My Weblog

Tookie vs. Cory Maye: My thoughts

Administrator — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 11:20:06 +0000

If I’ve seemed flippant about Tookie’s execution, a few points:
First, I don’t take the death penalty lightly, which is why I’ve been on this Cory Maye issue. I haven’t been following the Tookie saga, because 1) I don’t have time to sit and watch hours and hours and hours of cable news, and B) I’m pretty sure, even if he wasn’t executed for ONE murder, he definitely killed other people in his lifetime, or HAD them killed. Karma rolls around, and it rolled up to his door.
Second, this is about justice. Tookie had 25 years to make his case, and in the meantime celebrities and activists have latched on to him like they have other high-profile murderers; also, Tookie had all those years of appeals and chances. So far, Maye has only had a few years, and has a much less “TV-pretty” case: He defended himself from what he thought was an intruder - with a gun. There’s nothing the media hates worse, when guns are involved, than someone defending their loved ones or property with firearms; it chaps the Brady Bill-huggers and anti-gun people in general.
I hope the media won’t turn this into a “racism” thing, which would mean that our ol’ friends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton won’t be on CNN saying this is because Whitey is evil and Maye is black; it’s not that simple, no matter how many times they say it. I just want the story to get out, but the media WILL sensationalize and racialize it, and Maye will be ill-served in the process.

Koi

Administrator — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:55:34 +0000

Ever since my mom was a little girl she always dreamed of having a fishpond. She would sit by her neighbor�s fence on an almost daily-basis and try to sneak glimpses of their big fishpond. She loved gold fish but really adored the giant Japanese breed of fish: koi. She would drive down Dale Mabry in South Tampa with her mother, and look at the hotel, the Tahitian Inn, because they had a small man-made pond out front. She worked hard all her life, and in the last year has had a 20,000 gallon koi pond equipped with brick patio and screen installed in her backyard. One could say that my mom could quite possibly be one of the happiest and most obsessive women in the world. She has decorated the back patio with koi flags, which she hangs from ornate poles with fancy things at the end. She installed a camera she has so rightfully dubbed �The Koi Cam� inside of the pond so you can watch the fish swim by on the TV screen in the house. She also has a monthly subscription to a magazine called �Koi USA�, which she likes to try and force me to read sometimes. One issue I read had a column that was written in the perspective of a koi colony living in a pond. This could easily be one of the weirdest things my mind has consumed in my entire life. So if anyone who reads this happens to be a koi-lover, please contact me and you can see some cool fish. Yeah, pretty much.

Wal-Mart

Administrator — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:54:53 +0000

As I commonly point out in most of my worldview bogs, I think society; especially American society is very messed up. I learn about a lot of sad stories in my various psychology and sociology classes weekly, and can�t help but regret that I am a part of this society. Recently I was made aware of the fact that one out of every three black people that are born, will go to prison, while one out of every twenty-two white people will go to prison. The statistics of white unemployment to black unemployment is highly un-balanced. And this is not due to the fact that black people are statistically less educated than white people, because even black graduates with high degrees have problems with getting hired. Also, I also found out that a lot of people who are not only in prison, but are in prison for life; commit crimes like the one I am about to reveal. A man who was living in poverty, who did not have enough money to support his family because this country (as much as we deny it) is racist, and could not get hired for a job had a daughter who�s birthday was coming up. He could barely feed his own family and therefore most certainly couldn�t afford even a small birthday present. This man ended up going to Wal-Mart, and in a desperate attempt to provide some sort of birthday to his little girl, stole $154 worth of videos. Unfortunately he was caught and sent to prison. What was his sentence? Life. He is now in prison for the rest of his life because he stole $154 worth of VHS videos (not even DVDs for Christ�s sake) from a Wal-Mart. I really don�t like our legal system.

Administrator — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 18:51:34 +0000

In South Africa they have something called cage dives. This activity involves a boat going off the cost and dumping chum or some sort of smelly fish guts into the ocean to attract large sharks such as great whites. Then they lower four people down into the water. These four people are in a cage that�s four feet by eight feet and is equipped with bars so people�s appendages including their heads, can stick out. During this fifteen-minute period, great white sharks slam their bodies against the cage and bite the bars. This aggressive behavior is caused due to the feeding frenzy, because of the chum thrown in the water. This activity is causing shark attacks in this area to be much more frequent than normal. There used to be only a few shark attacks annually, and now these vicious occurrences are becoming quite common. This is believed to be because of the cave dives. The sharks are now learning to associate food with humans and this has become a fatal problem. This problem is not just with sharks though. There are many other wild species out there that are being attracted to humans. This is a result of tourists or whomever luring wild animals near them with bait and causing the familiarity of food to be the same as familiarity with humans. All of these are more common with dangerous animals, which is a serious threat to the eco system of nature.

butterflies are sooo the coolest ever!

Administrator — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 23:49:08 +0000

I really like butterflies in real life. I think they’re cool and they’re nice to look at. What I don’t like are butterfly tatoos. They blow chunks. People who have tatoos in general are alright, they can do what ever they want to their body, and it’s neat if the mark actually has some sort of deeper meaning to the beholder. As far as butterfly tatoos go: what kind of people have butterfly tatoos? Brittany Spears has one, and she’s cool, right? I think not. I think poeple who have or have had (as in they got it removed already) a butterfly tatoo have some sort of psychological disorder. Think about it; someone who walks into a parlar and says to the tatoo artist “Yo, I want a tatoo and I want a butterfly”…doesn’t the word nuts come to mind? Why, why, why would one want a permanent mark inked to one’s body in the shape and form of a butterfly? It escapes me. So next time you’re thinking about going and getting a tatoo, think twice about getting a butterfly.

Ape Intelligence

Administrator — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 01:57:11 +0000

The article about gorillas using tools means a lot for evolutionary scientists. This means that apes intelligence of applying uses to basic objects such as sticks and logs is very close to that of human intelligence even though the �separation between the chimpanzee and human lines came about six million years ago� (Breuer 1).
According to the article, gorillas and chimpanzees in the wild have been seen using sticks to help prepare food. “The most astonishing thing is that we have observed them using tools not for obtaining food, but for postural support” (Breuer 1). Not only this, but someone witnessed a gorilla using a log as a sort of bridge over a swampy area.
What makes this amazing is that these creatures have the same intelligences as humans and they are now not only known for being capable of understanding numbers and letters but also using tools and teaching others of their race how to use them. This means that they not only use them, but they are able to communicate with one another and teach each other useful skills.
With this new knowledge of ape intelligence, now humans may be able to teach apes even more skills to help with hygiene and self-maintenance. There may even be a chance that if more skills are successfully taught to these creatures, they are likely to pass the knowledge down the generations and to other groups of apes in the wild.

Garden Gnomes

Administrator — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 01:18:59 +0000

Yard gnomes are a very controversial garden accessory in the stylish garden-world. Yard gnomes have many benefits though. Some like them for their life-like appearance and others admire them for their jolly poses. Some people may even argue that these tiny, mystical creatures offer comfort and serve as companions to outdoor plants. Others despise yard gnomes for their �creepy-old-man� fa�ade. What is it about yard gnomes that make them so different and eccentric?
Some people enjoy sitting outdoors on the back patio with and\ iced-lemonade and conversing with their gnomes to get the 101 on the back-yard-scene. They can serve as useful devices in detecting unwanted predators of plants and possibly fish if there is a nearby pond. And if one lacks the faith in their gnome�s honesty, they can even use the hollow inside to disguise a camera, so burglars won�t notice and take the security tape. On top of all these useful qualities these characters posses, a lot of gnome owners find that they make a great ornament for their yard or garden. Some have been known to decorate even their entire house with them.
Some of the down sides to gnomes are that they don�t like cats. Cat-people tend to find that just a short time after their purchase of their new friend; they must put the poor thing up for adoption because Mr. Whiskers just couldn�t get along with it. Most breeds of dogs don�t seem to have this problem except for small breeds. Gnomes are not known for being violent but one cannot expect them all to be perfect.
In short I advise lonely garden owners everywhere that do not own cats or small dogs, to invest in a garden gnome.

Haitian Street Kids

Administrator — Mon, 03 Oct 2005 00:55:19 +0000

The situation in Haiti is very tragic and desperate. Most people know about Haiti�s condition and the condition of its inhabitants, but a lot of people do not realize how bad it really is. Haiti is full of abandoned children that are either being sold as child slaves, or are living on the street worrying about whether or not they’re going to eat that day. The state of the Haitian�s environment is very disconcerting but what�s even more upsetting is that Haiti is in America�s �backyard� and we�re doing hardly anything to help them.
Currently the U.S. is occupied in Iraq, apparently concerned about spreading democracy but there are people dying on a daily basis, not due to war, but do to poverty and hunger. What�s worse is that the Haitian police are actually murdering citizens, and these are not only adults they�re killing, its abandoned babies as well. I find it absolutely mind-boggling that America is a country that will spend massive sums of money to have our men die and kill others while we could be spending taxes and such on saving lives.
There is a website to go to if anyone is interested in taking a look at this extremely unfortunate situation. It�s HaitionStreetKids.com, and they have videos, personal stories, photos and a place to donate money. Also, there will be a bake sale this Tuesday and all of the proceeds will go to Haiti to benefit orphans

Classic Noir

Administrator — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 01:47:45 +0000

“On the Water Front” with Marlon Brando is a film back from the 1930s when hard times were at a peak. He was a dock worker in New Jersey and a mysterious murder takes place. The man behind the murder is the Union Boss and seems too powerful to take down, so no one does anything about it. The sister of the man who was murdered is desperate to find the killer and bring him to justice. Brando falls in love with the girl and decides to take a stand; this brave action seriously threatens his life in a time of gangsters and poverty. The film is in black and white which is very appropriate, like all classic noir films. The director Elia Kazan uses this to create dreary imagery to capture the dead worker’s family�s situation. The shadows in dark alleys, the black cars, the cold weather; it all symbolizes and demonstrates a poor society run by criminals. This grave setting creates a buildup of suspense as the situation becomes more and more treacherous. Kazan�s goal with this film seemed to be that he wanted to create a dramatically realistic version of what unions were like in the 30s and grasp the atmosphere of the depression. He was a very controversial director of his time and this movie was controversial as well, due to the content. In the end, Brando was beaten up severely by the boss�s hit men, but the other dock workers �saw the light� and the boss was overthrown. This movie falls into the classic noir category because of the dark content, scenery, plot and setting that were all a real issue back in that time period.

How Bad Coke Really is

Administrator — Fri, 23 Sep 2005 18:56:12 +0000

A few years ago a very intelligent man said that one should never drink the all-too-well-known soft drink Coke. He said that there was not much out there that was worse for someone’s stomach and intestines than Coke. I personally, found this hard to believe because there are so many people in the entire world that consume liters of this drink daily. No one’s ever said anything bad about it other than it’s bad for bones and teeth. Obviously the carbonation in sodas is bad for the body and naturally any soft drink is going to be less healthy than apple juice or water, but why would Coke be any worse? Well, eventually I casually mentioned this topic at the dinner table with my mom and my step-dad, Mike. Mike told me that he actually had worked in a Coke factory when he was younger and knew exactly why this intelligent individual had made this comment. Mike informed me that the factory kept the cola in these giant vats that were almost stories tall. Every year they had to replace these vats, or at least the bottoms depending on how bad they got, because the Coke was so acidic, it literally ate right through the bottom. He said that sometimes it would only be a matter of months before they had to be replaced. Also, this might not be as reliable as the other evidence, but someone I know has had 4 heart attacks and drinks no less than 6 cokes a day. Coincidence??