This Is Cool!

Chip Helps Electric Outlet Go Broadband
Sep 29, 8:58 AM (ET)
By YURI KAGEYAMA
story

Of course, from Japan.

The technology has been around for some time - including in the United States - but Matsushita's system is unique in that it delivers fast-speed broadband information at up to 170 megabits per second, which is faster than Ethernet

Attach a special device made by Matsushita into a socket and all you have to do is plug your TV or other gadgets into a socket for instant connection to broadband, which allows for faster transmission of online information than dial-up telephone connections.

Are They Stupid?

This just infuriates me.

Police: Baby Dies After 7 Hours In Mom's Car
story

How does someone leave a baby in the car for hours? I understand the neglecting ones that just don't care. The ones that say, "I had no idea, I thought my wife/or husband dropped her off." Are you kidding me. First off all children make noise. Even if they don't, that is no excuse for you not to know your child is in or not in your vehicle. How about this one, " I forgot to drop the baby off and didn't even realize she was in the car." Are you freaking kidding me. YOU DUMB ASSES. Lady, you don't deserve to be a parent. If you are that absentminded then you need to be arrested for stupidity. Try looking around in your vehicle if before you get out. I think parents should be charged, even for just a mistake. It is murder anyway you look at it. Not first degree(pre-meditated) but definitely warrants a murder charge or manslaughter. I am so sick of hearing these stories all the time and then the parents getting off because it was just a "tragic mistake." Yeah, one that should never have been made. Idiots.

Pretty Isn't It?

The $10 bill gets the new look.

New Bills Go Into Circulation Early Next Year

story

I am sorry this does not hold the hoorah it should to me. It was cool to see the $20 and the $5, now it is getting old. I just think there is so many more important things going on now, then to worry about the look of currency, that in probably 15 years won't exist anymore.

A Girl?

Boy Or Girl? Jennifer Garner Lets It Slip
story

But a little later in the show, Garner talked about her expanding belly and called her growing baby a "she." "You can just start to feel really pregnant. Like you are the hugest person on the face of the planet. ... And then I felt just bigger and bigger, like she ..."

Oops. Garner put both hands over her mouth. The audience cheered and Garner laughed.


I have been finding a lot of things online about pregnancy and I found a Chinese lunar calendar, it tells you if you are going to have a boy or a girl based of some info you give it.
It said we are having a girl. We'll see, I definitely want to know ahead of time.

'Get Smart' Star Don Adams Dies
story
Funny Show and a funny guy!


Police Arrest Cindy Sheehan During Anti-War Protest
story
It's about time somebody shut her up. Think she will go home? Doubtful. She will just cry about her freedom of speech being violated.

Lynndie England Convicted On Abu Ghraib Charges
story
Surprised? Not me. She is being made an example of.

On a lighter note.....
Twins Once Joined At Head Starting Walking
story

Ever Wonder Where Hurricane Names Come From?

Well it looks like New Orleans is flooding again.

National Guard: Worst Fears Come True As N.O. Floods
Mass Evacuation From Texas Coast Continues
story

Dozens of blocks in the city's impoverished Ninth Ward are under water as a waterfall at least 30 feet wide pours over a dike. It had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal levee.

...........and if the tragedy could get any worse.

HOUSTON -- BUS FULL OF EVACUEES EXPLODES: Click here for full story.

Authorities said the bus apparently caught fire due to a mechanical problem, and that oxygen tanks then started exploding on gridlocked Interstate 45. Dallas County Sheriff's Sgt. Don Peritz said the brakes may have been on fire, leading to the explosion.

Where do Hurricane names come from? I found this page.

Happy Ending!

Give those pilots a standing ovation. Excellent job! I had tears from watching that incredible landing they did. Of course the pilots were probably very calm and professional. It was definitely an awesome spectacle to watch.

JetBlue Flight Lands Safely
140 Passengers Aboard Airbus A320

Story

LOS ANGELES -- The airliner circled Southern California for hours, crippled by a faulty landing gear, while inside its cabin 140 passengers watched their own life-and-death drama unfolding on live television.

The pilot finally brought the plane down, back wheels first. As he slowly lowered the nose gear, the stuck wheels erupted in smoke and flames, which quickly burned out.

Nike's, Are They Really Worth It?

One of my friends and co-workers lives in the South Sacramento area of town. If you are from this area, you know where I mean. I am always telling her she needs to move. Everytime you hear something on the local news about violence, robberies, or shootings, it seems to be in that area. No I am not being stereotypical either. Just stating facts. This last Saturday was no different. From what I am reading, the new Nike Air Jordans were released for sale. A big fight broke out at Florin Mall from people trying to buy these new shoes. I am sorry but long lines are not worth $125.00 for a pair of stupid shoes. People get a life. I do like my Nike's, but they are not Air Jordan's and don't cost $125.00.

"It was crazy. People were running and screaming .... there was like six or seven cop cars here. Like four or five people got arrested," witness Rachele Delnero said.

Here She Comes

Ahhh, nothing like a woman scorned. Ok, maybe that is the wrong cliche for this. Hurricane Rita is on her way and the Oil prices are climbing again.
Oil hit $68 as Rita threatens supply
Sep 21 8:21 AM US/Eastern
By Simon Webb
story

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices hit $68 a barrel on Wednesday as Hurricane Rita threatened to add to U.S. energy supply woes by hammering Gulf of Mexico rigs, pipelines and Texas refineries.

They have not reached the peak high they did as with Hurricane Katrina, but that doesn't mean they won't. Here in Sactown, we have been enjoying a brief break in the gas prices as we saw a decline in prices. I guess it is going to go up again.

Baby Media Matters

Yep, a baby. Mr Media Matters and I have been trying for a while to have a little one. Last year we miscarried so it has been an uphill climb from there. Funny thing is when you just give up and move on to something else, it happens. Yay! We are early. Saw the heart beat today, everything is fine, so we are excited.

Baby Media Matters will definitely have his/her own page. It will be the trials and tribulations of infancy. Just a fun page. Everything that might be going through your little ones head when you change it's diaper, feed, or bathe. How about those wonderful tasting formulas and baby foods. Should be one expressive page. I do have a 16 year old, so this is a big jump in age difference.

The Emmy's

Disappointment and no really big surprises. Now I don't watch this show usually, award shows bore me, but ever since I have been with Mr. Media Matters, I find myself usually watching. He loves the shows. Tonight he told me that he wanted to watch so he could hear what the stars were going to say to bash Bush. You know they are going to. I told him why, you are just going to scream at the T.V., he says yeah, but I want to hear anyway. So the first one comes on Blythe Danner and what does he do, he muted the T.V. He says"just because these stars make fame and fortune, they think they have a right to make foreign policy." Most of them don't know what they are talking about anyway. Donald Trump and Megan Mullally singing "Green Acres" was pretty weird. Well, it is almost 9:00 and I am going to watch Footballers Wives.

Blog Things

Your Hidden Talent

Your natural talent is interpersonal relations and dealing with people. You communicate well and are able to bring disparate groups together. Your calming presence helps everything go more smoothly. People crave your praise and complements.

What's" Your Hidden Talent?

The Pop-Up Kitchen Cleaning Wipe

I don't get it. People find it so difficult to use the pop-up wipe for cleaning. This is not difficult, yet people find the art of pulling the wipe through the hole on the top the most tortuous of duties. They just give up and open the whole top and pull it through that way, bypassing the complete reason the wipe of convenience was invented in the first place(pop-up). Why buy the wipes then if you can't bother with the hole at the top. Go back to bucket and sponge, or as I use to do fill the kitchen sink with cleaner and water. I still do that because the wipes should only be for touch up anyway. You might wonder why I bring this up, I see so many people at work use them and they do the same thing. Most of us have these wipes on our desk for cleaning. Me, I am always going around picking up bottles and pulling them through the hole on the top. To me it is not difficult. Are the rest of you out there Pop-Up wipe challenged? Let me know.

So it's Official

The Gove"nater" is running for re-election next year. Hmmm! I don't know how I really feel about that. I am sick of seeing the Unions on TV every five minutes bitchin'. So I guess that will just get stronger.

Aide: Schwarzenegger to Seek Re-Election
Sep 16 2:23 PM US/Eastern
By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press Writer

Schwarzenegger "felt it was very important to let the people of California know this governor plans to be around for the long haul," campaign spokesman Todd Harris said. "It's not a 24-month job, it's a five-year job and he intends to see it through to the end."

Harris said Schwarzenegger would formally kick off his campaign after a special election on Nov. 8.

I do know that a lot of people are not too thrilled about this special election he has forced. This is a highly Democratic state and I think the shine has worn off of his silver lining. He doesn't seem to be impressing the same people he did when he jumped out and said he could run this state better than Gray Davis. We shall see what happens.

The Pledge of Allegiance

I am ashamed to say that I am from the area this Jackass is.

Judge: School Pledge Is Unconstitutional
Sep 14 3:19 PM US/Eastern
By DAVID KRAVETS
Associated Press Writer


Who remembers this story? I sure do. This idiot made a huge ass of himself trying to get the Pledge of Allegiance out of schools saying that "One nation under God" was unconstitutional. What a moron. You know I am not that religious of a person but I don't believe there is anything wrong with those words. Read here for the article on this nonsense. Looks like he got his wish.

A federal judge declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional Wednesday in a case brought by the same atheist whose previous battle against the words "under God" was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on procedural grounds. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violates school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

This is just ridiculous. Here is the Pledge of allegiance as I remember from all of my school days of being a kid.

"I pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,with Liberty and Justice for all."

This is a patriotic pledge and should not be deemed any religion. Today, now more than ever, we need our children to recite this and to understand it's meaning. For that matter, all people of this nation, not just children.

Funny Little Gadgets

Every year our company passes out these little gifts because we are so good at safety. Most years it seems to be a magnet. Well this year they have gotten creative. Beats my brain to figure it out. It is heart shaped, has a little button on the inside that if you push it a little tiny blade pokes out of the end. I think it is a letter opener, but I tried to open a letter with it and it didn't work. I think the funniest part of this is that they are rewarding us for safety, then give something we can hurt ourselves with and you know some idiot is going to. Then they are so many sue happy people in this world, they would probably sue because they hurt themselves. One of my co-workers just came over here and somebody said it was a CD opener. Well that makes sense. I put one of my CD cases(minus the plastic) up to it and it fits right into the groove part where the button and the blade is. Well then that is kind of cool. Plastic on CD cases are such a pain. I still think it is funny that it is a safety gift and you can hurt yourself with it.

DO You Know This Guy?

I bet you don't. Would you look at him and stereotype him? He looks like a thug, mean, drugs, hard core type rap guy like Eminem(no, Keith, that wasn't a compliment)? You probably wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley. I think you would be wrong on that assumption. Never judge a book by it's cover. Well let me introduce you to Keith Brooks, DJ extraordinaire for Flash 92.1 (yay, 80's). Regular readers of this blog know that I love the 80's and Keith loves the 80's too. Well, yesterday I had the privilege of hearing his monologue(gripe) on the way home from work. I love listening to Keith, I think he is just a funny, smart guy and a great DJ. I think he is a closet conservative also, he will poke fun of both parties though. I listened to him before he went to Flash and now on Flash. His biggest gripe was regarding PSA's. He said he was watching MTV and there was a PSA about kids and drugs or smoking or something like that and then 5 minutes later they are playing a Ludacris video and he promotes violence , drugs and raping women. I think I have to agree with Keith on this. It is hypocrisy in it's highest form. What happened to the MTV of the early 80's. I grew up on that. I was 13 when it came on the air for the first time. 24 hours of good music videos, good VJ's: how can you forget Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood(on the air every Sunday on Flash), Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson, and what was that blonde guys name? This rap music today and hip-hop is just trash. Keith made a point about what is wrong with our youth today. If I remember right here is one of his points and I quote.

"I then realized that we do so many strange things in this society like teach kids about sex at the age of 12 but then we can't figure out why boys have such little respect for women and women have such little respect for themselves."

Something I remember but can not quote because I don't remember exactly what he was saying word for word.
Giving kids licenses at 16 and the the number one cause of death between the ages of 16 and 18 is automobile accidents.
Giving the kids the right to drink at the age of 21 and the number one cause of deaths between the ages of 21 and 24 is drinking related deaths.
PSA's on MTV, then promoting morons like Ludacris and Eminem in the same 5 minutes.


It is no wonder our society is so messed up with today's youth and it just continues into adulthood. Lack of family support, education, and just plain morals. Keith has offered to send me a copy of the bit and when he does, I will load it to this post so that you all can hear him. He is on the air now you can listen to him live through the web. Check it out here on Flash 92.1, the best of the 80's and more, his show is 4-10pm. Or you can check out Keith Brooks page.

Keep up the good work KB. You Rock!

Ok, he has uploaded his bit from 9/7/05 and you can find it here titled KB's rant, at the top of the page. I had the pleasure of listening to it again and he is just right on with this I think.

Again man, you rock!

******Update to this post******
this was originally posted on 9/08/05 and sorry Brooke. Just to make you feel special here is your mention, Brooke Davis traffic on Flash 92.1, she's funny too. Thanks Keith for the promo, I sounded stupid. All you readers please refrain from foul language or I will remove your comment. I can take your idiot views only if you don't curse them.

pic courtesy of Flash 92.1

Interesting

Found this over on the Drudge.

CNN PRODUCERS TOLD ON-AIR GUESTS: GET ANGRY
Mon Sep 12 2005 12:42:11 ET

So is that what Celine Dion was doing when she said "take a kayak?" I didn't see that interview but I heard bits and pieces of it. The whole thing about poor people and who cares if they are stealing. "Let them touch it" "These are poor people". You know what Celine, I hate to break it to you. These were not poor people stealing because they wanted to "touch it. " These were people stealing because they wanted to steal. These immoral deliquents were raping, and killing. Should we let them do that because they might not have ever had the chance to "touch it?" You know what go back to Canada and stay there. Your comments were off base and completely unintelligent. Sean Penn, I feel so much safer now that he was roaming the streets with a shotgun. What an idiot. These idiots need to stick to what they do for their own job and leave the real work up to the grown-ups.

Remember!

We will never forget this day in history. The day the towers fell, the heart and gut wrenching feeling that went through us all across this nation.

A nation mourned.

Please remember the fallen, brave men and women that day with a moment of silence, and those that gave aid.

Funny Stuff

I think Dave Barry is one of the funniest writers. His columns are very funny, I try to catch one once in a while. I was just surfing and came across this one today.

Smart appliances are a real stupid idea
This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on Feb. 27, 2000.
Originally published on September 10, 2005

For example, the article states, you would have a home where the dishwasher
"can be turned on from the office" and the refrigerator "knows when it's out of
milk" and the bathroom scale "transmits your weight to the gym."

I wonder whether the appliance manufacturers, with all due respect, have
been smoking crack. I mean, did they ever stop to ask themselves why a consumer,
after loading a dishwasher, would go to the office to start it? Would there be
some kind of career benefit?

If you want to improve our dishwashers, give us one that senses when people
leave dirty dishes on the kitchen counter, and shouts at them: "PUT THOSE DISHESIN THE DISHWASHER RIGHT NOW OR I'LL LEAK ALL OVER YOUR SHOES!" Likewise, we don't need a refrigerator that knows when it's out of milk. We already have a foolproof system for determining if we're out of milk: We ask our wife.

check out the article here

Something funny I thought I would share this morning.

A Republi-Cat

This is Fiona, Mr Media Matters calls her a good Republi-Cat.

Pic courtesy of Mrs. Media Matters

I Believe This Was Expected

Bacteria in Waters 10X Safe Levels
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Fox News

Not a big surprise that officials are saying the flood waters are contaminated. Gee, ya' think. Let's see dead bodies, urine, other scummy things like gas and oil.

"The results came as no surprise to health officials who have been warning about the toxicity of the floodwaters since Hurricane Katrina."

"Rescue workers and residents remaining in the city were urged to take precautions to avoid getting the water on their skin — especially into cuts or other open wounds — much less in their mouths."

Sounds like good advice to me. I think residents should be out of the city by now and all that should be left is rescue workers, but of course that is not the case. The evacuees planned for Sacramento destination, should be arriving here tomorrow.

Insights

WAKE UP CALL

Rosecoloredworld has some insights on Hurricane Katrina and it's aftermath. Check it out!

For ALL Of YOU That Can't Understand Plain English.......or the facts

Thanks Paul
Shadow of Diogenes
Some Facts about Katrina
I got these tidbits off of Shrinkwrapped, You may want to read it.
(1) President Bush called for the evacuation of New Orleans before the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana did.
(2) Witnesses reported that floating grain barges may have opened the breach in the 17th Street canal wall.
(3) The levees in New Orleans were designed to withstand Category 3 hurricanes not Category 4 events and this was done decades before George W. Bush took office,
The vehement critics and Bush haters will ignore such revelations, but a fair person may take notice !

Thanks Kitty!
Kitty Litter
"(1) It is against the law for any President to order troops into a city or across state lines without a request and permission from the Governor of that state."

Thanks Dave
Thirdwavedave
"Here's the Mayor's announcement for NO to evacuate. He seems to know the worst is about to happen but does little to prepare for the immediate aftermath. I guess he thinks FEMA and the military will just magically appear on his streets. In the announcement, he states that the levees may fail and, with a two day head start, does nothing in the way of providing transportation for those with no way out of town. Which brings me to the buses."

Update: Sorry Pat, I found one from you too!
Thanks Pat
Brainster
"At least 1,000 times in the last nine days, a crew from the Clearwater Coast Guard Air Station has plucked a hurricane survivor from a roof. After some of them returned Wednesday, they recalled an amazing experience.The first day was the roughest, many said. There were so many people to rescue that sometimes they didn't know who to pick first.

But... but wait a minute! I thought the Federal Government didn't do anything to save lives in the first few days!"

PS, yes I am lazy that is why I copied these from my favorite sites

Gilligan

I loved watching Gilligan's Island. It was one of my favorite shows when I was young. If I catch it on somewhere now, I will usually stop to watch it.

"Bob Denver: immortalized in TV reruns as the most
clueless castaway of Gilligan's Island, died at a North Carolina hospital Friday from cancer-related complications, his family announced Tuesday. He was 70. "

By Joal Ryan :story here

Tragedy, Stories Continue....

My best friend has kids that live in Slidell, LA. Slidell was right in the path of Hurricane Katrina and my friend just found out this weekend his kids house was destroyed. He is attempting to get them out here right now. There are evacuees coming here for a while. Here is a link: I found interesting. Thanks Kitty for the updates and the link to the video.

Some Hope

Hi all, back from my break. Saw a couple of movies this weekend. The Cave, Ok. Red Eye, loved it with all the non-stop suspense. Could have answered a few more questions though.

So listening to the radio this morning and I hear that some evacuees will be coming to Sacramento. Shelters to possibly be at Cal Expo and McClellan(AFB once upon a time) maybe Mather(AFB once upon a time too).

I remember something that so infuriated me last week and that was hearing Doris Matsui speaking. Dem, Congress(I think, Rich, Dave correct me if I am wrong) She was saying how Sacramento could be a New Orleans and the same thing could happen to us because we are surrounded by water. Huh? Ok, first of all was she not here in 97? I was. She is saying how we need to re-enforce the levees or we are going to be another New Orleans. Ok here is a little history and geography lesson. Hurricanes do not come up this far on the Pacific Coast. Water's to cold. Second of all if you were here in January 1997, you remember the floods in January because we had so much rain that season and rivers and creeks were over flowing and then it rained for 4 days straight. I remember that and the frantic woman on the news that morning talking about her dog. That was my favorite story to come out of that time. I am sorry but I don't have a link to that story anymore. Use to be online. Rodeo was a dog that had got trapped on the roof of his home and the waters were rising. Michael Kidd, helicopter pilot for Channel 3 at the time, and his photographer kept flying all over that day and they would come back to him. Later they noticed that the waters were getting higher and risk their safety to save him. Of course the viewing audience did not see this feat but the next shot was of Rodeo licking the face of Ron(photographer), they had saved him. A local author wrote a children's book in memory of that. I bought one. The point is the levees were re-enforced then for that very reason. How dare Doris Matsui try to take the focus off these poor people over there and try to make like we have such a dire situation here. I was just so upset when I heard that.

Is It Getting Better?

I believe so, that there is new light. Ok, this morning I ventured onto the Fox News Channel briefly, as I said yesterday I was trying to not watch so much coverage. I was watching Geraldo live at the convention center in New Orleans and he was talking about and watching the helicopters land, picking people up, explaining how many people could get on them. As he is watching them come down from the sky, you could not help but be excited with him as he is carrying on about this, then he just shouted "God Bless the USA." in his excitement. Then of course there was the dim side to all of this, there are still people in the center, but people were finally being airlifted out of there. The troops were finally patrolling the streets and hopefully this will put a end to the negative element that was plaguing those streets with their violence . I also heard this morning that President Bush had made a plea to that Governor to evacuate the city before this happened and she did not heed his warning. The Bush bashing continues as it always does, whether it be the war, economy, or a natural disaster. It must be Bush's fault. Please, give me a break.

Gas Last Night

$3.05 that is a significant increase from Monday morning. I have a 4 day weekend this weekend so I probably won't blog much. I do not wish to think of Katrina right now as I am so discouraged with all of the negative reporting and bad things that are happening with these people. Rush said it best yesterday when he was talking about the left constantly pointing fingers and not being part of the solution. They never have answers, just blame. I will say this once and not again and this is not up for debate. Bush is not the problem and you idiots out there that think he is are just plain stupid. This has definitely brought the Bush bashers out in force. I have said it before and I will say it again. If you can't be part of the solution "get out of the way and shut up." I have not watched the news today so I am not up on the current situation, I went to the movie and ran errands. Later all, do what you can to support these poor destitute people who have nothing.

Thank You

I am proud to work for a company that has supported the effort of hurricane relief with a very large contribution yesterday. If you were listening to KFBK this morning you would of heard the announcement of $500,000 donated to the American Red Cross. Thank you. If you know the name of my organization please don't mention it in the comments, as I like to keep this private from work and mentioning names. I did get over to the Cal Expo with my donation this morning too, made me happy I could do a small part.

Oh Yeah

On that gas station I have been keeping track of in my neigborhood, $2.99 last night. So what was it when I started this? $2.67 Monday morning 3 days ago, now $2.99. Yuck, what I heard this morning is we don't even rely on the Gulf Coast oil in California.

My View and My Heart Breaks

Someone made a comment to me yesterday, when were talking about the catastrophe, that these people should of gotten out when they were told. Ok, let's have a little timeline here.

Monday early a.m. August 29, 2005
Hurricane Katrina slams into the gulf coast cities and towns of Louisiana and Mississippi. This category 4 hurricane reeks havoc on the towns leveling homes, buildings and anything else it can find to destroy. There are no boundaries for Mother Nature's fury, she does not discriminate. Mississippi has the brunt of it, as New Orleans breathes a little sigh of relief that they have damage, power outages and minimal loss of life at this time.

Tuesday a.m. August 30, 2005
Hurricane Katrina is still packing it's punch as it crosses state lines heading north. The rain that this storm dropped in the New Orleans area causes the rivers and water areas to be inundated and levees break causing 80% of New Orleans to be under water. Not only have lives been lost now, it is unfathomable to count at this time. Refugees pack the very damaged Super Dome (home of the New Orleans Saints) in need of shelter and aid. Over inundated with people it becomes necessary to make arrangements as there has been a request from the Mayor that all residents leave the city.

You ask what is my point of this story, well I will tell you. I believe the statement made by the person was very inaccurate. First the storm has caused major power outages and this has probably prevented communication that the levees were breaking. A lot of the people hit were the poor, elderly and children, that rely on public transportation to get out. Where was this going to come from? Watching the Fox News Channel last night and some of the videos and this poor black woman pointing behind her saying, "these people back there in the Projects, heart patients, diabetics and invalids need help." The Projects aren't exactly crawling with Mercedes, BMWs or Cadillac's. Please tell me how these people are to get out without aid? Hospitals with neo-natal units and life support patients. This has been the most devastating natural disaster to hit the U.S in most of our living years now. It may surpass the 1906 earthquake of San Francisco if it hasn't already.

The looting of TV's and guns is horrible. Today we need to support these people the best we can and Mr Media Matters and I are donating to the Red Cross to help with what we can. Please do what you can to aid