The "O" Word
Conservative by Nature, Christian by Choice
Wait!  Where's the pictures?  They're supposed to be right here!  I swear, you can't find decent help these days...

Thursday Bonus

May 8th, 2008 . by Cary

Snagged this from Doug Gibbs’ place over at Political Pistachio.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Thursday in America

May 8th, 2008 . by Cary

I normally (well, most of the time) (OK, when I have time…) have a link fest and list my blog reads here along with their latest posts; since tomorrow’s show is going to feature my regular reads, I figured I would just chat a bit today. (Be sure to call in and let me know YOUR regular reads at (347) 838-9573. Or, drop in the chatroom to – uhm, chat – or just sit back and lurk as a listener. that’s fine. don’t participate. i’ll just drone on and on and on by myself. no, really, it’s fine.)

Sorry, forgot to mention the show is at 0700 Mountain Standard Time. No, we don’t do Daylight Savings. Yes, I’m on the same time as Pacific right now. No, I don’t know when it changes back. I don’t care. Remember? we don’t do it, so why keep track of it? Just go and sign up as a member of blogtalkradio, add me as a favorite, and you will get customized notice of when the show is, with YOUR time on it. Now, back to the regular column, which I so rudely interrupted:

Today TMBWitW was going to take the day off. Yesterday MEG started to run a slight fever and recycle everything that went in. Sure wish I had know about the recycling decision BEFORE I gave her the fruit snacks, but there you have it. In light of the recycling effort and TMBWitW’s quick trip to the urgent care center last night while I was at church, she decided to take today as a sick day instead.

(They are both napping right now, which is the only reason I am posting. Shhh. Don’t wake them up.)

Since it’s Thursday, I need to go out and bring the cans back in from the curb. I also need to sweep up the latest conglomeration of pet hair that is gathering in the corners. Oh, and if you all happen to see my black cat, Captain Midnight (he’s got tags and a chip) out and about, please tell him to stay out of the street and go home. No, he doesn’t normally go out. He’s an inside cat, like all the rest. While I was helping Logan get out this morning, Captain slipped out the door and was up and over the wall before I could get Logan situated and chase after Captain. What a stupid cat. I love him dearly, but if he runs off, I will never know what happened to him.

Remember to tune in tomorrow. I’ll talk to you then.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Tuesday Stuff

May 6th, 2008 . by Cary

This Friday on The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, I will be running down a Blog Roll “Call”, talking about the blogs that I follow on a fairly regular basis. Do you have favorites? Call in, let me know: (347) 838-9573, Friday morning at 0700 Mountain Standard Time (I live in Arizona, we don’t “do” Daylight Savings Time).

I have got to get this off my chest. There are certain people who are either totally oblivious or really, really cocky – and they cross the streets of Phoenix as pedestrians. There was a lady this morning who crossed in front of me as I approached a green light. No, she wasn’t in the cross walk – my goodness, that was another ten feet down the street! She was crossing AGAINST THE LIGHT outside of the crosswalk. I should have hit her, just to challenge the stupid law that says ALL pedestrians have the right of way. I think it should be RESPONSIBLY ACTING pedestrians have the right of way – the ones who use the crosswalk, cross with the light, wait for traffic to clear, etc. This stepping off in the middle of the street in front of traffic might fly where you come from, but around here you might not make it to the center line next time. There are certain laws that you cannot get away with breaking – and the Law of Common Sense is one of them.

TMBWitW sent me this news article – and, since she works at the paper, I have no reason to have to “research” it for it’s veracity – after all, it came from someone who works at the paper!

Dog Pack Attacks Gator In Florida
At times nature can be cruel, but there is also
a raw beauty, and even a certain justice
manifested within that cruelty.

The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate
predators, normally considered the ‘apex
predator’, can still fall victim to implemented
‘team work’ strategy, made possible due to
the tight knit social structure and ‘survival
of the pack mentality’ bred into the canines.
(See the remarkable photograph below
courtesy of Nature Magazine.)

Note that the Alpha dog has a muzzle hold
on the gator preventing it from breathing,
while another dog has a hold on the tail to
keep it from thrashing. The third dog
attacks the soft underbelly of the gator.

This is not for the squeamish, so please
take care when viewing the image.

Canine Pack Attacking Alligator

So – how is your week going?

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Getting Nostalgic

May 4th, 2008 . by Cary

I have been messing around with computers since about 1982. That was the year the Marine Corps got digitized in it’s maintenance records, and being the MIMMS clerk for the Communications Platoon (along with being the parts guy, and a line company operator, and the Comm Chief’s driver…) I got to make the weekly trek down to S-1 with the disks under one arm. Yes, the disks were large enough to carry under your arm. They were about the size of dinner plates. Huge, really. And they only carried about 256k of stuff on them.

Anyway – I’ve been doing this for a while.

During the late eighties, I was involved in the running of several Bulletin Boards (BBS) while I was living in California. One of the highlights of running a BBS was providing “door” games for your callers. One of the best, in my opinion, was TradeWars, from martech software.

Now comes the blast from the past: The game is still out there. Not as popular as it once was, since everyone is doing the ‘net these days instead of telneting or dialing up their favorite BBS, but it’s still there. I have found a place that has a couple of games going, and I’ve been fooling around on there. you have to telnet “cavebbs.homeip.net 23” (without the quotes) to get there. It’s called the Cave BBS, run by Red Wolf. Registration is free, the board is text-based, and if you have the same memories I do the only thing missing is the handshaking of two modems at the blazing fast speed of 300 bpm.

If you remember the game, pop on in. If you are interested in learning the game, I’m sure I can help out with tips and advice.

If all this is Greek to you, then move along you young whippersnapper you – there’s nothing to see here.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

The Backlash of the “Roundups”

May 2nd, 2008 . by Cary

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the “Toughest Sheriff” located here in Maricopa County, has his problems. Liberal journalists (yes, EJ Montini, I’m talking about YOU) don’t like him because he is forward, straight talking and decidedly not PC.

Oh, and he’s tough on crime. That really ticks off the left.

His latest exploits have included painting the jail buses with murals that include a hotline for suspected illegals. Yeah, another thing the libs hate. People who don’t want illegals to invade this country.

Sheriff Joe has recently targeted some known illegals’ areas in a crime sweep – that is, the Sheriff’s office will blanket an area and stop all traffic and ask for ID. That ID will be run through a quickie background check. Wants and warrants will result in detention, as will the inability to produce legal ID. Self-declared illegals will get a ticket on the fast bus south; those who are snagged for wants and warrants who turn out to be here illegally will also ride south, but after serving time in some of Joe’s tents.

The liberal media has been warning of a “backlash” to all this activity, coupled with the voters’ wish of actually enforcing immigration and employment laws, and it has started to show itself.

First, there was the dropping unemployment rate. Arizona as a whole is enjoying the shrinking line at the jobless office.

Second was the traffic situation. With fewer illegals in the area, traffic has been reduced.

Third was evident yesterday. You know, the day “all” illegals were going to “protest” their “lack” of “rights” in a country they have illegally invaded?

(uh, yeah – about that. if you aren’t here legally, you have no rights under the constitution of The United States. become a citizen, and enjoy all the rights and privileges thereunto pertained.)

well, other cities enjoyed the sight of all those illegals gathering in one place, making them a prime target for a roundup. Here in Arizona, the “leaders” of the pro-illegals (they actually call themselves “Immigrants Without Borders. huh. if there are no borders, then there is no such thing as an immigrant, right? morons.) did not organize a protest rally, given the demonstrations that have erupted both in support of and against the recent sweeps by law enforcement. Well, wah. They don’t seem to have any problem with their demonstrations when they are disrupting the lives of everyone else, but people show they are serious about not wanting illegals invading this country, and the criminal leaders – er, uhm – “organizers” wimp out.

I was looking forward to Joe rounding them all up and running them all through the wants and warrants system…

Instead, the “organizers” of this non-event have opted for a different way to show they are serious about this subject. You guessed it – they are going to perform a protest march from Tucson to Phoenix, ending at the state capital on May 11. (Joe – there’s a hot tip for ya, bud)

This is a very smart move on the part of the “organizers” as it will demonstrate what these illegals had to go through in order to get here. No, wait, they think it will highlight the inhumane treatment of immigrants. Really? The immigrants I see are in good shape, what with coming here through legal means and all. The only ones I see struggling are the ones who snuck in here under the wire. And, just for your information, “Immigrants Without Brains,” marching in the desert as a public protest is kinda stupid, what with no roads and no media coverage, don’t ya think? But please, be sure to file your route with the appropriate law enforcement offices – they’ll take good care of you.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, listen to The O Word on BlogTalkRadio, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

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