Show Of Strength

One of the oldest strength competitions in the world is the Tug-Of-War. It is often used these daze as a metaphor phor a battle between two opposing groups of people. As a serious sporting event, it has probably been around since the invention of rope. This 1888 Harvard Tug-O-War team is shown practicing their art, which was actually an Olympic event back in the early 1900's. Most male tug-o-warriors do admit that the main reason for engaging in this archaic activity is to woo women.

Read It Yourself

President Obama is quite good at reading his speeches off of his teleprompters. The way he smoothly looks back and forth from teleprompter to teleprompter can be quite mesmerizing. Idea: Why not free him up to do more important things (like play basketball) and let us read the speeches directly? Simply turn the cameras to the teleprompter and let it roll. If you would like to practice, go to cueprompter.com. Here you can copy and paste any script that you want to read off of a real teleprompter, and then simply press START PROMPTER! You will have the option of white text with black background or black text with white background. There are variable speed settings from 1-9. You can also control the size of the text, and have normal text or reverse image. Now you can read presidential speeches off of a teleprompter just like a real president!

Discovery Problems Discovered

The NASA space shuttle Discovery sits upon its launch pad waiting for countdown to begin. Unfortunately, Discovery is currently powered down due to problems discovered involving the external fuel tanks. Discovery is suffering from external tank bracket crackage. The earliest possible date for blast-off is December 17, but more engineering evaluations, tests, and repairs are needed. Some casual observers are also commenting that the shuttle seems to be leaning a bit to the left (possibly to reflect the inclinations of the Obama administration).

Time Clock

The clock thought now what rhymes with time,
At the top of the hour it began to chime,
Time was pondering what rhymes with clock,
As seconds went by tick tock tick tock.

Caption Contest

It is time once again for another Caption Contest! Take a minute to comment a caption for this picture. Deadline for captions: 1 hour before the end of the world.

Contrary Contrail

This was the sunset scene in southern California this last Monday. Does this look like the vapor trail of an airplane to you, or perhaps does it more resemble a high-altitude rocket launch?

It gives me no comfort to hear that the Department of Defense either doesn't know what it was, or is playing it off as the vapor contrail of an aircraft taking off. If "they" supposedly don't know what it was, then how do they know that "there was no threat to the U.S. homeland"? The possible explanations given by "Defense Experts" are quite amusing. After saying that it is clearly an airplane contrail, they explain that it is just an optical illusion, that only appears like it is going "up". Whereas in reality, the airplane vapor trail is actually level, and traveling toward the camera. How stupid do "they" think "we" are? Everyone (in reality) that saw it said that it looked like a rocket launch. What do you think?

Coffee Break

From Amsterdam to Zimbabwe, this ubiquitous drink has delivered the power of caffeine to the world since it was legalized. The business community has been fueled by coffee breaks, going back to the 1950s. Most would agree that the benefits of drinking coffee outweigh any negative side effects. On the positive side: more energy, decreased hunger, less tired, flushing of the skin (see picture). Possible negatives: anxiety, confusion, irritability, insomnia. One cup of coffee provides about 100 mg of caffeine, which allow me to create early morning blog posts such as this one.

Halloween Persona

Considering my Halloween costume options for this year, I first thought to be: Spider Man. But then started to go more with simply a: Spider. Let us shorten that further to just be a: Spy. Why not get down to basics and go as an: S. Perhaps drop the S and just be: Invisible Man. But since there are so many of those, I decided to go as who I really am: Spider Man.

Safety Is Priceless

President Obama and his wife will be visiting Mumbai, India for two days after the mid-term elections. Mumbai (Bombay) is the second most populous city in the world, after Shanghai. To ensure a safe visit, all 570 rooms at the Taj Mahal Hotel have been reserved, along with all the banquet rooms and restaurants. Additionally, 125 rooms at the Taj President, and 80-90 rooms at each of the Grand Hyatt and The Oberoi have been reserved. Air Force One will be accompanied by two jumbo jets and a flock of security jets. There will be 45 cars in the Presidential Convoy. US naval ships will be patrolling at sea. His personal Presidential Chefs will be brought along to prepare their food. All this for a two day visit to India. What's the price tag going to be for this visit? Wouldn't it be a lot easier just to make a phone call?

Get It Done

Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it. --Gandhi

Moments In History

Featured in this "Moments In History" is Barney Frank (D-MA). Mr. Frank is one of the smartest and most powerful members of the Democratic Party in the U.S. House of Representatives. Recently asked about his support for Obamacare, he adroitly responded to the woman's question by cleverly answering a question with a question: "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" His ability to non-answer questions has served him well, while he's served the people of Massachusetts since 1981. In 1987, he made a surprise announcement that he was left-handed. In spite of this, he has been re-elected by wide margins ever since that personal disclosure. In this particular photograph, he is shown using his right hand, while calling Freddie Mac for a date.

Sky High

Space isn't remote at all.
It's only an hour's drive away
if your car could go straight upwards.
--Fred Hoyle

Coach Vikings

After the Vikings lost to the New Orleans Saints by a score of 14-9 during their season opener, the Miles Brothers Corp had a chance to ask Coach Childress a few questions:

MBC: What was your strategery going into the game?

Coach: Our plan was taken from one of my favorite American thinkers, Stephen Wright: The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

MBC: What did you tell the team at half time?

Coach: "I thought we hung in there in the first half and told the guys at halftime it was just about if you had to draw it up you would hold the ball for 17-minutes in the first half."**

MBC: Were there any major problems during the game that you're going to work on?

Coach: I was having some trouble with my headphones, trying to get them to fit my head properly, which really caused some problems during the game.

MBC: Do you think you will be going to the Super Bowl this year?

Coach: My wife is trying to get us tickets, but if we don't get any, we'll probably just watch the game in our basement.

** After the game, all of the Vikings players admitted that none of them understood anything that Coach Brad Childress was saying to them during half time. {read actual interview}

Best of the Worst

Why is President Obama's general approval of 42% lower than the 45% who strongly disapprove? It's probably a combination of numerous reasons, all of which are getting stronger. It seems the more the economy struggles, the more Barry goes on vacation to golf. Perhaps people are getting tired of being ridiculed for simply questioning why all his personal records have been locked down. If you don't have anything to hide, why all the secrecy about your life's path to the Whitehouse? Perhaps a generally conservative nation is tired of a liberal administration trying to ram through an ultra-liberal agenda, and it always must be done as quickly as possible. Perhaps it comes down to a simple matter of trust and respect.

Never Too Late

It is never too late to become what you might have been.
--George Eliot