Elevators - Out BEFORE In

Nothing earth shattering here. I spent several trips on an elevator today and just for the sake of my sanity, would someone please start teaching people that you let people get OFF the elevator first, and then you can get ON.

Why is it so hard to understand this?

An Honest Actor!

I think I'm going to go see or rewatch all of John Rhys-Davies movies just because of him being so honest and not full of crap like so many other actors and actresses.

Check out this article at 1up.com.

Just a smidgen of a quote from 1up.com about the Dungeon Siege movie and why he's in it:

"I'll be honest with you. The builders have not finished my house and I was going mad and I thought, this could be fun," the actor said. "'Who else is in it? Burt's in it? Oh, I'm on."

Can you be more honest?

(ok, so maybe I won't watch them all, dang he's made a lot of movies...)

Thou shalt not bear false witness

I'm going to talk about politics but only in a round about way. I usually avoid it since I pretty much hate politics and I've never been a very good debater either. Recognizing ones limitations and not venturing beyond them is a good thing usually. In this case, I'll make an exception.

I'm constantly getting bombarded by acquaintances with emails related to the election stating how one candidate or the other is the devil and can't be trusted. Probably they all can't be trusted but when there is so much accurate and available information about the candidates that can easily condemn them on one position or another, why do people think it is necessary to spread the WRONG information or out and out lies about people to make their point.

The latest one I received is one regarding Obama and how he can't be trusted and is going to ruin the US if elected BECAUSE (and this is important) he is a radical muslim hiding in christian clothing and he won't say the pledge of allegiance and, in so many words, he's a terrorist in disguise. What the heck? Almost any reasonable search for information regarding Obama will tell you a great deal of what is stated in the email is false. The worst part is that typically, I receive these emails from my fellow Christian brother or sister and this one was no exception. Thus the title of this entry in my blog.

Of course, I "reply all" with only one link with information refuting the statements and I'm instantly an Obama lover and an atheist and I'm out to ruin the country. It really doesn't matter that the original email was mostly false and contributing to some sort of mass hysteria and paranoia about muslims. Never is there, "Oh sorry, I didn't realize that was wrong."

I'm not sure who I'm voting for yet and since the election isn't today, I don't care to make up my mind just yet. I happen to think Obama is a bit middle of the road and wants to be liked by everyone (who doesn't) just a bit too much. I wasn't taking a stand for or against Obama, just defending the truth. Had it been a "Don't drink Coke because it's Draino disguised as a soft drink" I would have replied just the same if the information was not true. I really can't stand the forwarding of these emails without fact checking first. That is all. Nothing more to it.

My rant here and my replies to these emails will surely not stop the delivery of these untruths in the future but what would blogs be if we didn't have them to vent our frustrations. I'm only human and I'm certainly not perfect but if we thought for a moment and really did pay attention to those simple commandments God gave us of which the title is one of them, we'd all be a lot better off. At the very least, the atheists of the world would at least not be able to constantly refer to us Christians as the hypocrites we so often are.

So come on people, stop the lies. And if you can't, please don't send them to me!

Richard Pryor was a Genius

OK, it wasn't exactly Richard Pryor but the character he played in Superman 3 that was a genius.

For those of us that had the displeasure of actually watching Superman 3, you may recall Pryor's character makes a boat load of cash shaving a penny off from millions through, if I recall, rounding errors or something. Who would have guessed he'd predict the future of banking, cell phones, gasoline prices, electricity, and any number of other industries.

The banking and credit card industry is the best obviously, just look at all the fees they have and penalties you pay. Oh, and don't let a bill be late by a day or they'll wack you $30 or $40 bucks despite the fact that you actually mailed it in time or worse, paid it online before the due date but they choose not to debit it for 3 days.

Look at what happens when you cash or deposit an out of town check. The banks get to hold on to YOUR money for 5 days in many cases! That was understandable when your check had to be sent by plane from one place to the other to get the funds. That is ancient history now. When you deposit a check, it should be in your account immediately if not at least by the very next day.

I've decided that I'm going to open a chain of hotels and charge $19.99/day for the best rooms. Of course, I'll charge $5 per flush of the toilet, $50 to get a key, $25 to turn on the TV, and every flick of the light switch will be $10. Mixed in with all those extra taxes and fees they already charge, no one will ever notice.

I wish I'd paid more attention to Superman 3 when I first saw it. I'd have realized the wave of the future was charging pennies to millions instead of dollars to few. The one thing I couldn't have foreseen is that no one would have been able to do anything about it.