If you are a cultured geek, you will get a laugh out of this....

 Gee, why didn't he just print a billion-gazillion dollar bill?

Link to Man tries to deposit fake $1M bill - Yahoo! News

So, the commercialization of the holidays is nothing new..... 

Quote

Greatest Stories Never Told: Thanksgiving


FDR was lobbied by retailers to lengthen the Christmas season by making Thanksgiving earlier.

Ok, it may be good for your heart, but who can find customers that will let you nap?

On-the-job naps might cut heart risk

I am using Windows Live Writer to type up my blog posts.  I love this tool, because it has spell checking.  Anyone who helped raise me can tell you that I need all the spelling help I can get. 

I noticed something that really bothers me.  The spell check in Microsoft's blog writing tool does not recognize "blogged" as a word.  Does that seem right to you?

.....the best thing to ever happen to scrambled eggs.

That is the first thing that comes to my mind after cooking up an egg sandwich for dinner tonight.

So, what is the strangest thing about this blog post?  The fact that it says that I was cooking!  Ok, so that probably does not seem like a strange thing to most of you, but the truth is that this family for a long time has not done much cooking. 

I guess I have not blogged about it, but we have been in a new house for a while now, and it has a kitchen that we like to cook in.  As a matter of fact, the Lady Avenger and I have actually been cooking together! (Alright, I mean food you people).  I must say, I have really enjoyed it.

That reminds me, I guess I owe the world some house pictures.  I will get those up soon.  I think I will put up some before and after photos for you.  It will give you a good idea of the incredible change this new house is for us.

So, anyway, lets hear it for Teflon, or if your a Teflon hater, this is your chance to perpetuate several Teflon urban myths.

  Here is a good reason to make sure and raise your daughters to feel like they are smart, beautiful, and confident.  This girl was never locked up, never forced to stay.  She was in an emotional prison.  Maybe if this unfortunate woman had somehow made it to her teenage years with a little bit more self-esteem, she would have never been lured into this man's possession in the first place.

Quote

CNN.com - Woman says man kept her captive for 10 years - Mar 23, 2006

 I listened to this report on the radio today.  I was shocked to hear that prior to Katrina one quarter of children from poorer parts of the city had lead blood levels high enough to cause learning disorders.  25%!!! That seems huge to me.  It would seem that these lead levels have been that way for decades, and that contamination of this type is typical in poor urban areas. 

Is it possible that poor urban areas remain poor decade after decade because 25% of the children from those areas are disadvantaged in life from the start due to lead?!? 

Quote

NPR : Katrina Stirs Up Issue of Lead Levels in Soil

 Don't get me wrong, I am all for protecting children from mature content on the internet.  Already I wonder how I am going to manage those issues as the Sidekicks get older, and the oldest now is only 7.  With that said, I really think the goverment is painting with a broad brush here in their requests for search records.  Perhaps if they narrowed it down to specific searches that may give mature results to children, but this feels like a witch hunt.  Asking for a full weeks data including all searches by all persons seems like an obvious invasion of privacy.  Back when I was a police office I took privacy issues and the Bill of Rights very, very seriously.  I would agonize over every search, stop, and arrest.  Do I really have a good reason?  I wonder if anyone is asking that sort of question at the Department of Justice.  Now, before we get the pitch forks and torches out and march on the capitol, I do believe that the systems of checks and balances are catching up with the governments attempts to grow executive power.  In the mean time, the Googles of the world will have to watch out for us. 

Quote

Google Heads to Court to Protect Users

I hope the new chairman will be able to keep up as well as Mr. Greenspan.  He was an amazing economist who never lost his love for digging into the data, and had a great understanding of what modern technology really means to our economy. 

Quote

We'll Miss You, Alan Greenspan

 So if you would like a great example of what day to day life for a cop is, this is a great clip.  It shows how hard it is to subdue a person without hurting them.  Also, it shows how scary it can be.  Notice how this dopper yells at his buddy to come help him with the cops.  Also, notice that this loser was willing to put what I assume is his child through watching this all happen, you can hear her cry in the backgroud, because of drugs.  To top it all off, on officer gets sprayed with pepper spray along with the bad guy.  Seems being a cop over seas can be just as trying as here in the states.

Quote

Drug Dealer Runs From Cops
A man suspected of dealing drugs flees from the cops.

Courtesy of IFILM