTF! is that? Give me Flute and the drop kick any day! Check this hairy ape out on the left, is he mounting that chick on the ice? Ice Dancing doesn’t even have jumping, or spinning or falling for that matter. Michelle Kwan can atleast jump with her gimpy leg. Football is all I want. Not even fantasy baseball will help my heavy heart. Oh ya, I called the Superbowl.

After a long conversation at lunch about the definition of “Sport”, I’ve decided that Snowboard Cross, is a sport. Especially since our USA chick, Lindsey Jacobellis, pulled a “Method Air” on the final streach and crashed out of the gold. Not to Smart! She got the silver, so she’s go that going for her.

Whether liberal or conservative, right wing or left wing, I stand on the side of common sense, hard work, you get what you have coming to you.  I’m tired of “I” - Idiots, Ignoramuses, and Independents.  I also think every spot in Government should have term limits!!!!  You show me a politician that has been in office for 10 years and I’ll show you someone who doesn’t listen, who like pork, and is lost in their own ethos.

I know people don’t like Bush, but impeachment? Those left wing nuts are crazy. Nothing Bush has done has warranted any of this. Just because his decisions are unpopular, doesn’t mean they are wrong, and it certainly doesn’t mean he is all powerful. One thing that is 100% true, Liberals are poor losers, angry that they lost power, and are wondering what to do with the next elections. They have gone out of their minds. I’ve decided to point out the type of person who would join the three wheeled bandwagons.

• Didn’t play team sports as a child.
• Believes that we “humans” are equal to animals
• Thinks freedom is given, not won
• Believes its alright to kill babies, but not to kill people in war
• Thinks that lazy people should be supported by the hard workers
• Defines teaching as promoting the teachers point of view
• Believes the “Right” has control over the media, and is actually spinning it?  We all know that the media is biased to the left.
• Believes that pleather isn’t leather - what the hell?  I wouldn’t wear a fox around my neck, but I sure wouldn’t wear a fake fox around my neck.

Guess what, Epic Guide is now a top 1 Million site on Technorati.com!Wow, just weeks and we have moved up from 1,197,135 to 907,545. That’s about 50,000 a week. At this rate we will be number one in about four months. Most of our viewers will note that we are a top 100 Blog.

EpicGuide.com named “Top 100 Site!” What an accomplishment! We are trying to make the best blog we can, and we did it in 2 weeks. Now, you should know, I’m an expert in Google, but I can’t say that about blog ratings. We still need help. Please comment and forward our site on to others.

But, sometimes it helps when you get in on the bottom floor. I found a site, called Top 100 blogs, but there are only 30 blogs on it, so that make us a “Top 100 Blog”. Click on the link and see if we can move up the list.

We’ve been working on EpicGuide.com using WordPress, which after months of testing other platforms is absolutely the best. So when looking at hosting plans, it’s great that we can go to Yahoo and get the best blogging platform on the planet.

Well today we’re very excited to announce we’re adding a new host to the page with a familiar name - Yahoo! We’ve been working with the Yahoo Small Business team to create a solution that gives professional bloggers exactly what they want from their hosting providers. - Wordpress

This is great, our second Cowboy in Command, Vice President Dick Cheney, shoots a man while hunting. I think that the administration is doing the right thing by shooting every lawyer they see. This world should have fewer lawyers. The President George Bush has said on a number of occasions that we needed to “stop the trial lawyers”, I guess now they consider them terrorists.

Go get’m Dick!!

I wrote in a previous post about Dateline’s Predators, and said I get back to it, so here’s some more interesting safety information for kids.

I was playing a little game with my son tonight called Safetyville, I don’t know where we got it, but it asks questions like, “what do you do when you lost?”, and other good questions. It turns out the game is an advertisement for a kids I.D service, which is a neat idea, so check it out http://www.kidzidz.com/.
Back to the game, I do have to knock the writers of Safteyville a bit. The first two cards in the stack had ridiculous questions that no father would ever tell his 3 yr. old son, but I will tell you. The point is, this is so rare, I will never worry about it happening. The questions are so politically charged (special interest groups), it’s pathetic.

Question: A friend of yours confides that he would love to come to school and shoot all of the students that have taunted or rejected him. You should tell ______ as soon as possible. Answer: a trusted adult

Question: Your school is under siege by one or more student shooters and you are stuck inside your classroom. Keep the lights out, door locked and make sure everyone hides out of view of _________. Answer: all doors and windows.

Well, in old news (2003), but hitting the news today, a French group, Reporters Without Boarders decided to tell on an American group, Yahoo. Apperently, Yahoo gave the Chinese government information on a man who broke the law.

“It said it had discovered that Yahoo! customer and cyberdissident Li Zhi had been given his eight-year prison sentence in December 2003 based on electronic records provided by Yahoo.” RWB

There’s two things I’d like to point out to the French.

First, China, whether people like it our not, is a country with its own laws. Yahoo, who is doing business in China, complyed and followed the Chinese laws. What is wrong with that? I don’t think France likes any other contries laws: see America, Iraq, Vietnam, England, ect. All France ever does is critize other countrys, they only talk, they never DO ANYTHING. Examples: Iraq, Vietnam, WWI, WWII and even being stupid enough to reprint the “Muhammad Cartoons“, while just getting over weeks of riots in France.

Second, something the French know nothing about, “Fighting the Good Fight.” Don’t those idiots know that it take a few dissidents, like Li Zhi, to break the back of Communism? Yahoo, just like Google, is taking on China, and is part of the solution, not the problem. Information, meaning the internet, will be the sword that will slay the dragon. Reporters Without Boarders would rather point out a law abiding company like Yahoo as a “Big Meanie”, rather than point out the heroic actions of a man leading the “Charge to Freedom.” Sounds like the remarks from a county that can’t fight its own wars and thinks capitalism is greed. I have to tell France, that there will be more Li Zhi’s going to jail, there be more fighting, and some day soon, Red China will not have a problem with the internet, they will fall. Atleast, the French will write about it, that’s all Li Zhi wanted anyway.

The Steelers won the big game. Just as I said so in my first post. It may have been the Steelers Baby that help jinx the Seahawks, because as usual they could not win the big game. I think the Steelers defense played well, but there offense was terrible. Big Ben played poorly, helped only by one desperation throw to Ward. Otherwise Seattle moved the ball better and had more chances. Lets point out that the Seahawks missed two field goals, were pathetic in both 2:00 minute drives they had, and threw a key interception when the game was still close. Had the Hawks not made a 75 yard interception, the game wouldn’t have even been close on the scoreboard. Even with the Seahawks out playing the Steelers. I wouldn’t say that the game was super-sucky like Jeremy, but it wasn’t the best game ever.

I have decided that most of this Middle East trouble is based in the fact that the Arabic tribes for millennium have been isolated and nomadic. I the last hundred years we have created cars and TVs. So all of a sudden, great wealth and world knowledge have been thrown at them. They have shown that they can’t handle either very well. They have created an extremely wealthy elite class while the masses are poor and with out help. And on the knowledge side, they take mass media as some sort of one way pulpit to preach from. The Middle East media bashes the world, while the world media gets bashed by the Middle East. So when you have a small insignificant European county post some cartoons of Muhammad, the whole Middle East riots (in there own countries)? What’s that all about? How many times have the Muslims threatened to kill all Jews and crush Israel, wiping them from the face of the earth? And they riot over some cartoons? I’m just tired of all of this chaos; I really think the Bible is right about the whole area being the end this world.

Hall of Famer John Madden. That has a nice ring to it. The guy deserves to be in the hall as much or more than the other 5 guys who made it in. He has the best winning percentage of all time, he is a Hall of Fame broadcaster (especially good with the X’s and O’s TV drawer thing), his football game rocks, and he drives around the country in a bus sponsored by a steakhouse. He also has been in a plane crash and survived (referring to Al Davis as his owner). Plus he popularized words like Turducken and “Boom! Tuff actin’ Tinactin!!!”

Troy Aikman - deserves to get in, he was a great leader and his stats could have been better if he could have keep from hitting his head to many times.

Reggie White - is a shoe-in, and a great guy. I think the modern day game owes him some props - especially since he was the first big-time free agent.

I’m not to sure about Warren Moon except he has the yards and only managed to beat his wife. I’m also not to sure about Harry Carson, I like the guy, he played on a great team, but he wasn’t all that good. Rayfield Wright - more linemen like him need to get credit.

I’m watching Dateline “Predators III”, and I can’t believe what scum and idiots live in our area. 50 people where arrested in Riverside, only miles from my house. This is pathetic! This is ridiculous! I really don’t know what to say about the pathetic men who where trying to have sex with children. We as a society need to protect our children. We need to make sure that adults can’t talk to our kids online. In the following weeks I’m going to do some research on protecting our kids, check back.

• Dateline Story
• Security Ideas
• Online Safety Kit
• Perverted Justice
• Crime & Corruption - Internet Child-Molesting Sting

The oil companies think that we should pay more at the pump because we’re at war and barrels of oil are hard to come by. So it is great to hear that Exxon-Mobil reported the most profitable year in the history of all American companies! Wow does something stink?

HOUSTON, Jan. 30 — Exxon Mobil, the nation’s largest energy company, today reported a 27 percent surge in profits for the fourth quarter as elevated fuel prices gave rise to the most lucrative year ever for an American company, with profits in 2005 reaching $36.13 billion and revenue $371 billion. - N.Y. Times

I think the move today from the L.A. District Attorney to sue Rock Star Games over their controversial Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for hidden pornography should be cheered. To often in our society, people overlook the most outrageous and offensive content that gets in front of children. I think the company should pay for the deception, simply to protect our kids from future acts like this.

Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products - whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume,” Delgadillo told the Associated Press.

I found this funny little guy at SteelerBaby.com, check it out, it has some funny stuff. This must be a sign that the Steeler’s fans are crazy - or - prophetic. I think that some on should send this little guy or girl to Shawn Alexander to jinx him.

I’ve already said it in another post, the Steelers will win the Super Bowl.

Also, for the women that like the cute little guy, read my post on the Ladies Super Bowl Cheat Sheet.

As I’m working on the master plan for the direction of this Blog, and to become a “pro-jock”, I decided to put the wife and the kid down for a nap - and will try to achieve “total consciousness” (Caddy Shack) - by watching Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon”

“Arguably the most entertaining, colorful and spectacular kung-fu movie ever made.” Danny Perry

Bruce Lee kicks ass, mostly because of the noise that comes out of his mouth as he pummels his foes. I’ll try to spell the best sound, “wwwwhhhhoooaaahhhh!!!” The photo to the left is when Bruce Lee kicked Karem Abdul Jabar’s ass in “Game of Death”. Obviously the best china man versus freak of nature fight of all time.

The Super Bowl - We men know the players, the game plan, the stats, and of course we know who is going to win.

Ladies - don’t care much about the game, but would like to impress at the party. All married guys want their friends to know that their wife knows the game.

So here are some talking points for the ladies.

• The Steelers (white team) won 3 playoff road games to get to the Super Bowl.
• The Seahawks (green team) haven’t lost in green this year.
• The Lombardi Trophy is made by Tiffany & Co. at a cost of $25,000.
• The 10 most watched T.V. programs in history are the Superbowl.
• More beer is drunk on Super Bowl Sunday than on New Years.
• The 30 second ads cost $2.6 million dollars.
• Shawn Alexander (green) broke Priest Holmes touch down record this year with 27.
• The “Bus”, Jerome Bettis (white), only comes into the game to score TDs.
• The game this year is at Ford Field in Detroit.
• A saftey is when the team with the ball gets tacked in their own end zone.
• There are 7 referees on the field.
• The “Rolling Stones” will play during half time, Mic Jagger may show his nipple, hide young children’s eyes.

I’ve been doing some reading, and I’m just not sure why “we the people” are responsible for the failures of New Orleans. I am tired of seeing the media and the left blame Bush and the Federal government for the failure to rebuild New Orleans. It is not the Federal Governments fault that generations of people built a city under dikes. Insurance companies don’t insure in flood plains, that’s not dumb. And at what point does the Bush ask the Air Force to attack a storm or any other “act of God”?

I’d point my finger at an inept State government (letting a high school teacher run a government?), and certainly the leadership in New Orleans, who couldn’t even run a hotdog stand.

Mayor C. Ray Nagin - “I sincerely apologize to the people I offended in this city and throughout the country,” he said. “My comments in regard to race, religion, the uptown locale and our government were completely inappropriate.” - (NO KIDDING!!)

But, to tell you the truth, the white flag should be lifted over the city, because it was the French (the Masters of the Universe) who built the city.

Another fabulous French victory!

Google takes on China Communist China is a police state that controls their citizens subjects. But lets not turn on Google so fast. I’ve read a bunch about how “evil” Google’s decision to let the Chinese government censor it’s content, and how Google has let down the Chinese people, and I’m tired of it. I believe Google is the most powerful leading edge company of the 21st century, led by young, savvy and smart people. They have a big fish to fry, and its China. Yes, Google will make money now, but just wait and see how much money they make when they help bring down Communism. Remember it was money and technology that brought down the iron curtain. It will happen again, Google’s entrance into China is a victory for freedom and liberty. The vast amounts of knowledge available to the Chinese people now, even if its censored, is a time bomb for the communist party.

Every one know Google motto is “Do No Evil”, so I find it amusing when I see lines like this.

Perhaps in the 21st century, Google now believes the Wall Street film villain Gordon Gekko was right and “greed is good.” It is hard to come up with any other explanation given Google’s flexible definition of “evil.” - Editor and Publisher

The first glimmer of hope for China, found in the open markets of Google AdWords. I went to the Chinese Google and typed in “Chinese blogs” and found this. You should give it a try, it isn’t often you get to see the start of a revolution,

Free Blogs
No Censorship just freedom of press
Write whatever you want freely www.go2mojo.com

We need to note the big Walt Disney Co. news, acquiring Pixar Animation Studios for some $7.4 billion dollars. This is a much bigger deal than just two media giants merging, this actually effects the fabric of life in America, and here’s why:

Steve Jobs, the genius behind Apple, the CEO of Pixar is now the largest single shareholder in Disney. He will bring his expertise in technology to the media giant. This will affect both the movies that Disney makes and its ABC Network, bring more rich media to all aspects of the company and to America. Soon you may wirelessly see a Pixar movie on your iPod, while getting your box scores on ESPN.

“Steve Jobs could be the 21st century Walt Disney, helping the media giant Disney founded to regain its lost lead in animated films.” Hinduston Times

Here’s the corporate merger press release about the merger if your curious about the facts.

Well the first post in the second version of our EPIC BLOG - “GUIDE to all things important”, is that I will go out on a limb and predict a Pittsburgh win over Seattle in the Super Bowl.