random picture of the day

korean bbq spicy ''source''!

random picture of the day

hannah just got her teeth pulled. here's apicture from before.

Judge Scalia is My Favorite Justice

From WSJ Best of the Web:

Canadian federal Judge Richard Mosley opined: "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra, 'What would Jack Bauer do?'"

As viewers know, Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is a federal agent known for roughing up suspected terrorists who are holding out on important information.
"Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles!" Mr. Scalia interjected. "He saved hundreds of thousands of lives!"

Indeed, Mr. Scalia was just warming up. "Are you going to convict Jack Bauer? Say that criminal law is against him?" he asked rhetorically. "Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so!"

Other panelists promptly challenged the American jurist, arguing that some prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay on terrorism charges could be innocent.

"I don't care about holding people. I really don't," Judge Scalia replied. After the panel broke up, he continued to wax enthusiastically about his favorite show.

Scalia rules.
more here>>>

Chinese Blogger

For some odd reason, my blog was showing up in Chinese. Then it went back to normal.

Your Pants are Worth Zero Dollars. Go Away.

Remember the case of the stupid lawyer/judge who sued a dry cleaners that lost his pants? He wanted $65,000,000.00 or something as compensation. Maybe his pants were lined with the gold and a special cosmic dust that allows those who breathe it turn into Michael Jordan. I don't know.

Anyway, the verdict is in:

Plaintif gets $0 and 0 cents.

"A reasonable consumer would not interpret 'Satisfaction Guaranteed' to mean that a merchant is required to satisfy a customer's unreasonable demands," the judge wrote.

Duh, Loser!

Click for more>>>

Recently Watched Movies and Short Reviews

Match Point
This magnificently written tale of obsession and treachery tells the tale of a upper-middle class Irish tennis pro who falls for his best mate's fiancé. With the spiralling energy of an out of control tennis match, the players depend largely on their own charm and wit to stay above the foray, but ultimately depend on blind luck to emerge victorious. Luck and Bad Luck are the central theme in this gripping tale. Starting out as a drama, this dark story of unrequited love turns into a top-notch thriller midway through the journey and the transition couldn't be slicker.

Scarlett Johansson has never been so helplessly powerless and seductively powerful at the same time. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is leaps and bounds better here than in his role as Henry the Eighth in Showtime's gratuitous The Tudors.

Legs: 8
Mission: 9
Agenda: 8
Script: 8
Acting/Directing: 9
Production: 9
Overall: 9

Down in the Valley
Evan Rachel Wood as "Tobe" (short of "October") is a troubled teen who finds companionship and love in an unlikely urban cowboy (Edward Norton) who is less innocent and honorable than he seems. This story is as much about the importance of good, cellular-family support as it is about the blinding nature of unbridled passion. Love should be tempered with reason as much as any other passion, and Norton's character, Harlan, is a prime example of how his emotional and carnal desires all but shatter his sense of reason and self-control.

David Morse, who plays Tobe's single father, does and excellent job of balancing the antithetical behaviors of love and self centeredness.

Legs: 7
Mission: 8
Agenda: 7
Script: 8
Acting/Directing: 8
Production: 8
Overall: 8

Stay

In a dream-like whirlwind of non sequiturs and visual and cognitive dissonance, director Marc Forster kidnaps his audience and takes them on an unbelievable journey. The story revolves around a troubled young man (Ryan Gosling) who has serious psychological issues. While trying to help the young man and prevent what he thinks will be a tragic suicide, psychologist, Sam Foster (Ewan McGregor) experiences events that cause him to doubt his own perception of reality. The ending is one worth waiting for and the path you take to get their is as visually stunning and disturbing as anything you've even seen in a motion picture.

Stay has some of the best, most effective use of computer generated imagery and compositing that I've ever seen.
You can listen to a podcast of Forster's vision regarding Stay by clicking HERE. Part two HERE.

Legs: 8
Mission: 9
Agenda: 8
Script: 8
Acting/Directing: 9
Production: 10
Overall: 9

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
PotC: AWE is, hands down, the most spectacular feat of CG, modelling, animation, and compositing ever.

There was no way of knowing which scenes were composited in a cubicle someplace at Industrial Light and Magic's studios or if there really was a 1000 foot maelstrom swallowing two mystical pirate ships unless you knew that the scene was impossible. But other scenes, like gorgeous skies, deep blue oceans, endless sandy beaches and so forth may very well have been computer generated but still seem totally real to us.
Aside from that (and, honestly, though I rarely suggest watching a film for its effects alone, I think this third installment of the PotC trilogy might reach that status) the story itself was fun and very enjoyable. It's a little difficult to simultaneously syphon through the pirate-speak and the innumeral plot-twists and double-crossing, but the story still makes sense. Mostly.

I think.

The characters we grew to know and love seem to have lost a bit of the chemistry that we enjoyed in the last two episodes. Perhaps its a symptom of a slightly disjointed story or perhaps its a result of poor directing. I'm not sure which aspect deserves more blame, but I can certainly say that without the amazing visual effects, this film would have sucked some serious pirate's booty.

Legs: 10
Mission: 9
Agenda: 8
Script: 6
Acting/Directing: 7
Production: 10
Overall: 7.5

For more of my movie reviews, click HERE.
To see a description of each of the review criterion, click HERE.

Astaria Restaurant

Kerman, Michelle, Annie and I went to a moderately priced restaurant in San Mateo's downtown last night and enjoyed celebrating Annie's birthday. Annie's birthday is still a ways away, but we wanted to celebrate it before other things start happening and we're unable to find time to go out.

Kerman and I first discovered Astaria when we attended the Grand Opening event of the new Fremont Magnussen Lexus facilities in Warm Springs, Fremont. The delicious food was catered by Astaria and we thought we'd give it a try the next time we were going out on one of our birthday celebrations.

So that's what we did.

Astaria has a much more relaxed atmosphere than our last excursion and, though joking, Michelle was accurate when she said our last event was nearly 10 times more expensive than this one.

Here is a summary of our menu as I remember it:

Appetizers - Dolmathes, Marinated Prawns, Chicken Kabobs

Salad - Caesar Salad

Main Course - Napolean with Tri-Tip (me); Filet Mignon (Michelle); Paella (Kerman); Beef Shanks (Annie)
Dessert - something lemony (kerman and michelle); Astaria "Ho-Ho's" (Annie); complimentary birthday ice cream (Annie); something crispy with filo bread and nuts (me)

The grand total was a mere $220.

Good friends, good food, good times. (Except for the creepy elevator and decimated hotel lobby.) Final vote? 3.5/5.0 stars.

Silver Ring Thing

British schoolgirl, Lydia Playfoot, got busted for wearing a ring that proclaimed her chastity. Read on (from the NYTimes.com)...

At a time of passionate debate over religious clothing and emblems, a 16-year-old member of an evangelical Christian movement protested in court on Friday because her school has refused to allow her to wear a so-called purity ring, symbolizing her commitment to premarital chastity.

The case offered a counterpoint to a broader discussion concerning Muslim women who wear the full-face veil known as the niqab. But it also revealed stirrings of resentment among some members of Britain’s Christian majority, who say they are the victims of discrimination over how they display their faith.

The young woman, Lydia Playfoot, said her school, at Horsham, south of London, had told her that the ring broke the school’s rules on uniforms and jewelry.

But Ms. Playfoot argued that the prohibition breached her right to express a religious belief. Not only that, she said in a statement to the court, Sikh and Muslim pupils were permitted distinctive dress to show their religious identity.

See more about it at http://www.silverringthing.com/

“The real reason for the extreme hostility to the wearing of the S.R.T. purity ring is the dislike of the message of sexual restraint, which is ‘countercultural’ and contrary to societal and governmental policy,” Ms. Playfoot said in a written statement to Britain’s High Court.

“It is this message from the Judeo-Christian position that is suppressed: exemptions are allowed or permitted for other messages,” she said, arguing that her school “doesn’t offer equal rights to Christians.”

What do you think? Read the rest HERE.

Transformer Mirage

I have Mirage, and all the original guns, missiles, and other accessories. It's mint condition and in original box. (The box is slightly tattered, as seen in the picture) but there are no missing pieces. I even have the little brochure thing that comes with it.

This toy sells for around $200 on eBay. I'll sell it for $100, plus lunch. Plus one ticket to Transformers the movie. I'll even drive you if you want to come with me.

Any takers?

Any of You Recognize This Guy?

Prizes to whomever can name this actor from imdb.com





Good luck!

Random Picture of the Day

Connect Four Clown of Terror

random picture of the day

first day of summer vacation. I'm not sure how to keep them busy all summer.

here they're playing zach's new ''snap circuit jr.'' it's a pretty cool toy forgeting kids acclamated into the nerdy world of da double-e.

Anthropogenic (man-made) Global Warming

Is Anthropogenic Global Warming a scientific fact? Most pop-science alarmists would tend to say yes. Moderates tend to say, "Maybe. But I'm not sure." Other, more conservative (arguably more thorough) climate scientists would say, "Not so fast, huckster. You're jumping to conclusions!"

Who acknowledges that there is a warming trend but recently said, "...there is no credible evidence that [global warming] is due to mankind and carbon dioxide. We've been coming out of a Little Ice Age for 300 years. We have not been making very much carbon dioxide for 300 years. It's been warming up for a long time"?

Which climatologist who is widely considered the "Father" of modern climatology said that the current trend in global warming alarmism is a "total misplacement of emphasis" and that there's "no really good scientific evidence" for it?

Which climate scientist who is now continuing to work for free - even after retirement - when asked why so many thousands of scientist are concerned about global warming, cleverly retorted, "why are so many thousands not concerned about it"?

The answer is Reid Bryson, Professor Emeritus and the founding chairman of the department of meteorology at the University of Wisconsin Madison.

Though the article I'm quoting from has the reporter ending the article with a contrary view, and therefore leaving the readers without a cross-examination, it is clear that the evidence isn't compelling enough to convince many scientists. That should tell us that there is something we're missing. Galen McKinley, another colleague of Bryson's who disagrees with his views summarizes the popular point of view by leaving us with, "if you saw smoke in your house, it would be irresponsible not to get your family out, right?"

First of all, if that's the case, then if I saw a wisp of smoke in the back of a crowded theater, I should shout "FIRE!" and risk a stampede before checking to make sure there's even any danger.

Secondly, the McKinley's analogy is so broken that there is no room for any other reaction other than an alarmist one. Anthropogenic global warming is the issue at hand. If there IS such a thing, then yes, of course drastic measures should be taken to prevent a future worldwide catastrophe. But if the mild warming trends that we're experiencing is more likely a natural cycle that the earth and the sun goes through, then what's the point of all the governmental mandates and economic restrictions? Most scientists are not arguing about the slight warming we're experiencing in certain regions. The argument is whether it is man-made warming or natural.

McKinley says if you see smoke you should get out of the house. But does it matter to him if the smoke is even dangerous? Does it matter if it's just a backyard barbeque?

Talk about alarmism. McKinley personifies that sentiment perfectly.
Read more here>>>

"Boys to Men" by Tony Woodlief

For Father's Day, an excerpt from Tony Woodlief's article in today's WSJ Opinion Journal


Many academics would consider my lack of manliness a good thing. They regard boys as thugs-in-training, caught up in a patriarchal society that demeans women. In the 1990s the American Association of University Women (among others) positioned boys as the enemies of female progress (something Christina Hoff Sommers exposed in her book, "The War Against Boys"). But the latest trend is to depict boys as themselves victims of a testosterone-infected culture. In their book "Raising Cain," for example, the child psychologists Don Kindlon and Michael Thompson warn parents against a "culture of cruelty" among boys. Forget math, science and throwing a ball, they suggest--what your boy most needs to learn is emotional literacy.

But I can't shake the sense that boys are supposed to become manly. Rather than neutering their aggression, confidence and desire for danger, we should channel these instincts into honor, gentlemanliness and courage. Instead of inculcating timidity in our sons, it seems wiser to train them to face down bullies, which by necessity means teaching them how to throw a good uppercut. In his book "Manliness," Harvey Mansfield writes that a person manifesting this quality "not only knows what justice requires, but he acts on his knowledge, making and executing the decision that the rest of us trembled even to define." You can't build a civilization and defend it against barbarians, fascists and playground bullies, in other words, with a nation of Phil Donahues.


Maybe the problem isn't that boys are aggressive, but that we've neglected their moral education. As Teddy Roosevelt wrote to one of his sons: "I would rather have a boy of mine stand high in his studies than high in athletics, but I would a great deal rather have him show true manliness of character than show either intellectual or physical prowess." Manliness, then, is not the ability to survive in the wilderness, or wield a rifle. But having such skills increases the odds that one's manly actions--which Roosevelt and others believed flow from a moral quality--will be successful.


The good father, then, needs to nurture his son's moral and spiritual core, and equip him with the skills he'll need to act on the moral impulse that we call courage. A real man, in other words, is someone who doesn't run from an Osama bin Laden. But he may also need the ability to hit a target from three miles out with a .50 caliber M88 if he wants to finish the job.


Not only do I believe that trying to take the wildness out of boys is a doomed social experiment, but I'm certain that genetic scientists will eventually discover that males carry the Cowboy Gene. That's my name for whatever is responsible for all the wrestling in my house, and the dunking during bath time, and my 5-year-old's insistence on wearing his silver six-shooters to Wal-Mart in order to protect our grocery cart. I only pray that when the Cowboy Gene is discovered, some well-meaning utopian doesn't try to transform it into a Tea Party Gene.


Read the rest HERE.

Johnny Depp is Super Nice

Here is the most random video clip ever. Johnny Depp is on a Japanese talk show and is subjected to two REALLY random performances by four cute Japanese kids.
He sits through it graciously and is the epitome of a gentlemen throughout.

Transformers Theme Music (cir. 2007)

The new Transformers theme has been circulating on the net.

I'm not sure if I like it.

I take it back; I'm pretty sure I don't like it.
HEAR IT (~3mb)
left click to play
right click to save


Here's a picture from the set:

random picture of the day

the John Wayne statue on the main floor at Orange County John Wayne Airport.

loud phone talker

what I don't get is why you need to use a bluetooth earpiece device if your hands are free and your holding your phone in your hand already, anyway!

not only does your reception and clarity of voice suffer, but as a result, it makes you talk loudly; breaking every public cellphone-useage etiquette established.

random picture of the day

Do you like rubber? Do you like the way rubber tastes?
if so, I encourage you to purchase a big 1 liter bottle of ''Deja Blue'' bottled water. A S A P!

Leonidas in us all

There are lessons to be gleaned from the movie 300.
This may or may not be one of them.

Coolest Driving Stunts EVER

Hyundai Stunt Driving P.R. Team at work.
Q: Is it possible to change a car's tire while it's driving?
A: answer after you watch the video.

Crazy.

WSJ Opinion Journal, June 11

Copy/Pasted from the Wall Street Journal Opinion Journal - June 11, 2007

Throwing the Bible Out With the Bathwater?"Inmates at the federal prison camp in Otisville, N.Y., were stunned by what they saw at the chapel library at the end of May: Hundreds of books had disappeared from the shelves," the Associated Press reports:

The removal of the books is occurring nationwide, part of a long-delayed, post-Sept. 11 federal directive intended to prevent radical religious texts, specifically Islamic ones, from falling into the hands of violent inmates.
Three inmates at Otisville filed a lawsuit about the policy, saying their constitutional rights were violated. They say all religions were affected.
"The set of books that have been taken out have been ones that we used to minister to new converts when they come in here," inmate John Okon, speaking on behalf of the prison's Christian population, told a judge last week.
Okon said it was unfortunate because "I have really seen religion turn around the
life of some of these men, especially in the Christian community."

If the plaintiffs' allegations are true, it would appear that the federal government is trying to treat Muslim and Christian texts "equally," even though they are not equivalent in their effects on inmates. (Has anyone ever heard of a prisoner converting to Christianity and consequently becoming more violent?)
The idea of the government making theological judgments--picking and choosing religious books, or favoring one religion over another--is dicey. But in certain contexts, it is necessary. Consider this story from the Washington Post (hat tip: blogger Paul Caron):

Florida evangelist Bill Keller says he was making a spiritual--not political--statement when he warned the 2.4 million subscribers to his Internet prayer ministry that "if you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!"
But the Washington-based advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State says the Internal Revenue Service should revoke the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status of Bill Keller Ministries, nonetheless.

Here's a passage from Keller's follow-up sermon:

Why men of God, great groups like the Southern Baptist Convention are willing to support a man who is part of a satanic cult is beyond my ability to comprehend. I realize he is running to be the commander-in-chief, not the theologian-in-chief. I realize that he has a great marriage, great kids, and says he will stand for family values. He actually might be one of the best men there is to be President and lead this nation.
Even if all of that was 100% true, it is still no excuse to support a man who is part of a satanic cult, whose election to the most powerful office on the planet will give worldwide credibility to that satanic cult, will cause millions of people to join their ranks, and ultimately cause them to die in their sins and spend eternity in hell! His candidacy alone has already been a non-stop infomercial for the Mormon cult!

The IRS will have to decide whether Keller crossed the line by advising his congregants about how to vote or stayed within it by basing that advice purely on religious considerations. If the IRS can figure that one out, maybe its auditors should be the ones to review the collection of the Otisville prison library.

random picture of the day

huge accident on mission today... the picture doesn't show it but the Audi's front windshield (on the driver's side) was all smashed out. The traffic was lousy for many commuters but I doubt any of them had their day ruined like the driver of the TT.

UPDATE:

After driving past the accident scene - this time going southbound instead of northbound as I was originally - I saw that police had placed at least 20 little teepee tags all over the ground in front of the Audi. You know those tags the police on TV and in movies always use to pinpoint and count shell casings fired from a perp's automatic weapons? It was like that. Additionally, the front end of the Audi wasn't severely damaged like I would assume a car would be if the driver was thrown through the windshield in a sudden stop.

Maybe something more sinister than a mere car accident happened here today. I'll report more later.

The Coolest Fight Scene You've Never Seen

I've found the coolest fight scene that you've never seen.

CLICK HERE
or copy and paste:
http://raditts.com/phyles/xiao3.swf

random picture of the day

the coolest transparent 'can' ever! ''Arôme Lychee'' yum!

Sacrifice

A quick recap of some recent thoughts and events...

While driving through Sonoma recently, I saw this sign (previously posted as random picture of the day here) and it gave me pause and forced me to reflect momentarily.

"Some gave all"

It's such a simple phrase and yet it describes, with great accuracy, an extremely profound element of the human psyche: sacrifice.

What compels a person to be willing to sacrifice their own well-being or self-interest for another person, cause, or entity? There must always be a tremendous amount of love directed toward the thing for which people are willing to give their all. Be it a family, a country, an ideal, or God, people that are willing to throw out all sense of self-preservation for a good an noble cause are indeed worthy of memorial and honor.

Of course, if a person is willing to die for a favorite ice cream sandwich or for some other form of a false god, they can only be labeled as fools. Who decides that which is worth dying for? Well, that's for you to wrestle with and reason against. I have a clear - albeit incomplete - idea in my head. What about you?

Some other things caused me to detour when on my way home from the wine country; steeples.

Anyone who would listen to me rant when the new designs for our educational building were being drawn knows that I wish we had incorporated some sort of steeple into the architecture of our church. Steeples not only herald back to the days when it was safe to let your 8-year-old ride her bike down to the local grocer to pick up some eggs and a pack of gum (try that these days and you'll either see your daughter on the side of a milk carton or get slapped with a child-endangerment suit), but it also raises the gaze of passers by heavenward.

What a great inspiration such a spire must be to the downtrodden needy. Oh, to look upwards, ever upwards and to rest your eyes upon the cross of Jesus where the ultimate love and the definitive sacrifice was played out and here represented!

And speaking of sacrifice; would you consider leaving your family and your home to go abroad for the sake of the gospel a great sacrifice? Some would say 'yes', others would say, 'it depends on how much trouble you get from your family on a daily basis and if by "abroad" you mean "Hawaii."'

My dad is finally heading overseas again and will be abroad until about September. Here are some pics of my dad talking with (at?) Gregg.

----------

On a totally unrelated note, my car recently passed 15,000 miles.

Auntie Nancy was at the same restaurant that my Dad, Gregg, Zach, and I ate at this afternoon.

And lastly, (be thankful I don't have a picture) Zach, at his birthday party showed symptoms of his stomach flu. And when I say 'showed symptoms of his stomach flu', I mean 'he threw up on the carpet in the lounge at Cloverleaf Bowl'.

Also, the auntie nancy picture and the second picture of my dad were taken by Zach. (I cropped it a little, but it's otherwise a good representation of Zach's photographic eye!