A big round of applause for "blog"

Let's hear it for the word "blog". What will next year's word of the year be?

My vote is for discombobulate.

The election results in Ohio get messier and messier

What a fricking mess! My parents, my wife, and I were walking around the Short North (a Columbus neighborhood) and we walked by a shop that was closing because the owner wanted to work on fixing the election mess in Ohio. Talk about dedication, and putting your neck on the line. I wish I could remember the name of the shop and owner so that I could give her the props that she truly deserves.

BuzzFlash > Contributor > Re-Vote, Not Recount, in Ohio

Frightening

Wal-Mart's China inventory to hit US$18b this year: "So far, more than 70 per cent of the commodities sold in Wal-Mart are made in China."

If you do your shopping at Wal-Mart please don't complain about America losing jobs or jobs moving overseas because you only have yourself to blame.

Are you spending wisely?

Have you ever thought about the fact that you may be unknowingly supporting Republicans with your purchasing decisions? Choose the Blue will help you determine whether corporations are using the money you have given them to support Democrats versus Republicans.

I think this site is a good start, but I would be even more interested in knowing which corporations keep their money completely out of politics. I think one of the major problems we have with our political system is that we have allowed corporate money to have too much control over the entire system (Republicans and Democrats alike). But still if I have to choose over spending my cash with a Democrat or a Republican company I will pick the Democrat supporting company every day of the week.

Thanks for the link Suzanne!

Badly Drawn Boy Concert Review

Sometimes a concert can just amaze you. Tonight's Badly Drawn Boy show at the Newport was one of those concerts for me. Damon Gough (who is Badly Drawn Boy, but he also had a crack band assembled for this tour), did not get off to a good start with the show. Microphones weren't grounded, monitors weren't loud enough, guitars weren't properly tuned, needless to say lots of problems. The first 4 to 5 songs that the band played, Gough stopped the song either a few seconds or a few minutes into the song. He had told the audience that he was going to play his new album in its entirety from start to finish. I was starting to think that this was going to be a horrible concert, that Damon Gough's perfectionism was actually insanity. A lesser artist would have given up and just done an abbreviated concert. Not Badly Drawn Boy, they got their act together and ended up making through the entire album and lots of their other songs. The band ended up playing for well over 3 hours. Their energy increased with each and every song that they played. I started to realize that I wasn't witnessing perfectionism, I was witnessing dedication. People paid to see him, and he was going to give them their money's worth.

It was a concert that made me think of things that really have nothing to do with music. People who show that sort of dedication in any aspect of their life just amaze me. They do what they do well, and they do it because they love it. It's not about the money, it's not about the fame, it's not about the boss. It's what a work ethic really is, before someone else twists it for their own need.

Enough is Enough (washingtonpost.com registration required)

It's hard to believe that this column showed up in a mainstream and advertiser supported newspaper such as the Washington Post. I'm glad to see they had the courage to print this article. Our nation's greed and materialism is killing us. Will any political party ever touch or mention this issue? No, because it would be political suicide given the way we have allowed corporate interests to dominate our economy and government.

We've Gotta Have It (washingtonpost.com)

Stuffed, Thankful, and Content

Stuffed! Is there anything else one can actually say about Thanksgiving? Probably. My wife and I cooked Thanksgiving for the first time (ok about half the meal was things we picked up at the store and reheated), and no one got sick. That's a plus. I helped my Mom carve the turkey, and I only cut my finger once. That's another plus. All is good in my little corner of the world. And that's a plus. So I guess there are lots of reasons to be thankful. I promise to go back to being a discontented turtle with my next post, but for tonight I'm a contented turtle.

Thanksgiving

At 36 years of age I am actually having my parents over for Thanksgiving for the first time. My wife and I went back and forth several times about how we should handle it. I thought we should just go out to eat since there are only 4 of us, but as usually happens in our household my wife won (though according to the minister who married us marriage is not about keeping score, yeah right!) and we are now hosting Thanksgiving dinner. So tonight was a night of cleaning the house, shopping for groceries, and decompressing before their arrival tomorrow morning.

Hopefully I will have some posts about the Thanksgiving feast and the rest of the weekend, but I make no promises. Gobble. Gobble. Happy Thanksgiving.

Textbook disclaimer stickers

These are hysterical and unfortunately way too true at the same time. Its hard to believe that this is 2004 and there is still a need for this. Do you ever get the feeling that we are about to (or have we already) entered the Dark Ages again? All we need is the bubonic plague to go along with Bush's new Crusades in the Middle East and we will be there again.

How the war on terrorism is hurting America

An interesting opinion piece from the Washington Post (sorry registration is required) about how foreign students are choosing not to come to American graduate schools. For many years graduate education has been one of the things that this country does better than any other country. Our heavy-handed post 9/11 visa policies are quickly ruining that. I'm sure other countries will quickly accept these students, and their countries will benefit instead of ours. Say goodbye to American progress in science and technology.

Looking for a crappy science job?

Popular Science has come out with another list of the worst jobs in science. There are some doozies on this list!

The Worst Jobs in Science: The Sequel - Popular Science

School of Rock? Kind of, but not really.

Here's a sample of what's happening on my other blog, Where's Our Real Teacher?:

There haven't been a lot of substituting assignments available this month, so even though I was very hesitant I accepted an assignment as a Elementary School Vocal Music substitute. No, I do not have any real music training (I had a year of piano lessons and I played trombone in high school, at which I royally sucked). So its all the more humorous when I found out that in addition to teaching the general music classes I would also be teaching 5th grade woodwinds and 4th grade violins.

If I would have known about the squeaking clarinets and the shrieking violins I would have brought ear plugs today. So how does one teach music lessons when they have no talent themselves, they place a CD into the school's boombox and tell the students to follow along. The CD that the students played along was hilarious, because all the students are really capable of doing is playing the same 2 or 3 notes over and over. So to make it sound more exciting the CD has an accompaniment with these rocking guitars. It works, because the kids thought it sounded cool.

Another interesting thing about working as a music sub is you work with a wider range of students. I taught a kindergarten class, 3rd graders, 4th graders, and 5th graders. Even though I was completely unqualified to teach this class it was easily one of my easiest sub assignments ever. I would "teach" for 40 minutes, and then I would get a 30 minute "planning period", also known as a break. Plus, I had 1.25 hours for lunch instead of the usual 45 minutes or hour lunch that I get when I sub as a regular classroom teacher.

Oh and today I learned that I can't say the word "accompaniment". It was on one of the word puzzles that the 5th grade music class had to complete. I tried saying the word about five times and it comes out gibberish. I keep trying at home and I still can't say it. There is nothing quite like showing your incompetence to a room of ten year olds.

Republicans warped view of Christianity

An interesting interview with Tony Campolo, a Baptist minister who was sprititual advisor to President Clinton.

A Thanksgiving Comic for the New Millennium

Eat up everyone, its time for thanksgiving!

Electric Sheep Thanksgiving 1998

More proof of the stupidity of war

I don't really have a good title for this post. Who is going to explain to this kid why he doesn't have a father? I think every year on his birthday Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rice, Wolfowitz and all the others who got us into this mess should have to explain to this boy why he doesn't have a father. And then the boy should be allowed to kick each of them in the shins as hard as he wants.

I know over 1200 other soldiers have died in this stupid war, but for some reason this particular story just happened to get under my skin.

Yahoo! News - Marine Killed Hours After Son's Birth

ShotgunGuide- Official Rules for Calling Shotgun

It's about time that someone put all the rules for calling shotgun in writing. Where was this when I was 16?

Hope for Liberalism

Maybe there is some hope for the future. Let's hope that this decade will just be seen as a "phase" that our country needed to go through.

Cool quote from Bob Dylan Autobiography

"Remember, Robert in life anything can happen. Even if you don't have all the things that you want, be grateful for the things that you don't have that you don't want."
His father to young Bob Dylan.

I found this in the new Bob Dylan autobiography. It was an interesting read, but his writing is all over the place. There is absolutely nothing chronological about his writing style. And there is some odd name dropping in the book, would you ever imagine Bob Dylan to be talking about Paula Abduhl or Ice-T? He does.

Further proof of my idiocy.

It was a pretty blue before I tried boiling the water.

Proof that not everyone is smart enough to boil water.

All I wanted was a nice bowl of oatmeal. Instead I almost start the house on fire. The tea pot actually welded itself to the burner. What have I learned from this:

1. I shouldn't cook without adult supervision.
2. Oatmeal is not a simple and healthy meal.
3. Blogging and cooking don't mix.
4. Always check to make sure you have put the whistler in the teapot.
5. Water takes less than an hour to boil.
6. My wife is going to kick my ass.
7. I'm still hungry.
8. I wonder if my wife still wants me to cook supper tonight.

Add your own caption!

Caption 1:
President Bush: Do I look as creepy as I think I do?
Magraret Spellings: YES! And stop checking out my tits!

Caption 2:
Margaret Spellings: You are all feeling very sleepy.
President Bush: I love it when she makes everyone cluck like a chicken.

Caption 3:
Margaret Spellings: I hope Lisa Loeb doesn't need her glasses back.

Caption 4:
President Bush: She looks so pink and soft. Just like a bunny. Pet the bunny. Nice bunny.

Caption 5:
Margaret Spellings: The President is this tall when he isn't standing on his step stool.

Caption 6:
Margaret Spellings: In order to make sure that no child has left behind I will hypnotize every last one of them.
President Bush: Maybe she can hypnotize all of those Kerry voters also so they stop laughing when I tell them I have a mandate. Hee, hee, hee, I said man date.

Your turn.

Credit is due to my wife for the hypnotism idea.

Original Picture was from CNN.

Why I Have a Big Belly!

ABC News: Study Links Sleep Deprivation, Obesity

Here I thought it was my love of donuts and Big Macs....but I guess it is the fact that I am up late again blogging.

Correction: Our Republican Politicians Are Hard At Work Again

I'll admit it ---- I was hoaxed. You have to admit though, it wouldn't be that surprising of a thing for one of those wacky Republicans to do.

http://www.14wfie.com/Global/story.asp?S=2573311&nav=3w6oTC9A
***********************************
Wow, can you believe our tax dollars are paying for this guy? Heaven forbid that we have snickering teenagers in this country.

Hostettler mounting campaign to change the name of Interstate 69

Maybe this Hostettler guy and the rest of Indiana should work on simplifying the time zones of Indiana instead.

Dogtoy or Marital Aid?

A very funny quiz. Either I don't have enough knowledge of marital aids or I haven't been spending enough time with dog owners, because I only scored a 7 out of 14 on the warm-up section.

Good luck!

Oklahoma here I come!!!!

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

I've been to all the states in red. Now some of those places I was just barely in---I've only changed planes in Texas, I rode the train through Alabama and Mississippi. I stepped on the corner of New Mexico (along with Colorado, Utah, and Arizona).

A goal I've had since I was about 7, and first started exploring maps was to visit all 50 states. Now I am thinking to myself, is there really a good reason to visit Oklahoma? I'm sure I can find good excuses to visit my other unvisited states, Alaska, Vermont, and Maine.

Looks like I have traveling to do

Good thing that 2005 is supposed to be my travel year, because there is a whole lot of grey space on my map of visited countries. My dream would be to head to either South America, Asia, or Australia next. Doubtful, but that is what I would like to do.



create your own visited countries map
or check out these Google Hacks.

My other blogs

I am currently juggling a total of three blogs.

1. Discontented Turtle, the one you happen to be reading right now. This is my catch-all blog. If it doesn't fit neatly into one of the other blogs it ends up here. For the last month or so it has ended up being mainly a political blog. That was never my intent, and as soon as I get the bad taste of the 2004 election out of my mouth I hope to begin blogging about a wider range of topics.
2. Books for Kids. My Books for Kids blog is my review of children literature. I started it last summer when I was working for the local library as a summer reading program assistant. As you may know from my other blog, I am also a substitute teacher, so I read a lot of children's books in that capacity also. And truthfully, I just like reading children's books. So these are my reviews of children's (and young adult) books. My favorite authors for children currently include: Doreen Cronin, Avi, Mo Willems, Rachel Vail, Janet Tashjian.
3. Where's Our Real Teacher? This is my online journal about my life as a big city substitute teacher. Its the view from the trenches. Often politically incorrect, but hopefully always honest. For the most part its me bitching about a job that I hate one day and that I love the next.

Will I be doing any other blogs in the near future? Possibly. I have been playing around with a photo blogging, so I might try doing something more with that in the near future. I am pondering the idea of starting a group blog with multiple writers from far flung places, but I need to think some more about it so that it has the proper focus. Any other blogs that I may or may not start would probably relate to upcoming changes in my life (going back to school, my life as a house husband, new jobs, who knows?).

Basically, I just wanted to give some publicity to my other blogs. I hope you check them out.

I sort of cheated......

I said I wasn't going to post about politics for a week. That doesn't mean I haven't been thinking or reading about politics. Here are some things that I have been reading and haven't posted about because of my silly promise.

The mainstream media begins to discuss possible fraud in the presidential election. Way to go Keith Olberman. This is just one of his stories about the election counts, he has been one of the few journalists/commentators to actually look into this story:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6368819/

Karen Cobb does an excellent job explaining what it means to be a liberal Christian and being upset about how right-wing Republicans have stolen and twisted Christianity for their twisted purposes.
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1025-25.htm

Ohio Election Fraud?
http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/11/far04038.html

Why didn't Warren County (Ohio) let the media observe the vote count?
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/11/05/loc_warrenvote05.html

It is always fun to watch the Russians make fun of our electoral process, check out these recent stories from Pravda:
http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/14556_ballots.html

http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/14555_euology.html

http://english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/14550_Christians.html

This one is absolutely hilarious (you may not want to read this if you have a problem with the word "fuck"). Could a redo of the Civil War be in our future?
http://fuckthesouth.com/

Liberal Christians do exist.......
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38001-2004Nov9.html
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1104-01.htm

Republicans want to ban exit polling......hmmmmmm, I wonder what their real motivation is?
http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/04/11/ana04027.html

These are just a few of the things that I have been looking at during my political blogging exile. Let normal blog programming continue as previously scheduled.

Will Freedom of Speech last on the Internet?

Are corporate interests once again going to trample over our individual rights to speak out about being wronged? One company is trying to muzzle their customers from speaking out about shoddy work by bringing them to court. Check it out.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2002084822_btgripesite08.html

Review: The Incredibles

Like all the other reviews have been saying, this was a fantastic superhero movie. Why are the animated movies these days so much better than the live action movies?

You're Love in the Time of Cholera!

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Like Odysseus in a work of Homer, you demonstrate undying loyalty by
sleeping with as many people as you possibly can. But in your heart you never give
consent! This creates a strange quandary of what love really means to you. On the
one hand, you've loved the same person your whole life, but on the other, your actions
barely speak to this fact. Whatever you do, stick to bottled water. The other stuff
could get you killed.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

This seems like an odd choice of a book for me, but an internet quiz couldn't ever possibly be wrong, could it?

No politics for one week.....

I've decided that I need to take a breather from thinking and posting about politics for the next week. I need to clear my mind and start over. Let's see how well I do with this.

Glitch? I don't think so, I call it theft!

No wonder the Republicans were in such a hurry for Kerry to concede the election. Isn't it just a little bit odd that the voting problems all ended up being in Bush's favor?

CNN.com - Glitch gave Bush extra votes in Ohio - Nov 5, 2004

When did theft become a "moral value"?

When will the mainstream press start doing some real investigation of what happened during this election? My guess is never.....but read the linked article if you want something to get you all riled up.

"Don't forget to get your twangers out and play with your balls"

Could this be for real? This is supposedly a clip of real children's television program from the 70's or 80's. I personally don't remember it---but the video looked real enough for me. Scary and funny at the same time!


Rainbow - Twangers Clip - TV Episode - innuendo Script with Zippy Bungle George Geoffrey

What are you gonna do about it? - Red Roach Blog

Red Roach and I bantered back and forth about the importance of voting several times during the election, but I think he makes an excellent point today. If we want to change the world we have to do it ourselves. Changing the world requires much more than the simple and relatively easy act of voting (even though I will say it again it sucks to stand outside in the rain for 3.5 hours). Are we willing to put in that effort? The bigger question is what are we going to apply that effort toward? I don't know for myself what that issue will be....but I know I have important thinking to do over the next few days.

Obituary for President George W. Bush

Holy crap! Another grim view of our future.

"Change comes from discontent"

I think that quote has been the most uplifiting thing I have read all day----let's hope its true. We all need to think about what we really accomplish next after the Republicans screw the next few years up.

People I am pissed at

I really thought that Kerry was going to fight this thing, but its looking like he is about to concede. I am pissed. I have a whole long line of people that I am pissed at. Here is my list, I'm sure I will add to it.

1. The Republican Party for turning the non-issue of gay marriage into an issue.
2. Voters for being sucked into the bigoted gay marriage issue.
3. Ohio voters for not concentrating on real issues, such as our crumbling economy.
4. Myself for not doing more to campaign for Kerry.
5. Myself for not getting involved more in the primary process so that we might have a better candidate than Kerry.
6. Ken Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State, for working his hardest to disenfranchise new voters
7. NBC News and Tom Brokaw for calling the Ohio results before provisional votes were counted and before any of the other networks.
8. Rudy Giuliani. At about 3 am early Wednesday morning Giuliani was being interviewed by NBC----he said that Kerry was hurting America because Kerry wanted the votes counted in Ohio. Mayor Giuliani---- I DON'T CARE IF WE ARE AT WAR-------AMERICA IS STILL A DEMOCRACY AND EVERY VOTE DESERVES TO BE COUNTED.
9. The Republican Party for making America feel that dissent is anti-American and unpatriotic.
10. Undecided voters----What the hell was there to be undecided about?
11. Sinclair Broadcasting----I'm sick of Mark Hyman's stupid right wing editorials.
12. Sinclair Broadcasting----For pulling ABC news coverage of election returns at Midnight. Nothing was close to being decided at that hour. Was it really necessary to broadcast some stupid entertainment "news" show?

Like I said I am sure that I will add to this list as the day goes on.

The whole things smells fishy to me!

Check out this story about the discrepancy between exit polls and the actual election results. Isn't it just a little fishy that most of the discrepancies have occurred with electronic voting?

Keep hope alive!

It looks like Kerry/Edwards aren't going to concede Ohio as fast as the media would like. If I heard Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell say earlier tonight there may be as many as 130,000 provisional ballots that won't be examined/counted for ten days.

Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive! Keep hope alive!

What the hell?

I feel like curling up in a ball and crying myself to sleep. I keep trying to tell myself that this election isn't over---but it certainly doesn't look very good right now. How in the world George Bush is going to win a second election I will never understand.

I did so many things for the first time during this campaign. I donated money for the first time. I volunteered for the first time. I stood in the line for 3.5 hours in the rain. And what do I have to show for it? Jack squat. I hope I wake up and this was all a bad dream.

Turtle's Big Day of Democracy

Me and 2000+ others waited 3.5 hours in the rain to vote today. Don't tell us that democracy isn't important!

I thought I would try and vote in the morning and get it done with early. Well the lines were already too long---previously I have never waited more than five minutes to vote at my precinct. I had tried getting in line at 10:00 AM and I was told that the line was 2.5 hours long. Since I was scheduled to make calls for John Kerry at 1:00 PM I would have to put off voting until the end of the day.

I arrived at the union headquarters where the Kerry volunteers were working this day. The parking lot was packed, I ended up parking on the grass there were so many volunteers present. I walk into this room filled with at least a hundred people talking on cell phones. I go to the sign-in desk and I am told that all the phones are being used currently and they will get me a phone as soon as one becomes available.

I finally am given a cell phone, a list of phone numbers, and a short script. I start dialing numbers. Most of my talking was to voice mail, reminding people they need to come in and vote. The live people that I talk to seem to be a large number of old ladies who can't hear and people who tell me that no one by that particular name lives at that home. Finally I start talking to some people who have already been out to vote.

I am not a great phone talker---I seem to have a lot of trouble hearing people on a phone. Put me in a room filled with 100 other people talking on phones, I am having even more trouble hearing anything. All I can do is keep plugging through the lists of voters.

Between phone calls I start looking around at who else is participating in this phone calling activity. Talk about diversity. Women and men. People in the room range in age from about 15 to upper 70's. There are blacks, Hispanics, whites. There are lots of working class looking people and lots of more well to do types. It really is a good feeling to know that there is such a wide range of people who share your political views. It gives you hope.

I learn lots of interesting things in the room. I hear about other voters spending 4 hours in line to vote. I hear about other voters being challenged from voting. I hear about tactics being used by Republicans to keep people from voting. And I start to hear some internal exit polling numbers and I hear lots of things that sound good.

After I hear more and more about people waiting for a long time in line. I start to feel like I need to go and vote and make my voice heard.

I get in line to vote at 5:15 PM; the line wraps around the block. Rain is lightly falling and most everyone is making predictions about how long we will be waiting in line. As soon as the sun sets, the temperatures fall quickly. About this same time the rain begins to fall harder and the wind starts to blow. I realize quickly that my waterproof jacket, isn't really that waterproof.

Even though the line is very long, everyone in the line is in a very good mood. People like to feel like they are doing their part. Standing in line for 3.5 hours really isn't that much of a sacrifice compared to what others have sacrificed. Plus they start handing out coffee, water, donuts, sandwiches. Hell one guy is even handing out beers to the line.

At 8:30 PM I finally am able to sign my name to vote, and at 8:40 I am led into the voting booth. I make my selections and now I sit in front of the television and wait for what the results will happen.

VOTE!

I've been away from the computer for a few days so I haven't added any new commentary lately. Election day is actually here tomorrow, and I'm glad. As much of a political junkie that I am, I don't think I could handle another day of this silliness.

As I watched the evening news tonight, there wasn't a single ad that wasn't for some politician or another. Where have all the hemorrhoid and tampon commercials gone? The ads just blurred one into the next---it really sounded to me just like the adults on the old Peanuts cartoons....blah, blah, blah, blah. These were mainly advertisements for various local races---and I really would like to know more about these candidates, but 30 seconds of telling me how bad someone else is, does me no good. Aaargh!

With that said, get out there and vote tomorrow. Why? Because its one of the few responsibilities we citizens have in this country and it is pretty pathetic when more than 50% of our country is too irresponsible. Why else? Because I don't like hearing people bellyache about our country, our government, our schools, our roads, or anything else unless they have at least done the minimum of voting to try and change things for the better.

Tomorrow afternoon I am going to volunteer for the Kerry campaign, I'm going to make some phone calls and make sure that all of you have completed your voting (actually I will probably be calling people off of some pre-determined list of likely Kerry supporters, but hey, I'm doing something).

VOTE!