Encouragement: The Lighter Side of CP

So,

So it's come to my attention that I've been way too serious on my blog lately. Yes, having a disability can be difficult; it's how you deal with those difficulties that shows what you're made of. Check out Zach Anner to see what I mean..

http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=5615&promo_id=1



http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/28/zach-anner-the-funny.html

Grade A Move as Andrews Remains at ESPN

Popular and talented ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews, who appeared on "Dancing with the Stars" this spring, has agreed in principle to remain at ESPN, according to a report by USA Today's Michael Heistand.

That's a good move for Andrews, and for ESPN.

While the "Dancing" gig broadened Andrews' popularity beyond sports (as the show did with racecar driver Helio Castroneves) and sparked speculation that Andrews might try to ply that popularity into a different on-air opportunity with her contract expiring this week, staying with the all-sports network should be a good move for both parties.

For Andrews, it allows her to remain as perhaps the best and most recognizable sideline reporter in sports. Those assignments are always difficult simply because it's tough for the reporter to make valuable contributions, but she usually does well.

Had she gone to some entertainment-type reporting or non-sports gig, she would've been just another made-for-TV face. On sports, she brings credibility because she has worked so hard to do her job well throughout her career. She's not the first person who comes to mind in terms of breaking news or reporting controversy, but on the field she asks questions that must be asked and at least makes those sometimes unbearable on-field situations watchable.

Staying put also gives Andrews room to grow. She has a safe base in sideline reporting, but ESPN might find ways for her to test other on-air opportunities if she wants them. Those might include studio work, chances to do long-form reporting or, who knows, even a lifestyle-type show. Because the people at ESPN know and trust Andrews, the opportunity to avoid being typecast as only a sideline reporter should come.

Maybe she'll succeed in those endeavors if they come, or maybe not. Still, testing the waters -- or maybe just remaining happy doing what she's doing -- can be done much more easily from "home" at ESPN than as the new face of some network or program.

ESPN, NFL Films Keep 'NFL Matchup'

Hard-core NFL fans who enjoy "NFL Matchup," which has aired since 1994 on ESPN, got good news when SportsBusiness Daily and profootballtalk.com reported that the show would return for the coming season.

The fairly intense and enjoyable Xs-and-Os show will air at 7:30 a.m. Sundays during the regular season on ESPN. Late in the season and during the playoffs it will re-air at 8:30 a.m. on ESPN2.

Hosts Merril Hog, Ron Jaworski and Sal Paolantonio will return to the show that allows Hoge and especially Jaworski to showcase their film study skills and truly analyze one game each week.

The show is taped at a studio at NFL Films in New Jersey. According to reports of the deal, ESPN will sell the show's ads.

(Im)possible Chicago #3: Forever Open, Free & Clear v2.0

(The north and west branches of the Chicago River, along with the new south branch.)

Over a century since retail magnate A. Montgomery Ward sounded the battle cry to defend the city's mandate to keep its lakefront a public common that is “forever open, clear and free of any buildings, or other obstructions whatever,” a similar call to arms was made for the Chicago River, to make it forever free of industries, private developments and sewage.

The ensuing political battles were bruising, and not every building was cleared away, but at least now one can stroll the entire length of the river without having to go up and down flights of stairs or cross streets and fight through traffic. In fact, starting at any point, you can walk or bike or jog along a circuitous path running on both banks of the river and end right where you started.

Along the way, you might encounter kayaking parties setting off from mini-harbors, anglers, community theaters staging avant-garde interpretations of The Odyssey, and triathletes in training. As it is now a baptismal font for future Olympian swimmers, your roundabout will be soundtracked by the ecstatic screams of children frolicking in the waters. During the winter, ice swimming clubs and mobile skating rinks proliferate.

Every four years, the entire river is artificially frozen for a monthlong frost fair.

((Im)possible Chicagos is a series of hallucinatory joyrides through one hundred and twenty five asynchronous Chicagos.)

Landslide Taxonomy

(Image courtesy of the British Geological Survey.)

On the landslide taxonomy above, the British Geological Survey writes:

The main classification criteria are: type of movement (falls, topples, slides spreads, flows), and type of material involved in the movement (rock, debris, earth). Combining movement and material type terms enables an appropriately descriptive landslide name to be formulated. Naming can become more detailed with the addition of other descriptive details related to activity state, water content , rate of movement, etc., if known (e.g. active, complex, extremely rapid, dry rock fall-debris flow).

Only a small selection of the wide spectrum of landslide types that may develop in nature are shown here.

Surely the image needs to be accompanied by an illustrative taxonomy of mitigative measures against landslides showing a wide spectrum of programs and strategies for inhabiting the geological wilderness.

Looking For Christian Reviews On This Essay!

When I read the title of the latest post over at Herescope: Restoring the Gospel of Salvation, I was excited to read it. The title of the article, however, was a bit different from the title of the post, which asks, "Does not the salvation of sinners trump national restoration?"



Without revealing my reaction after reading the editorial, I present it here - in its entirety - so that readers can write their own thoughts, comments, positive and/or critical reviews about what was written in the essay. I am especially interested in what other Christians think about the article, though all are invited to share their opinions as well. I plan to reveal my thoughts, comments and reactions to the post sometime over the next two days.

Happy reading! I encourage each Christian reading here to put on your apologetics hat and take some time to comment about what you have read!

In Christ,

Christine

*******

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Restoring the Gospel of Salvation

Does not the salvation of sinners trump national restoration?




An Editorial by Rev. Dr. Orrel Steinkamp



There is a new virus going around. Its called Christian political war gaming. Once the virus strikes it becomes a near obsession. I know a number of people who don’t get enough sleep because they are at their computers doing political war games. Once they lived healthy Christian lives. Their passion was the Gospel of saving individual sinners. Now they rarely have the time or energy for their former passion. Their affections have been alienated. They need a Gospel intervention.

Former websites that defended the Gospel of salvation now are mostly devoted to restoring an illusive American past and proving our present president is a stealth Muslim attempting to make America a Muslim caliphate. Joseph Farah, World Net Daily Christian conspiracy expert, is sure Obama has specific plans for Christian concentration camps.

Even if all this is true, why should this divert us from our mandate of preaching the Gospel to every creature? Why should we be attempting to infiltrate and dominate every political entity before the time of God's vengeance?

Paul wasn't worried about imperial palace intrigue in Rome. Obama is just being a politician from the Left. Like all politicians before him he has an agenda. We do not have to accept these principles and we can vote our conscience and financially support the campaigns of our choice. In the current political stalemate this could qualify me as a liberal. Well! I didn’t vote for Obama and I didn’t vote for McCain. I was comfortable with making a write-in choice, one I know my every reader would support. I don't like Obama's stance on many things personally, and I deeply resent his reference to two fathers on fathers day. But neither did I appreciate "born-again" President Bush's statement to Muslim leaders that we both pray to the same God.

Nevertheless, Romans 13 states with clarity that God puts up rulers of His choice for His purposes. I may not agree with God's choice and can't always see His purpose, but I am commanded to pray for the rulers our Sovereign God raises up.

Is it for Christian evangelists to suffer near frenetic emotional exhaustion in the political war games arcade? Is the eternal purpose of God hanging on such a thin thread? Is the biblical Jehovah really such a wimp deity, and a weak onlooker to the affairs of men, hoping Christians will overcome politically and take back dominion our God supposedly lost in the Garden of Eden and a establish the kingdom of God in the earth?

America survived Clinton, Hoover, and a corrupt Ulysses Grant, and it will continue to survive if it is God’s will. My God is a sovereign who could overcome Egyptian Pharaohs (after Israel was in bondage for 300 years) and could even raise up Cyrus, a pagan ruler, to accommodate Israel’s return to Jerusalem. Paul never ever looked to Rome except to use his Roman citizenship for the furtherance of the Gospel.

How must we look to the persecuted church? Are we by example suggesting they become political terrorists for the Kingdom of God and unnecessary martyrs? Janet Porter, in her June 8, 2010 WorldNetDaily column, suggested that some of us were like the pious Germans who held high their hymnbooks so they wouldn’t see the cattle cars on their way to exterminate Jews. (A classic false dichotomy.) What could they have done? Lay themselves on the tracks? The German Christians were culpable, not because of their hymn singing but because they made common cause with the goals and destiny of the Third Reich, as did the Vatican in Rome.

Jesus, whom we say is our example, shunned (not a strong enough word) political pursuits in the name of the Kingdom of God. Recall the story of when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. Peter rushed to action and struck off the soldiers ear. Jesus was so perturbed that He instantly restored it and said to Peter "put your sward [sic] in its sheath" (John 18:11).

The Jerusalem that Jesus entered was a political hotbed. The people were involved in every possible action to drive out the pagan Romans from the holy city. When Jesus entered on Palm Sunday He purposefully fulfilled an Old Testament prophesy of the coming messiah by riding into the city on a young donkey. "Hosanna in the Highest" the crowd cried. Hosanna means “save us now." They treated Him as political messiah who would use his supernatural powers to drive out the Romans and RESTORE JERUSALEM. Did they look for a suffering savior who would bear the sins of the people? Hardly! By the time Jesus went to the cross they were all long gone.

Even the Romans saw Jesus as political threat. The quisling Jewish leaders, in collaboration with the Romans, were afraid of a political uprising. But the Messiah came for the redemption of sinners, not a political restoration of the Jewish State. It is safe to say the reason Jesus died nearly alone is because it was not "His Hour" to Judge the nations. It was only "His hour" to go to the cross. Why did He die nearly alone?

The Jews, and even His disciples, expected Jesus "to save now, hosanna." The Dominionists today are crying "hosanna now." They claim we can restore what Jesus failed to do in His first advent. But the resurrected Jesus had to tell His disciples that it was not for them to know the times and the season that the Father has fixed, by His own authority," to restore the Kingdom to Israel.

On the cross Jesus could have called 10,000 angels for His rescue. But this would have totally contravened the plan of redemption from sin decreed by God (not "decreed" by a fake apostle!) from the foundation of the world. Redemption from sin remains to this day the focus of the kingdom of God. Jerusalem was filled with zealots (we would call them undercover militia). They were called the sicarii (Latin for dagger), for they hid daggers in their robes to assassinate Romans and collaborators. Even the Essene community at the Dead Sea was calling for a final battle between the Sons of God (Israel) and the Sons of Darkness.

Into this political milieu Jesus never uttered a solitary political word. He made it plain that “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He, however, looked forward to when the Son of Man would RETURN and when He then would judge the nations. But until that great and awesome Day of the Lord, when the Savior would return on the clouds of glory, He was not striving for an earthly kingdom. He was content with establishing a church, His body upon the earth. Many in His day were offended by Him because He apparently had not political ambitions. Judas is speculated to be among them. Jesus asserted with force that His day to rule the nations awaited His second return, when He would judge the nations like a shepherd divides His sheep from the goats.

G. Peter Wagner, chief apostle of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), made a tactical decision to see Dominionism as temporarily consistent with democracy. I have not been able to locate when and where Wagner made such an "apostolic decree." But, indeed, the Kingdom of God cannot ultimately be a democracy. For Wagner and any other Dominionist, the democratic process can only be a way station on the road to their "kingdom of God on the earth," which is prior to the real Parousia.

Wagner's tactical decision (as opposed to strategic decision) was a major change. It opened the way for the false apostles and prophets to enter the political arena. So now "apostle" Lou Engle is free to lay apostolic hands of blessing on 3-time divorcee Newt Gingrich. Now the NAR apostles and prophets, thanks to Janet Porter and WorldNetDaily, can take their equal places in politics. Now they have the blessing of James Dobson, who endorsed Janet Porter’s May Day event at the Lincoln Memorial. Now Cindy Jacobs, prophetess extraordinaire, who had a visit of the Seraphim in her room that caught it on fire, can share the stage with Newt Gingrich. Now Rick Joyner, who has his own political action organization which he calls the Oak Initiative -- and who reportedly made a trip to heaven and heard Martin Luther repent of the Reformation -- can rub shoulders with James Dobson.

So now these self-anointed, self-appointed apostles of the NAR, laden down with false signs and wonders, false apostolic decrees, and false prophets -- who compete with each other in imaginary "can you top this" fraudulent oracles supposed to be from God -- have been given the kiss of acceptance by Christian Right politicians, including James Dobson. The apostles and prophets see this as a match made in heaven, a giant step toward appointing apostles as governors of every state and province in the world, complete with in-house prophetic seers to make supernatural decisions.

But I for one see it as blip in church history (like the Montanists of the 1st century), a match made in the pit of political desire for power before our King returns in His glory.

The Adventures of Living Independently

Welcome Back ,

I've often highlighted the positives of living independently on this blog.. Not only because it teaches you to be grateful for your abilities, but because it teaches one to be resourceful. This is especially helpful when adapting your surroundings (i.e. home, work) because not all places are disability friendly.

Besides that, there are other incentives to living on your own as well. It can develop character and perseverance in no other way situations can.

But don't take my word for it. Join Jennifer as she encounters the "Adventures Of Living Independently"

http://jenslifewithcp.blogspot.com/2010/06/adventures-of-living-independently.html

Slurry #4

(Satellite image of sand and seaweed in the Bahamas. Image courtesy Serge Andrefouet, University of South Florida. Source.)

And here's the next batch.

*

(Sectional drawings of Mumbai by Anuradha Mathur and Dilip da Cunha.)

SOAK: Mumbai in the Estuary by Anuradha Mathur and Dilip da Cunha looks at Mumbai’s terrain and the history of its making. It images the sea and the monsoon not as enemies and agents of flood, but as inevitable partners in the shaping of the ground of settlement.

It situates Mumbai in a fluid threshold between land and sea, a shifting saline and fresh water gradient of creeks, and a monsoon surface of holdings. The ground between land and sea is understood to be a filter in section drawings, photographs and models that present this alternative representation of Mumbai’s terrain.

SOAK also showcases design interventions that holds waters rather than channel it out to sea; that work with the gradient of an estuary. It calls for visualizing the city as a fluid field of rain-soaked surfaces, monsoon holdings and overflows, of public-private negotiations.

Rather than fighting the monsoon, it encourages us to design with and enjoy the soak.

*


Here's a brief excerpt from BBC's Coast on artificial coastlines and mobile floating harbours constructed in secret all over Britain for the Normandy invasion.

*

(Image by Claude Cormier Landscape Architects.)

“Sugar Beach is the second urban beach proposed for Toronto’s downtown waterfront, and the latest addition to the amber necklace of Toronto’s lakefront beachscape. It is a sequel to HtO, the waterfront’s first beach park. The proposal for Jarvis Slip playfully recomposes other signature elements of the city, with Toronto playing the role as its own design precedent. The omnipresent horizon of the lake and adjacent industrial buildings recalls Georges Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières (1884). Tinted by sugar spray carried on westerly breezes from the neighboring Redpath Sugar Factory, a series of hard rock candies with colored stripes and dozens of pink umbrellas are scattered across a sandy wedge of beach along the Jarvis Slip. Integrating the future Waterfront Promenade, along with a plaza for programmed and unprogrammed events, the design playfully adopts some of the most enduring elements from Toronto’s emerging landscape identity—beaches, bedrock, trees, and water—as well as the urban horizon and a trace of the city’s past industrial mood.”

*

(Image by SCAPE.)

“Oyster-tecture is a project created for Rising Currents, an exhibition jointly sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art and the PS1 Contemporary Art Center that commissioned design responses to climate change and sea level rise on the NYC waterfront. Our team, led by Kate Orff, participated in an 8-week design and planning workshop at PS1 with a team of local engineers, ecologists, and high school environmental activists to develop the proposal. Inspired by local restoration efforts underway, we propose an offshore wave attenuation oyster-reef and a water-based inland to protect the city’s waterfront from climate changed-induced sea level rise and storm surge. By improving water quality, attenuating waves, and building habitat, Oyster-tecture introduces new strategies for water-based recreation, ecologies, and economies to the residents of New York.”

*

(Cover of Atlas of the Dutch Water Defence Line, edited by Rita Brons and Bernard Colenbrander, designed by Studio Joost Grootens, and translated by John Kirkpatrick.)

“This atlas addresses the New Dutch Water Defence Line (Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie) on a themed basis. Its position in the landscape, the forts, the inundation system, the geomorphology, the strategic system and recent developments can be read off in maps rendered so as to give an understanding of all aspects of the defence line landscape. The defence line reveals itself as a many-tentacled military defensive system of forts, group shelters and polders which can be flooded at the threat of war. The maps show the cohesion of the defence line as a landscape-strategic structure as well as the topographic composition of this structure in layers and components. The more detailed maps of the forts display the wealth of historic places, insertions in the landscape and defining elements.”

*

(Image by Ken Smith Landscape Architect.)

In the Safe Trestles Beach Access competition, our favorite finalist is The Long Trail, submitted by Ken Smith Landscape Architect.

Writes the design team, “Our approach is straight forward incorporating ADA access and providing a safe at-grade crossing. The path follows the topography by tracing desire lines. Existing use patterns are utilized for a minimal footprint of path infrastructure. This strategy encourages ecological restoration, reduces runoff, improves water quality, and provides additional habitat.”

*

(The Tarlair Swimming Pool during its heyday. See recent photos on Flickr, for instance this wide shot and this evocative view. Also see it on Google Maps.)

The Tarlair Swimming Pool is a tidal pool cozily tucked into a cove on the northeast coast of Scotland, near Macduff. First opened in the 1930s, it became a popular, even fashionable, social meeting place. During low tides, it provides safe areas for swimming and wading, and at high tides, the sea replenishes its waters by engulfing all areas of the pool. Built in the Art Deco style, its expressive curves, white washed geometric tea pavilion and Suprematist pool stand in awesomely beautiful stark contrast against the craggy landscape.

Tarlair has fallen in disrepair since it was closed in 1995. In 2007, it was awarded A List status, the highest rating, by Historic Scotland in recognition of its “simple yet stylish design, early date and magnificent location.” This status gave the pool legal protection but not immediate funding for restoration.

See also the tide pool of Saint-Malo.

*
Previously:
#1 #2 #3

Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Sports

OK, with the U.S. team ousted from the World Cup sports on TV can return to normal in the summer: some breathless hype whenever Danica Patrick races, debate about NBA free agency, debate about baseball's All-Star Game and even some baseball games themselves.

All of that leads to NFL training camps and college football -- real TV ratings powerhouses that people want to watch.

After all the hype for the World Cup (and that will continue a bit until somebody wins the event because ESPN will remain in place in South Africa and provide far too much information on "SportsCenter" as a result), a return to coverage and promotion of sports people actually care about should provide a nice contrast to what's been happening for the past month or so on TV.

Despite ESPN's best efforts (and all of the media, really), the U.S. match with Ghana drew just 14 million viewers.

That's not a number to scoff at -- according to ratings it's the fourth-most watched soccer game in U.S. history, behind two previous World Cup finals and the 1999 Women's World Cup that the United State won -- but with all the TV and online hype and coverage (and the same was true in print), the event did not merit the attention in received. Media members were complicit in a conspiracy of sorts, selling something nobody wanted.

With all the blathering (including live shots and stories about public places in the United States were people were watching by the thousands and feature stories about the popularity of the team), it was fair to expect that the U.S.-Ghana matchup would draw ratings and viewership to dwarf the U.S.-Canada hockey matches that aired the winter. That did not happen.

Part of the problem is that more people are not watching than are watching for almost any sporting event on TV in the United States every year. Not even half the country watches the Super Bowl.

For soccer, which has minimal broad-based interest to start, it's just unrealistic to think that many people could jump on board that quickly. Yes, some people cared and some people watched, but not in the mass the folks on TV were telling us. And their bias (either in terms of capitalistic need or nationalistic pride) shown through often.

If U.S. sports fans fail to embrace soccer -- which they have not done, despite many efforts the past 40 years, that does not make them any less intelligent. Or knowledgeable. Or passionate.

They save those traits, and their corresponding viewing habits for other sports. Usually football.

No summer sporting events, except for the All-Star Game, will rival the numbers of U.S. soccer matches the past few weeks but it just felt like so much of the soccer interest was contrived and manufactured by World Cup broadcast partners.

Even the preview segments for U.S.-Ghana did not focus on the game so much as the potential for overtime and even a possible shootout. Apparently the truth that TV did not want to share was that the game might be boring and close but the excitment, the real drama, would come in OT or if the game moved to a shootout.

That things played out as promoted made the TV partners seem prescient but really made no difference in the future of soccer in this country. After all that has happened the past few weeks, it will actually be nice to get a break from soccer again for four years.

In the meantime, people can watch baseball, debate about the NBA and even wonder about the future of Erin Andrews or which radio network will land the radio rights for the NCAA Tournament (they're still up for grabs despite the TV deal earlier this year). And all of those things are more interesting, and prompt more potential impact, for sports fans in the United States than the World Cup.

The Lesson: Never Put Liberals in Charge

Even though The Right News posted "Three Cheers For Obama" back in May, 2010, I wanted to share it with readers here.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Three Cheers For Obama
He destroyed the Clinton Political Machine - Driving a stake thru the Heart of Hillary's Presidential aspirations--something no Republican was ever able to do. Remember when a Hillary Presidency scared the daylights out of you!

He killed off the Kennedy Dynasty - No more Kennedys trolling Washington looking for booze and women wanting rides home. American women and freedom are safer tonight!

He is destroying the Democratic Party before our eyes!

Dennis Moore had never lost a race - quit

Evan Bayh had never lost a race - quit

Byron Dorgan - had never lost a race - quit

Harry Reid - bid for re-election doesn't look good

These are just a handful of the Democrats whose political careers Obama has destroyed! By the end of 2010 dozens more will be!

In December of 2008 the Democrats were on the rise. In the last two election cycles they had picked up 14 senate seats and 52 house seats.

The press was touting the death of the Conservative Movement and the Republican Party.

In one year Obama put a stop to all of this and will probably give the house, if not the senate back to the Republicans.

He has completely exposed liberals and progressives for what they are.

Every generation seems to need to relearn the lesson on why they should never actually put liberals in charge.

He is bringing home the lesson very well! Liberals tax, borrow and spend - check. Liberals won't bring themselves to protect America - check. Liberals want to take over the economy - check. Liberals think they know what is best for everyone - check. Liberals aren't happy till they are running YOUR life - check.

He has brought more Americans back to conservatism than anyone since Reagan. In one year he rejuvenated the Conservative Movement and brought out to the streets millions of Freedom Loving Americans.

Name me one other time in your life that you saw your friends and neighbors this interested in taking back America!

In all honesty one year ago I was more afraid than I had ever been in my life. Not of the economy, but of the direction our country was going. I thought Americans had forgotten what this country was all about. My neighbors, friends, strangers proved to me that my lack of confidence of the greatness and wisdom of the American people was flat out wrong.

When the American People wake up, no smooth talking teleprompter reader can fool them!

Obama woke up these Great Americans Again I want say Thank you Obama!

*So, Lets Recap "2009".........what a year! WOW!!!*

1. The American people inaugurate a half-Arab president with a total of 142 days experience as a US Senator from the most politically corrupt state (city) in America whose governors have been ousted from office. The President's first official act is to order the close of Gitmo and make sure terrorist’s civil rights are not violated. (Honest mistake?)

2. The U.S. Congress rushes to confirm a black Attorney General, Eric Holder, whose law firm we later find out represents seventeen Gitmo Terrorists. (An honest mistake?)

3. The CIA Boss appointee, Leon Panetta, has absolutely no experience.

4. We got the second most corrupt American woman (Pelosi is #1) as Secretary of State; bought and paid for. (You can put lipstick on a pig, but it still stinks!)

5. We got a Tax Cheat for Treasury Secretary who did not properly file his own taxes for 12 years. (He misspoke!)

6. A Commerce Secretary nominee who withdrew due to corruption charges. (Another honest mistake???)

7. A Tax cheat nominee for Chief Performance Officer who withdrew under charges. (Hmmm... Another screw-up?)

8. A Labor Secretary nominee who withdrew under charges of unethical conduct. (Ok, maybe this person was just plain stupid.)

9. A Secretary HHS nominee (Daschle) who withdrew under charges of cheating on his taxes. (I'm running out of excuses for these idiots!!)

10. Multiple appointments of former lobbyists after an absolute campaign statement that no lobbyists would be appointed.
(Dear God, I am getting a headache!)

All this occurred just during the _first three weeks_. . . But who's counting?

America is being run by the modern-day Three Stooges; Barry, Nancy and Harry and they are still trying to define stimulus..."it's spending!!!"

The congress passes the $800,000,000,000
(that's $800 billion) pork-loaded spending bill where the government gives you a smidgen of your tax dollars ($13 per week), making you feel so good about yourself [stimulated], that you want to run out to Wal-Mart and buy a new Chinese-made HDTV!

Only with the Liberals... Pray for our country. Here's the good news though - Obama took Air Force One to Denver to sign the stimulus package, wasting as much as 10,000 gallons of fuel OR 24 JOBS FOR ONE YEAR.

Don't you just love hypocrites? Obama went to the International Olympic Committee to have them choose Chicago for a host city, he failed. Obama went to Copenhagen to lecture them on global warming, he failed . Obama went to New Jersey to promote the Democratic candidate for governor, he failed . Obama went to Virginia to promote the Democratic candidate for governor, he failed. Obama went to Massachusetts to promote the Democratic candidate for senator, he failed.

Speaking of praying, Obama has now been president for a full year and yet he & wife (first lady) Michelle, the Christian family they claim to be, have not attended church since the inauguration.

*Obama* is the *1st president in history who did not attend any* Christmas *religious observance.* He must miss Reverend Wright!
*And finally, he is the 1st president to remain on vacation after a terrorist attack.*

In these times 'I'll keep my God, my freedom, my gun and my money. Anyone that supports this insanity can keep *"THE CHANGE".*

Glenn Beck once said, "These people will undo themselves." How prophetic that phrase is today!

A co-worker/friend of my husband said the following after Obama's first few disastrous months as the Bogus POTUS:

"Obama and the Democrats are going to mess things up so badly that the Conservative Republicans will be in power in 2012 and hold it for 20 years!"

I hope and pray that it lasts even longer than that! It is going to take at least two decades, if not three, to turn this devastation around so that we can restore our Constitutional Republic!

I suggest reading many of the posts at The Right News Blogspot!
About the author:

Jim Ownbey
Your one stop shop for breaking news topics conservatives are interested in. We gather our news from many non conventional locations delivering conservative news and views days before mainstream media reports theirs. From the founders of BushCountry.org

Hat Tip:

The Right News

The only thing more ridiculous....

...than fans of the US Men's National Team thinking they had a chance at going far in this year's World Cup are the idiotic comments of people cracking on the World's game out of ignorance.

Football will never be real popular in America because too many Americans view the rest of the World's citizens as somehow inferior. Hell, there are people out there (especially in the South) that denigrate the NBA because it's not.....American Football. What really cracks me up is the inability of most people just to STFU about it all. So you don't like footy. Cool. I don't like the Texas Longhorns. I just shut up about it because who cares right?


The fact is that America's football program has a LONG way to go to be competitive with the elite teams of the world. We've gone just about as far as we can under the current system, a system that's designed with the wealthy, young footballer in mind. What the US needs to do is remember that the game is best grown when grown organically. Put the kids out there, and tell them to score.

Simple.

Speaking Out Against The Usurper

More Americans are now not afraid to admit to being "Birthers." Many American Patriots, including military personnel, are putting their very own lives, reputations, livelihoods, and positions in jeopardy to speak out against the usurper - Barack Hussein Obama (a.k.a. Barry Soetoro). The following link is a must-read letter recently sent to Mr. Chuck Dasey, U.S. Army spokesman:

The Post & Email
Mr. Dasey, Our very survival is at stake - OUR NATIONAL SECURITY HAS BEEN SEVERELY COMPROMISED Dear Editor: The following email was sent to Mr. Chuck Dasey, U.S. Army spokesman: June 26, 2010 From: ...

Don't miss the following comment at that site:

Thomas Morato says:
Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 6:05 AM
The paint continues to be placed on the canvas which creates a picture that could not be clearer if Leonardo Da Vinci had painted it himself. Tom, the only problem is you can’t get anyone with ANY authority to look at it. The evidence is overwhelming and the issue is being shut down by every media outlet except the Internet.

It is becoming very clear to me that there are forces at work beyond our control to permanently transform our Constitutional Republic into a Socialist State controlled by communist. This fact cannot be denied, as these forces have apparently infiltrated the press and all branches of the federal government and agencies including but not limited to the Executive, Judicial, Legislative, NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS and all branches of the US military.

Unless enough concerned citizens stand up against this destruction of the Republic and our Constitution, the country will fall into the hands of the communist (aka progressives). These progressives want nothing more than to destroy capitalism and take liberty and freedom away from every citizen only to have complete government control over our lives.

If America does not wake up, organize and peacefully demonstrate these injuries in DC we will soon be nothing more than an extension of China.

Also, see the very brief video of a man interrupting a news reporter to ask the question, "Hey America - where is Obama's birth certificate?"

People who probably would have never joined the chorus of Birthers here in America are now changing their tune. They are seeing and realizing the huge amount of damage that Obama and his puppeteers behind the scenes are doing to our beloved nation.

We need prayer - more than ever - here in America! God save the United States of America! God Bless our nation!

Hat tips to links.

Obama's Epic Failure

Time is short for blogging this morning, so I will simply link to a must-read article. Mr. Lame Cherry has done it again! His exclusive blog posts rival the best well-known and highly trafficked conservative blogs out there (many of which are on my blog roll). His rhetoric is admittedly unusual at times, but the content is what matters the most anyway.

Please read Rolling Stoned

I have often surmised that Obama was not-so-secretly at war with our American military, and Lame Cherry shares some details.

Excerpts:

What needs to be addressed is my exclusives concerning McChrystal, Patraeus, the Gulf and Obama, in how this all ties into Spike Lee Obama kicking ass not of terrorists, but of the American military.

Rolling Stone had alerted Obama long ago this was coming what McChrystals staff was spouting off about. The regime crafted this Obama to look leaderlike as he needed it over how bad he looked in the Gulf.
Obama though looks worse in kicking out gunslinger McChrystal.

I really would have it that the talkers on the right would quit bashing Rolling Stone, the liberal reporter and stating that McChrystal never stated the things in the interview.

As no one else reported this, the Stones representative was on Charlie Rose and when Rose was pointing out that McChrystal never said those things, the guy just grinned which Rose picked up on and said, "THERE ARE WORSE THINGS OFF THE RECORD MCCHRYSTAL SAID?"

The Stones reporter affirmed just that. If liberals think that the McChrystal staff and McChyrstal were saying bad things about the regime, what could not be printed was a thousand times more damning.

That needs repeating in McChrystal gathered around him like minds who voted for Obama, but they had just as thin skins in being hammered by Biden, and were retaliating I firmly believe knowing they would be sacked, because they finally figured out Obama is going to make them a scapegoat for losing the war like Vietnam.If you visit Jonathan Alter's book, you find Obama was portrayed as the guy standing around telling the McChrystal and company that it was no longer 2001 and Obama was putting them on the short leash, WOOF WOOF!
Compare that with McChrystal's assessment of Obama being a scared little boy around grown up officers.

Who do you believe as one of them is lying? McChrystal is telling the facts and Obama is lying. We know this because when Holbrooke and the Hillary boys were chanting the Obama line, they ran into Patraeus and company and in one meeting those officers had Holbrooke stuttering, star struck and wide eyed, chanting not Obama mantras, but Bush policy.
Holbrooke has made a Carter catastrophe out of the central East, but do not think this is Holbrooke alone or the idiot ambassador. This is Obama Brzezinski policy deliberately imploding the region and as typical of Obama, Holbrooke is terrified he is going to be fired for implementing what Obama wants destroyed.

Liberals you had better not miss this exclusive fact in Obama eats his own. He ate Blagojevich, Spitzer, Paterson, Dodd, that security guy no one knew was in the government, British Petroleum and the loveliest of all in Richard Holbrooke.

Jon Voight's name is misspelled in the next paragraph excerpt:

So as John Voit has correctly pointed out that Obama has created Civil War in America, uncivil war against Jews, there must be noted that Obama has started another war, not against Muslim terrorists, but Obama is at war with the United States military.

Hey, the last Marxist who was cleaning officer house like this was Joe Stalin in wiping out his best officers just before World War II.

That is fitting as World War III is on the horizon and Obama is setting the United States up and Europe for epic battle defeats.

So, if you are wondering why McCrystal would allow such an article released via Rolling Stone, all the while knowing that he would get fired (a.k.a. "asked" to resign) perhaps the explanation is as simple as this:

In review, Obama has lost Iraq when it was won, Obama has lost Afghanistan when it was stabilized. Obama has lost Pakistan when it was an ally of America in now it's terrorists are coming to America. Obama has lost the war on his Gulf Gusher.

That is the explanation of what has been going on behind the scenes. McChrystal was saying worse than what his staff was. It was true, but then McChrystal wanted out to save himself from hisself.

The net loser again is the US Soldier. The US Soldiers who are now confronting Iran on the high seas for the Jews who Obama slapped around, when the Jews are capable of blowing their own enemies out of the water. The US Soldiers dying now in mass around the world due to Obama endangering them.

With the mess that Obama puppet and his evil puppeteers have made, why shouldn't Obama party and golf his time in office away?

That is why Obama is vacationing and having rock concerts, as he is fleeing the job and seeking only pleasure and adoration. Obama is held hostage. McChrystal and his staff know this, and that is what they were stating as they jumped the Obama ship as she is sinking.

Happy Street

(Photo by Dan Hill.)

Giving us another reason to love John Körmeling's Happy Street at the Shanghai Expo even more is this nighttime photo of the Dutch pavilion taken by Dan Hill, of City of Sound. With its hodgepodge collection of ostensibly detachable modules all crazily lit up, this instant city looks like a mini-Shanghai crossed with a mini-Tokyo or Amsterdam genetically modified with a 24-hour shopping mall and Blade Runner. We know we shouldn't be judging things just by their photos, but those Christmas lights spiraling down the columns make the other pavilions look joyless. Just check out this yawn-a-rama.

One half-expects that flanking that fluorescent Happy Street are cybercafes where the local mafia farm for World of Warcraft gold, McDonald's serving dim sums, noodle shops, sushi bars, hot pot dining halls, ping pong halls, laundromats, capsule hotels, Youth Hostels, pieds-à-terre, dormitories where college students and migrant workers from Shanxi province cram into multi-level bunk beds, bookstores selling rare editions of books that survived the bonfires of the Cultural Revolution alongside copies of Mao's Quotations, Chinese apothecaries, mobile phone repair shops, e-waste recycling sweatshops, antique shops filled with Ming ceramics of questionable provenance, an IMAX 3D movie theater, chapels for Western-style white weddings, Falun Gong secret meditation rooms next door to a non-government sanctioned Catholic church, brothels, acupuncture centers, discothèques, coin-operated pissoirs, Chinese shadow puppet theaters, a landscape architecture studio, haberdasheries where tourists can get outfitted with a Mao suit in just a couple of hours, Michelin 3-starred restaurants, travel agencies, car dealerships, a planetarium, a synagogue, a Freemason lodge, an abattoir, an Apple Store selling iPhone knockoffs, bootleg DVDs and dumplings, a miniature golf course and a miniature football pitch, Buddhist temples, tattoo parlors, Starbucks, AC cooling centers, bôiteries, karaoke bars, oxygen bars that always fill up whether or not there's a smog alert or a sandstorm, the venue for Postopolis! Shanghai, fabulous ballrooms for drag shows, hot-body contests, mock same-sex weddings, Chinese opera performances and the Miss Transgender China beauty pageant, detention centers for human rights campaigners, fishmongers, tea houses, calligraphy schools, English language schools, high schools, gao kao preparation night schools where students hook up to oxygen tanks in the hopes of increasing their concentration, National Ethnic Minority Theme Houses, fully immersive Cave Automatic Virtual Environments (or CAVEs), H&Ms, Zen-inspired spas, hipster boutiques, white guy rental agencies, expat watering holes, organ harvesting clinics, sanitariums, orphanages, missionaries, branches of the Louvre, the Guggenheim and the Tate, satellite campuses of the world's leading universities, studio spaces in which guests for A Date with Luyu are interviewed via satellite, Dance Dance Revolution arcades, crematoriums, grottos, betting shops, bakeries, abortion clinics and a cinema that plays all the films of Jia Zhanke all the time.

In the Archives:
The Dutch Pavilion at Expo 2010 Shanghai

Memories

Hey Folks ~
So, it's Friday again and I'm gearing up for my two-week adventure with my family. We will be renting a cabin and reminiscing about the good old times. Maybe seeing a few friends along the way! For that reason, I am feeling quite nostalgic today.
I was sorting through e-mails of disability alerts when I was reminded of my early days at the Del Ray Center. This center provided information and schooling for those with disabilities and their parents. It was there that I found my voice and developed my social skills. My favorite game was when all my friends would pretend to be asleep until someone would say the magic words.. "wake up"
Sounds silly, I know; but looking back that request sort of prepared me for what I am doing today- using my words to reach others through the computer all with the power of my voice!

TV Success Set to Spur Soccer? Sorry

With the United States in the knockout round of the World Cup, Saturday's match against Ghana should emerge as the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history, and some might argue it could serve as the latest launching point for a nationwide popularity surge for the sport.

These arguments come every four years or so, usually in conjunction with the World Cup (or the Women's World Cup, which the United States won in 1999). Before that, there was the 1970s uptick in popularity sparked by the North American Soccer League, home of the New York Cosmos and its roster of international soccer stars such as Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia.

All too often, those "next big moments" play out and little follows -- which might be the case this time as well.

On-field standouts and quality play need something more to produce a watershed moment for a sport. They need attention and a public response.

Luckily for soccer at this time, ESPN provides just such an enthusiastic partner with its endless promotions and quality coverage and production. And viewers have responded in record numbers.

Some 13 million watched the U.S. team's first match in pool play vs. England on ABC and this week's final match of group play vs. Algeria drew 6.1 million viewers to ESPN on Wednesday morning, making it the most-viewed weekday morning event in the all-sports network's history. (Yes, there must be some perspective with that because the number of quality, ratings-drawing morning programming has been limited, at best, through the years. Still, it's impressive.)

So, the stage would seem set for a big moment for soccer because of a rare combination of nationalistic attention and interest. Other sports have parlayed those things into turning point moments, but it's just not that simple for soccer in the United States.

When it Worked
1958: The first TV moment that validated a sport came Sunday, Dec. 28, 1958. In the NFL championship game (years before there was Super Bowl), the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants played to a tie through four quarters and the game entered sudden death overtime for the first time in league history.

After New York took the opening kickoff and was forced to punt, Baltimore pounded the ball down the field. They reached the 8-yard-line when the game was interrupted as a man ran on the field. (In another example of the power of TV, that man was an NBC employee who was told to create a distraction so the network could repair its feed, which had just gone dead.) When play resumed a few minutes later, the Colts continued their drive and Alan Ameche eventually scored the decisive touchdown on a 1-yard run.

Some 45 million people in the United States watched the game (even though it was blacked out in New York City), and it was credited as the event that launched the NFL into public consciousness -- spurring a growth trend that has pretty much continued for 50-plus years.

1979: On Monday, March 26, 1979, Indiana State with Larry Bird and Michigan State with Earvin "Magic" Johnson met in the championship game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. It was the final act of the Final Four -- and the first act that helped spur college basketball and the NCAA Tournament to previously unimaginable heights.

Interest in the game was unparalleled, and the game remains the highest-rated basketball game, college or professional, in U.S. history. Some 35 million people watched as Michigan State won, 75-64. Bird and Magic were the focal points, as they had been throughout the tournament.

In the years that followed, the NCAA Tournament expanded from 40 to 64 teams and became a cash cow for the NCAA itself -- because the TV rights that CBS and its partners now pay ($10.8 billion through 2024) to carry the tournament help support every other championship sanctioned by the NCAA.

Also, it's probably fair to argue that the game, as the kickoff and first in-person meeting for the the Bird-Magic rivalry, helped the NBA as well. Both players went pro the following year and their rivalry eventually made pro basketball a TV successful staple again.

1987: The most-watched college football game of all time took place Jan. 2, 1987 when top-ranked Miami met No. 2 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. Officials at NBC had moved the game to Friday night, making it the first bowl game ever contested after New Year's Day, and expected people across the nation would watch.

They were correct, and surprised, as nearly 70 million people watched a good game with a great storyline -- hard-working simple and solid Penn State against brash, colorful and loud Miami. The game was close from start to finish. In the final minute, a late Pete Giftopolous interception stopped a Miami drive and secured Penn State's 14-10 victory.

After that, college football once again emerged as more of a national sport. Big games, including bowl games, moved more regularly to accommodate TV. Also, New Year's Day was no longer a sacred or secure date and many bowl games moved to Jan. 1 or later.

Still, it's Soccer
Those success stories make the combination of compelling athletic competition and widespread attention with millions of TV viewers sound like a sure-fire blueprint for success, but that's not always the case. The formula often fails with Olympic sports or quadrennial events, such as the World Cup.

For example, while 41 million people watched Olympic figure skating on Feb. 25, 1994, most were interested in what would happen to Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. Kerrigan had been attacked at U.S. nationals and was sent to the Olympic games with her recovery uncertain.

Skating officials connected Harding (and her husband, bodyguard and other accomplices) to the attack before the Olympic Games in Norway and attempted to remove her from the U.S. team. But she threatened legal action and stayed on the team. Kerrigan eventually earned the silver medal while Harding finished eighth. She later had her U.S. title stripped was banned for life from U.S. figure skating events as a competitor or coach.

It was reality TV before networks created the genre, and it did nothing for figure skating popularity.

Concrete Comparison
Perhaps the most fair comparison for World Cup impact and ratings can be found in Olympic hockey -- especially the United States-Canada matchups just this year in Vancouver.

The teams met twice, first in the preliminary round and then in the gold medal game.

In the preliminary round, which was shown live only on MSNBC, 8.2 million people watched the United States earn a 5-3 victory.

More than a week later in the gold medal game, Canada recorded a 3-2 overtime victory that attracted an average of 27.6 million viewers on NBC. At its most-watched moment, some 32 million people were watching.

If soccer matches those numbers (and it has a way to go because the 8.2 million watching on MSNBC trump the 6.1 who watched this week on ESPN), it would be an interesting progression for the sport -- and a major victory.

For anyone to discuss or expect that the soccer team's success in the World Cup this year would propel the sport to more mainstream status in the United States is a bit optimistic at best and simplistic at worst. Even with a favorable formula, any "next big step" remains far away and unrealistic.

Soccer might eventually emerge as a more mainstream sport in the United States with a verifiable major professional league on U.S. soil that people care about at watch, but that's more likely to be the result of years of little steps as opposed to one big leap.

Proper Perspective
ESPN Radio host Erik Kuselias was spot-on with his analysis of the U.S. victory that pushed them out of pool play. He called Landon Donovan's goal the most important in U.S. soccer history and he was correct.

Had the U.S. endured another draw and not made the knockout round, it would've been a disappointment and ended the sport's chances with casual fans -- again. Or at least for the next four years.

Instead, the program got an emotional lift and a chance to play more meaningful matches.

USGS 07359610

(A node in the transcontinental hydro-veillance mesh network coldly records in real-time a harrowing human tragedy on the ground. Source: USGS.)

I'm only going to say this once.....

Despite breathless predictions of greatness by Johnny-come-lately Americans to the game of football....


Minor League Soccer is nowhere NEAR the same level of soccer at the National Level. What you see on the field, in terms of quality, at Robertson (soon to by Dynamo) stadium is much slower, much less skilled, and far more pedestrian a bring of football than what you're seeing on television this month.

Every four years the US has a brief infatuation with the beautiful game and then proceeds to ignore it while the rest of the world remains football mad. As American football ramps up memories of Landon Donovan's brilliant game-ending goal will fade and MLS will once again find itself wallowing in the second tier of professional sports in America.

Not that the second-tier is a bad place to be. It sure as hell beats the "no-tier" status of 30 years ago. Consider this: 30 years prior every American player on the National team roster played overseas. Now roughly 40% of players invited to camp are MLS players. That's not too bad. Donovan, America's best player, is an MLS star that should take advantage of this opportunity and cash in at the Premiership or Serie A. He's not going to get too many more opportunities.


Oh, and Dear Arsenal,

Please talk to Everton about acquiring Tim Howard.

That is all.

(Im)possible Chicago #2: New Micronesia

(Flag of New Micronesia.)

After a series of negotiations between the United Nations, the U.S. Government, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago and various ward aldermen and their constituents, sovereignties over several neighborhoods on the South and West sides were transfered to Pacific island nations whose territories had been made inhabitable by rising sea level. Generously compensated, residents of those neighborhoods relocated to the North side.

The new residents, also generously compensated by carbon-intensive nations in perpetuity or until global warming subsides, then set about colonizing their new homeland: an archipelago of extraterritorial enclaves carved out of the city. Some razed everything to the ground, then unearthed and discarded everything that was underground; they tilled the earth anew. Others adapted to and modified what was there, resulting in a patois of Midwestern and Pacific cultural traditions.

Still another nation-in-exile housed their entire neighborhood-state in vast greenhouse complexes: a City of Glass simulating a tropical memory, luminous at night, gleaming during the day.

((Im)possible Chicagos is a series of hallucinatory joyrides through one hundred and twenty five asynchronous Chicagos.)

America's got talent auditions feature a range of disabilities

Hey Guys,

Summer is here and America's Got Talent is back on NBC. As always, the show features a variety of acts ranging from singing to acrobatics. People who audition come from all walks of life. This year, there have been a number of acts that have inspired audiences to look beyond their situation and see their talent. For example, there was one music group of Haitians hoped to pursue their passion while providing financial support in a effort to rebuild their city after the earthquake in Haiti.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jUSENXV420&feature=popular

In another case, a teenager with epilepsy uses his love for indoor kite flying. The momentum from his movement causes the kite to take flight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ua3EZs06s&feature=popular

My Absolute favorite were sisters Ali and Christina, who along with their two other siblings have cystic fibrosis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s7CtPGeEbo&NR=1

I hope you enjoy these clips as much as I did.

Thanks for reading,

Debbie

The Circle of Crime Keeps Going Around

What I would like to know is whether or not anyone who has seen the Crime Inc. show about Petrobras (and the connections made by Glenn Beck on his show) still thinks that the mishandling of the Gulf Oil Spill is simply coincidental?

The Daily Beck: Glenn Beck Show June 21, 2010 - Crime Inc.: Petrobras

Hat Tip:

The Daily Beck

Be sure to watch the continuing story:

The Daily Beck: The Real Cost of Obama's Drill Ban

The Daily Beck: June 23, 2010 - Today's show

Tonight: There are a few things labor leaders won't tell you about their history. Unions have a long history with deep communist and racist roots. You only hear about how unions heroically stopped greedy employers from sending 10-year-old kids to work in the coal mines for a dollar a day. But you haven't heard stories like these
about unions- until tonight. Unions are destroying countries and states with their out-of-control pensions. The real ticking time bomb in this country is not the national debt, it's the debt to unions and union workers: pensions.

ESPN's Loud, Petty Shriver Should Apologize

Isn't tennis -- especially Wimbledon -- supposed to be about decorum?

Somehow ESPN analyst Pam Shriver missed the message when she got into a bickering match with struggling James Blake.

While Shriver offered what might be fair criticism of Blake's play, she did so loud enough that he could hear it during the match -- and he then responded to what was said.

Specifically, Shriver started with: "Usually, if you haven't played, or only played one or two matches, you're actually quite eager," she said. "You might not be match-tough, you might miss a lot of shots, but mentally you're not burned out.''

With Blake coming back from an injury, that made sense. But, Shriver's broadcast position was almost right on top of the court and she was talking loud enough for Blake to hear and loud enough that if she were a fan she might have been asked to leave the court area.

"Amazing you used to play tennis," Blake yelled up at Shriver's broadcast position. "I can still hear you."

A possibly minor incident should have ended there, but Shriver made it more than it was.

"James just yelled at me," she said, again loud enough for him to hear. "I'm way above the court, but evidently he can hear me. He's got rabbit ears."

With that, Shriver moved the moment away from a professional at work and more toward a petty on-air taunting -- not as bad as Jim Rome and Jim Everet (what could be?), but certainly not an example of a professional broadcaster at work, either.

Of course, Blake was not done, and neither was Shriver.

"You have to be an ass about it, too?" Blake yelled after the next point. "And act like I'm at fault.''

"And there he is, talking again," she said.



Sure, Blake was struggling and Shriver started off with valid points. Once you realize that you can be heard and you're becoming part of the action, though, it's time to stop talking so loud. It is tennis after all, and what happened was not at all professional by Shriver.

Her actions were certainly worse than others at ESPN who have been reprimanded for actions in the past. She should apologize -- and she should join that group that has at least had their hands slapped, soon.

NFL: TV Drives Potential Preseason Change

For more than a year now, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has set the groundwork (through overall planning and public interviews) for an eventual schedule change -- increasing the regular season to 18 games by cutting the preseason from four games to two.

According to Goodell last week: "It's clear the fans don't want four preseason games."

Maybe that's true, but what's more obvious is that the possible solution -- simply making two current preseason games regular season games -- provides the easiest possibly way for the NFL and its owners to increase their income (on site at stadiums and from TV partners) without significantly altering the format of the league's schedule.

If ESPN Radio were to run Goodell's comments from last week through it's "BSPN Translator," a nice gimmick used every so often that helps "interpret" what people really mean when they talk, what the fans want would not be the primary reason for a possible preseason change.

No, it would come down to TV revenue. So a more appropriate answer might emerge from Goodell as: "It's the easiest way for us to make more money. We just cut the preseason from four to two games and everybody makes more."

It is a wonderfully simplistic solution. It creates more "inventory" for TV partners and, by making the already scheduled games more important, it creates more revenue for owners because fans will attend meaningful regular season games in bigger numbers as opposed to seemingly less important preseason games.

Downsides to the move include the dillution of the regular season schedule because with 18 games each one becomes a little less important than when there were 16. In that sense regular season games would be a little less valuable to fans buying tickets.

In addition, the move would make divisional games less meaningful because they comprise a smaller portion of the schedule. Instead of division games being 38 percent of a team's schedule (6 of 16 games), they would be 33 percent.

For the league, owners and TV partners, two extra weeks of games would mean two more Sunday and Monday nights of games as well as two weeks of potential high-profile, made-for-TV matchups not possible with the current schedule of division rivals and teams playing opposite-conference foes from a specific division.

Ast the league addresses the schedule, its offseason approach must alter as well because teams will almost necessarily conduct more important personnel evaluations with two less games, which are major means of evaluation. That could be an interesting challenge -- especially because the league has punished a handful of teams this offseason for conducting organized team activities (OTAs) that were too organized or strenuous.

Here's one pretty fair bet, though. If the league shortens the preseason and finds a way for teams to conduct evalutions if the offseason, those evaluations and events will show up on TV in some form as well. And that's not BS.

The Vanishing Mosque

(The qibla as a forced perspective into infinity. Image by RUX.)

The Vanishing Mosque is a winning proposal by RUX in the Design as Reform competition organized by the Dubai-based Traffic Gallery.


(Image by RUX.)

Rather than a physical building, this mosque creates a place of worship in the spaces between buildings whose qibla is formed by skewering the urban grid to “forg[e] a forced perspective view in the direction of Mecca.”

Rather than an impervious (or quasi-impervious) block, it is “seamless with [the] streets, connected directly to the pulse of daily, and open to anyone and everyone at anytime.” At other times, it functions as an outdoor plaza.


(Image by RUX.)


(Below the raised platform is the ablution pool. Image by RUX.)

“The inside of The Vanishing Mosque is its outside,” writes RUX. “Its community extends to the limits of the city at large, creating a sense of shared ownership, collective identity, and deep roots that connect spiritual life to modern urban living.”

In the Archives:
Stadium Gang

(Via @SubMedina via @loudpaper.)

The Return of Ilona

KVUE Weather at Full Staff

KVUE TV (ABC) Chief Meteorologist Mark Murray is grinning these days. While he’s sad to see morning meteorologist Meghan Danahey leave. He’s happy about the return of Ilona McCauley and a four-person weather staff.

Danahey announced on her blog Monday, June 21, 2010 that she'll is moving to the Charlotte, North Carolina area to be with her future husband. “They plan a June 2011 wedding. We're very, very happy for her and wish her all the best! Her last day at KVUE will be Friday, June 25th,” Murray said.

Murray says Albert Ramon will be setting his alarm clock a little earlier beginning June 28, 2010 as he assumes the forecasting responsibilities for KVUE's Daybreak and MidDay newscasts. “It's a well-deserved promotion for Albert!” Murray said.

The good news is that a good friend is returning to KVUE. Ilona McCauley (formerly Ilona Torok) has been teaching middle school science in the Leander School ISD for the past 2 years. She's decided to rejoin KVUE for our weekend Daybreak newscasts. This will allow her to spend more time at home during the week with her two young children. Her first morning on the air will be Saturday, July 3rd.

“Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that we'll be returning to a four-person weather team in August with the addition of Andrew Chung,” Murray said. Chung earned his degree in meteorology from Florida State, but he has plenty of forecasting experience in Texas having worked in Beaumont/Port Arthur where he became hurricane savvy. Right now, Chung is at KVIA (ABC) in El Paso. Chung will forecast for KVUE's weekend evening newscasts beginning in mid-August.

“I graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor's of Science degree in Meteorology plus a minor in mathematics, and finished all but the thesis for a master's degree in Meteorology from FSU,” Chung says on the KVIA web site. His resume is impressive: “In April of 2008, I was awarded the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation from the American Meteorological Society, considered an upgrade to the original AMS Seal of Approval, and in June of 2008 I was awarded Best Weather Presentation from the Press Club of Southeast Texas for severe weather coverage in the Beaumont area.”

Originally from Miami, Florida in his spare time he enjoys playing the piano and violin, being a graphic artist, lifting weights, watching football games both on television and in person, and studying foreign languages. With all of that, Chung must not have much spare time left!

© Jim McNabb, 2010

Slurry #3

(Massimo Vitali, “Catania Under the Volcano,” from the series Sicily Primo, 2007. With thanks to Kate Collins for the photograph.)

Here, we're less interested in the Massimo Vitali photograph itself than what it has captured: more or less a construction scaffolding smoothing out a patch of irregular terrain.

Less designery and messier than Vicente Guallart's microcoasts and hexagonal beaches, this seemingly ad hoc intervention creates an occupiable public open space on the rugged coastline of Catania, Sicily, where before only the daring few ventured out. Simultaneously, the structure provides an easy and safe access to the waters of the Mediterranean, an important recreational asset to the local community as well as an obvious exploitable asset for its tourism industry.

Previously:
#1 #2

Life and Liberty Hangs in the Balance

Spotted this video presentation of a painting done by Jon McNaughton over at Nice Deb and it literally moved me to tears!



I weep for what we have lost here in America - the deep knowledge of the Bible and the heritage of our Christian faith.

I weep for what we are losing at such an accelerated pace - our freedoms and liberty - due to the tyrannical government we have.

I weep for those who have shoved God and His Son, Jesus Christ, out of their lives.

I weep for those who have never taken Jesus' offer of salvation seriously, and therefore ignore it and do not accept it.

I weep for our children who are now living in an America that I never thought I would ever see in my lifetime. I could go on and on. But most regular readers here could easily add to this list.

However, I also have tears of joy because I know who I am in Jesus Christ. I know that millions of saved Christians also know who they are in Christ and are evangelizing across the globe - including through the vehicle of the Internet.

Jesus told us that a sign of the coming Rapture would be both a falling away from the faith (heresy, apostasy, false religions, atheism etc. -all of which are happening today) as well as the Gospel being spread throughout the world. There has been no time in history - other than the computer age - where the Gospel could literally be spread throughout the entire world in seconds! How many people have read the Gospel message of Jesus Christ in just one day, accepted it and have also accepted the fact that the Word of God, the Bible, is ultimate Truth? We may never know the answer to that question on this side of heaven.

What a beautiful painting! Jesus is the center of the scene, and rightfully so.

Is He the center of your life?

Hat Tip:

Nice Deb

Also see:

McNaughton Fine Art.com

UPDATE!! Just discovered this at the McNaughton website!

Go to this page and run the mouse over the people in the painting to find out who they are and/or what they represent! Awesome!

TNT Misses Perspective on Pivotal Moment

A late-race mistake cost Marcos Ambrose a chance at his first Sprint Cup Series victory Sunday but he was not alone in making a mindless lapse -- and he at least had a decent excuse because he was in the midst of the on-track action.

Those covering the race, specifically TNT analysts Wally Dallenbach and Kyle Petty, slumped late in the race as well.

Ambrose, who had led 35 laps, was comfortably in the lead when a late-race caution slowed action. He took the opportunity to shut off his engine briefly to try to save gas. But when he tried to restart the engine it missed and he actually came to a stop on the track.

Because he was not able to maintain speed with the pace car and was passed under the yellow flag, NASCAR officials ordered him to start seventh in the ensuing restart -- a loss of critical spots that could not be made up with just a handful of laps remaining in the race. He eventually finished sixth.

Although the TNT crew correctly cited the rule NASCAR was applying at the time, they missed when they later strayed from racing to humor, and even to soccer.

The most tasteless moment came after the race, when Dallenback said in one egregious moment as Ambrose took his time before making himself available for an interview: "If you want to find Marcos Ambrose, go the the Golden Gate Bridge."

A reference to jumping off a bridge was not funny and unconscionable. Broadcast partners Adam Alexander and Petty groaned and, thankfully, tried to get away from that topic as quickly as possible.

Petty was not blameless, either. He tried to compare Ambrose's mistake to the potential third goal in the U.S.-Slovakia soccer match Friday, citing the need to follow the rules even if competitors do not like them. He was only half right, though.

Ambrose was a victim of the rules because he violated NASCAR's rules for caution periods. The soccer incident had nothing to do with rules, though, and Petty's disclaimer about not knowing anything about the sport should have been an out-loud clue even he could catch. Then he could have decided not to utilize the ill-conceived analogy.

To his credit, Ambrose did conduct the obligatory on-camera interview as he was walking from his trailer later in the broadcast and he shouldered responsibility for his gaffe. Dallenbach and Petty should do the same.