In spirit of the holidays,

A list of people who must have the largest collection of Christmas tree ornaments (not necessarily on order):

1. Sunday School Teachers

2. Kindergarten Teachers

3. Preschool Teachers

4. Grandmothers

5. People who throw an annual Christmas party

6. Secretaries

Because, lets face it, its a good all-purpose gift and, as long as it has nothing to do with Christianity, its not offensive to anyone's lifestyle.

How Christians ruin Christmas

Why do Christians feel the need to sabotage the holiday spirit? Recently a baptist church in Dallas made the paper because it's lead pastor published a website denigrating certain local business which the Church felt were not in line with thier religious beliefs. The offenses are not serious, usually an establishment is attacked because the post the holiday greeting of "happy holidays" rather that "merry Christmas". Where are we a as society that we cannot give the seasonal equivalent of good morning" without being labeled as a religious outcast? Happy holidays is in fact, in my opinion, the best greeting since it includes thanksgiving, and New Years, along of course with Hanukkah and Ramadan, which sometimes falls in the autumn. Happy holidays is a mere goodwill wish, which is after all the entire point of Christmas. And of course, people who are like minded with this certain Pastor don;t wish to learn that christmas is a pagan holiday, originating from when northern and western Europe were being converted, and people wanted to keep their yule time festival, so the christians made it a celebration of Christ's birth. They do not wish to hear this. And regardless, Christmas is not about presents, commercialization, or even Jesus, its about the spirit of giving, family, and goodwill. A time for us all to appreciate the good things in life, and to celebrate out good fortune by giving to out friends, family, and to those less fortunate. I wish not to be judged on whether i went to church or by hoe many Christmas carols i sung, but rather by how much I gave to others, and how much I strove to make others Happy. that's what Christmas is all about, not which holiday greeting i gave out.

E readers

Despite the fact that most of what I dislike about digital reading has been eliminated from the Kindle and many other e reader consoles, I still cant get into them. I'm uncharacteristically old fashioned about this; I like to see the books on my shelf, I like going to the store to buy them, and i like being able to hold them and collect them. The e reader takes away everything that many book lovers enjoy about reading. It is impersonal, and cold.

Whale Wars

Vigilantism is not cool in real life. The group of people who go around terrorizing people who eke out a living by whaling, are little more than pirates and certainly classify as terrorists in my book. These people beleive that thier ends justify thier means, and that because they want to save the whales, that that gives them the right to step in and try to order other people around and tell them how to live thier lives. It doesn't matter to me if there IS an international ban on whaling, these people have no authority to terrorize and attempt to, at best, arrest people who are not evn fron their country, and at worst commit acts of violence and terrorism. Attempting to destroy a whaling vessel and put others under ones control helps no one.
It is especially pathetic because the whalers do not really care that they are there at all. After all they have the bigger boats, the better equipment, and ultimately, the whale wars people have no authority. They are not acting on behalf of the UN and they are not representing any official branch of a US military of even political operation.
Improving the planet in all ways is a noble goal, but it is selfish and arrogant to try to take the law into ones own hands in a situation like this. It is appalling and insulting that the people are being paid to have a tv show made about their pathetic attempt and vigilantism.

A Few Ground Rules

I have noticed a frightening trend in baby naming recently. It's gotten to be undeniably narcissistic. In the wake of ridiculous names coming from celebrities, which to be expected, and Mrs. Next Door, who just knows that her bundle of joy is special i believe that it is time to lay a few ground rules.

1. I will not name my child after a celebrity

2. I will not name my child after a place. This includes but is not limited to: towns/cities, countries, boroughs, and streets.

3. I will not give my child a last name for a first name.

4. I will not deliberately give my child a nonsensical spelling for their name. It's not unique, its irritating for us, and for the kid. Spelling a name for everyone is annoying.

5. I will not give my child a name that sounds silly as an adult.

education and science

It is interesting to me that media officials are in recent years, freaked out about education. They say that education in our country is failing and that we are falling behind the international standards which a led primarily by China. They cry out that our kids are behind in all areas, most notable though in Math and Science. It is interesting to me that we seem so concerned about the state of education in America and yet as our government criticizes past leaders for not helping education, they themselves pass legislation which cuts spending on Education and NASA. If the government thinks we need to produce more engineers and scientists, what is the point then, of pushing these subjects while cutting back on the biggest outlets for math and since backgrounds? First of all, we are taking away interest opportunities for out kids, if NASA and other engineering outlets are not producing interesting work to interest students, where is their motivation for following these subjects? How are we supposed to be so dearly concerned with improving out math and science capabilities when there will be no more jobs for us? When we will not be afforded the opportunity to explore space, biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics? Why should we believe the politicians and media anchors when they tell us that we are underachieving, when they cut science programs, and then, to rub salt on the wound, cut funding and ideas for education, and tell teachers to fix 3 generations of social decline in urban areas, only to punish them for failing to make improvements?