Somewhere in the midst of arguing with Iran.....the US sent out a message to the World of Warcraft folks. Basically, it's an American game of sorts, and they told the CEO that they had to deny Iranians the right to play World of Warcraft.
You can imagine the State Department sitting around, and talking up all the punishments possible to dump on Iran.....and World of Warcraft comes up.
So we are denying the Iranians a chance to ride their magical ponies, or to buy digital swords, or to fight digital warriors from Austin, Texas, or to sit by digital pools of water with friends from upstate Michigan, or to shoot unicorns.
It's come down to this.....and our best way of handling Iran.....is to deny them World of Warcraft? Something is wrong.....if you ask me.
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Speeches and Such
So this is what we know. Some kid in Oklahoma did well in high school and earned the right as school valedictorian. She makes up a speech….which has this theme of a bunch of folks asking what she wants to do after school, and the answer is “how the hell do I know, I’ve changed my mind so many times”. Well….the school principal was upset with the word ‘hell’, so he told her to change it….to heck. He gave her the new speech, with ‘heck’ included…..and she gave the ‘hell’ speech instead. The principal got all upset about this and denied her the diploma at the conclusion of the event.
Words spoken so far by the school indicate that she can come by and apologize to the school, and get her diploma.
The 18-year old girl has responded…..nicely….that she just won’t do that.
I would said to the school….’the hell you say’, but it would have taken the event to an unnecessary level. Her dad is kinda proud of her and doesn’t see much to get excited about. She will go off in the fall to Southwestern Oklahoma State University…..to study up to be a marine biologist, without the diploma.
There are various ways to ponder upon this. Valedictorian speeches are usually worthless. I know that bend some folks out of shape, but it’s usually four minutes that don’t mean an awful lot. The use of ‘hell’? Well….in 1977….you just didn’t utter the word unless you were in church and in some discussion over where Uncle Micky was going upon his demise. It has some effect upon a speech if you use it, but a guy who utters it forty times a day…..loses most of the positive effect. The potential for a descriptive location? Well….after you’ve been to Birmingham a dozen times…..there’s not much else you can say.
My guess is that the next valedictorian at this school probably will just talk about unicorns, wheat, and cows….playing it mostly safe with words. I would imagine there is a list of seven hundred topics which are forbidden and the list is safely kept from public view or discussion. The sad thing here is that this kid could have graduated on Monday….gone off to Marine boot-camp on Tuesday….and heard the word ‘hell’ at least three hundred times by Friday night.
My final observation is that if you ever intend to travel through Oklahoma…..put a sticker up on the dash to remind yourself to keep your words and thoughts pure and clean. Those folks are the type that actually might pray for you if they know you were out-of-state. Maybe that’s a good thing.
The 18-year old girl has responded…..nicely….that she just won’t do that.
I would said to the school….’the hell you say’, but it would have taken the event to an unnecessary level. Her dad is kinda proud of her and doesn’t see much to get excited about. She will go off in the fall to Southwestern Oklahoma State University…..to study up to be a marine biologist, without the diploma.
There are various ways to ponder upon this. Valedictorian speeches are usually worthless. I know that bend some folks out of shape, but it’s usually four minutes that don’t mean an awful lot. The use of ‘hell’? Well….in 1977….you just didn’t utter the word unless you were in church and in some discussion over where Uncle Micky was going upon his demise. It has some effect upon a speech if you use it, but a guy who utters it forty times a day…..loses most of the positive effect. The potential for a descriptive location? Well….after you’ve been to Birmingham a dozen times…..there’s not much else you can say.
My guess is that the next valedictorian at this school probably will just talk about unicorns, wheat, and cows….playing it mostly safe with words. I would imagine there is a list of seven hundred topics which are forbidden and the list is safely kept from public view or discussion. The sad thing here is that this kid could have graduated on Monday….gone off to Marine boot-camp on Tuesday….and heard the word ‘hell’ at least three hundred times by Friday night.
My final observation is that if you ever intend to travel through Oklahoma…..put a sticker up on the dash to remind yourself to keep your words and thoughts pure and clean. Those folks are the type that actually might pray for you if they know you were out-of-state. Maybe that’s a good thing.
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Our Sea of Galilee Guy
This is a story that you have to put some prospective into it before it becomes clear. Some weeks ago...this Republican Representative from Kansas....Kevin Yoder....went off on a trip with other Republicans to the Promised Land. Note, that's to mean Israel. Somewhere in the midst of this trip....the "boys" end up around the Sea of Galilee, and likely had some beverages. One thing led to another. A bunch of guys jumped into the Sea of Galilee. Kevin jumped in, without any clothing....in basic form of skinny dipping.
Word got out. Some media folks noted the trip and this terrible skinny dippyness into the Sea of Galilee. The House asked for an investigation....to get to some facts. Everything is kinda confirmed....to include the fact that not one single federal dollar financed the trip. It was all privately financed (note, there is a great shock to Rep Pelosi because it just isn't right that Representatives conduct private trips without any tax-payer efforts. Congressman Yoder came back after all this mess and said he was sorry.
So I reviewed this mess, and pondered.
Around two thousand years ago....some guys named Mathew, Mark, and Luke had some rather hot days out on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, and likely jumped off in the water in the form of skinny dipping. I'm pretty sure no one said much. Days were hot and a guy needed some relief. Heck, that Jesus kid in his youth....probably jumped off in the Sea of Galilee as well.
Should we be worried about this behavior? Well....skinny dipping is conducted in all fifty states. I might agree that no one skinny dips in the Disrict of Columbia....not unless you do the Potomac thing at 5AM on a Sunday when nobody is much around. But in the other states, there's probably 300k Americans who skinny dip at least once a year.
Maybe there should be laws against it, but traditionally....no one cares.
So this Yoder kid isn't a corrupted individual in my book. In fact, most folks from Kansas will think about this a while and come to agree that they all know forty or fifty folks who have skinny dipped in their life. The only difference here is that they all did it in Kansas. Kevin Yoder did it in the Sea of Galilee. That's a status symbol to a degree, but it just ain't worth getting worried about. In fact, if I was worried about something....it'd be jobs in America, and I'd just let this skinny dipping business just pass.
Word got out. Some media folks noted the trip and this terrible skinny dippyness into the Sea of Galilee. The House asked for an investigation....to get to some facts. Everything is kinda confirmed....to include the fact that not one single federal dollar financed the trip. It was all privately financed (note, there is a great shock to Rep Pelosi because it just isn't right that Representatives conduct private trips without any tax-payer efforts. Congressman Yoder came back after all this mess and said he was sorry.
So I reviewed this mess, and pondered.
Around two thousand years ago....some guys named Mathew, Mark, and Luke had some rather hot days out on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, and likely jumped off in the water in the form of skinny dipping. I'm pretty sure no one said much. Days were hot and a guy needed some relief. Heck, that Jesus kid in his youth....probably jumped off in the Sea of Galilee as well.
Should we be worried about this behavior? Well....skinny dipping is conducted in all fifty states. I might agree that no one skinny dips in the Disrict of Columbia....not unless you do the Potomac thing at 5AM on a Sunday when nobody is much around. But in the other states, there's probably 300k Americans who skinny dip at least once a year.
Maybe there should be laws against it, but traditionally....no one cares.
So this Yoder kid isn't a corrupted individual in my book. In fact, most folks from Kansas will think about this a while and come to agree that they all know forty or fifty folks who have skinny dipped in their life. The only difference here is that they all did it in Kansas. Kevin Yoder did it in the Sea of Galilee. That's a status symbol to a degree, but it just ain't worth getting worried about. In fact, if I was worried about something....it'd be jobs in America, and I'd just let this skinny dipping business just pass.