Pictures: More pictures of Mike

The following are some pictures of Mike while we were touring an old WW2-era merchant marine vessel.

Here's Mike spitting in the face of authority.

Here's Mike spitting even more in the face of authority as he scales the smoke stack.

Mike continues to spit in the face of authority by exploring the bowels of the ship.

Here's Mike getting caught spitting in the face of authority. This is my favorite one. (Luckily, the guy was really nice)

Pictures: Museum of Science and Industry

Mike's having a little difficulty with the wheelchair.

Mike and his new friend.

The stud strikes again.

Mike's embarassed to be seen with me.

Random kewlness.

Awwwww yeeeeaahhhhh baby!

Talk about an overbite.

I don't know why, but I was compelled to take this picture. This is some girl who, with one hand is clawing at the dirt, and with the other, talking on her mobile phone talking about the cool thing she's discovered.

One of the best dogs I've ever had the privilege of knowing.

Pictures: First time kayaking

Mike and his new friend.

Yeah...I'm tired. Go away.

Don't ask.

Mike and I loading the kayaks back up.

I'm such a stud.

Maybe I should stop smiling and turn around to check out the huge boat about to run me over.

Entry: Common sense is extinct

So, I was reading through some random web stuff, completely minding my own business, when BAM! I run into this article. It talks about the new class action lawsuit against Nintendo for their new product. I've known about this issue for about a week now but was avoiding commenting on it. I particularly love this quote....

“Owners of the Nintendo Wii reported that when they used the Nintendo remote and wrist strap, as instructed by the material that accompanied the Wii console, the wrist strap broke and caused the remote to leave the user's hand,” Green Welling said.

I'm pretty sure that, if knives came with straps, the manufacturer would get sued every time someone got cut.

Article: The Christmas hoax

Warning: I consider this to be an interesting article. Religious bias is not intended.

Here's an interesting article discussing some of the major points regarding the origin of the Christ figure. The article discusses details about the Winter Solstice and various other parallels between Jesus Christ and the Sun god. A good read.

Picture: The world's unluckiest anchorman

That would suck! :)

Picture: Awwwwwwww!

Picture: What is this?

Can you tell me what this is?

Answer...it's a dog playing with a mop. Check out more pictures of this interesting canine. :)

Animation: Sad...just sad

I was randomly perusing my buddy's blog and I noticed this post. It's in reference to a youtube animation about a flightless bird who wants nothing more than to fly...even if just once...and even at the cost of its life. I found it moving (to say the least). If you are a sucker for sentiment, then this might just be a tear-jerker for you. :)

Picture: So so true! :)

I'll probably burn in Hades for posting a Microsoft advertisment, but this one is just priceless!

Picture: Fatal Exception

I'm not usually one to glorify the female figure on my blog, but that shirt is absolutely AWESOME!! (And yes...I'm a nerd)

Article: Flatulence causes emergency aircraft landing

Sorry for the picture, but it matches this story perfectly. :)

Apparently, a woman lit some matches on a plane to mask the smell of her recent flatulence. Well...you can probably imagine where the error lies in her reasoning. Read on for more detail.

A good quote from the story....

"It's not the first time the trouser burp has been implicated in an aircraft scare. Back in 2003 a novelty farting dog sparked a US terror alert when its "wind-breaking mechanism registered as a high explosive on sensitive monitoring equipment"."

Article: A Christian nation

I apologize for posting another one of these church/state posts, but I ran across a really good article (and I wasn't even looking for it). It seems to be a very strong topic this week. :)

Mr. Jim Walker goes into GREAT detail about how the seperation of church and state was a very large issue at the founding of this country. The premise of the article is to give a very detailed and thoroughly researched argument that the country was NOT founded on Christian principles (as so many people claim today). He talks about the lack of Christian beliefs commonly found with the founding fathers (and, in fact, cites written letters stating their distaste for them), mentions that "In God We Trust" wasn't introduced until after the civil war, reiterates how "One nation, under God" wasn't introduced in the pledge until 1954, talks about the misconception that common law derived from a Christian template (since it originated with the Saxons), and discusses multiple letters (and even an official federal document) that explicitly state that the country was not based on Christianity or its beliefs. And that's only SOME of it.

If you are of the opinion that the government was not founded on Christian ideals, then this will be a very interesting read for you. If you are on the other side of that fence, you should STILL read it. Reading about a little objective research never hurt anybody (except for folks who are willing to argue these points on faith alone).

I'm not going to add any personal bias to this post. I've probably said too much just by posting it in the first place. :) I do encourage folks to read it though regardless of which side of the debate that they're on. It's a very good read and very well researched. I'm not one to care who takes which side on this, but I am definately a believer that everyone should at least TRY to keep an open mind about all things.

I would also ask a favor to all the readers of this post. I would greatly appreciate it if someone could point me to some reference or documentation for the OTHER side of this argument that is as well researched as this one. Also, if anyone could find an official federal document which makes such statements as well, I would like to read it. I'm very interested to read about all aspects of this debate. Please don't get me wrong....this is not a challenge. I simply wish to improve my education of the subject from all angles.

Enjoy...and God bless! ;)

Article: I swear to Go....umm....Allah

Here's an interesting article. Many of you probably already know that the first Muslim was recently elected to congress. Keith Ellison was chosen by the folks of the 5th congressional district of Minnesota to represent them. Here's the kicker....upon his oath of office, he wishes to place his hand upon the Quran instead of the Christian bible and, of course, every sicko is crawling out of the woodwork to send him death threats.

The article points out some parts that stick out from the Constitution...

1. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." (First amendment)
Translation: The government shall not condone or mandate any religion and shall allow any to be exercised freely.

2. "...but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI)
Translation: Nobody will ever have to jump through religious hoops to assume his/her position.

3. "The Senators and Representatives... shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution." (Article VI)
Translation: An oath must be taken to honorably serve the office which they will occupy. (No mention of a bible)


The funny thing is that people are still under the impression that it is a civic duty to swear on the holy bible upon taking office. They don't understand that that is simply a tradition and that there is no constitutional authority that will be undermined by allowing the use of any other (or no) book for the oath. The person isn't saying that they will administer the will of their god(s) while they are in office. They are simply willing to swear an oath and do so in the eyes of their respecive deities. It adds a personal and spiritual component to the oath to go along with the civic component. For some strange reason, people have a problem with that. Seriously though....does it REALLY make sense to have a Muslim swear an oath on a bible?? If it makes sense to you, then you are probably visiting the wrong blog.

There are also some great quotes in the article that make analogs between Ellison and terrorism. I use the word "great" here because I think that they not only lack any kind of credibility, but they also serve to undermine the intelligence of their respective authors. My favorite quote is...

"This country was not created on religion but on Christianity."

Come on....TELL me that's not funny!!!

Website: Are YOU unpopular?

If you find that you are unpopular and want to give the rest of the online community the impression that you aren't, then you can check out this website. It's designed to let unpopular people pay to pretend to be popular in front of others.

If someone goes to a site like this and pays for their services, then there MIGHT just be a reason why they feel they need to go there in the first place. ;)