I Confronted the Man Whose Crime Put Me in Prison

He told me he would “be facing 99” if he turned himself in, as if I needed to be reminded of that fact. “You just put yourself in my shoes in a situation like that,” he told me. “I mean, I can understand how hurt you is, and I can understand the part of your life that you lost because I had went through the same thing.”

That was too much for me to take. “But you didn’t lay in a prison bed day in and day out being innocent for a crime you didn’t commit,” I told him. “No. You have not been in my position. Because all the positions you done been in, you brought that on yourself.”

It felt real good to tell him that. And I kept talking. I told him about the years I spent away from my kids. I cried at that point and was glad he got to see that. And I told him I would never recover from what he did to me. I told him that I wish he had been given life in prison for the crime, instead of getting a deal that only added five years to his sentence.

Alonzo just responded each time, “I understand.” He never apologized.

Texas justice at its best.

Shelter

Much more humane idea than installing metal spikes to keep homeless people from having places to sleep. Considering as a society we already like to pretend that all homelessness is due to personal choices and they should be punished for it, it is nice to see a city take even a small measure to make that less of a hardship for the person on the street.

Flu Pandemic of 1918 Explained

“Ever since the great flu pandemic of 1918 it has been a mystery where that virus came from and why it was so severe,” says Professor Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona. Between 50 and 100 million people died from the outbreak dubbed “the Spanish flu”, several times more than World War I, yet history books generally relegate it to a footnote.

While most of those who die from normal flu outbreaks are the very young or the elderly the 1918 outbreak was different – the heaviest death toll was among young adults, including those that had been in good health beforehand...

However, Worobey also turns the idea on its head by proposing exposure to a very different version of the flu virus primed the immune system to misread epidemic version. The finger of suspicion is pointed at an H3N8 virus common between 1889 and 1900. Tens of millions of people would have been exposed to this virus in childhood and recovered, but Worobey said, “A person with an antibody arsenal directed against the H3 protein would not have fared well when faced with flu viruses studded with H1 protein. And we believe that that mismatch may have resulted in the heightened mortality in the age group that happened to be in their late 20s during the 1918 pandemic."

What's the Most Dangerous Place on Earth?

Who Would Win the Second American Civil War?

New York pushed Northward. They pushed to claim all of New England and the food wealth they will need to supply their people now that resources from the Midwest are no longer available. The take over is mostly peaceful as many of the states have large, but mostly non-military populations. They encountered problems when large groups of refugees tried to flee to Canada and rioting ensued.

Illinois was calm. The Midwest Alliance grew steadily by seeking to secure the Great Lakes. They were able to take Ohio through a few fierce, but brief encounters. They also took on Minnesota and the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The West coast was now controlled by the two main powers -- California with its seat of power in San Francisco and The North West Union, centered in Seattle. California gained support and took control of all the states West of the Continental Divide and South of the Union. The North West Union pushed as far as Wyoming.

Leave it to Texas to mess everything up.

Original Mud Run DFW

So, the pictures are already up and have circulated around work, it has already been posted by others that participated on Blogger/Facebook/wherever, and I am behind the times for it, but Saturday, a group of us from work ran a mud run. It was, by far, one of the most fun events I have ever done. We signed up for the 5k, but due to untrained volunteers, an unmarked course, and our desire to not turn around, we ran the 10k instead, which turned out to be a fantastic thing. All of the best obstacles were in the second half, and I think we really would have missed out having only done the shorter race. Sure, half the group was too sore to move the next day, but that's an acceptable price.

I bought a waterproof camera to use between the group, which turned out to be a fantastic idea. Somehow, we all completely managed to bypass the sign in booth, so we didn't get our bibs (which really should have been in packet pick up but weren't), but since those were really only for photo ops, none of us cared to try to go back and get them.

The good of the race: People really help each other out, whether they know them or not. Everyone is in it together, so there really is a feeling of support. On the floating bridge, there was a girl who was having a really hard time getting across; balance was off, and because she fell once, she lost her momentum and the cycle continued. Rather than laugh or be awkwardly silent watching, everyone in line for that obstacle cheered and clapped encouragement. I know she was terribly embarrassed after, but several people congratulated her sincerely on the other side. The obstacles (mostly) allowed multiple levels of fitness to compete, although short people like myself definitely have a disadvantage. And it really, really was a hell of a lot of fun.

The bad of the race: The loudly, blatant obvious: a man died while swimming the river one the first crossing. Cause of death hasn't been released, but that crossing was incredibly frightening. We've had rains before the race, the guide ropes were so loose and bogged down by people on them that they were almost useless, and there were way too many people in the water. During our crossing, there was one lifeguard platform in the middle of a too-wide river, people ahead of us were standing on the rope, which made it about 3 feet underwater for anyone behind them. I'm not a strong swimmer, but I've never had a problem staying afloat before, but I needed help, which my guys were wonderful with. Our race was hours before the incident, and it seems like lifeguard attendance dissipated after 10am.

The race really was not well set up. Half of our waves 5k runners were told to keep going and ran the 10k, there were 10 year old Young Marines manning a lot of the stations, and absolutely no one at others. Some of the more potentially dangerous obstacles were miles from any sort of help, without anyone manning them at all. I see the company running the race getting sued pretty much any day.

We all managed to get through the race with very little injury; I have some bruised elbows and knees.

And this post has gone on way too long. Photos on Flickr stream to the left if anyone is interested, I supposed the rest was all just babble and ranting.

How Many Slaves Work for You?

Slavery Footprints allows you to take a survey and based on personal consumption choices and see how many slaves make your lifestyle possible. I could justify this as .00006% of the world, however, it still sucks.

Walmart IS Evil

25th largest equivalent GDP in the world, from a company without morals. This is one reason why the US deserves to fall. We're too stupid to not buy from this company. And yes, I am that snob that refuses to give them my money.

Also: Walmart is the reason you have shitty, falling apart, replaceable goods.

Obviously

Fox News makes you stupid. Viewers polled were found to be consistently misinformed and to believe the following:

91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)

Travesty

On Saturday, June 19, 2010, oil spread northeast from the leaking Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil appears as a maze of silvery-gray ribbons in this photo-like image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

The location of the leaking well is marked with a white dot. North of the well, a spot of black may be smoke; reports from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say that oil and gas continue to be captured and burned as part of the emergency response efforts.

BP Oil Disaster Spread

If It Was My Home has a visual indicator that can be moved to show the extent of the BP oil spill. Gives a bit of a different look when you see just how far it really is in relation to other places you know.

Please read the bolded red pint......AND negate my last post

Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school. The standards were proposed by a panel of teachers.

“We are adding balance,” said Dr. Don McLeroy, the leader of the conservative faction on the board, after the vote. “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”....

Battles over what to put in science and history books have taken place for years in the 20 states where state boards must adopt textbooks, most notably in California and Texas. But rarely in recent history has a group of conservative board members left such a mark on a social studies curriculum.


“I reject the notion by the left of a constitutional separation of church and state,” said David Bradley, a conservative from Beaumont who works in real estate. “I have $1,000 for the charity of your choice if you can find it in the Constitution.”

I am glad I do not have children, since this is something that will now be in effect for a DECADE. If you have children, please, teach them about the other side that will no longer be taught. This is f**king ridiculous, and I am so very tired of this state. History is written by the winner, and obviously, Texas and the Republicans here have been emigrated from Kansas and their superior educational system.

..via Steve is Bored

World Water Week #2

The truth about bottled water

To continue the week.

..via Nag on the Lake

Tapped #2, World Water Day

World Water Day March 22, 2010. Or, as Tapped the movie would have it, World Water Week, because one day isn't enough. I have to agree.

"The wars of the 21st century will be fought over water." —Ismail Serageldin, former vice president of the World Bank

Underwater Church Reappears

You might call it an act of God. A severe drought in Venezuela has exposed a church—pictured in 2008 (left) and on February 21, 2010—that had been inundated when a hydroelectric dam was built in 1985.

The 82-foot-tall (25-meter-tall) church and the Andean town of Potosi (see map) were flooded to establish the Uribante-Caparo water reservoir to power the plant, which is currently operating at just 7 percent of its capacity, according to the Reuters service. (Get news on the global water crisis.)

The church is now an ominous symbol of energy shortages in the country, which gets around 68 percent of its power from hydroelectricity, Reuters reported. The droughts spurred Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to declare an energy emergency in February.

Conflicted

1. Work is going to suck for the new 5+ months
2. I'm not actually allowed to do my job, I spend my time doing another project
3. I normally work 50 hours or so a week
4. I've been doing 60+ since starting this new project
5. While neglecting my actual job
6. By tomorrow evening I will gave conducted 8 interviews in 2 days, which is wearing for someone who hates people interaction
7. I won't even see them in training because I will be in the new project, so maintaining what happens is impossible
8. Hell if I actually know what is going on with my real job
9. I'm salaried.
10. Raises are 100% based on tasks we assigned ourselves 6 months ago as job functions
11. They then changed the rules and made it impossible to follow the tasks assigned.

I'm tired. And a bit depressed. Rather than feeling defiant and wanting to walk, I feel beaten down.

Go corporate living. I need a new job.

Thank You, Roger Ebert

To: Rush Limbaugh
From: Roger Ebert

You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation.

Having followed President Obama's suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims.

Here is a transcript from your program on Thursday:

Justin of Raleigh, North Carolina: "Why does Obama say if you want to donate some money, you could go to whitehouse.gov to direct you how to do so? If I wanted to donate to the Red Cross, why do I have to go to the White House page to donate?"

Limbaugh: "Exactly. Would you trust the money's gonna go to Haiti?"

Justin: "No."

Rush: "But would you trust that your name's gonna end up on a mailing list for the Obama people to start asking you for campaign donations for him and other causes?"

Justin: "Absolutely!"

Limbaugh: "Absolutely!"

That's what was said.

Unlike you and Justin of Raleigh, I went to Obama's web site, and discovered the link there leads directly to the Red Cross. I can think of a reason why anyone might want to go via the White House. That way they can be absolutely sure they're clicking on the Red Cross and not a fake site set up to exploit the tragedy.

But let me be sure I have this right. You and Justin agree that Obama might steal money intended for the Red Cross to help the wretched of Haiti.

This conversation came 48 hours after many of us had seen pitiful sights from Port au Prince. Tens of thousands are believed still alive beneath the rubble. You twisted their suffering into an opportunity to demean the character of the President of the United States.

This cannot have been an accident. A day earlier, a sound bite from your show went viral, in which you said Obama would exploit the situation to "please his black followers -- both the light-skinned and the dark-skinned ones."

Setting aside your riff on Harry Reid, consider what you imply. Obama will aid Haiti to please African-Americans. Haiti has lost untold thousands of lives. One third of the population has lost its homes. Countless people are still buried in the rubble. Every American president would act quickly to help our neighbor. You are so cynical and heartless as to explain Obama's action in a way that unpleasantly suggests how your mind works.

You have a sizable listening audience. You apparently know how to please them. Anybody given a $400 million contract must know what he is doing.

That's what offends me. You know exactly what you're doing.

The entire post above comes from Robert Ebert's website, a place I would never have thought to ever visit without the benefit of the Stumble button. However reading this, I have a new hero in someone who I have never thought twice about, since I was raised to determine my own view of how good a movie is. (Shut up, Dragonball: Evolution was awesome!)

I have new respect for Ebert. And at least for Limbaugh, if there is a hell, he can share it with Pat Robertson.

New Year, New Decade, Medieval Thinking

From today, 1 January 2010, the new Irish blasphemy law becomes operational, and we begin our campaign to have it repealed. Blasphemy is now a crime punishable by a €25,000 fine. The new law defines blasphemy as publishing or uttering matter that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby intentionally causing outrage among a substantial number of adherents of that religion, with some defences permitted.

Despite these quotes being abusive and insulting in relation to matters held sacred by various religions, we unreservedly support the right of these people to have published or uttered them, and we unreservedly support the right of any Irish citizen to make comparable statements about matters held sacred by any religion without fear of being criminalised, and without having to prove to a court that a reasonable person would find any particular value in the statement.

Can we also put into laws that it is illegal to speak against someone's political views, gender choices, disabilities, car choices, foods they eat, etc? We could solve the entire political process by just banning everything!

This is not a step forward. Progress requires freedom of thought, not legal restrictions. Let everyone state their beliefs as they wish, not hold one belief as higher than any other. As the website states after quote #24: "Because atheism is not a religion, the Irish blasphemy law does not protect atheists from abusive and insulting statements about their fundamental beliefs. While atheists are not seeking such protection, we include the statement here to point out that it is discriminatory that this law does not hold all citizens equal.

Recession

Unemployment 2007-2009 by county

"But years later, when we saw the lights going out, one after another, in the great factories that had stood like mountains for generations, when we saw the gates closing and the conveyer belts turning still, when we saw the roads growing empty and the streams of cars draining off, when it began to look as if some silent power were stopping the generators of the world and the world was crumbling quietly....

"The plane was above the peaks of the skyscrapers when suddenly, with the abruptness of a shudder, as if the ground had parted to engulf it, the city had disappeared from the face of the earth. It took them a moment to realize that the panic had reached the power stations - and the lights of New York had gone out."

- Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand

..via Nag on the Lake

Sometimes Green isn't Green

Obama sips it. Paris Hilton loves it. Mary J. Blige won't sing without it. How did a plastic water bottle, imported from a military dictatorship thousands of miles away, become the epitome of cool?

Probably one of the best articles I have read in a long time. It makes you want to support the company as well as burn it to the ground. Conservation hidden under capitalism that does nothing to help out the people that are most affected. I am completely understanding of needing to make a profit, but I cannot understand how looking out the door of your business and seeing the people that live around you doesn't make you do more, especially with 3% GDP of the entire nation.

I am completely disappointed in the 'green' movement if this is the result. But some resuable bottles and then be an activist in working to make tap water cleaner.