Does George Will work for ExxonMobil?

Post has moved to my new blog at E Journal

Why George Will is dangerous

This post has been moved to my new environmental blog:  E Journal

Twilight - a young 100 year old dates a 17 year old

I watched the movie Twilight on Showtime last night. But this is not my lame review of the flick (however, I did enjoy it, more or less). My question is about Bella (Kristin Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson). In the movie (and the book) she is supposed to be 17 and Edward is supposed to have the body of a 17 year old but in fact be about 100 years old. Now if a 17 year old girl were to date say a 40 year old man, never mind a centigenarian, people would go crazy. He'd be strung up by his soft parts. So what's up with Edward the vampire? Is it that if an older man could walk into a Youthinator machine, like a star-belly Sneetch, and come out the other end young, if that were possible, then society would be all right with the whole thing? Is society saying it's all only skin deep? I didn't think so. I thought it was creepy and abusive and generally considered a moral outrage. So why no eyebrows raised over Edward the vampire and his worldly wise 100 year old mind and soul? And, as if that weren't enough, how is it that he acts 17ish? He's 100 years old for the love of monkeys! In all the vampire movies and shows I've seen the vampire dude who's been around forever is always very sophisticated. This Edward guy must be stuck in some kind of Groundhog Day thing but in reverse. He remembers everything, all 100 years, but his mind never matures. Is that what they're trying to sell us? I know some 40 year olds who act like they're 20. Does that mean if they only looked 17 all would be forgiven? Oh I'm so disappointed - the hypocrisy, the deceit, the shallowness, the general lack of moral policing. What's this world coming to?

Ned Flanders

Ned Flanders of The Simpsons is a rare individual. "Flanders" as Homer calls him is the religious guy who says things like, "diddly ding dang" instead of swearing. He helps out at the local soup kitchen and gives the homeless man the shirt off his back. He seems to always forgive Homer for what ever abuse or horrible transgression Homer heaps upon him. Flanders remains unfazed - forever cheerful. He is truly a good person, pure of heart and soul. And it's not Flanders' piety that is admirable but rather who he is as person. Unlike the vast majority of people who talk of religion Flanders actually practices what he preaches. Our televisions are full of other "religious" characters, preachers and politicians alike, talking hate and righteousness but Ned Flanders stands alone as the true example of his faith.

TiVo is great

I've had TiVo for about seven years or so now so I know it well. I originally got TiVo because of the time shifting capabilities. I would sit down to watch TV about 10:30 pm after everyone else in my house had gone to bed but there wasn't much on that I wanted to watch. I remember watching a lot of Leave it to Beaver reruns. Then along came TiVo and I could watch whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. In addition, I could use it to easily zip past the commercials. And the auto recording capability was amazing. Setting it to search and record all show of a particular actor, subject, title etc. and having it auto record all regular shows that I wanted to watch. Anyway, all these years later I can't imagine watching TV without it. I find it annoying now to watch unrecorded shows because of the commercials. So I highly recommend TiVo if you can get it. Not all DVR (digital video recorder) services are the same however. I recently added another receiver because I wanted HD and since DirecTV (my signal provider) does not offer a TiVo HD DVR at this point I had to get their DVR system – not as good. TiVo is the best in my opinion. I think something like only 15% of the TV households have DVR service. I gotta say if you watch TV and you don't want to be tied to the broadcaster's schedule or you want to skip the commercials TiVo is for you too.