I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.
CAPT Doug Traversa: Reading Doug Templeton’s Sandbox piece DRIVING IN AFGHANISTAN reminded me of some of the posts I’ve written on my blog on the same subject. I’ve been in many countries, including several in the Third World, and the driving in Kabul is the worst I have ever seen. Here’s a video created by the Army Safety Center to prepare soldiers…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning head scratch I present: From My Dad.
Got this from our brother-in-law, both an Army and Air Force Veteran
The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the president. In essence 2/3rds of the citizenry just ain’t happy and want a change.
So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, ”What we are so unhappy about?” Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?
Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?
Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?
Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?
Maybe it is the ability to drive from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state?
Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?
I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough.
Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take us to the hospital.
Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family and your belongings.
Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss. And that you have the freedom to own a gun and defend yourself if you choose not to await the arrival of the police or if the oaf attacking you won’t give you the phone to call 911. This, by the way, happens over two million times a year. It must be so common that our news media overlook reporting it.
This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90 percent of teenagers own cell phones and computers.
How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world? Maybe that is what has 67 percent of you folks unhappy.
Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S., yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don’t have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.
I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?
Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn’t take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad?
Think about it……are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the “Media” told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful ass every day.
Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for Your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn’t have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ”general” discharge, an ”other than honorable” discharge or, worst case scenario, a ”dishonorable” discharge After a few days in the brig.
So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans? Say what you want but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells , and when criticized, try to defend their actions by “justifying” them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn’t kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it this way…… Insane!
Stop buying the negativism you are fed everyday by the media. Shut off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad.
Don’t worry, be happy… repeat as necessary…
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear by Ralph Keyes.
“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads.” -Erica Jong. p. 64
Walk around feeling like a leaf.
Know you could tumble any second.
Then decide what to do with your time.
From The Art of Disappearing by Naomi Shihab Nye.
This morning I realized that I needed to make a major shift in what I’m doing here. While I have time for writing — I’ve always been an early riser and I get my best work done before most people get to the office — what I don’t have time for is doing phone interviews. Phone interviews demand being available for call backs.
That’s not going to happen.
So how do I write myself a car?
I realized that I needed to turn back the clock, about 140 years to 1867 when Samuel Clemens made his fortune under the pen name Mark Twain. In that year he published a series of 51 letters in the Daily Alta California under the title The Holy Land Excursion. Letter from ‘Mark Twain. Special Travelling Correspondent of the Alta Those letters would become Twain’s The Innocents Abroad.
Twain had no phones to interview people with. All he had were the most basic of the journalist’s tools: his eyes, his ears and his wit.
While I have no pretensions of comparing myself to Twain, he is a model to aspire to.
The end result here is that I’m turning my eye toward those magazines that publish first-person essays; the kind of journalism you often find on the back pages of magazines like Time, Newsweek and the New York Times Sunday Magazine.
Tomorrow I’ll go back and redo my basic search on Writer’s Market to sort for only publications that accept (and pay well for) essays.
Butt… chair… write…
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Top 10 Foods for a Good Night’s Sleep.
CAPT Doug Traversa: Han, one of our interpreters, has taken a keen interest in my blogging. I asked him if he wanted to share information with Americans, and he agreed enthusiastically. Within a couple of days he had downloaded over 100 photos* and when we had a spare moment, we sat down in front of a computer and he told me the recent…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.
Ten Facts You Did not Know about Tea
By Lorraine Bevere of FOG Tea.
There are only three basic types of Asian tea; Green, Black and Oolong. All three come from the same tea plant — Camelia sinensis. The differences between the teas result from the way the tea leaves are plucked and processed. Although there are three basic types of tea, there are over 3,000 varieties to choose from. Despite their name, herbal teas are not tea at all because they do not come from the tea plant, but from herb and spice plants.
In recent Dutch studies it was found that men who drink black tea which contains catechins are fifty percent less likely to die of ischemic heart disease. This occurs when our arteries become clogged and are unable to work as they should because of them becoming narrow.
We now know that drinking a half to two cups of tea per day may promote fertility by inhibiting abnormalities in our chromosomes. In a recent test 250 women drank as little as half a cup of tea per day and their pregnancy rates were double those who did not.
A remedy for puffy eyes is to lie in a horizontal position and place either a tea compress or wet teabag over both eyes and leave for about 20 minutes. The puffiness around the eyes will amazingly vanish and your eyes will look and feel brand new.
One way to rid your refrigerator of unpleasant smells is to place one or two used tea bags somewhere within the fridge. The next day any bad smell will be gone!
A substance called Tannic acid which naturally occurs in tea is said to help in the battle against warts. Apply a wet tea bag to the infected area for about 15 minutes three times daily and the wart will slowly begin to shrink until it eventually disappears.
It is known that men in Asian countries who consume green tea have very low instances of prostate cancer. Many prominent researchers are convinced that this is due to green tea containing many powerful antioxidants and preventative anti-cancer agents.
In recent Australian studies CSIRO scientists found that the occurrence of skin cancer in laboratory mice was greatly reduced when they were given black tea. It is thought that polyphenols which are very strong antioxidants and are contained in the tea are the most likely reason for this phenomenon.
The costliest teabag ever was created for the 75’th anniversary of the PG TIPS tea company. The bag was filled with two hundred and eighty diamonds and expensive limited edition tea leaves. The tea bag cost 7,500 pounds and would be auctioned in aid of a Children’s hospital in Great Britain.
Contrary to what one might expect, Turkey is a land of tea drinkers. Turks drink more tea per head than any other nation, even more than the British and they are now the world’s biggest tea drinkers. The total annual consumption of tea in Turkey is approximately 120 thousand tons whereas that of coffee is only 8 thousand tons.
My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.
This is a passage I copied from The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear by Ralph Keyes.
“I thought that raising a family was a lot more important than writing,” said [Ken] Kesey. p. 57
Forget the myth.
There is no one I
Am put out with
Or put out by.
Unless I’m wrong
I but obey
The urge of a song:
I’m-bound-away!
And I may return
If dissatisfied
With what I learn
From having died.
From Away by Robert Frost.
Today I’m at Border’s making use of its extensive magazine rack to look at the next magazines on my list. The goal here is to further winnow my list by deciding which magazines I’d be willing to read at least a year’s worth of issues to figure out what’s been done and what the editor might think of as interesting for an upcoming issue.
Today’s list includes: Northern Ohio Live, Ocean Magazine, Offshore, Ohio Magazine, OK! Magazine, Onearth, Open Spaces, Orion, Oxygen! and Papercity..
Butt… Chair… Write…
I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Top 10 Foods for a Good Night’s Sleep
MAJOR Michael Irwin: For the last few days I have been traveling around Iraq visiting several Iraqi headquarters and their Ministry of Defense. My job has been to get some profiles on the various personalities and processes the Iraqi Air Force has to work with. My impressions, along with those of other advisors, are being consolidated as a report on Iraqi military…
(Because this URL has the word root in it, Word Press doesn’t like it. Please change b in boots to r and then cut-and-paste the following URL in your browser to get to Major Irwin’s post:
gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/2007/03/boots_of_all_ev.html)
It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.
AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring avertist. Keep reading…
CLUELESS OR LYING… YOU CHOOSE… One pass wasn”t enough for PR Week writer Hamilton Nolan when it came to Wal-Mart, Edelman and the damning Jeffrey Goldberg”s New Yorker article. Nolan came back to the story yesterday to give Edelman a few more well deserved swats. Keep reading…
FACT CHECK, AISLE SEVEN… There is a bit of viral emailing going on regarding Wal-Mart and Becky at I Thought I Would Have It Together By Now… wants to know how much of the information is true. My gut says that most of it was true at some point in the past year. Keep reading…
THE VALUE OF RELATIONSHIPS… One of the first posts I wrote for our predecessor – the No Cleveland Wal-Mart blog – concerned my check cashing experience at a local grocery that had been recently purchased by an out-of-town behemoth wanna-be. Keep reading…
TRUTH, TRUTHINESS AND PLAIN OL” FLACK… In a guest post to The Carpet Bagger Report, blogger Morbo is skeptical of the good Wal-Mart may do with its recent decision to be a guiding light in blighted, inner-city neighborhoods where everyone has given up hope. He writes: Keep reading…
PENN AND TELLER ON… WAL-MART… Sometimes I come across a video in my surfing that is way too good to put off until the midnight show at the Wally Plex. This Penn and Teller video is a case in point. Be warned. This is definitely cable TV fare and its R-rated delivery is not for the weak of heart. Keep reading…
WAL-MART: THE APRIL FOOL”S EDITION… When you have a brazilian stores (ask President Bush) a few odd events are going to occur, there”s just no way around it. Like the pissed-of Wal-Mart worker who set a bathroom on fire; or the Wal-Mart gift-card gang. The Wal-Mart Files has its top 10. Keep reading…
LIFE AT $1 A DAY… Penn Jillette took a couple righteous swipes at sweat shops in a recent episode of Bull Shit! He”s right when he says that labor practices we consider abhorrent were part of our own economic growth. But Jillette misses an important point: Keep reading…
MONEY EQUALS INFLUENCE… PERIOD… Business is apolitical; it will always seek to influence the seat of power and benefit, regardless of the political philosophy of that power. I, and others, have pointed to the disparity between Wal-Mart”s contributions to the political parties. Keep reading…
I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning head scratch I present: From My Dad.
A lady wrote the best letter in the editorials in ages. It explains things better than all the baloney you hear on TV:
Recently, large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the U.S. might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely. Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests.
Let’s say I break into your house. Let’s say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, “I’ve made all the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors; I’ve done all the things you don’t like to do. I’m hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house).
According to the protesters, not only must you let me stay, you must add me to your family’s insurance plan, educate my kids, and provide other benefits to me and to my family (my husband will do your yard work) because he too is hard-working and honest, except for that breaking in part. If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my right to be there.
It’s only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I’m just trying to better myself. I’m hard-working and honest, um, except for well, you know.
And what a deal it is for me!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of selfishness, prejudice and being an anti-housebreaker. Oh yeah, and I want you to learn my language so you can communicate with me! English is too hard for me to learn. You should also allow me to vote–in my own language, since I live in your house!
Why can’t people see how ridiculous this is? Only in America ….
If you agree, pass it on (in English). Share it if you see the value of it as a good simile. If not, blow it off, along with your future Social Security funds.
So all of us who entered this country (or whose ancestors entered this country — mine came in 1723) without a visa from a Native American tribe ought to go back to where we came from.
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