while checking my web stats for the domain, of course i had to see what sort of weirdass search strings found this blog over the last month...as usual there was quite an assortment...here, then aresome of my favorites from October:
1) ecstacy causes bipolar disorder - boy do they ever have this one wrong...i was bipolar long before ecstacy was around, as were many of my bipolar friends.
2) medicinal leeches commercial imports u.s.a. - i had no idea that there was such a thing...why would anyone want to find them...wonder if they like my blog
3) what happens if an empty coffee pot is left on the burner - someone actually needed to resarch this question???
4) riker island coffee mugs - i wonder if they have some significant value, or are they just prison mugs...hrrrmmmm
5) tengu steak jerky - is there such a thing, and if so is it any good
6) tonya harding peed her pants - i'm sure she did, when she was a baby...why of why would someone want to search on this...get a friggin life
7) photo du chimpanzee - ???
8) i fucked my best friends husband and now i can't stop - ain't that sorrier than hell...once again, get a fucking life
9) queen victoria's cat shooting - ok, who did the cat shoot??or is it the other way around?
in the course of tracking down the where SARS came from, and how it spread, scientists determined that cats and ferrets could catch and spread the disease...while they have not determined whether they can spread SARS to human, and there have been no documented cases of it cats having or spreading it in the US (at least outside a lab), somehow it will turn out they can and will do so...all part of an evil cat plot to eliminate all us dog lovers...i have seen the evil looks ourr cat gives me every time i pay attention to the dog, doubly so if i refuse him attention while doing so...i have no doubt the cat is mulling over catching SARS with the sole intent of infecting me and causing my demise in retaliation for liking the dog better...guess i better start wearing one of those medical masks from now on to protect myself...i hope it's not already too late.
proving once again that Texas is fighting to reenter the 1950s, our new abortion laws went into effect...unable to outright outlaw abortions, they are content to use intimidation, lies, and sophistry to stop them from happening...state officials deny that requiring women to present valid id, which is copied and kept on record is merely to prevent minors from getting illegal abortions and will in no way intimidate women, or prevent them from getting an abortion they might otherwise get...i'm not buying that for a minute...while it is one thing to show proof you are legally entitled to do something, or confirm identity, it is something else to have said proof filed permanently when doing so...i'm betting if all the assholes who thought up and supported this, were required to follow similar rules to buy a 6 pack, underwaer, or personal hygeine products, they would throw screaming shit fits, and many would not buy these things, as they would be intimidated by the thought of records being kept.
the other part of the new law requires that all women be given written materials, which include color pics of fetuses in various stages of growth, which is bad enough, because the decision is already hard enough...worse they contain false assertations linking abortions to breast cancer...this claim btw was refuted by the National Cancer Institute, and just about every other reputable medical orginization...while i doubt this will sway most anti-abortion believers opinions in any way, it should, because this sort of thing is bad for all of us....government needs to quit fucking with our rights....my last words on this are to all you men fighting to deny women their right to choose on this issue, is to shut the fuck up about this until you get pregnant...we may in one sense certainly have the right to voice our input, when asked, we don't have the right to force a woman to endure a pregnancy she doesn't want.
well i saw in this morning's paper that the anti-evolution whackos are still trying to fuck up Texas' 2004 science textbooks...the Discovery Institute, a group opposed to the teaching of evolution in public schools, is claiming a minor victory, because they manged to harass the book publisher to make changes in the sections dealing with the theory of evolution...they of course are not satisfied, and if they had their way all mention of evolution would be remove entirely...the changes were part of a list of inacuracies found through their Center For Science And Culture, which is based in Seattle...while i am all for factual errors being corrected, i wonder why the Texas board of education considers input from people in Seattle...last time i checked Seattle was in Washington, not in Texas, so where it concerns textbooks used in Texas, who the fuck cares what they think...i am amazed at how many people in this country insist on ignoring science in favor of blind faith and ignorance...mind you i am not saying people of religious faith are ignorant, but the ones who insist on trying to drag us all badck into the dark ages sure the fuck are...my sincere hope is that someone invents a time machine, so we can send you all back to the dark ages where you belong.
read today that Courtney Love is being chrged with felony possession of prescription pain killers...while i am no fan of hers in any way, this really pissed me off...first is why she is being charged and Rush (i'm a hypocritical bastard) Limbaugh is not...then i got annoyed that while she rated only a couple of paragraphs on an inside page, fatboy was front page for days...then the thing that really did it was the fact that he gets sympathy, both from the public and the media, she is getting only scorn...they are both assholes who talk too much, and bask in public attention, good or bad, so why is one treated differently than the other...seems we have different standards of justice, legality and sympathy, based on social standing, and wealth...no surprise there really, but it bothers me a lot...we are supposed to be equal under the law in this country...more importantly the media needs to stop treating people having the same problem the same, instead of acting as if it is different based on social standing, income, or political views...addiction to pain killers is addiction to pain killers, whether you are Rush, Courtney, or the thousands of others who rate no mention, because they aren't famous....it's a sad thing in every instance and every person suffering from it, or similar problems is equally deserving of our pity/sympathy/help/contempt/indifference...personally i feel that help and understanding will do more to solve addiction, than incarceration and scorn, but that's me...whatever it is gonna be then it should be the same for everyone, not help for some and jail for others.
i have been getting some very nice, and helpful, and flattering comments on images in my gallery....first off, thank you very much to all of you who have taken the time to leave them...the quandry is should i respond to those comments by posting reply comments in the gallery...part of me thinks yes i should, because it is proper to let people know i appreciate their thoughts, and also respond to specific things they have said....another part of me thinks no, that would be sort of patting myself on the back too much, and that i should keep that sort of thing here in my blog, where it belongs, not there...what do you think?
saw a little blurb in the paper this morning listing the ten dead celebrities earning the most money...so as i'm reading this many things cross my mind...isn't this a little morbid, somewhat tacky, sad and exploitive...not that it stopped me from reading the list, which didn't surprise me much, both my morbid fascination, and who was on it...what did, and at the same time didn't surprise me was how much some of them earned...elvis of course topped the list at 40 million....dead forever and still pulling in 40 mil...quite an accompishment, not that he much cares, or reaps the benifits...that's more than me, my girlfriend, both our immediate families, our friends and their families, earned combined in that same year...not sure how i feel about that, other than i feel certain that his estate doesn't really need another 40 mil, and that money could have helped a lot of people who did need money in some way...while i respect the right to earn what you can and then pass it to your heirs, it would be nice if people would think to use possible continuing income like that to some sort of trust, foundation, or charity...after all it isn't as if Priscilla, Lisa Marie, or Yoko need any more money.
my friend geoff and his wife stopped in last night for a short visit on their way to florida....this is the friend who moved to the bay area three years ago, who was my best friend for many years and so on...i taalk about him from time to time in my posts, check the archive for more on our past...anyway, he got a job with a small label in florida and is moving there, and had stopped in Dallas for a few days to catch up with all of us...because i am on the way from dallas to fla, they stopped to say hi, and see the new place, and visit with my g/f and the animals...it was a nice, tho too short visit, during which geoff whipped out his new sony digital camera, the really nice one, as he had to show it off, and also wanted to show us some pics he took...so about 45 min after they left, i glance at the coffe table and notice that in all the goodbye's he forgot the camera...i called, and no surprise they didn't feel like turning around, so i get to play with it until they get their place and have an address to send it to...felt bad that he forgot it, but am looking forward to playing with it until they tell me where to return it...last week when i drove up to dallas to see them and some of my other friends, i had borrowed my friend Sean's slr, as i am normally taking my pics with a simple autoeverything camera, which is not as much fun...suddenly i went from having one camera to use, to three, and wonder if i will end up taking no pictures, because i can't decide which camera to use...be about par for the course for me.
i finally crossed a huge threshold (for me anyways) this month...for the first time ever, one of my sites, actually it is the gallery, broke the 100 Megabyte bandwidth mark...as of earlier today i have pulled 106.21 Megabytes of bandwidth in traffic...i know in the greater scheme of things, this is a paltry amount, and many sites pull that in an hour or less, but it was a first for me, so i'm celebrating...i may actually break that mark this month on this site...as of this morning i am at 94.51 Megabytes for Angst-du-jour.net, and might make the 100 mark before the month is done...i want to that you all for taking the time to read my ramblings and bitchings...given that this site is almost totally text, 100 Mb of traffic is pretty heady stuff....thanks for your support.
well i have been busy with the gallery for the last few days and have made several additions and such...i added almost a dozen new black and white photos to the black and whit sub-album in the still photography album...i just added a new photomanipulation called Arborsurrealis, in the photmanipulations album...fixed some various fuckups in the captions (mostly extra >s, and such where i linked photmanips to their source photo page...please stop in and check out the new stuffs....comments always welcome...if you have forgotten the gallery address, there is are links to it in the last several updates entries.
talked to my dad briefly on the phone sunday, while he was waiting to fly home...one of the last things i told him was i hope you have an uneventful flight, which is of course the best sort...got a card from him today, and the last sentance read: our trip home was uneventful, if you consider 3 1/2 hours sitting front of a screaming 2 year old uneventful...after i stopped laughing (which took a while), i felt guilty for jinxing his flight...i'm sorry dad for cursing you with an uneventful flight, and i hope you can forgive me.
my head feels like it is stuffed with a combination of swiss cheese and cotton balls...too little sleep, a manic seratonin feast for the last 24 hours or so will do that i think..oh wait, thinking function off-line for now...maybe food and sleep will help.
i am totally annoyed with the Dallas Morning News...somewhere about a year ago their editors decided that every single peson would be addressed using honerifics in their articles...what sort of idiocy is this...now i can understand referring to people who have earned the right to be addressed as mr. or mrs...others by title, such as our president, but everyone????it's bad enough that athletes have gone from being addressed by their nicknames, to be addressed as mr. so and so, but criminals, terrorists and pedophiles...they go to far...i'm sorry but people like Osama (cowardly fucking weasel...no that's unfair to weasels) Bin Laden, are now referred to as Mr. Bin Laden, as if he were deserving of respect in any fucking way...same goes for women who kill their kids, psychos who gun down strangers, suicide bombers, child rapists, and other lower forms of life...let's go back to at least just calling them by their name, better yet address them by their earned title, you know, something like nutcase yates, pussy bin laden, boy loving priest, etc....enough is enough, save respect for those who deserve it.
i have learned the following truths from commercials:
1) Domino's sell Pavlovs pizza now...if you are young, male, and you eat one of their philly cheessteak pizzas, you will from then on, pant while running mindlessly to the door when the bell rings...this will be accompanied by uncontrolable salivating...the pizza will be delivered by a smarmy, condescending delivery guy, who will insult you...the up side is you don't have to pay for the pizza or tip the delivery guy.
2) Dell intern is the best job in the world...your training takes months, you only work a few hours a day, you get to take road trips in a custom motor home, and you dictate marketing strategy for the company...SIGN ME UP FOR THAT JOB!
3) Women will dress to the nines, and then hang with their friends, dancing and singing, when it that time of the month...all your women friends will have their periods when you do.
4) All cars come equipped with a professional driver and can only driven by the professional on a closed course....why buy a car you can never drive.
5) KFC nuggets can defy the laws of physics, and can be safely caught on your mouth when dropped from great heights.
6) We all suffer from depression, genital herpes, acid reflux, high blood pressure, and more, but it's ok, because we only need to visit the doctor once, so he can write a stack of prescriptions to treat us...no more wasted time being diagnosed...don't sweat those adverse side effets, you will be smiling and having fun while suffering them.
7) Drinking cheap light beer will make you very attractive to supermodels.
8) If you like to be tormented by guys playing mind games on you with a vending machine, or enjoy your soda shaken, because it is delivered by a truck with a bone crunching sound system and hydraulics, which bounces down the road, then Vanilla Pepsi is your drink.
9) Women talk about gas at the salad bar, and then share Beano with their friends.
10) All Suvs can drive anywhere, under any conditions, and stay totally clean...4 wheel drive is not required to perform these feats.
11) You need a hardware expert to show you the difference between a lawn, and a rock filled road.
12) Verizon has tested their entire system with two uber-nerd optimization engineers and a chimpanzee...all this accomplished, with nothing more than a phone, except for the chimp who can do it with a banana...to think i wasted all those years learning rf engineering, and then cart around hundreds of pounds worth of insanely expensive test equipment for nothing.
13) Momma seems to be on vast amounts of traquilizers while using her clorox wipes.
14) Cleaning is glamorous, or at least mopping is, if you have the right mop.
15) If you are an aussie, and get written off of JAG, you are doomed to vaccuum up after kangaroos, which seem to like hopping about in clean kitchens.
16) Sears employees, at least the male ones, will strip to their underwear to sell a washer.
17) Everything is done to a techno soundtrack.
18) Penny's has one day only sales every other day...these sales are solely visited by wives who have married men who don't speak to them, and parent by reading the newspaper while ignoring their child.
19) Energizers batteries are filled with drunm playing rabbits.
20) You can get rich by owning a pay internet station...you will have to dress badly while servicing it, and collectiing your cash....and while the machine can only generate $15 and hour, this will make you wealthy???
there are so many more truths i have muddled up, forgot or not yet discovered, but i will watch some more tv, so i can absorb more of advertising wisdom, and then share it with you all...share yours with us.
added another dozen photos to the two still photography sub-albums....formatted all the image titles in the stills albums....named all photographs...resorted stills by title, alphabetically.
well i think the worst of the creative block/artistic funk i was in is finally going away...i was inspired to shoot about 2 1/2 rolls of film over the last few days, and plan on shooting at least one more today or tomorrow...i was so motivated, that i actually scanned in the 1/2 roll of color stuff and will be cropping/manipulating and such over the next few days, and plan to upload anything good from that asap to the new still photos album...alas, i have to wait until friday to get the other two rolls back from being processed, as it takes a week to have anything other than simple color developing done, and one roll is B&W, the other is high definition color slides...i will shoot more B&W, next roll is, as i seem to have more success with it...with any luck this will be the trigger needed to inspire more abstract work also...i really hope so, as there are things bouncing around in my head needing an outlet, and for me doing pure abstracts is very cathartic...while any creative expression provides some catharsis for me, no other medium comes close to abstract for getting things out of my system...i'm also feeling up to grinding out grunt work once again, which means i might actually get all the image descriptions completed for the gallery, and maybe even finish fixing visual ansgt....if things go really well i may find that much needed inspiration to create a real site style for wickdarts design, and could start putting content up...keeping my fingers crossed, and hoping for the best.
yes, i have made yet another series of additions and changes to the WickdArts Design Gallery, and am shamelessly promoting it here....i have added a new album of Still Photography, which has two sub-albums, one of Color Photos, and the other Black & White Photos...please stop in, check them out, and leave me your comments.
i was slapped in the face again today with the harsh reality of how badly so many people in this country parent their children...while standing in line at Walmart, i told the woman in front of me what a beautiful child she had, to which she replied she wished he acted as beautifully as he looked....that he was spoiled, and more along those lines...i just stood there speechless, my heart breaking for this poor child, thinking he deserves better, and wanting to sit this foolish woman down and straighten her out...alas, this is not an acceptable act, and wishing to avoid uneccessary conflict, wisely kept my mouth shut...i know how difficult raising children is, i have a daughter, and i know i made many mistakes along the way, because kids don't come with an instruction manual (not that most people would bother reading it if they did), and while everyone, and anyone wants to give you (mostly bad) advice, there seems to be a lack of simple basic rules spelled out on proper (in my opinion) parenting.
while my only qualifications for doing so are that my daughter turned out quite well (not just in my eyes), so i thought i would provide my version of some basic rules of parenting...here they are:
1) Always do what you say you are going to do - i can not stress this enough...you must follow through with what you have told them, both good and bad...if you say you will punish them for doing something and they do it, then you must go through with said punishment...if you promise to take them somewhere, do it, even if you are not feeling up to it, and at least pretend you are enjoying it...this means, don't threaten your child with unrealistic punishment, such as slapping them silly, or grounding them for life...this is one of the key foundations of trust, respect and discipline.
2) Pick your battles - children will continuously push the boundaries, and unless you want your, and their life to be a constant battleground, save making stands for the really important issues...this doesn't mean let them run wild, just let the small stuff slide from time to time (let kids be kids), and be a rock on the important key things.
3) Teach by example - this is another of the key foundations...you must act consistently with what you are saying...telling them that they should behave a certain way, and then doing the opposite teaches them hypocracy is ok, and they won't respect what you say...if you want them to be polite, be polite....if you have to break your own rules, explain why you did so to them.
4) Tell them, and show them, that you love them unconditionally. Do this every day, as often as possible - i can't stress this one enough...make sure they know, that no matter what happens, that you will always love them, just because they are your child...let them know that what you want for them more than anything else is for them to be happy...let them know that you know they will make mistakes, and that it is ok, you won't love them any less for it...let them know that they can always tell you anything, that they can come to you for help and advice with out fearing you will no longer love them.
5) Talk to, and with, not at your child - another biggie here...treat them with respect when you talk...let them know that what they have to say matters...explain in reasonable terms why you are saying what you are saying...answer their questions seriously...don't be condescending or patronising.
6) Don't punsih out of anger.
7) Praise and reward them for good behaviour - the carrot works much better than the stick...if you show your child that they can easily get your positive attention, they will want to.
8) Spend quality time with them every day - find activities to do with them, and let them know how much you enjoy doing things with them...be a kid with them sometimes...build mud pies, stomp in puddles, whatever, it's fun.
9) The TV, video games, computer is not a babysitter.
10) Don't tell your child they are stupid, ugly, etc.
there are many many more important things i have no listed here, but this is a good start...maybe you disagree with what i listed, if so i'm curious to know why...as i said, this is incomplete, so feel free to add to this list as you see fit...i may add more at a later time...i hope i haven't offended you all, by stating the obvious, or think i'm implying none of you are doing a great job on your own, with out my two cents...most of you are doing a great job already.
i have been following with great joy the story of the successful surgery on the twins from Egypt...it is things like this that may provode the best bridge between the cultures of the west and the middle east...the generosity and dedication shown by the medical personnel, and the people who have donated the large sums of money required to make it happen, are a shining example of the best things we have to offer, and of doing the right thing for all the right reasons...while this will not erase the hatred towards us by so many in the muslim world, we have made lifelong friends of the family, their entire village, and many of the average people in Egypt...when taxi drivers in Cairo are watching this miracle of modern medical science, and their prayers and thanks are sent our way, we have taken a large step in the right direction towards peace and understanding...if we truly want to an end to all the hate and misunderstanding then we need to spend more effort building bridges like this one, and less in blowing things up.
just finished reading L.E. Modesitt's latest book The Ethos Effect...as i have said before (more than once i think), he is one of my favorite authors (favorite in his genre for sure), and this one was one of his best ever...this book deals deeply with ethics and morals, and will have me thinking on them for quite a while i'm sure...his characters continue to be fascinating people, who are forced by circumstances to make very difficult descisions and then live with the results...i am extremely impressed with how honestly he handles questions of right and wrong, and how he refuses to resort to using simple stereotypical good vs. evil, black and white situations, instead potraying things in more realistic grey shadings, and presenting both sides of issues, leaving the reader to decide for them selves what is right, and judge whether the Hero was really a hero, or in fact a villan...personally i have found his heros to be truly heroic, making the most painful of descisions and then acting on them knowing what it will cost them to do so...maybe this appeals to me so much, because of how many hard descisions i have been forced to make in my life...i hope he continues to write many more books before he is done.
this book, more so than any previous works, paints a very bleak picture of where society seems to be heading if we don't find some way to change...i sincerely hope that he reaches others as he has reached me, and that it sparks some changes in our world...we can do much better than we are doing presently, and make our world a better place to live...we need less hate, intolerance, greed, and shortsightedness, and more understanding, consideration and respect.
had a really pleasant visit by my dad and stepmom yesterday...visits by members of my family are always something i look forward to with mixed feelings...i love them all, but i always spend days before their coming in a state of anxiety and/or panic for varying reasons...with my borther, sister, and daughter, there are always stupid irrational fears of some horrible thing happening to them in transit, which would of course be totally my fault, leaving me anxious until they6 actually arrive and prove said fears to be groundless...with my parents, there is above fears, mixed with dread that some event will occur while they are here that will cause me intense emotional pain...this based on a lifetime of such pain, even though visits over the last few years have not included any such incedents.
this visit yesterday was exceptionally nice, not only having no painful moments, but actually leaving wishing that we had been able to spend more time together...maybe this is signalling that my dad and i have truly been able to put most of the bad stuff behind us and can have something resembling a good father son relationship...this would make me very happy...we talked without any of the all too common tension present in many past conversations, and laughed a lot...the weather was perfect, and we were able to spend a couple of hours wandering the property, including my taking them for a ride on the Massey-Fergeson into the back pasture so they could see the cows and admire the view, and solitude...they loved seeing the property, though my dad seemed a bit apprehensive about riding perched on the fender...my stepmom, however had a blast and was grinning nonstop for the entire ride...she also had fun communing with Dude (our miniature paint), spending about 15 minutes sitting in the dirt, petting his mane and cheeks (he loves having his cheeks petted)...i was sad they had to leave so early, and hope they can come back and visit again soon.
way to go, Conroe Texas' Caney Creek High School...seems a 15 year old student comitted the unforgivable sin of loaning his athsmatic girlfriend his inhaler. She had forgotten hers, and was having an attack so he let her use his Albuterol inhaler to help her after she visited the school nurse....according to the state health and safety code he is guilty of delivering a DANGEROUS drug, and according to the school code is slated for expulsion...to add insult to injury, the school may press felony charges...nice to know that no good deed goes unpunished in our schools.
thank you Stephan pastis for the great view of life via pig's fish tank in this week's Pearls Before Swine...definately one of my favorite comic strips in the paper, this last week was better than usual...love the way you are using an unusual and amusing fom to provide dead on sarcasm to life.
finally got around to seeing Once Upon A Time In Mexico yesterday...had been wanting to see this since before it came out, but going out to movies is not easy for me at times (dealing with crowds, leaving the house, etc)...while i was not able to see it on the big screen, and so lost that plus, i did get the enjoyment of being the only person in the theater...that was way cool...no crying kids, cellphones, or assholes talking to fuick up the movie for me....glad i went, as i totally dug the film and look forward to adding it to my dvd collection when it becomes available...if you haven't seen it yet, GO....johnny depp was great, as a slimy cia officer, and as always with robert rodriguez films, lots of great gun-battle ballet, and general mayhem...truly a fitting finale to the el mariachi saga...can't wait to see kill bill, though i'm sure it will be a month from now or so before i canh get myself to get out and see it.
my girlfriend has gotten me addicted to another tv show...just like with LOCI, she accidentally happened to watch Angel, and got hooked...not content to be addicted alone she then got me hooked on it as well...we of course, had to immediately buy seasons 1 and 2 on dvd, and are anxiously awaiting season 3 to be released on dvd...the thing neither of us can figure out is how such a lame show as Buffy could spin off a great one like Angel...oh well why waste time analizing it, just enjoy, and wait for new episodes...lol
well, i guess things were going too well for me the last couple of weeks, so life had to throw another obstacle in front of me for the fun of it....while checking my web stats friday night, i foolishly decided to chew a piece of gum...a fairly innocuous activity, or so i thought...heard a crack while chewing and felt that odd, unique feeling, which let me know that i had just broken a crown...one of my newer ones...less than two years old...of course it had to break off leaving razor sharp edges, causing my tongue to feel like it had been sandpapered by monday morning...went to see my dentist first thing, and found out that my luck has not changed much, and it is not repairable...in fact it broke in the worst possible way, leaving too little tooth to even extract normally...so, i get to go in for a surgical extraction.
fun fun fun....at least i can be unconscious while they do it, but this means two or three days of being drugged to thge gills on pain killers while it heals....then i get to wait 4 to 6 months for the bone to heal properly, and then the joy of having another bridge put in...so much fun to look forward to here...this of course doesn't even include the real fun part of asking my dad for the financial help in paying for all of this...bridgework is unbelievably expensive, and i do so enjoy asking my parents for money...one of my favorite activities...the only upside to all this was the dentist felt very bad about the crown breaking, and is going to discount the bridgework...she also didn't charge me to grind the sharp edges off the broken shards of my tooth...sigh...live is so fun
latest is the embarrassing redistricting frenzy....agreement on a map will now most likely be delayed by, yes, the Texas OU football game...seems that they won't be voting on Friday, as too many legislators will be out of the office preparing for this weekend's game...way to go guys...now that the California recall is done you can be the butt of world humor on your own...thank you for continuing to provide ample fodder for said humor.
adding insult to injury regarding this www [dot] margilowry [dot] com: You can't make this stuff up and this Angst du Jour: The Clueless Leading the Band, some defective had the gall to write a letter to the editor in the Dallas Morning News blaming the fans at Hillcrest High for taking offense where none was given over the incident...it was purely a lack of appreciation of art on their part, and unjustified to be steamed over the complete thoughtlessness of the band's saluting Nazi Germany on a Jewish holiday...if the band was saluting all participants of WWII, where were the parts for Japan, Russia, and all the other countries not included.
added a bunch more image descriptions in the abstracts album ...started adding links to the original source photographs under the image titles in the photomanipulations album ...i am once again shamelessly begging you all to go visit the gallery, especially those two albums, and pleading that those of you that do visit, leave your comments for the individual images...use the add comment link below each image/image desciption on the individual image pages to add your comments...your comments are an extremely important tool in helping me to grow and improve as an artist.
i have added descriptions to quite a few of the images in the abstracts and photomanipulations albums...added two new photomanipulations, done from pictures taken at the ranch last winter after it snowed...still have descriptions to write for a bit over half of the abstracts and photomanipulations, but will be working on that over the next few days...thanks to my girlfriend, i have also corrected the formatting on image titles, and descriptions, and she has added copyright statements to the status bar for all pages in the gallery.
well the Texas state legislature continues to find new lows in the ongoing redistricting battle...not content to take second place to California in the exercise of state humiliation, we are not witnessing republicans fighting each other over how to redraw our congressional districts...seems that the house and senate can not agree on how to slice and dice the sate into new districts....the fight now centers on how to divide up central and west texas properly....of course our stalwart governor is not dismayed, he will just call another special session, or as many as it takes to get a new map...he is now talking of delaying the primary elections, as it is unlikely that a new map could be certified in time for the scheduled march primaries....how nice of him to offer us up to be the butt of the nations humor, in addition to continuing to spend money we do not have in the budget for this all...three cheers for the texas republican party....spend spend hooray, spend spend hooray, spend spend hooray.
in what may be one of the more ironic news bits of the years, it seems that Rush Limbaugh is under investigation for using and purchasing drugs...not just a little amount either, but thousands of prescription painkillers and others bought illegally...while we can not condemn him yet, as in our society a person, no matter how unsavory, is innocent till proven guilty...however, if he turns out to be guilty, he would be joining the ranks of several other notable recent hypocrites cut down by their own hubris and guilty of the worst type of do as i say not as i do behavior....will he be innocent, or does he join such noteworthy fellows such as Jim Baker, Newt Gingrich, and the like...we can only wait and see how this unfolds...if guilty, i hope he is treated as he has professed so loudly and long that all drug addicts should be dealt with.