As usual, watching tv... This time, it's a show on prostitution, particularly those who are forced into it or to continue it by their pimps. It seems the only recourse for police are to arrest the women or their patrons.

It's sickening. The more the police arrest these women, the worse they make the problem, by giving the pimps plenty of opportunities to practice eluding capture and prosecution, and by hardening the women, making it less likely they will testify against their pimps. It's a sad testament to our society that the most humane and dignified way to approach women who are being abused is to arrest them.
Read the rest of this entry »

Watching the History Channel with their standard show on aliens. There seem to be a lot of hypotheses about aliens. The usual ones seem to be of aliens helping build the pyramids and the large animals engraved in South America. This particular show is hypothesising that there may by undersea bases, probes in orbit, or on/in the moon. They hypothesise that aliens may be among us. It simply boggles my mind that people can honestly believe that aliens traveled incomprehensible distances to help build a mausoleum to a dead pharaoh, draw pictures in the dirt, or teach us how to use laden jars to electroplate jewelry.
Read the rest of this entry »

As the last post, I addressed an argument Sherri and I had. I bring it up again for two reasons: first, it's a good example of what I will be addressing; and second, because Sherri and I's relationship has yet to recover from it and following events that I won't reference herein.
Read the rest of this entry »

Sherri and I had an inane argument the other other day, that has resulted in her not speaking to me for four days now. I am living upstairs while she lives downstairs. It becomes clearer by the day that 1) she doesn't want a relationship with me, and/or 2) our relationship won't work over the long term.
Read the rest of this entry »

I've been working on my genealogy for the last couple months. I think everyone who does genealogy hopes to find some ancestor who was famous, or failing that, historically important. Vern wasn't either, but he's one of those finds that really is what genealogy is all about... A connection to history.
Read the rest of this entry »

There are plans to build a Muslim "community center" next to ground zero of the World Trade Center. Apparently, it's caused quiet a stir, but I'm not sure why.
Read the rest of this entry »

[Old news.] It's finally been done. After 230 years of government creep, for the first time a state is requiring it's citizens to carry credentials. For those who live in a cave, Arizona has passed a law allowing law enforcement officers to, at their discretion, demand credentials of anyone they "lawfully stop" during the commission of a crime (but the law doesn't specify the individual must be a suspect), and there is "reasonable suspicion" (not to be confused with "reasonable doubt" or "beyond a reasonable doubt") that someone is an "illegal alien".
Read the rest of this entry »

In my late teens and early 20's, in my "bachelor years", I managed to get by, at least in-so-far as I managed to survive. However, there were times when I unplugged the refrigerator from not having any food. This wasn't from not having the money to shop (although times were often tight), it was from just never getting to the store. I also knew that if I bought food, I'd just eat it, and be back to square one. I also had paths. That is, the mail and what-not went on the couch, and often spread to the floor, and I would have a path through the living room.
Read the rest of this entry »

I took my kids to a small, mostly abandoned train yard here the other day, and although my two elder childs woosed out, my youngest and I did a minor amount of exploring. Along the way, we collected a railroad spike, a huge chunk of coal (elder son likes rocks), a train brake, a toy train (found in a pile of trash dumped on site), and a railroad spike. Naturally, most was left behind, but I slipped the railroad spike into his bag.
Read the rest of this entry »