4 Cats

I now have 4 cats: Ebby, Macy, Holly, and Killdozer.

Houston Astros

I went to an Astros game the other day. Apparently we still have a baseball team.

In more important sporting news, our semi-pro hockey team, the Houston Aeros, moved to Iowa.  Unlike the Astros, the Aeros actually won games.

Weaklings

There is something profoundly unmanly about a 26 year-old fellow whose wife works 7 days a week who has nothing better to do than kill people.

This seems both sad and ironic.  The uncle who called the elder Tsarnaev brother a "loser" clearly knew his nephew well.  How much lower can someone fall into loserdom than to become a jobless, woman-beating, wanna-be boxer, religious fanatic murderer?

Doom

A lot of folks, especially older folks, seem to talk about how bad the world has gotten and how the world is going to hell and so forth.  The notion that the world is getting worse is patently untrue.  There are fewer wars and less starvation and disease every year.  The fact that individual deaths are now newsworthy means that there are rarely enough mass killings to occupy more than a few consecutive news cycles.

Some people I know complain about immigration and overpopulation.  I, for one, do not think that the world is suffering from an overabundance of Americans.

Some people complain about social changes.  My generation is not, as some may have it, corrupt or morally bankrupt.

Some people complain about the environment.  While there is value to plants and animals and "natural" systems, it is not as though Earth is humanity's only option.  A friend of mine once aptly pointed out that Earth is a giant death trap, a rock flying through space waiting to get smashed by another rock.  But this was not meant to be depressing, as humanity has countless other worlds to choose from.

People are creative.  If social and technological advancement went into park, sure, we wouldn't do that well. But society and technology are advancing ever forward.  Humanity will do just fine.

Italian Sailors, Amanda Knox, and Extradition

The law should be fair, just, and impartial.  It should not favor a citizen over a foreigner.  About the worst thing that a court can become is a place for locals to vent their anger at foreigners by having them thrown in prison.  But on the other side of the coin, a country should not allow the offenses of its own citizens against foreigners to go unpunished any more than it should allow the crimes of foreigners against its own citizens to go unpunished.

So it always pains me to see fights between nations over where someone should be tried.  It shouldn't matter where the trial happens. The law should be fair to everyone everywhere.

Too Bad for The Onion

North Korea is going to destroy the world and Hugo Chavez was poisoned by "dark forces."

Now I don't even have to read the onion to get my fake news.

One Icon Folders

Why does Windows create a start menu folder when there is just one icon in the folder?  Whoever came up with the idea to automatically create a start menu program folder even when there is just one icon in the folder should be shaken vigorously, and possibly yelled at.

Haircuts

I went into the barber shop (alright, technically they are "stylists," but who knows the difference?).  I had my blue Brooks Brothers blazer on.  My hair was a bit long.  I said "cut it short."  This barber (alright "stylist") has cut my hair several times before and has always done a solid job.

So after a good hunk of my hair is gone, she asks "so you want it spiked and with yellow streaks right?"  I about had a stroke.  She really meant it.  I suppose because when folks wearing Brooks Brothers jackets come in asking for "short," they obviously want spikes and yellow streaks.