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Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
I know this country is busy mourning the loss of Michael Jackson and Farrah Facett, but I'd just like to mention that people are dying on an almost daily basis - not of a disease, but dying in combat, for this country. Though the media may not consider their passing a "news-worthy" event, I sure as hell do. They may not sing any songs good enough to be recorded, and surely aren't pretty enough to be on posters or in magazines, but they all damn well deserve to be remembered.
June 01, 2009  Army Staff Sgt. Jeffrey A. Hall,28, of Huntsville, Ala.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) Fort Drum, N.Y.; died June 1 in Nerkh, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Pfc. Matthew D. Ogden and Pfc. Matthew W. Wilson.  Army Pfc. Matthew W. Wilson, 19, of Miller, Mo.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) Fort Drum, N.Y.; died June 1 in Nerkh, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Pfc. Matthew D. Ogden and Staff Sgt. Jeffrey A. Hall.  Army Pfc. Matthew D. Ogden, 33, of Corpus Christi, Texas; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) Fort Drum, N.Y.; died June 1 in Nerkh, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. Also killed were Staff Sgt. Jeffrey A. Hall and Pfc. Matthew W. Wilson.  Army Sgt. Jasper K. Obakrairur, 26, of Hilo, Hawaii; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died June 1 in Nerkh, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. June 02, 2009  Army Spc. Roberto A. Hernandez, 21, of Far Rockaway, N.Y.; assigned to the 549th MP Co, 385th MP Bn, 16th MP Bde (Abn), Fort Stewart, Ga.; died June 2 in Paktya, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his mounted patrol was attacked with an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire.  Army Sgt. Justin J. Duffy, 31, of Cozad, Neb.; assigned the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.; died June 2 in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. June 03, 2009  Army Spc. Jarrett P. Griemel, 20, of La Porte, Texas; assigned to the 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Fort Richardson, Alaska; died June 3 at Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered from a noncombat-related incident. June 04, 2009  Army Maj. Rocco M. Barnes, 50, of Los Angeles; a member of the Tactical Command Post, 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard, assigned as an individual augmentee to the 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force; died June 4 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over.  Army Sgt. Christopher M. Kurth, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; died June 4 in Kirkuk, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank grenade.  Army Spc. Charles Dusty Parrish, 23, of Jasper, Ala.; assigned to the 5th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; died June 4 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds suffered earlier that day in Jalula, Iraq, when his vehicle was struck by an anti-tank grenade.  Army Sgt. Jeffrey W. Jordan, 21, of Rome, Ga.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard, Calhoun, Ga.; died June 4 near Kapisa, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class John C. Beale and Maj. Kevin M. Jenrette.  Army Sgt. 1st Class John C. Beale, 39, of Riverdale, Ga.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard, Calhoun, Ga.; died June 4 near Kapisa, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed were Maj. Kevin M. Jenrette and Spc. Jeffrey W. Jordan.  Army Maj. Kevin M. Jenrette, 37, of Lula, Ga.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 108th Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition Squadron, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard, Calhoun, Ga.; died June 4 near Kapisa, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed were Sgt. 1st Class John C. Beale and Spc. Jeffrey W. Jordan. June 05, 2009  Marine Lance Cpl. Robert D. Ulmer, 22, of Landisville, Pa.; assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune N.C.; died June 5 as a result of a nonhostile incident in Taqaddum, Iraq. June 06, 2009  Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua R. Whittle, 20, of Downey, Calif.; assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii; died June 6 while supporting combat operations in Now Zad, Afghanistan. June 09, 2009  Army Spc. Eduardo S. Silva, 25, of Greenland, Calif.; assigned to the 563rd Aviation Support Battalion, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.; died June 9 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, of a non-combat-related incident. June 10, 2009  Marine Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ricky L. Richardson Jr., 33, of Franklin, Mo.; assigned to 9th Engineer Support Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan; died June 10 while supporting combat operations in Delaram, Afghanistan. June 13, 2009  Army Staff Sgt. Edmond L. Lo, 23, of Salem, N.H.; assigned to the 797th Ordnance Company, 79th Ordnance Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas; died June 13 in Samarra City, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device that his explosive ordnance disposal team was acting to neutralize detonated. June 15, 2009  Army Spc. Jonathan C. ONeill, 22, of Zephyr Hills, Fla.; assigned to the 549th Military Police Company, 385th Military Police Battalion, 16th Military Police Brigade (Airborne) at Fort Stewart, Ga.; died June 15 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, of wounds sustained June 2 in Paktya, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. June 16, 2009  Army Sgt. Joshua W. Soto, 25, of San Angelo, Texas; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas; died June 16 in Iraq of wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle.  Army Capt. Kafele H. Sims, 32, of Los Angeles; assigned to the 18th Engineer Brigade, Schwetzingen, Germany; died June 16 in Mosul, Iraq, of a non-combat-related incident. June 17, 2009  Army Sgt. 1st Class Kevin A. Dupont, 52, of Templeton, Mass.; assigned to the 79th Troop Command, Rehoboth, Mass.; died June 17 at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, of wounds suffered March 8 in Kandau, Afghanistan, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. June 19, 2009  Army Sgt. Paul G. Smith, 43, of Peoria, Ill.; assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 106th Cavalry Regiment, Illinois Army National Guard, Aurora, Ill.; died June 19 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Staff Sgt. Joshua A. Melton.  Army Staff Sgt. Joshua A. Melton, 26, of Carlyle, Ill.; assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, Illinois National Guard, Marion, Ill.; died June 19 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. Also killed was Sgt. Paul G. Smith.  Army Spc. Chancellor A. Keesling, 25, of Indianapolis; assigned to the 961st Engineer Company, Sharonville, Ohio; died June 19 in Baghdad, Iraq, of a non-combat-related incident. June 20, 2009  Army 1st Sgt. John D. Blair, 38, of Calhoun, Ga.; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, Army National Guard, Lawrenceville, Ga.; died June 20 in Mado Zayi, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle.  Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer Jeffrey J. Garber,43, of Hemingford, Neb.; assigned to the Dwight D. Eisenhower in the North Arabian Sea; died June 20 of non-hostile causes. June 21, 2009  Army Sgt. Ricky D. Jones, 26, of Plantersville, Ala.; assigned to the 1st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Fort Polk, La.; died June 21 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by indirect fire. Also killed was Spc. Rodrigo A. Munguia Rivas.  Army Spc. Rodrigo A. Munguia Rivas, 27, of Germantown, Md.; assigned to the 710th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.; died June 21 in Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his unit was attacked by indirect fire. Also killed was Sgt. Ricky D. Jones. And counting...
3 years since my last post. 3 years. Because I wish to live life to live life? No. Just been busy.
I've made every attempt to look to the dark sky and snag the brightest star I could - to label it mine and store the dreams of childhood friendships lost to time. Years may pass between each thought, but the memories are vivid and clear, and I know I've lived them. I'm fond of them, and with no knowledge of a reason. The days as uneventful as they are, pass with little being retained. Perhaps a rut. Life is its own meaning, its own purpose. I wish to be a writer. It is what I feel I do most honestly and I feel that it betters me as an individual. But it is something that will not put bread on my table every night. I would love to write my entire life, of my understandings, of my experiences, of my knowledge, and more importantly - my mistakes. I would love to expand those understandings in order to write more. Fiction, nonfiction. poetry, prose. Trying to understand so that I may simplify and others may also understand and enjoy. But again, in order for me to survive in our progressed society I must make money to buy a house, eat, buy clothes, and pay taxes. This is not including any vacation or down time, any time to simply enjoy life. One could argue that if one works five days a week from 830 to 500, they can spend their off-hours, weekends, and retired years "living and enjoying life" with no worries. This, to me, is not good enough. Having to achieve security is a detrimental abstraction. It means that if I do nothing I do not have the reassurance of survival. We bring these abstractions to the level of our primitive minds. Survival itself is animal, have we not moved past being animals? I do not wish to survive or have to worry about survival, because making money to live should not even be considered survival. The question, then, is how to break this mold. We define our children before they can see or speak. We are taught and trained through youth to be citizens who work for a living at a certain task. We are almost bred like cattle, but cattle are not given choices. The argument is what our lives must take hold of as meaningful. Life is seen as a struggle between ourselves and the society we attempt to maintain. If one understands the society they live in, they can see that living in it is not living at all, but a fight to break free from society's restraints. We are raised being told that society's ideals are sacred, but we grow old to understand that those ideas are poison for our minds. Some say that it is easier to live now than it was a hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago. Can this even be argued? I believe that the very idea of life has changed so dramatically due to the 20th century ideas of progress and modernism that it cannot be compared to earlier periods. We are scraping upon the soul of humanity. Where can we go from here? What can we do to change this? The answers to these questions are hard and get harder to make known and understood so that change can be initiated and accepted. Society is still having a hard time looking through the veil of skin color and sexual orientation, how can we be asked to look through the telescope of progress? I think somewhere our founder's ideas got lost, or the founder's descendants got greedy. The original idea was betterment, and we've forgotten what betterment truly means when applied to both the individual and the whole of society. It is not a question of "can we" or "must we" and maybe it's not a question at all. Betterment could very well be a statement. Humanity can be salvaged, as long as we have the ability to think of ourselves as not just individuals but as a whole. My mind is young and still hoping for truth. I know I am naive in my assumptions and presumptions, but I will try to not let age compound my fears and pressures, even though this is the function of age in our society. Age breaks us down physically and psychologically, when it should be freeing us. We are born with parents paying for our lives, and as we grow old we ourselves have to pay to live. What kind of world is this? Often I question my outlook, and the all important redundant question of "What does it mean to be alive?" And the longer I live the more it becomes clear that life is to be lived as a dream where anything and everything is possible. Where everything that happens is relative to when and how you want it done. I am only one person and I can only rise as one person to smash all of my fears into the ground. Being only one person I am building my own pillars from the rubble of mortality. Most will ignore their fears of the life they lived and many will deny they even lived at all. But what then? What in this chaotic haze of a world will they understand? Life can have a purpose without a meaning. Life is a one word oxymoron. Life is a double standard. None of us are born with an identity. We build it. We all seek some point of light, some distant beacon to tell us we are heading in the right direction. Give us some god damned meaning. A path. How about a fucking tour guide? Living in the cradle of a dying world, rejected by definitions and standards, a social haz mat scene, breaking apart daily and yeah, alone. Looking for a peace of mind that will stay, I think I've found it in an introduction or two. I wasnt here on this rock when the thunder fell and made me tops on the food chain, and yet I stand in the ribbon river tickling my ankles with the questions. And sure of only one thing - my demise. Why do I feel like an assembly line robot, built to do one thing until someone shuts off the power? It's never too late. Speak. Tell. Do. Care. And I'll forget my hatred for your infections. If not, be the slave to your disasters. You're only one person without a lot of time. Live the way you want to be remembered. I'll remember you for how you lived. Go and be free. These are only words.
 It is rare if I'm not listening to music. Probably, somewhere near 24/7. Guilty as charged... Even as I sleep, music is streaming or being looped through my sound system and/or computer. Recently, given a chain of events, I happed upon this band: Menn rsins. And more specifically, this particular song. Every once in a while, something simply jumps off the page, grabs me by the scrotum, and holds me firmly in its grasp. I think what stood out most, initially, was 12 Steps to the Liquor Stores' musical sensuality and underlying groove. The more I listened to that seductive siren, the more I became addicted to it. And then it struck me... the lyrics are of an alcohol addiction, and early on, every addiction has its alluring bite. Absolutely brilliant play of instruments in unison with lyrics, imo! More of the bands music can be heard, here, which is from the bassists' Last.fm profile page. These guys have me believing that the country of Iceland, has a very Warm soul. I'm the first to realize that music is completely subjective, but give 'em a listen. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Besides... any bassist playing a Zon Sonus Fretless is a hero of mine. THE BAND PLAYING LIVE 
Copied from SC:
Quote: AthenA #427844 @Mon, 05-18-09, 10:20PM I've been thinking about the flak that Flip got about taking Fiona into a pub. We take Vivian everywhere with us, including to the brewery. I am far more concerned about the smoke in bars than the alcohol. She has been to the brewery a whole bunch of times (we go for pizza once a week), but we sit in the non-smoking section, and we almost always go at lunch when it's less busy. We have taken her to one "real" bar, because the bartender is a notary, and we needed something notarized. We weren't going to stay, but there wasn't anyone else there, so we decided to stay for a burger while we were there. Ultimately, I don't want her to be sheltered from the fact that adults sometimes drink alcohol, because knowing that, and experiencing it, will help her to have a healthy relationship with alcohol when the time comes. That being said, I would not take her to a bar on a Saturday night, and whenever we have been to a drinking establishment with her, it has been to get something to eat. Like I said, I worry A LOT more about the smoke than the hootch. Quote: rockdog #427845 @Mon, 05-18-09, 10:36PM That's front page fodder, actually. ;) Most of the states I travel in have become non-smoking. So for the most part, that issue becomes moot. For me, I just don't think it's the place to take a kid (mind you, I'm speaking of bars). We've taken all of our children to family restaurants where alcohol is served and they've all seen me drink a (one) beer with supper and then leave. I'm not sure Flip clarified himself. I think of a bar or pub as a place where folks go to gather (socialize) and drink, exclusively. I don't see that as a place I would take my children at a young age. Quote: AthenA #427847 @Mon, 05-18-09, 10:44PM To me a "bar" is defined as a place where you wouldn't be able to carry a concealed weapon, which in MI, is an establishment that makes 50% or more of it's revenue from the sale of alcohol. The brewery meets that standard, so it is technically a bar. However, it is not a frat-boy filled bong-fest. It is a casual atmosphere where people meet after work to have a beer or two. I don't think that I have ever seen anyone there acting totally pooched, and I doubt that it would be tolerated if they did. A tangential conversation ensued re: guns in bars: Quote: rockdog #427848 @Mon, 05-18-09, 10:49PM I suppose then it becomes the definition of 'bar' or 'pub'. Hey, as Clinton said, it depends on what your definition of is, is :D LOL! They're about to pass the law here in Tennessee that will let you carry a concealed weapon in bars. DON'T FUCK WITH US HICKS!  Quote: rockdog #427850 @Mon, 05-18-09, 10:51PM I'm thinking guns and alcohol don't mix at a bar. But it's rare if I'm not packing when I go into a TGIF, Applebee's, Ruby Tuesdays, Olive Garden, O'Charleys, and the list goes on... etc. Quote: AthenA #427855 @Mon, 05-18-09, 10:54PM I submit that if someone is a drunken asshole, they are probably a regular asshole too, and probably shouldn't be armed regardless of location. Please feel free to address one or both issues.
Hey, have you seen Naked People before? It's not especially titillating or even that innovative... but it's got naked people and it's just one of those things on the web you should have seen.
------ One Trillion Dollars ------ Boy,  we  sure  have  a  lot  of  these!  ------ Balance... nifty little short animated film ------ Recently I've been playing music with this dude who lives near me. He's a guitarist and has a nice little home studio. The project is right now just us and it's very hard to describe. It's ambient, sountracky post-rock I guess. The songs are a blend of composed and improvised parts and are all long and all instrumental. It's pretty masturbatory. Nevertheless, I actually think it sounds pretty tight See what you think: Granite State - mix 11 (i suggest headphones and smoke 'em if ya got 'em before listening) ------ This is so cool... it's an ultra high res photo of Obama's inaugural speech and you can zoom in until you can practically look up people's noses. Fullscreen Gigapan Viewer ------ How about some Animated Gif Server? Yeah, right! |
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