Okay, I’ve debated enough on whether or not to post this so here it is.

Back on June 28 of this year, the AP reported of a bit of unpleasantness that happened in Winfield, Missouri. The joyous flood waters Wisconsin and other states got pounded with had made its way down the Mississippi to the Missouri region. There they valiantly struggled to support a levee with sandbags.

There work was literally undercut but a muskrat digging a hole. I believe it is safe to say the population of Winfield will not be joining in singing the following lyrics:

Muskrat, muskrat candlelight
Doin' the town and doin' it right
In the evenin'
It's pretty pleasin'
Muskrat Susie, Muskrat Sam
Do the jitterbug out in muskrat land
And they shimmy
And Sammy's so skinny
And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin' and jingin' the jango
Floatin' like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

For the rest of us, we can sing along to this classic from Captain & Tennille.

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The State of Wisconsin is known for a few things nationwide and worldwide. We are known for our cheese (in particular our squeaky cheese curds), beer drinking amounts, wild ranging weather, and wearing and being Cheese Heads for the Green Bay Packers.

For those who routinely chug the brew, they may develop the beer gut and sometimes eat enough brats and drink enough beer to get to the obese level. Let’s face it, Wisconsin is not the land of svelte women and chiseled men.

But according to the global warming advocates, obese people are a significant cause of global warming now. Which means our own brat eating and beer drinking at the games may cause us to have a Frozen Tundra no more as we’ll have caused ourselves to lose home field advantage with mild or negligible winters. But all we would need to do is keep on the chugging of beer to accelerate global warming so we can cause the next ice age and return the advantage to the Frozen Tundra. If it gets too cold, we can always help out the power plants that look to burn wood but not produce carbon to keep us warm.

Or we could take a more balanced approach to it all and wait for the scientists to finish debating if global warming exists. As outlined in the article The Sun Also Sets, the Frozen Tundra will again reign supreme as natural cooling takes place for a number of reasons.

However, this may all be a moot point. We the Cheese Heads of Wisconsin who support the Green Bay Packers have lost our leader of 17 years. Football may have died the day Brett Favre retired. Let us sing along with Annette and hope a return to the Frozen Tundra of old can help the Cheese Heads cheer again.

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Are the tools used to gather the data set up right? So far 84% of them are not.

If the data is unreliable, that means what is fed into the equations will result in incorrect numbers. But are the equations correct? There are some who would say the equations are off.

With inaccurate data and suspect equations, what good are computer models of projected weather patterns when those models can’t agree with recorded data used to test the validity of the model?

Part of global warming requires the oceans of the Earth to be warming up. What happens when the data shows they are not?

Is there information found in scientific journals that throw this global warming panic upside down? Yes, there are many of them covering how CO2 has little to no effect, how the primary climate change sources are the sun first then volcanic activity both above water and in the oceans.

Are these scientists silent in their stances or are they lining up to sign on in opposition to the claims? The latter is true.

Are the Polar Regions really warming up? Or do we need to focus on the bigger picture and not just a time frame in our short lives?

Has the last ten years really been that warm? Warming stopped in 1998 and when the data is corrected, the warmest year on record is back in the 1930’s. The past year does not make a trend but the totality of the data is compelling.

Remember the poor dying populations of polar bears? That has been debunked as a false statement or selective calculations at best.

Now what about the CO2? I stand corrected it is technically a greenhouse gas. However, the data and logic point the primary culprit to be the sun. What impact do humans have on CO2 emissions according to the data?

The answer to the last question can be summarized. “Greenhouse” gases account for between 1-2% of the atmosphere with the vast majority of it being water vapor. The small portion that is CO2 comes predominantly from nature. What impact do humans have on the greenhouse effect? The entire human race on this planet accounts for ¼ of 1 percent of the greenhouse effect.

How much of that minute portion is produced by the USA? Since China and India out produces us in not only manufacturing but definitely in their quantity of people, the USA lags behind quite far.

So can the EPA solve it all at the behest of attorney generals and Presidential candidates? A gnat has a better chance of killing an elephant by kicking it in the toenail than anything we can do. Legislation can do nothing to stop the sun and the Earth. The climate changes, deal with it. To think we are so important as to trump the entire complex and not fully understood cycles on earth and in the solar system is utter folly.

To begin to think a highly complex of global weather climate and the variety of causes and effects along with solar impact can be addressed in 30 second ad spots begs of a strong need for some to be committed to a psychiatric wing in a hospital. Or as proposed by John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel, it is high time to sue these quacks and hucksters for fraud.

Perhaps we can submit a suggestion to the lawyers, politicians, actors, actresses and TV station owners. They can help control CO2 emissions by holding their breath. Heaven knows the USA and the world would be better off with all that hot air.

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These are strange times when passions flare about topics and real science is soundly ignored by talking heads. One cannot help but wonder if the dumbing down of our public schools and especially the butchering of the science curriculum has aided any in an acceptance of warped concepts.

The topic of global warming has Al Gore taking out a $300 million ad campaign to convince people he is right. Ted Turner has declared we need to act quickly or become cannibals. According to the UN, global warming is responsible for the tragedy in Darfur and will lead to more. It doesn’t only impact humans but global warming causes cats to breed too quickly. Oh the humanity of it all, we should join Cate Blanchett in drinking our own urine to save the planet!! I think I felt an acorn fall from a tree and hit me in the head. The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!! We have to join Sheryl Crow in only using one square of toilet paper per bathroom visit!

What causes all this? Burning fossil fuels, using plastic bags, light-bulbs, earthworms eating, cows farting and even Halloween! All this makes massive quantities of CO2 that is going to cook us to death!! What is the best response? Let’s get the lawyers involved to sue the EPA in Supreme Court to fix it all! The sky is falling!!! The Federal government can fix it like they can fix everything! All hail the omnipotent federal government!!

Okay, I have to stop that before I puke. Lawyers, politicians, actors, actresses and TV station owners yelling at the top of their lungs are nothing new. Let us count up how many of those career paths are considered honest and trustworthy. Ready, go…stop. What did you get? Let me guess, the answer is zero. This entire subject is the domain of science not politics, the courts, or entertainment. When you get down to the science, the debates flare up without any consensus. If any consensus exists, it is focusing on how off base the dishonest career people are.

Is there global warming or is it cooling? The debate goes on. There is even some talking about a pending Ice Age caused by the sun. Is there climate change? Of course, change is constant. Do we have enough data to make any kind of conclusions? The answer to this is turning into a big fat NO.

To be continued...

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So what do those three have in common? Well, they are the subject of this post which I was going to do yesterday but to not have someone confuse it with April Fool’s Day I opted to skip the day.

The main crux of this entry rotates around a legal case involving a man named Charles Smith out of Conyers, GA and Wal-Mart. You can read all of the details here. If you do not want to read all of the details, I can summarize it for you.

Like so many others, Charles Smith does not like Wal-Mart. Instead of just doing the normal voicing of his dislike, he took it one step (big step) further and opted to make t-shirts focusing on “Wal-ocaust” and “Wal-Qaeda” along with a variety of pictures and other sayings on the shirts. Personally, Wal-Mart is on my least favorite list as it is one of the most unfriendly companies to one with a disability as you can get while still technically meeting the legal codes. Those places are just too dang big and piled too dang high.

You can give credit to Charles Smith for his creativity. You can look at Wal-Mart however you like. In the end, Wal-Mart challenged Charles Smith in court and got a royal beating from the judge.

What does all that have to do with education?

Wal-Mart attempted to contend the yellow smiley face could not be used by Smith as they had it trademarked. Also, Wal-Mart is in another case arguing that same point against a different opponent.

Now, think of all of those elementary school papers that were so well done. Sometimes you got a star sticker on them and it was cool. The shiny green and red stars were the best. Sometimes you got the stickers that said “Good job,” “You’re an ace,” or any number of sayings and those were okay. But that yellow smiley face was always an option in there.

Wal-Mart might take that away for a profit margin. That’s just not right.

But then again, Judge Batten thought that was silly and ruled that out.

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No matter what position and awards Professor Weinberg holds, the burden falls upon him to correct the errant journalist. To not correct the journalist is merely getting time to air his opinion or bias. To be fair to him, most of his answers are worded more carefully and respectfully than the questions posed to him. However, his stand for the field of physics waned as he gave into the questioning of the journalist.

Where is the glaring flaw in the article by Ms. Azpurua? It was labeled “Physics.” The article had very little to do with the field of Physics. No matter if the Higgs boson particle is or is not found it will have no impact at all scientifically on the origins of the universe. How so?

I shall repeat the definition of the most abused term. “A scientific theory or law represents a hypothesis, or a group of related hypotheses, which has been confirmed through repeated experimental tests.” Experimental tests require observation. The entire scientific method starts with observation. No one was there to observe and record the start of the universe. Hence there can never be a “grand theory or final theory” regarding origins of the universe, our solar system or life on Earth. They are merely unproven hypotheses or models that can never be proven or tested.

To answer Ms. Azpurua’s question of “As we come closer to developing an ultimate theory of the universe, how will this impact religion?” we turn to the topic being discussed.

The discussion was never about Physics. This discussion was purely about Philosophy. How will “an ultimate theory of the universe” impact religion? It will add a new religion to follow. This isn’t science.

Shame on Ms. Azpurua for trying to pass this article off as a newsworthy Physics article, it is a disgrace.

Shame on Professor Weinberg for not correcting this errant journalist, he should be defending the field of science and Physics not promoting a bias.

Shame on the editor of Newsweek for even allowing this schlock to be published, the editor should better check their sources and facts.

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A person can gauge the reliability of a journalist by their grasp of subject material and usage of the English language. After all, they do put their journalistic pieces either in print or film depending on their chosen medium.

Very good measures of how reliable or trustworthy a scientist is in any field minimally are how well they can stick to and maintain basic scientific terms. These basic terms are taught to everyone throughout the world in the Elementary grades often around 4-6^th grade and sometimes as early as 1^st grade. These terms are observation, hypothesis, experiment, data, conclusion, model, theory, validated, falsified, and law. All these are well defined here.

The primary most intentionally or unintentionally misused term is the scientific theory. From the above website it is defined as: “A scientific theory or law represents an hypothesis, or a group of related hypotheses, which has been confirmed through repeated experimental tests.” A journalist can get a pass on botching up the definition due to improper training or research but it should never get past the editor. However, there is absolutely no excuse for a scientist in any field to distort the meaning. If they do, discard their statements as their bias has superseded their science.

In an article by Ana Elena Azpurua of Newsweek titled In Search of the God Particle, both the journalist and the scientist Professor Steven Weinberg come up lacking on the most crucial of terminology tests. So yes, I’m effectively calling them both out on this category.

First up and the most scathing criticism belongs to the journalist. Had the article rotated around the experiment regarding the attempt to find the “elusive particle called the Higgs boson” it would have been fine. But instead Ms. Azpurua makes a poor attempt at doing an illuminating interview regarding science and can barely veil her vitriol to any religion. This can be easily deduced from her chosen questions and some of her opening lines.

Some examples are:

• “The goal is to find signs of an elusive particle called the Higgs boson—also known as the "God particle" because it might ultimately lead to a grand theory of the universe.”
• “As we come closer to developing an ultimate theory of the universe, how will this impact religion?”
• “At some point will it be possible to find proof that God or the Ultimate Designer does not exist?”

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It is said that this candidate would be a doctor, a mechanic, a scientist and a warrior but he is all rolled into one. His intellect and power are second to none. But further, he is truly a compassionate and kind individual whose wisdom knows no bounds. This candidate is well listen to him introduce himself.

Welcome to the campaign Optimus Prime. So just what makes Optimus Prime such a strong candidate for being President in these tough times? Let us turn to the issues.

Economy – Far from the failings of mortal men driven my lust of money and power, Optimus needs not these things and he possesses the wisdom and knowledge to produce precisely calculated solutions. This is not a guarantee all will like the solutions, but the best possible outcome is what he will produce.

Freedom - His words say it best. “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” There is little doubt this would extend to the unborn.

Gun Control – Optimus Prime would make Ted Nugent proud. He fully understands the need to be armed for self-defense and the defense of those who are unable to defend themselves. After all as the photo shows, he’s always packing heat with or without a permit for the hidden variety.

Self-Control – He is the definition of cool under pressure. You would not find him breaking down in tears.

Commander-In-Chief – There is no candidate more qualified to be Commander-in-Chief as this is a position he currently fulfills. Additionally, casualties to our men and women will reduce as his Secret Service Autobots will be able to roll out at a moment’s notice. He is also more than willing to take a bullet for you and me. War is something he knows all too well and he strives to prevent collateral damage and casualties.

Civil Liberties – He is so steadfast in the protection of Civil Liberties he is willing to lay down his life for them.

Political Experience – With an untold number of years of experience, Optimus is in Prime shape to tackle the challenges of taking on the deceptive ones. He knows just what lines to use to lay down the challenge and move in for the final defeat.

He definitely cannot be accused of being too robotic or wooden. To demonstrate his charismatic side and connect with the youth, Optimus Prime has proven he can dance far better than current President George Bush.

There is no question of torn allegiances. He is here to protect and to serve. Patience is a forte and part of the wisdom he has been granted. He knows how to wait in this his home.

So as a picture of the future for all foreign leaders to prepare for and attempt to negotiate with let us look to the future:

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For many people, this election for the next President of the USA is turning out to be a collection of bad choices. It is time for other potential candidates to be reviewed. Perhaps one of these two natural born candidates can be the best option to write-in as the next President of the United States.

Let me introduce the first of two contenders complete with his running mate. Welcome to the stage, The Brain!!

Now The Brain’s credentials are quite impressive even though his physical stature is not that great. He may not look the part of a President but he has the prerequisite intelligence we need in one to lead us into more prosperous times. To demonstrate his mental prowess and his impressive skills at diction, please review the next exhibit.

At the very least, The Brain is a viable candidate for President of the USA in the light that he is honest in speech and in his campaign music that his goal is to take over the world. Honesty in a politician is a rare treat.

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Leap Year Day – A day that happens every fourth year to keep our clocks on pace with the rotation of the Earth around the sun. This is also the day my Grandfather gladly told us to celebrate as it was his birthday.

My Grandpa was born in 1898 and had seen many things in this world of ours. True this is the year 2008 and no he is not 110 years old as he passed away in 1996 from Alzheimer’s. He was the adventurous one of his family. Some would call him the black sheep of the family but he was just a bit eccentric in his quiet way.

He enjoyed his daily beer and his pipe for the majority of his 98 years on this Earth. He was never without the lack of a desire of a good laugh. When you got to talk with him (when Grandma was distracted), you gleaned much wisdom from his travels around these United States seeing everything from the world transitioning from horse and buggy to cars, the development of the airplane, and space travel. So much wisdom was to be learned from him.

But the day to be remembered was Leap Year Day – his birthday. He would remind us every year that he wasn’t as old as the calendar said as his birthday was only every four years.

That was the case until 1997 when we got to look at his birth certificate. We should have seen this coming. All 3 of his children, his 3 in-law children and I forget how many of us grandchildren should have seen this coming. After all, my last name is fairly unique only because my Grandpa changed the t to a d on our last name because he didn’t like how the t looked.

What awaited our eyes on his birth certificate? He was born well into March.

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So what do flatulence and impudence have in common? First, they are almost spelled the same. They are one letter shy of being the same length. Flatulence is a normal bodily function. Impudence is not though. But when the two meet, then there is trouble.

Those two met in the form of some 8^th grade boys causing a disruption by thinking it was fun to let’em rip when they thought it would cause the greatest reaction. Does this surprise me at all? Nope. I’ve taught at the Jr. High level enough to expect anything from 7^th and 8^th grade boys. But that is exactly what happened in at Camden-Rockport Middle School.

The informal school newsletter written by the eighth grade claims a new ban was put into place.

“According to this week's "Fire Cracker" newsletter though, an informal eighth-grade publication, the joke's on the boys as the penalty for "intentional farting" is now a detention.

"Strange, but true, thanks to a bunch of 8th grade boys, intentional farting has been banned from CRMS," the newsletter said. "It started out as a funny joke and eventually turned into a game. This is the first rule at CRMS that prevents the use of natural bodily functions. The penalty for intentional farting is a detention, so keep it to yourself!"”

That isn’t totally true either as the administration deems any disruptive behavior as subject to a detention. One might think the author of the “update” is using the power of the pen to dissuade what they are finding to be repulsive. I can’t blame them but if they want a future in responsible journalism, they need to get their facts straight.

Is any of this new? Again, no this is rather normal for the 7^th to 8^th grade levels. Way back when I was in 8^th grade in 1986, a group I knew of hung out in a little used area of the building before classes began. Some of the boys thought it would be fun to spit over the railing down the stairwell to see how big of a splat they could get on the stair. Don’t ask why, it was junior high. It all came to an end when one of the boys got a big load ready and let it drop only for it to land on the head of a teacher just starting to walk up the stairs. He was busted and got a detention for it.

But it wasn’t a normal detention. He was required to stay in the office after school until he could fill up a vial from the science department full of spit with no assistance of a drink of water. He couldn’t do it and vowed to not spit again. Sounds like a few boys need a gas version of that penalty. But then the ACLU or some parents will sue to keep the disruptive farting rights in place.

But the odds are good that the farting boys may have a date with sophomore initiation. That is if the ACLU doesn't stop that too. At least there is no lawsuit to stop the reputation that will follow them through the last 4 years of school.

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In some of my previous entries, I have made a statement of how opposed I am of semantics and how destructive they are in the education process and curriculum. I’m going to highlight a current example of just how messed up semantics can make a topic by using a recent buzz topic of immigration.

Now to make my stance on the topic very clear, my wife and I are in the final stages of her immigration to the United States as my wife. Since we live in Wisconsin, that puts us in the zone of the Nebraska Service Center which is considered one of the slowest if not the slowest immigration processing centers. The process is long and at time frustrating which I will specify in a bit. We are for the legal immigration process and for a few tweaks to streamline it. Are we for a complete overhaul and giving a free pass to those millions who are here illegally? Absolutely not.

In school, we teach the children “pro” means in support of and “anti” means you are opposed to a topic. Pro brings positive connotations and anti brings negative connotations. But the debate about becomes are you pro-immigration or anti-immigration. The catch is pro-immigration does not mean you are pro but anti. Anti-immigration does not mean you are anti-immigration but actually for it or pro.

One would conclude that my wife and I are pro-immigration as we are going through it right? Wrong, we would be labeled as anti-immigration. This logic is on display at this website. Those who are deemed “pro-immigration” are opposed to the current policies in place which we are going through. Instead they are for what has been labeled the “Amnesty Plan.” That would make them by the standard definitions anti-immigration as they are opposed to the current system.

Those who are negatively labeled “anti-immigration” are actually for the current system of legal immigration. By the standard definitions that would make them pro-immigration. But individuals who are conservative such as American born Michelle Malkin, whose parents are legal immigrants from the Philippines, are called anti-immigration to attach a negative connotation as opposed to those deemed “immigration rights activists.”

If you needed to re-read that a few times, welcome to the club. That is the lesson on semantics and how confusing and messed up they make issues. Now if a college educated person has to pause to keep score, what chance do children have when they are exposed to such semantics in the curriculum?

Now back to what I said I would specify on the immigration process. When you follow the laws as they are written, you expect those processing the paperwork to know their jobs and the laws they are enforcing. This can be very frustrating as the local immigrations office is not following the same guidelines as the Service Center. Inside the Service Center, they are debating what rules to follow. Calling the national immigration line doesn’t help as the supervisors are less aware of the rules than their subordinates. We had to invoke the assistance of our US Representative to make all of them follow the same 2 pages.

Now on behalf of those who follow the law and subject ourselves to the arduous process and scrutiny, it is very insulting to be labeled “anti-immigration” when all we want is for everyone to follow the law with no short-cuts for anyone. What is needed is an overhaul of the training and oversight segment to make certain our public servants are all on the same page.

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The tech bubble burst. The housing market is in a precipitous decline with much more on the horizon. Just wait until the Baby Boomers start downsizing, it will get really fun then.
Now that has rolled over to clock the banking industry on the chin as they take the reaping effect of what they unwisely sowed. The government is in a tizzy trying to find an answer while likely cooking up something else to make it worse. (How much have they gotten right in the last 60 years?)

The economy is now declared in a slowdown, recession or pre-depression depending on who you speak with. And your 401k retirement plan is closer to a 200.5f work for eternity.

Government, business and many individuals alike forgot that old piece of wisdom. Do not spend more than you make. Positive numbers are better than negative. Being in the black is better than in the red. Too much red and you’ll be financially dead. So now we reap what we have sown.

In this time of economic strife, there exists one group that is relatively unaffected by the economic ups and downs. They are the Amish. True, the economy does have an impact on their life but nowhere near the level compared to the rest of society.

I wonder if we can do a middle ground of the Amish lifestyle but still retain electricity and high speed Internet. Hmmm, if not then here is to the Amish as they keep on keeping on. May they keep reaping the crops sown on their fertile land.

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Tra la, la la la la, la la la la. Need more hints? Think blue and white standing three apples high. Yes, I am dating myself but I just have to have some fun. I’m a kid of the 80’s and I’m having a blast with all of the things I grew up on going to the big screen.

I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia back then. Now we get the second installment of Prince Caspian.

On the ‘real’ side, Knight Rider is returning with a new KITT. I do miss my Airwolf. Street Hawk took the motorcycle category.

A-Team just can’t be duplicated. Quantum Leap was always cool. But Star Trek: The Next Generation dominated the TV Sci Fi. Dukes of Hazard was a fun country show. Greatest American Hero was a favorite of mine – I still want the red suit. MacGyver was my hero. But it was the cartoons that were the best.

Transformers and Optimus Prime were always far better than the Gobots and Leader-1. The movie beats the current cartoon versions. You don’t call out your attack and prep your opponent. Get better writers. Generation 1 will always be the best of the animated. Robotech Macross was cool just hard to find.

He-Man was just sad but I watched it. The Thunder Cats were cool. I must admit a guilty pleasure in watching Dungeons and Dragons. GI Joe had the clarion call of “Knowing is half the battle.” Saturday mornings were not complete without the Super Friends. With the best human cartoon being Battle of the Planets (Okay, that was in the late 70’s.)!

Can you name which show these lines from songs belonged too?

“Believe it or not, I’m walking on air”

“More than meets the eye.”

“Just the Good ole boys, never meaning any harm”

But what about “Tra la, la la la la, la la la la”? Stumped? Or did you figure it out? Yes, Papa Smurf, Smurfette and Brainy are coming to the big screen. Just where are they going to get all those other female Smurfs from? Get your Smurf Berry pie ready!!

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Depending on your take regarding the recall abilities of people, you can find beliefs range from “Nobody” has a photographic memory to various psychologist babblings and on and on. Anyone so presumptuous who wants to claim anything all inclusive such as all, everyone or nobody has a major uphill argument to prove. Just 1 example is enough to make the statement false. Also, have they tested all 6.6 billion living people on the planet in a neutral non-cultural biased manner? Have they tested all of those who have passed away? What about the millions and millions who do not want to subject themselves to tests?

So those grandiose statements can be discarded quickly. Most psychological babbling and therapist ‘expertise’ has long been found wanting by me. I am not impressed with the majority of it. A 6 month survival trip to the Philippines or a third world country of your choice without your money would be more than sufficient to teach people to suck it up. Shrinks and therapists would not be needed.

But back to the topic at hand, total recall. I’ll let the talking heads debate. But I know what I can do and have done. When I am paying attention, I mentally videotape (burn to mental Blue-Ray?) the activity I am in. I have used this skill in classes recreating the answer I needed on a test by calming down, focusing on what the teacher said and wrote on the board. I got a 100% on a test no one else did of the couple hundred who took it and the years of students before. I’ve also found out that I am much better at sitting in the front row of a college class all semester, not taking notes and just paying complete attention to the professor. At the end of the class, I duplicated all of his lectures word for word on the essay exam. It annoyed the hell out of my classmates and dorm buddies. I never studied once for that class.

If you are able to remember everything you learn, your test taking skills must be above par for most students. You may even be able to get an online education and retain what you read. Online college courses are a great way to learn in your spare time!

So is it a blessing? Yes, it is a blessing to remember all the way back to when I was 3 in detail. I draw upon those memories and lessons to project myself back into my own childhood to best answer issues of the day. I haven’t forgotten life as a child. I can see things from the viewpoint of a child because of this skill. It is very helpful on trivial answers and remembering all of those small lines that inspired me that people never knew were important and so on.

Is it a curse too? I can also remember in vivid detail coming home from college to see my grandfather’s corpse. I remember every detail of my dog slowly dying, of watching my father die, be brought back by the paramedics and his coma, every bit of torture my siblings put me through. So yes, it is a curse too.

So is it good or bad? I think it is good to have such recall. Memories are a reflection of events that have made us who we are today. What you do with them is based on your attitude. There is nothing more harmful than a negative attitude. Positive is always better. And no, there are no meds for a lousy attitude. Except maybe a survival trip to a third world country. Humility gained from the butt whooping of life there helps you cherish what you have here – provided you remember it.

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When a deer runs wild on you? Live this Sunday, Sunday, Sunday in the Maaain Event, we have a return grudge match between Castle and the Couch Crushing Doe. Let us go to the replay screen to see how this feud began.

“MONROVIA, Md. - A man subdued a deer that ran through the front picture window of his house. Martin "Pete" Castle wrestled the beast to the floor in the living room, and carried it out through the garage door, when Frederick County Animal Control officers took over.

"My couch is ruined," says Castle's wife, Robin. She had to clean blood off her computer, printer and coffee table.

Pete Castle was in the garage when the deer entered the house though a hole no bigger than a large steering wheel on Saturday morning.

The deer ran to the back of the house, Castle said, and it tried to escape through sliding glass doors.

The deer tore the curtains down, then jumped into a second picture window, but fell backward on the couch.

"That's when I went on her," Castle said. "I jumped on this deer."”

That is how this feud began. Wait, wait, I’m getting word that there is an altercation in the back. We are going to take you backstage right now with a live video feed of the fight in progress.

You’ve seen it here ladies and gentlemen!! The Couch Crusher has struck back in a brutal assault demonstrating its skills as a pugilist!

What? Again? There is another fight outside the arena involving the Couch Crusher!! Let us go live to the feed.

This just in our main event is now a Triple Threat No-Holds Barred match involving the Castle, The Couch Crusher, and the mighty Squirrel Boy!! Catch it all live on our Pay-Per-View extravaganza!

($50 per household, some restrictions may vary, no wolves allowed.)

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There must truly be some feelings of inadequacy in the white tail deer population. They raid the gumdrop supplies in school, now they are trying to pull a reverse Rudolph / Santa. Rudolph and the other twelve reindeer pull Santa’s sleigh so he can hop into the chimneys and deliver the toys.

Unfortunately for our white-tail friends, they can’t fly and they don’t fit down chimneys too well. It could be a fear of becoming smoked venison though. So what do they do instead? The headline says it all.

Deer invades basement of Mich. home.

“SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - When Jody Fabry descended the basement stairs to her seasonal home and saw broken glass on the floor, then spied what caused the mess, she didn't know who was more frightened — her, or the deer that was the culprit.

A young doe apparently got into the basement through a window, then couldn't get out. Fabry called officers to her home, but it was more difficult than it looked to remove the animal. Officers eventually ended up chasing it around the basement until it jumped back out the way it came, then bounded off. The deer, which Fabry guessed had been in the unoccupied home for a day, appeared to be unhurt.”

I guess you could say that the doe learned to fly when given enough motivation. It flew back out that basement window.

Somehow though, I think this white-tail didn’t act like Santa. I’m certain what she left behind wasn’t a toy and wasn’t coal. I’m thinking it may be more in the brown color.

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Though many of us may disagree with what a Commander in Chief may do with the military, I cannot blame those who will lay down their lives so that we may be free to express our opinions.


So to the Veterans of the USA and those who have laid down their lives so we may live, I have not heard a more fitting tribute song than “Veterans of the USA” by The Goads.


With full sincerity, thank you.

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What started out as a running gag on my part by picking on the white-tail deer has met up with reality. It is true that the primary focus of my blog space here is on the curriculum of the public school systems with a touch of humor tossed in.

Now, it ends up that a deer decided to interject itself into the 5^th grade curriculum in New Jersey. It is true. A deer broke through a window crashing into a 5^th grade vocabulary lesson in New Jersey. Don’t believe me then watch the video footage.

I suppose the white-tail deer population was getting jealous of a certain moose. Morris Goes to School must be the inspiration for this deer. After all, the buck ended up in the teacher’s lounge. I wonder if he found some gum drops there.

Hmm, so who wins the contest Morris or the deer? You decide.

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Way back when I was in college, a next door dorm neighbor asked me a question he was stumped on. His professor challenged them to prove 2+2=5

which he just could not fathom so he asked me. (Note: I also had to show this same guy how to use tweezers so bear that in mind.) It took me a matter of a few moments to figure out the answer. It took me much longer to explain it to the tweezers guy though.

Here it is for all of you to read and muse on. 2, +, =, 5 all have something in common with any word or the following: 4, b, Au, z, $, @, *, googolplex, :p, %, -, etc. All of them are the same in one regard. They are all symbols. I’d type in Chinese Mandarin symbols but my keyboard isn’t prepped for that. What is a symbol? Quite simply, it is a character created either digitally or drawn that has a prescribed meaning to it. Common understanding of what those meanings are gives us the various alphabets, the number system, measuring systems, mathematics, chemical symbols, algebra and so on. Without common understanding, it would be chaos with no individual or group being able to understand another.

So how does 2+2=5?

First, you should know the professor who posed the challenge was a Philosophy professor not mathematics based. So the answer was easy. We’ll redefine the meanings of particular symbols and systems to meet our needs. So instead of 1,2,3,4,5 we will now make it 2,5,3,1,4 in that order. Why? Because I said so. So by my new numerical system, 2+2=5. Don’t like it, tough. I made it up so by Philosophy it works right?

Now there really is a solid reason why I am typing this entry. It is not to flex my mental muscle and redefine mathematics and number systems. It is to prove two points. The first point is to demonstrate that I truly can type a yarn of total baloney and make it sound decent. Give me 10 pages and 15-20 resources and I can make any topic sound great. But that isn’t the key point.

The key point is others can do the exact same thing. However, they are more persistent with pressing their philosophy upon others. Whenever you say something loud enough and long enough especially with enough financial backing, you will convert others to your thinking and they will spread the distortion. Sooner or later they change a few words and then manage to get it into the curriculum.

Wonder why I desire to know the truth and not someone’s opinion? Wonder why I want proof and not some cooked up study? Now you know. BS is BS no matter how you dress it. This is no secret nor is it new. But it is used to perfection in our society and education system.

Now is there a quote I can draw from? Yup, I think there is.

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” - Adolf Hitler

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