Water Conservation in the Shower

I do not understand this.

I just saw a commercial that said (this is not word for word) if everyone showered for two hours less a day, we would be able to fill the Great Lakes.

That sounds nice and everything, but the last time I checked the water that I used in the shower did not disappear after using. It was not wasted. It actually goes from my shower and back out into the ground outside my house. The only thing I am wasting is the energy that it took to pump the water and warm it for my shower.

Does your shower water disappear after using it? Maybe my experience is abnormal. Maybe we could save a lot of water by not showering as much. I bet that is why this area has a lot more water than other areas (lakes and such). We have the Amish, and they do not waste the water by taking daily showers.

Stop the Video News on the Internet - Or at least keep me safe from it

This is my dream. An internet that is text based in which I can skim information quickly, get what I want, and move on. But that is not the case.

One of the featured stories at Yahoo today was a story on a Cheerleader's death (don't click - it's video). I clicked on the story with the expectation to read and find out how a cheerleader died, only to find out that it was a video story. Nothing warned me it was going to be video. Now I still wonder how the cheerleader died because I would rather waste my time typing a post complaining about video on the internet than actually wasting my time watching a news story.

I am so sick of my news being read to me by some botoxed talking face. Give me text please. Written words never go out of style. They are still the quickest way to digest the news. I can get more news in five minutes on the internet than a half hour of news from one of the major networks or a full day on one of those 24-hour news channels.

Side rant - Those 24-hour news channels just repeat themselves over and over. It is so irritating. They also like to waste their time covering storms. Storm news is the stupidest journalistic (if you can even call it that) invention. It's almost as frustrating to me as video on the internet. I have quit watching those dumb channels.

Back to the regularly scheduled rant - Let us have a clear wall built in which video internet fans do not have to risk encountering the written word, and written word fans do not have to risk encountering video. If some portal like Yahoo said they were going to have a video-free environment, I would sign up today and leave my Yahoo mail. (Although I really do like their financial section, but I do not run across videos there. CNN's website has a video playing when you load their financial page. I need to quit visiting there. I think I will stop going their today like I stopped watching the ABC evening news after that wrestling match they hosted last week.)

The Debate Revisited - Guilt By Association - The Sean Hannity Gospel

It is nice to see that the media actually agrees with my gut reaction on the debate. But it also scares me that the media agrees with me. What have I become?

The main issue that still frustrates me with the debate is the idea that we are guilty by association. Sean Hannity expresses the same thought on his radio show daily. Yesterday, he asked a person if they found out that a friend was a member of the KKK, would they disassociate with them. The obvious answer which the caller shared was, "Yes, I would disassociate with a member of the KKK."

I think the obvious answer is wrong. How in the world can we transform the world if we do not associate with the world? The Sean Hannity Gospel would condemn Jesus himself (I think I will send him an email regarding this - I'll let you know how it goes). Jesus interacted with prostitutes, tax collectors (very shady people in his day - maybe also in our day), and other sinners.

I can spend time with a homosexual and not become homosexual. Homosexuality is not a disease that can spread just from shaking hands. I can serve on the board of a company with a fellow terrorist and not be a terrorist. How close are "board relationships" anyway? I can talk with a Muslim and refuse to proclaim allegiance to Allah. I can listen to a sermon where I do not agree with the preacher and still hold to my own convictions.

Washington needs a person who is willing to communicate with people of opposing viewpoints. What a breath of fresh air that would be. George W. promised this new way of politics, but kept that promise as well as his father kept his "No new taxes" pledge. In the end, we can only reflect the light of the world to the world if we communicate with lovingly interact with the world.

I can see bad associations being a problem if the people that are evil were in Obama's inner circle (the couple people he hangs out with if he has the free time), but I have heard no evidence of that. The closest would be his pastor, but in a church that large it would be rare for an individual to have the pastor in his inner circle. (I personally go to a church that I do not agree with a major issue on, yet do not leave over it because I love the people in the church.) Obama obviously appreciates Reverend Wright for the role he played in bringing him to Jesus. I cannot hold that against the man. I have an appreciation in my heart for the people that brought me to Jesus.

***

On a final and nearly unrelated note, Alan Keyes left the Republican party and is now running for President as a member of the Constitution party. There is now another candidate that I will vote for before I vote for John McCain. I do wonder about the picture at the top of his webpage. Does it look like he just finished twelve rounds in a boxing match or is it just my crazy computer?

Apple's Advertising Frustrates Me - The Apple/Microsoft Commercials

I must say that the commercials for MacBook Air are pretty impressive. I love the music. I was completely impressed the first time I saw that commerical. When I see it air, I am almost ready to go out and by the cool, thin computer. It would be nice to not have to lug my thick laptop around. (My dad had a portable Compaq computer in the 1980s. The thing was as big as a large suitcase and weighed twice as much. I remember taking it on vacation with us to Florida. I have fond memories with that giant piece of luggage.)

Then I see the other Apple commercials - the elitist ones with the chubby "Microsoft" guy and the "Hip and Trendy" Apple guy.

This is pretty irrelevant to the discussion but most of the Apple guys I have encountered look like the Microsoft guy. Then again most Americans look like the Microsoft guy.

What frustrates me is the commercial is completely trying to make people switch by just making Apple look cooler. I fear for our society if it is filled with people who buy goods just to be cooler. Most commercials try to hide this appeal to our baser instinct, but not the Apple commercial. They go right for it.

So I am left with the decision. I can stick with Microsoft who does all that I want a computer to do and remain "chubby" or I can switch to Apple, which would do most of what I want a computer to do except play some of the games I like to play, and be "hip and trendy".

Who do you want to be? The "Hip and Trendy" Apple guy or the dumb, chubby "Microsoft" guy?

***

One of the workers at Clem's is a die-hard Apple fan. I shared with him my frustrations concerning their "elitist" commercial campaign, and he shared how Microsoft makes you buy a word processor and Apple does not. That is true. I checked then at what hardware (memory, processor, etc.) I would get if I ordered an Apple. For pretty much the same equipment, you pay about $300 more for an Apple. So for $300 more, you get a "free" word processor. I love "free" word processors.

He did point out something that is appealing to me. With an Apple, there is no compatibility issues with programs from the 80s. That is appealing to me because I some times like to play old games.

When it is all said and done, I must admit that I am always looking for a deal. I am not the "chubby" guy (although I am on the way there). I am not "hip and trendy" in the least bit. I am frugal. Anyway, I do not buy an Apple because it does not play all the games I want to play and it costs more.

The Mormon Polygamist Sect, Mothers, and the Government

Why is the government keeping the children away from their mothers? It seems like the mothers should have access to the children. Arrest the men if that must be done (especailly arrest the men who were sleeping with minors), but let the mothers have their children back. If anyone knows of any way that a person in Ohio can actually help the mothers get their children back, please let me know. My internet searches have been fruitless on the subject, and I really do feel that the mothers should have their children back.

Why does our society view polygamy as inherently evil when a non-married polygamist lifestyle is exalted in our society? A single person can sleep around and it is fine. (I am not arguing for polygamy, but I really cannot see how our society can be so adamantly against it when they no longer enforce adultery laws or have laws against promiscuity and orgies.)

I saw one of those television news shows where they pretty much exalted the polygamist lifestyle of some liberal New Yorker who had two girlfriends or one wife and a girlfriend living with him. It's been a while so the exact details elude me, but they did exalt the lifestyle. But when the polygamy comes from religion rather than liberalism, it is wrong? We allow a state to crack down on the polygamists, confiscate the children, and imprison the rest?

Somebody help us.

The Debate is Insane

I am listening to the Obama-Clinton debate.

I cannot believe that they (Gibson, Stephanopolus, and Clinton) are trying to make the stance that a person cannot associate with "bad" people. What in the world?

And it also frustrates me that they have yet to ask a question about a serious issue in 46 minutes.