The BBC lists the favorite names for Scots this year…

Lewis retained its position as Scotland’s most popular name for boys in 2005 while Sophie moved from second to first place for girls.TOP 10 BOYS’ NAMES
1. Lewis
2. Jack
3. Callum
4. James
5. Ryan
6. Cameron
7. Kyle
8. Jamie
9. Daniel
10. Matthew

TOP 10 GIRL’S NAMES
1. Sophie
2. Emma
3. Ellie
4. Amy
5. Erin
6. Lucy
7. Katie
8. Chloe
9. Rebecca
10. Emily

Thats all fine and normal… however, then they list a few… oddballs.

Some of the unique names to be given to babies this year included Aanus, A-Jay, Blessing and C.

Someone named their kid Aanus. The other names I can see. But Aanus? In about 8-10 years the headline will read “Aanus commits suicide” and everyone will do another double take.

Good idea:  On MSN.com, have a list of 150 favorite Christmas recipes.

Bad idea:  Run rotating full size ads on these recipe pages for Viagra and toenail fungus medicine.

A couple years ago me and the wife would watch the show on HBO Oz. For those who don’t know, it was a show based in a high security prison. Since it was HBO, they tried to be reality based by having much more violence and harsh language than what is typically found in prison. Go figure.

Once after watching the show, my wife asked me to get her a glass of water. Except she asked for “a f*cking glass of water.” She never cusses except in extreme distress, so her sitting there on the couch, reading a magazine, and cussing like that was kind of amazing. I asked her to repeat herself, and she did, just as colorfully. Several times. Only when I repeated it back to her did she realize what she said.

Now, she wasn’t even really watching the show, she was reading her magazine. Just being in the room like that, with so much cursing going on, affected her enough that her built in safeguards against harsh language failed.

So what does this mean?

Those of you that say things like violent video games don’t affect behavior are, in my opinion, full of it. Maybe not everyone is affected, but enough people are. But this isn’t my point either.

What you do affects other people.

This is the holiday season. Stress levels are high. So when you get all pissed off at someone taking too long to get in their car and pull out of that front parking spot, you’re making the people behind you trying to get out of the mall themselves mad. They’re going to get annoyed, and turn around and yell at their kids for being kids. The kids will internalize their anger and redirect it back later by pushing the parent’s buttons. No one can do that better, save maybe the spouse. Who is also annoyed and snippy now because everyone came home in a funk.

Or, you could just smile at people today. Especially people you don’t know. It may make their day just a little better for a few minutes. That just might be enough to turn everything all around.

Spreadin’ the word…  Third World Country, Bloggin’ Outloud, and Conservative Cat,

Repeat after me:

Mocha Java does not have chocolate in it. Mocha Java is a blend of two different coffee beans:  Mocha and Java beans.

Thank you and have a nice day.

1st Amendment ‘doesn’t create church-state wall of separation’

Writing for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Richard Suhrheinrich said the ACLU’s “repeated reference ‘to the separation of church and state’ … has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state.”

First saw this at Stop the ACLU.

This is why I have a problem with following judicial precedent more than applying the Constitution each and every time.  Although it stops certain chaos, rulings get farther and farther away from reality.

From The Passing Parade

For the better part of the late and deeply unlamented twentieth century it was the fashion among a certain set of people to bemoan the commercialization of Christmas, that the demands of Mammon were stifling the essentially religious nature of the holiday, even to the point where that great philosopher and theologian Linus Van Pelt had to explain to Charlie Brown what Christmas was all about by quoting the Gospel according to Luke. Charlie Brown did not seem impressed by this argument, falling, as it did, between commercials for Benson & Hedges cigarettes and the new 1967 Ford Mustangs.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone
In a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone.

I had come down the chimney, with presents to give,
And to see just who in this home did live.

I looked all about, a strange sight I did see,
No tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.

No stocking by the mantel, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung some pictures of far distant lands.

He had medals and badges, awards of all kinds,
And a sober thought then came through my mind.

For this house was different, it was dark and dreary.
I found the home of a soldier, once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping, silent, alone,
Curled up on the floor of this one-bedroom home.

The face was so gentle, the room in such disorder,
Not how I pictured a United States soldier!

Was this the hero of whom I’d just read?
Curled up on a poncho, the floor for his bed?

I realized the families that I saw on this night
Owed their lives to these soldiers willing to fight.

Soon round the world, the children would play,
And grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas day.

They all enjoyed Freedom each month of the year,
Because of the soldiers, like the one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone,
On a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.

The very thought brought a tear to my eye,
I dropped to my knees and started to cry.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice;

“I fight for Freedom; I don’t ask for more;
My life is my God, my country, my corps.”

The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep.
I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours, so silent, so still,
And we both shivered from the cold night’s chill.

I didn’t want to leave on that cold dark night,
This guardian of honor so willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure,
Whispered, “Carry on, Santa. It’s Christmas Day and all is secure.”

One look at my watch and I knew he was right.
Merry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night.

More details on this over at Blackfive, including who wrote it, other important details, along with an MP3 of the recording.

Based on a true story…that happened today…like an hour ago…for real…no, I mean it… 

Once upon a time there was a simple white collar warrior who wanted nothing more than to have some bubbly potion or another to quench his thirst and invigorate his soul.  His back, injured in an earlier quest(See The Quest To Bring the Outside Tree To the Inside As a Pagan Tribute), was feeling a bit better, so this man took up his +70 Change of Buying and began the hike toward the town of Vendia Machinus.

When he reached the first crossroads, he was confronted with a multi-leveled lifting device.  He was familiar with these and proceeded to show the operator a single finger, choosing to get off at the first level above.  The device lifted him up, after a sudden lurch, and proceed to move up very slowly.  More slowly than normal, and our hero could not see how high he actually was for the protective chain curtain obscuring his view.

When the lift stopped and the curtain withdrew, he was amazed to find himself on the third level.  This was an inconvenience, he thought.  It is good that he knew an alternate route around the Officious Wood, down the mountain trail, and around the Halls of Eating, to Vendia Machinus.

His back wasn’t feeling better any more…in fact, he figured he would need to see the healer upon his return to his hobbicle.

When he got into the heart of Vendia Machinus, he approached the potion dealer and presented him with his Change of Buying.  The vendor guffawed.

“You must have the exact buff on your Change of Buying for me to sell you a potion.”

Our hero’s Change of Buying was +70…he required +65.  So back to his hobbicle he went, cursing the gods for his misfortune.  He consulted a mystic he knew and had his +70 Change of Buying changed into what he needed, with the excess to be applied for some future endeavour.  Again he left for Vendia, this time avoiding the Lift altogether and taking the mountain path.  He arrived in town again and approached the vendor.

” I have the exact Change of Buying you require.  May I purchase a Pepsican Refreshment Potion?”

“You may not.”

“Do you mock me, kind sir?”

“I do not”, the vendor replied,” I do not take Change of Buying in denominations of five.”

“And just why not!?!”, our hero fumes.

“Because.”

Rebuked once again, our hero makes his way back to Cubica, into his hobbicle, and consults a visiting friend, who happens also to be a mystic changer.  He gathers his newly acquired Change if Buying, now consisting of +25 and four +10’s, then angrily makes his way back to Vendia.

He approaches the vendor, confirms he has the correct denominations, and makes the purchase.  The Pepsican Refreshment Potion makes its way through the Chute of Deliverance and into the Basket of Grabbing Your Purchases From, and into our hero’s waiting hands…

Back to Cubica he goes, and to his humble hobbicle.  He sits down and breaks the seal on his refreshment.

“Life is about the journey.”, he thinks, whilst absorbing the day’s hardships with a gleam of comedic joy, his back aching from the journey.

At this he reels in horror.

He has actually gotten a Pepsican Refreshment Potion Flavored Liquer of Slimming!

STAY OUT OF THE JEWELRY STORES.

This is a bit old but always true…

I know what you’re thinking. “It’s not that bad.” It’s just a joke, and I’m taking it too seriously. But how can you look at a list on the industry’s own marketing website and see “Of course there’s a return on your investment. We just can’t print it here.” and not be aware that they’re selling, along with war and market dominance, dysfunction. Want your materialistic, easily-misled wife to stop being such a frigid bitch? Buy her a diamond! Did your husband decide to increase your consumer debt in order to buy you a pair of earrings that were mined at gunpoint by children in Africa? Reward him with grudging sex and a temporary cessation of your relentless nagging!

I love several of the other great examples of why you need to resist the manufactured marketing ploy of jewelry.

An elderly Canadian gentleman of 83 arrived in Paris by plane.
At the French customs desk, the man took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry-on bag.
“You have been to France before, monsieur?” the customs officer asked, sarcastically.
The elderly gentleman admitted he had been to France previously.
“Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.”
The Canadian said, “The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show it.”
“Impossible, Canadians always have to show your passports on arrival in France!”
The Canadian senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look, then he quietly explained, “Well, when I came ashore at Juno Beach on D Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find any Frenchmen to show it to.”

Letters to the Editor…

Logically, how can anyone be against the USA Patriot Act’s renewal and not be against random roadblocks? My rights are violated every Friday and Saturday night. So the federal government might want to see what books I read at the library or what Web sites I view. That’s fine with me. It seems like small potatoes compared with randomly blocking roads and ordering citizens to roll down their windows so that local police can check for anything they want.Seriously, liberals want the government to have power. They are all for mandatory seat belt and helmet laws, gun control and universal health care. How can they be worried about civil rights when they spend time trying to take them away.

If you are for random roadblocks to stop people from driving drunk, then please shut up about the Patriot Act and how it violates your rights. You forfeited your rights a long time ago. Please leave important decisions like this to the grownups.

David Eck, Wilmington

I’m doing the happy dance today!!! via Off the planet

Nearly four years after it was cancelled, the popularity of Futurama on DVD could breathe life back into the animated television series. On the subject of a rumoured resurrection, creator Matt Groening, best known for his other animated hit, The Simpsons, says, intriguingly: “You never know.”

Let me just say… Futurama rules! It is a much better show than the Simpsons. Especially anything after the third season when Homer stopped being a lovable dolt and became just a jackass…

It’s open trackback day… So work on your masterpiece of blogdom, and then link and trackback to this page.

While it may not help your TTLB score, I’ll generally hit all the sites, and permanently link in the blogroll if you have good stuff.
That is all…

So we’re having the Mrs’s boss and his wife over for a  dinner. The is the only employee of an eye doctor, so its definitely not your big corporate thing. We’ve been over to their house several times and erally enjoy the time we spend with them. So I’d like to make something special.

So its recipe day here. The recipes are in the extended entry, but here’s the menu:

• Sea salt and rosemary focacia bread
• Lasagna roll-ups
• Caesar salad
• Buttery apple torte

(more…)

My brother Scott was in a movie…

That’s him trying to rob the cameraman.

A few months ago I saw the promo DVD.  Pretty damn funny stuff.  I think it is one of those things where they only do about 5-10 minutes of released footage, hoping someone sees it and throws a ton of money their way.

But Scott played the deputy, who gets beat up pretty bad by the banditos.  I’m waiting on an .mpg that I can use and I’ll throw up a clip.

Dean’s World - High Treason and the New York Times

At first I thought this business of surveillance of phone conversations between people in the U.S. and suspected terrorists overseas was no big deal. Then I realized it is a big deal. We’ve been doing things like this for decades, yes, and that’s not a secret and it’s not illegal. But it was a secret that we were now doing it specifically to go after Al Qaeda, that the rules had changed. Now Al Qaeda’s been put on notice that we’re doing it, and on how we’re doing it, and how they can work around it.I think they are all being rather timid. These leakers have exposed a perfectly legal, perfectly sensible government operation that has undoubtedly helped round up hundreds of members of Al Qaeda and saved the lives of countless Americans. Exposing such a secret program is not whistle-blowing–it is high treason.

Dean calls it and I agree.

Whoever leaked this story to the New York Times (a division of the Democratic National Commitee) should be brought up on treason charges.  Almost definitely this is someone in the intelligence community, and they should be put up against a cold wall with a blindfold.

The NYT as an organization (corporation) should be stripped of all its corporate rights and shut down.

The usual cries of fascism are already underway.

Agents’ visit chills UMass Dartmouth senior: 12/ 17/ 2005
By AARON NICODEMUS, Standard-Times staff writer

NEW BEDFORD — A senior at UMass Dartmouth was visited by federal agents two months ago, after he requested a copy of Mao Tse-Tung’s tome on Communism called “The Little Red Book.”
Two history professors at UMass Dartmouth, Brian Glyn Williams and Robert Pontbriand, said the student told them he requested the book through the UMass Dartmouth library’s interlibrary loan program.

So we’re hearing about this from a third party? BS’o'meter +2

The student, who was completing a research paper on Communism for Professor Pontbriand’s class on fascism and totalitarianism, filled out a form for the request, leaving his name, address, phone number and Social Security number. He was later visited at his parents’ home in New Bedford by two agents of the Department of Homeland Security, the professors said.
The professors said the student was told by the agents that the book is on a “watch list,” and that his background, which included significant time abroad, triggered them to investigate the student further.
“I tell my students to go to the direct source, and so he asked for the official Peking version of the book,” Professor Pontbriand said. “Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring inter-library loans, because that’s what triggered the visit, as I understand it.”
Although The Standard-Times knows the name of the student, he is not coming forward because he fears repercussions should his name become public. He has not spoken to The Standard-Times.

And the person who this supposedly happened to is staying anonymous? Oh because he fears being shot in the head in a darkened alley by Mao’s agents I’m sure. BS’o'meter +4

The professors had been asked to comment on a report that President Bush had authorized the National Security Agency to spy on as many as 500 people at any given time since 2002 in this country.
The eavesdropping was apparently done without warrants.
The Little Red Book, is a collection of quotations and speech excerpts from Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung.
In the 1950s and ’60s, during the Cultural Revolution in China, it was required reading. Although there are abridged versions available, the student asked for a version translated directly from the original book.
The student told Professor Pontbriand and Dr. Williams that the Homeland Security agents told him the book was on a “watch list.” They brought the book with them, but did not leave it with the student, the professors said.

WHAT? We’re paying Department of Homeland Security agents to deliver books to college students? Somehow I figure if this was reality, normal college librarian types would have made the delivery, and maybe the agents would have shown up separately. But for the agents themselves to bring the book with them? BS’o'meter +5

Dr. Williams said in his research, he regularly contacts people in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other Muslim hot spots, and suspects that some of his calls are monitored.
“My instinct is that there is a lot more monitoring than we think,” he said.
Dr. Williams said he had been planning to offer a course on terrorism next semester, but is reconsidering, because it might put his students at risk.

Yeah, because in back of his class, he’ll have armed agents standing by, to put a bullet in someone’s head if they ask the wrong question. I think this is starting to smell like propaganda from the professors. BS’o'meter +3

“I shudder to think of all the students I’ve had monitoring al-Qaeda Web sites, what the government must think of that,” he said. “Mao Tse-Tung is completely harmless.”

Except to the tens of millions of people that were killed by his policies. Typical.

BS’o'meter Score: 14. That puts this story in the pretty damn unbelievable category. And of course, the reporter did not contact Homeland Security for a quote on what happened.

Linked to: The Uncooperative Blogger, Stop the ACLU, Wizbang!, Rightwing Nation, and Point Five.

Found this while unpacking. Kept it in my wallet for many many years.

I Believe That-

• Imagination is stronger than Knowledge
• Myth is more potent than History
• Dreams are more powerful than Facts
• Hope always triumphs over Experience
• Laugher is the only cure for Grief
• and Love is stronger than Death

“Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available.” - Professor Wernstrom.

Found on Mostly Cajun

A C-130 was en route on a mission when a cocky F-16 pilot flew up next to him.The fighter jock told the C-130 pilot, watch this!” He went into a Barrel roll, followed by a steep climb, then finished with a sonic boom when he reached the speed of sound.

The F-16 pilot asked the C-130 pilot what he thought.

The C-130 pilot responded that was impressive, but watch this.”

The C-130 droned along for about 15 minutes then the C-130 pilot came back on and said What did you think about that?”

The 16 pilot asked, What did you do?”

The C-130 pilot responded I got up, stretched my legs, went to the back, poured a cup of coffee and took a leak.” Any questions ??

Having flown on Hercs many times, they were pretty damn comfortable as long as you weren’t packed in there!