Yeah, it's been a while. Thanks to those who kept checking back and didn't completely abandon ship. From the Stats page I can see that the the viewership has stayed fairly constant since last spring when I became pissed with Blogger and the "Lost Blog Post".
This isn't the start of a New Year's Resolution or anything else as mundane as that. I just didn't have anything to say for a while. Rampant rambling just wasn't working for me. I've always considered myself a somewhat shy and quiet person - um, r-i-i-ght as Robbie would say. It seems as I've aged that I've become one of those people you can't shut up if I am the least little bit passionate about a subject.
Oh! I was introduced during the holidays by a cousin to her husband as "the photographer and the opinionated guy". Really? Me? I try very hard not to inject my opinion about politics, religion or anything that might be remotely controversial at family gatherings. To me it's akin to dropping your pants and mooning everyone - everyone knows you have an ass, they just don't need to know about it up close and personal. Turns out the reference was to a Facebook posting about Chik-Fil-A and how the founder of the restaurant had given almost 2 million dollars to anti-GLBT groups in 2009 alone. The WinShape Foundation is the charitable arm of the restaurant and this link will take you directly to information on where some of that giving went in 2009.
Unnamed cousin said she could see my point but the WinShape Foundation does a lot of good in the community and Georgia in general. The founder and chairman S. Truett Cathy does gives a lot of money to help worthy organizations in his home state and also helps send underprivileged kids to summer camps. While
that is in deed a noble and kindly gesture there are two points I would
like to point out. One, he's still excluding an entire community and
firing off millions of dollars to hate groups whose soul(less) purpose is
to deny the GLBT community equal rights. Second it's really not his
money but that of of the patrons of his restaurants. If someone is
concerned that a disadvantaged child wont' get to go to camp, save
yourself a few trips through Chik-Fil-A and sponsor a child yourself.
And for the sake of fairness, I did find it admirable that a company would stick to religious beliefs and not be open on Sunday to honor the Sabbath. I also have eaten there only one time in the three and half years that we've been back in Indianapolis - we live less than two miles from one of their stores. I didn't find their food all that great. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't worth going back for. That's not bias on my part, I didn't find out about their "charitable" giving until sometime last summer.
And the link I referred to on Facebook? Here it is. It's an open letter to the founder and CEO of Chik-Fil-A from a blogger named John Paul from Oklahoma. I found his blog when a friend of mine originally posted this letter to his Facebook page. The more I read him the more I feel less like I'm on a soapbox and more like I'm on a soapdish. I can't promise that I won't be pulling out the box more - I probably will - but it was time for me to stop being so bloody polite all the time. The more voices added to the conversation, no matter how small or quiet they be, the more will be exposed of the hypocrisy that is the conservative movement.
(Part 2 to follow shortly.)
Monday, January 30, 2012
Friday, May 13, 2011
Technology. Gotta love it.
5/17/11 UPDATE*
It appears that I'm screwed. The last message from Blogger is: "Update (5/15 10:55PM PST): Blogger should be back to normal for the vast majority of people affected by this issue -- if posts are still missing, please check your drafts (you may need to republish)."
If anyone has suggestions on how to pull out of my laptop the history of what I wrote please let me know. The draft that is saved is about 1/4th of what I published.
5/13/11 For those who are looking for the 50/50 post from Wednesday:
It appears that I'm screwed. The last message from Blogger is: "Update (5/15 10:55PM PST): Blogger should be back to normal for the vast majority of people affected by this issue -- if posts are still missing, please check your drafts (you may need to republish)."
If anyone has suggestions on how to pull out of my laptop the history of what I wrote please let me know. The draft that is saved is about 1/4th of what I published.
5/13/11 For those who are looking for the 50/50 post from Wednesday:
This is what I've learned from the Blogger blog:
We’ve started restoring the posts that were temporarily removed and expect Blogger to be back to normal soon.
To get Blogger back to normal, all posts since 7:37am PDT on Weds, 5/11 have been temporarily removed. Blogger is in read-only mode for now. We expect everything to be back to normal soon.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Random Stuff 2
Car Design:
There have been some wonderful car designs come out of Detroit the past few years. The Chevrolet Malibu, Camaro and Cruze are just a few of the top of my head. GM finally got away from the bland body styling that made it nearly impossible to distinguish one GM product from any other. Ditching three divisions didn't hurt GM either, although it was disheartening to see Pontiac tossed away.
Chrysler, well they still chug along. The 300 is a styling masterpeice leading the charge back to large muscular Detroit iron. The Sebring/200 though... yeesh! I've not driven the 200 yet but anything would be an improvement to what they last did to the Sebring. I owned a 2000 Sebring and loved it. Of course that model was based on the Mitsubishi Eclipse. And while I can certainly see the inspirations for the last Sebring coming from the Crossfire, the translation to a four seater convertible was a disaster only surpassed by the four door hardtop model. Awkward styling, horrible finish materials and sluggish performance. Thank God I didn't have to drive it much as a vacation rental car.
Ford also continues to surprise with each refinement of the Mustang and Fusion while missing the mark with the fat ass on the Taurus. The tail lights on that monstrosity, while elegant in their own right, are way too small for the caboose they rest upon. Now Ford has just introduced the restyled Focus for 2012. I'm not sure if the stylist was aware of their inspiration or if it was a quirky accident but I think if you get the car in black instead of
white you'll truly be able to see who it's father is. Is it Darth Focus? Or Ford Vader? The Focus does have a pretty neat function where the grill shutters close to make the car more aerodynamic. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself with a John Williams score running through your head whenever you approach it from the front.
What's in a Name?
I work for a company that I can't talk about. It's a national company and we as employees see confidential information as a matter of routine. The company is so sensitive about confidentiality that I'm not even allowed to look up my own information through their systems. But that's not what this is about. Instead it's about the names that cross my computer screen from time to time. I'm not able to give you specific examples but think of those childhood name gags we all laughed about: Seymour Butz, Ima Pigg, Dick Trickle and Jim Shue. Yes, the last two are real. Mr. Trickle is a famous stock car driver from 1984 to 2001. The last one would be a not so famous small town Hoosier boy. What I can say is that my co-workers and I get a chuckle or two everyday with some of the names we see.
I'm just constantly surprised by the names parents foist upon their children. There was a unusual name in the news here in Indianapolis a few weeks ago... a woman with the name Sparkle. If the first image in your mind was of a stripper I wouldn't be surprised. I have no idea what her profession was, but I'd almost guaranty most people will assume something besides attorney. What may sound like a cute name for a child turns out to an awful adult name. I'm imploring parents to think of how it's going to sound when their daughter is being called Desire' when she's 80 years old.
The final thing I have to say about names? Stop with the "unique" spellings. Dhe'bee is just wrong, wrong, wrong! You're just asking for your child to have a lifetime of correcting people. Or if they're smart, they'll change it as soon as they're legally able to.
There have been some wonderful car designs come out of Detroit the past few years. The Chevrolet Malibu, Camaro and Cruze are just a few of the top of my head. GM finally got away from the bland body styling that made it nearly impossible to distinguish one GM product from any other. Ditching three divisions didn't hurt GM either, although it was disheartening to see Pontiac tossed away.
Chrysler, well they still chug along. The 300 is a styling masterpeice leading the charge back to large muscular Detroit iron. The Sebring/200 though... yeesh! I've not driven the 200 yet but anything would be an improvement to what they last did to the Sebring. I owned a 2000 Sebring and loved it. Of course that model was based on the Mitsubishi Eclipse. And while I can certainly see the inspirations for the last Sebring coming from the Crossfire, the translation to a four seater convertible was a disaster only surpassed by the four door hardtop model. Awkward styling, horrible finish materials and sluggish performance. Thank God I didn't have to drive it much as a vacation rental car.
white you'll truly be able to see who it's father is. Is it Darth Focus? Or Ford Vader? The Focus does have a pretty neat function where the grill shutters close to make the car more aerodynamic. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself with a John Williams score running through your head whenever you approach it from the front.What's in a Name?
I'm just constantly surprised by the names parents foist upon their children. There was a unusual name in the news here in Indianapolis a few weeks ago... a woman with the name Sparkle. If the first image in your mind was of a stripper I wouldn't be surprised. I have no idea what her profession was, but I'd almost guaranty most people will assume something besides attorney. What may sound like a cute name for a child turns out to an awful adult name. I'm imploring parents to think of how it's going to sound when their daughter is being called Desire' when she's 80 years old.
The final thing I have to say about names? Stop with the "unique" spellings. Dhe'bee is just wrong, wrong, wrong! You're just asking for your child to have a lifetime of correcting people. Or if they're smart, they'll change it as soon as they're legally able to.
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