Supreme Court Gives Republicans Something to Cheer About, Again

Good Day World!

Our conservative, Republican-loving Supreme Court once again gave the Republican Party something to cheer about.

A 5-4 decision striking down aggregate campaign-finance limits has Republicans dancing in the aisles.

And why not? The plaintiff in the case, Shaun McCutcheon of Alabama, is a Republican, and the Republican National Committee even filed a brief in support of him.

Here’s the upshot of this biased decision: NBC's Pete Williams reports it invalidated the limit on how much any individual can contribute to all federal candidates ($48,600) and political parties ($74,600).

A Republican mega-donor like Sheldon Adelson - or a Democratic mega-donor like George Soros –can now donate to an unlimited number of candidates and party organizations, as long as the contributions remain within the caps.

Combined with this latest decision and the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision, which led to an explosion of spending from outside political groups, it’s going to be easier than ever to buy votes.

The Republican Party typically has a wider base of these mega-donors. According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, six of the 10 biggest donors to outside groups in 2012 were Republicans - including Adelson at No. 1, who spent a whopping $93 million that election cycle.

But guess what folks?

All that money didn’t buy the last election. The thing the Republican Party doesn’t seem to understand is until they have a broader appeal – bringing more minorities into the fold – no amount of money is going to buy the presidential election. There’s only so many angry white guys, and their numbers don’t come near the rest of the population.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Duke Kahanamoku: Let’s Go Surfing Now with the ‘Father of Surfing’

Good Day World!

Surf’s up today!

It’s time for a people feature. Don’t you love reading about interesting people?

Take this guy:

“Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian competition swimmer who was also known as an actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player and businessman credited with spreading the sport of surfing.

"Duke" was not a title or a nickname, but a given name. He was named after his father, Duke Halapu Kahanamoku, who was christened by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who was visiting Hawaii at the time.

The younger Duke, as eldest son, inherited the name. His father was a policeman. His mother Julia Paʻakonia Lonokahikina Paoa was a deeply religious woman with a strong sense of family ancestry.

When Duke became a household name due to his swimming feats, many people thought he was of Hawaiian royalty. It was assumed by many that he was a duke and that it was his title. He was a very modest and unassuming man who got a chuckle of being thought of as royalty and never hesitated to set the record straight about his lineage.” (via Wikipedia)

I’ve assembled this learn board featuring longboard legend Duke. It shares a video of him in action (1939 and in color!) and a lot of other interesting things about this fascinating man. Enjoy!

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Something tricky this way has come!

I know it’s April Fool’s Day.

Any fool knows that right?

The internet is full of pranks right now.

News editors, advertisers and search engine operators around the world are letting their hair down and trying to see what they can sneak past the general public.

It can be a challenge to spot the fake among the genuine news.

Here’s an interesting round-up of 2014 April Fool’s pranks.

If that’s not enough for you check out these April Fool’s Day jokes.

I’m seriously wondering if Google or someone else is playing a prank on my blog today! I average over 12,000 views daily, but today they’ve just dropped through the floor!

Yesterday I could look at my stat counter continuously moving – recording views. Today the stat monitor is changing so slowly it’s unreal. Only about a sixth of the normal views thus far. I don’t know what’s happening.

Possibilities: Malware attack; Google prank; some hacker who doesn’t like me screwing with stats; or simply a SLOW DAY for views! I guess I won’t know for sure until tomorrow.

 

 

 

Ancient Abydos: 3,300 Year-Old Egyptian Tomb Discovered

Good Day World!

 I’ve got an exciting discovery to share with you today.

If you’re like me, all things about ancient Egypt are exciting. New discoveries rate 5 stars in this blog. Check this one out:

(In one of the burial chambers the archaeologists found a sandstone sarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a "scribe" named Horemheb.
Credit: Photo courtesy Kevin Cahail) View full size image

 A tomb newly excavated at an ancient cemetery in Egypt would have boasted a pyramid 7 meters (23 feet) high at its entrance, archaeologists say.

The tomb, found at the site of Abydos, dates back around 3,300 years. Within one of its vaulted burial chambers, a team of archaeologists found a finely crafted sandstone sarcophagus, painted red, which was created for a scribe named Horemheb. The sarcophagus has images of several Egyptian gods on it and hieroglyphic inscriptions recording spells from the Book of the Dead that helped one enter the afterlife.

There is no mummy in the sarcophagus, and the tomb was ransacked at least twice in antiquity. Human remains survived the ransacking, however. Archaeologists found disarticulated skeletal remains from three to four men, 10 to 12 women and at least two children in the tomb. (Original story at LiveScience)

(Gallery: See Images of the Newly Found Tomb)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

The Reason Why Girls Flipped Out When They Saw the Beatles

Good Day World!

I’ve read some interesting things about the Beatles over the years, but one of the most fascinating is this article via Business Week: 

“Typically, we equate crying with sadness and fainting with illness.

The truth is, our brains are actually pretty dumb, and any sudden, strong emotion – from happiness to relief to stress – can elicit these vulnerable physical reactions.

Our autonomic nervous system (the “involuntary” nervous system) is divided into two branches: sympathetic (“fight-or-flight”) and parasympathetic (“rest-and-digest”). Acting via the hypothalamus, the sympathetic nervous system is designed to mobilize the body during times of stress. It’s why our heart rate quickens, why we sweat, why we feel ready to run. The parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, essentially calms us back down.

The parasympathetic nervous system does something funny, too. Connected to our lacrimal glands (better known as tear ducts), activation of parasympathetic receptors by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine results in tear production. So for those fans relieved to finally see their Fab Four, tears were commonplace.

For others, though, the sudden activation of their parasympathetic nervous system is accompanied by something much more dramatic. A quick drop in blood pressure results from vessels widening and heart rate slowing, hence the fainting.

Fainting, crying … exactly the things you’d want your hero to see you do when you finally meet them, right?”

Snippet from Science Explains Why Girls Went So Crazy For The Beatles
Time for me to walk on down the road…Abbey Road that is!

Check out the Festival of Color in Spanish Fork, Utah today

Good Day World!

Every year in the early spring, the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah (approximately 50 miles south of Salt Lake City), hosts one of the largest Festival of Colors events in the Western Hemisphere.

On each of the two days of the festival, scheduled “throwings” of colored powder occur throughout the day. These throwings are preceded by countdowns led by an announcer over a microphone.

Throughout the festival, musicians play traditional music that features the names of God, and they lead the crowd in mantras.

Participants mingle in the crowd in front of a stage where people dance, crowd surf, form conga lines, and generally have fun. Click here for information on the festival today, or, plan ahead for next year.

Here’s a link to this year’s festival – a Photo Gallery – from the Salt Lake Tribune.

Those who aren’t interested in the crowd can eat authentic Indian food, visit the temple’s llamas, shop among a variety of vendors, or explore the outside of the temple. The temple’s interior is closed during the Festival of Colors to preserve its cleanliness.

Between scheduled throwings, it is entirely commonplace for participants to throw, smear, or sprinkle the colored powder on each other.

This colorful festival in Spanish Fork is based on the Hindu religious holiday Holi (pronounced the same as holy). The celebration of Holi began in northern India but has since spread to southern India, other South Asian countries, and even the rest of the world. Because Holi is celebrated as a two-day event in Spanish Fork, the experience is very different from what one would experience in India, where Holi is celebrated as a holiday that can span several days.

Dr. Charles Nuckolls, a professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University, explains one of the biggest differences: “In India, Holi is not a crowd process. There can be crowds, but that’s not really how it works. You don’t stand in place and wait for the powder to descend upon you. You could be walking anywhere and somebody pops out and throws color on you.” (Via Stowaway)

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Tattoo You! New Meaning to Corporate Branding and Addiction

Good Day World! 

Here’s a column I ran in The Times-Standard newspaper last Spring that attracted readers like bees to honey:         
                                                 
Do you have a tattoo?

Their common these days. A Pew Research Center (PRC) report last May revealed that 1 in 5 Americans have one. It didn’t surprise me. Nearly everywhere I go, I see someone with tats.

That made me wonder what effect all these tats have on our economy? I’d say a very positive one when you consider $1.65 billion was spent on tats in 2012. Research (PRC) statistics show 45 million Americans got tattoos last year (2013).

The rapid growth of tattoo parlors - 21,000 and counting - in America has given the economy a shot in the arm. Can’t argue with statistics. When the total of all U.S. citizens (all ages) have at least one tattoo, you will have a boost to the economy that bodes well for the future.

I’ve looked into the cost of getting a tattoo and it ranges from $45 for a small one, to $150 an hour for large ones. When I see some of the more elaborate tats - full arms, chests, backs, legs, etc., dollar signs start rolling in my head like a slot machine! Some dedicated people, will probably never stop getting tats until they run out of space.

My research shows that 32 percent of people with tattoos say they are addicted to them. There are worst addictions I suppose, but like any addiction, tattoos can be expensive over a period of time. As someone who believes in moderation in all things, I think any addiction is a problem.

There are ways to make money on tattoos, you know. I don’t mean in a circus like the bad old days, but in legitimate deals. I’ve seen examples in recent years where people are paid cash to have a product name tattoo on their hide. Everything from beer to Mike’s Pizza parlor!

The best example of this - and probably the wave of the future - is a business called Rapid Realty. You want corporate branding? The company offers their agents a 15% financial incentive to get the company’s logo tattooed on their body.

There’s no specification where the tattoo has to be. At last report, 44 employees out of a possible 1100 now have company ink forever. It could mean up to an additional $6,000 to $7,000 a month for those individuals! It’s a new program, so give it time. Those numbers are likely to grow.

The boss pays for the tattoo. But what happens to those newly branded employees? Are they considered major suck-ups? Or do they make sure to put their tat where the sun doesn’t shine?

Which brings up the question; how far would you go to get ahead in your job? What if your company offered you a lucrative financial incentive to have their logo tattooed some place where the sun does shine?

Take the case of Billy Gibby of Anchorage, Alaska:

Billy the Billboard, as he’s known, told the local media in March he would tattoo other parts of his body with “sponsored ink” in exchange for the ones that currently cover his face.

His mug is adorned with 20 logos from porn sites to Dr. Freak.com. It’ll take $4,000 to get the logos removed. After three years with an ink-scarred face, the 32-year old man is offering prime real estate on other parts of his body. It’s only fair to point out that he’s bi-polar and not everyone would go this far to sport ink for bucks.

I did read about a guy who got his eyeballs tattooed black (4/17) because he was addicted to tattoos. I’m not going to count him here because he lives in Brazil and we’re talking about America. Still, that’s how addicted a person can be.

Grammy-winning rapper Lil Wayne put out a video in 2011 explaining his addiction to ink. He just wanted to be like rapper 2PAC (Tupac Shakur), who was killed in a drive-by shooting. Whatever.
There’s even an Android app called “Love Tattoos” for addicts of all things ink. You can go there for news and views that are updated daily. It’s a great place to get your tat on!

ABC showed a good documentary - My Tattoo Addiction - on March 6th. One of the interesting parts was about home tattoo kits becoming available everywhere. I suspect this will encourage more people to get more tattoos…to the point of addiction. Think about it, you don’t buy the whole kit and just give yourself one tat.

What’s that? You say people could also use that same tattoo kit to give others tattoos? Talk about scary. There’s this little matter of hygiene and infections these newly minted tattoo artists will bring to the table.

As It Stands, in full disclosure I admit that I don’t have a tat. Tattoo you?

There’s a Bad Smell in NJ after the Release of ‘Bridgegate’ Report

 Good Day World!

 Whitewashing scandals is nothing new in politics.

See the clown (photo) holding up a report? His name is Randy M. Mastro. More on him later.

The recent exoneration of NJ Gov. Chris Christie in the “Bridgegate” scandal is the latest example.

A report that cost the taxpayers $1 million dollars concluded Christie was not involved in the bridge closings, and furthermore, he wasn’t a bully either!

Okay. This controversial report came up just short of suggesting Christie should be canonized. To put it nicely, something stinks in New Jersey politics.

According to The New York Times – March 27: 

“The Port Authority official who oversaw the lane closings at the George Washington Bridge said that he had informed Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey about it at a Sept. 11 memorial while the closings were occurring, according to the findings of an internal investigation released on Thursday by lawyers for the governor.”

The report said that Mr. Christie did not recall any such conversation, and it found no evidence that he was involved in the scheme.”

Okay. But why doesn’t the report say the official lied? Here’s why; Randy M. Mastro, the lawyer who led the internal investigation, explained that:

“The governor recalled seeing Mr. Wildstein,” Mr. Mastro said. He recalled a brief interaction, he said, “but does not recall the specifics of that conversation or the mention of any traffic issue in Fort Lee.”

“The governor points out that the mention of traffic issue in Fort Lee would not have been memorable or meaningful,” he said.

WTF? One moment Christie doesn’t recall (in the same report) talking to the official, and in the next paragraph he says he did…but so what? The information wouldn’t have stuck with him anyway. Really?

“However, the report could not answer one central question: Why?

The plan to close the lanes was orchestrated by David Wildstein and approved by Bridget Anne Kelly, Mr. Christie’s deputy chief of staff until he fired her in January, according to the report.

“Whatever motivated Wildstein and Kelly to act as they did, it was not at the behest of Governor Christie, who knew nothing about it,” the report stated.

No other members of the governor’s staff were involved in the lane closings, the report found.”

Well how about that? Only two people in that tight-knit staff are taking the fall for the political bridge prank. Kinda hard to believe isn’t it? Get this:

“The lawyers were not able to interview Ms. Kelly and Mr. Wildstein — who are currently fighting requests from state investigators to turn over personal materials related to the scandal — raising questions about the internal report’s thoroughness.

Mr. Mastro, under heated questioning, spent much of the news conference defending the internal investigation as both objective and worth the cost to taxpayers.”

I think you ought to know that this internal review was conducted by a law firm hired by Christie. No bias there, eh? Mastro was nothing more than a paid flunky expected to clear Christie – which he did to the 9th degree…and beyond! Check this drivel out:

“The report suggests that Mr. Christie became highly emotional at a meeting in the State House in January when he learned that Ms. Kelly and Mr. Stepien were involved in the scheme, even “welling up with tears.”

The report also sought to vindicate Mr. Christie on the more abstract notion that he fostered a climate of intimidation.”

Excuse me, I got a little choked up there! I hope Mastro was wearing boots after sharing that pile of shit! Guess what? No surprise here:

“The New Jersey lawmakers leading the state inquiry released a statement saying that the report had serious deficiencies, and Mr. Christie’s opponents were quick to dismiss its findings.

“Randy Mastro could have written his report the day he was hired and saved the taxpayers the million dollars in fees he billed in generating this one-sided whitewash of serious misconduct by the Christie administration,” Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said in a statement.

What we didn't get for that hefty price tag to New Jersey taxpayers were any interviews with the key figures who executed the plan or any insight into why this happened," said Mo Elleithee, a DNC spokeswoman.”

Time for me to walk on down the road…

Thursday’s child: a short essay on twisted logic

Good Day World!

Welcome to Thursday.

For starters, Thursday was named after the Planet Jupiter (or Thor – the Nordic name for Jupiter).

Thursday’s child is said to be honorable, expansive, generous, jovial, philosophical and/or extravagant, conceited, hypocritical, sharp-tongued, and fanatical.

Some of history's most infamous agitators were born on a Thursday. In fact, lower down the wretched pecking order, the human archive is teeming with a veritable rogue's gallery of scoundrels, con men and miscreants who all share a hidden secret: they were born on a Thursday.

Even today, wherever there's trouble in the world, look around and there's bound to be someone with their hand in it who was born on a Thursday.

There is of course nothing exclusive about people born on a Thursday, or any other day of the week for that matter. So why bring it up?

Because the logic behind isolating and generalizing about people born on a Thursday is the same twisted logic behind isolating and generalizing about any group of people.

Yet such sweeping judgments are as widespread today as ever; and they are passed down in varying measures upon, for example, blacks, whites, Indians, albinos, vegans, cat-lovers, tightrope walkers, Sagittarians, chess players, women hockey players, and of course Laker’s supporters.

In fact just about anyone who is different to you. So, don’t allow yourself to be branded by anything – your race, religion, or the day you were born. For the record, I was born on a Thursday.

Time for me to walk on down the road…

 

Evaluating Earthquakes: Lots of Places are Waiting for the ‘Big One’

Good Day World!

I was raised in Southern California and the most popular topic there growing up was, “When the Big One hits.”

I grew up waiting for a catastrophic earthquake that never came. Sure, there were a couple of bad earthquakes, but nothing like what geologists expect to happen along the San Andreas Fault some day. Any day.

I moved to Medford, Oregon, last September only to find that I was once again in range of where a “Big One” could happen. Sitting on a major fault line, Medford, Oregon, is "like an eight-and-a-half-month pregnancy, due any time now" for a major earthquake, according to a geologist with the Oregon Office of Emergency Management the same month I relocated.

Most recently, it’s been Chile’s northern coast that has been hit by more than 300 earthquakes in the past week. Seismologists warned Tuesday they could be the precursor to a long-overdue disaster. In other words, “A Big One.”

Experts analyzing this flood of data are worried the increased seismic activity could be a sign the region is about to experience its first devastating quake in 137 years. The last event, a magnitude-8.5 quake in 1877, killed thousands of people and created a deadly tsunami that reached Hawaii and Japan.

I guess there’s just no way around it. The earth is rocking and rolling all the time. Despite experts and advanced technology, no one knows when the “Big One,” will arrive – regardless of where they live.

You can take some precautions and have an emergency plan and supplies ready if that horrible day does arrive. But that’s all you can do. That, and pray you’ll live through it!

Time for me to walk on down the road…carefully