[Emailed to HelpMe@Phila.gov on 29 October 2008]
Dear Mayor Nutter,
I am quite sure you are as proud as any of us that our own Phillies have pulled off what we’ve all thought to be the impossible. The curse is lifted! While this may sound a bit loony, I can’t help but think of how fun it would be to require a statue of Billy Penn on top of the city’s highest building. It would surely be an interesting tourist gimmick: a play on the athletic superstitions that surround any city.
Of course, I don’t see this as a requirement that every building in the city be fitted with a statue. Perhaps just a single statue that gets transferred to the new tallest building of the city. Or, owing to the city’s clear love of Ben Franklin – seeing as quite nearly everything bears his name – I can’t say I’d be terribly against a city chock full of William Penn statues along its skyline.
I know it may sound campy, but it’s my opinion that little cultural twists such as this are what make a city worth its name! Thank you for your time and congratulations to the city for this night’s historic achievement!
Andrew Bossi
[UPDATE 9 Feb 2009 - ...I never received a response]
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
THOUGHT - I am Joe the Plumber
Woman #1 - "I am Joe the Plumber."
Woman #2 - "I am Joe the Plumber."
Woman #3 - "I am Joe the Plumber."
Narrator - "John McCain supports identity theft, because sometimes don't you wish *you* were somebody else?"
Woman #2 - "I am Joe the Plumber."
Woman #3 - "I am Joe the Plumber."
Narrator - "John McCain supports identity theft, because sometimes don't you wish *you* were somebody else?"
THOUGHT - What's my age again?
The new Mastercard ad...
1st base - $58
2nd base - 670 pesos
3rd base - 650000 yen
Home ... priceless!
...If you don't get it, you're a good person.
1st base - $58
2nd base - 670 pesos
3rd base - 650000 yen
Home ... priceless!
...If you don't get it, you're a good person.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
POLITICS - The best in reality TV
I like this reality show called "the News". It's exciting to see each day's plot twists: what countries will ally, which will feud, which will bicker over who gets to use eachother's perfume or jockstrap or oil, which will sleep with the other's best friend, etc.
Recently there's been this spin-off show where they've been concentrating on this one country. Apparently their current leader can't remain leader... I don't quite get the rules, but that seems to be what's happening. There are these two people who I think are trying to become leader, but I can't seem to follow the plot very well.
I kind of miss the old shows before this spinoff plot; the old ones had a lot more action. These new shows could have so much more, except all they do is talk and talk and talk... but without any apparent plot, it doesn't really seem to make all that much sense. I think they need new writers?
They need to throw in a fist-fight or something... I mean, there seems to be all this tension between that token black guy and the white guy with big cheeks; I think they're just building up to the fisticuffs moment. I used to like that other guy that used to yell a lot, but in last week's episode they seemed to change his character.
Then there's Tina Fey's female character -- I think she's supposed to be one of the townspeople from Northern Exposure. I kind of like that character: she's funny in a ditzy sort of way & cute, but they keep talking about the moose and yet I never get to see it. The moose was my favorite part of that show.
Well I keep hoping this spin-off will get better, but personally I'm looking forward to when it goes back to its normal plot... it really left me at a cliffhanger with that one really big guy trying to teach the little guy how to fight, except the big guy was angry that the little guy wasn't any good at it -- so he beat up the little guy to try and teach him faster. The show kind of ended right after that... is that little guy OK??
Recently there's been this spin-off show where they've been concentrating on this one country. Apparently their current leader can't remain leader... I don't quite get the rules, but that seems to be what's happening. There are these two people who I think are trying to become leader, but I can't seem to follow the plot very well.
I kind of miss the old shows before this spinoff plot; the old ones had a lot more action. These new shows could have so much more, except all they do is talk and talk and talk... but without any apparent plot, it doesn't really seem to make all that much sense. I think they need new writers?
They need to throw in a fist-fight or something... I mean, there seems to be all this tension between that token black guy and the white guy with big cheeks; I think they're just building up to the fisticuffs moment. I used to like that other guy that used to yell a lot, but in last week's episode they seemed to change his character.
Then there's Tina Fey's female character -- I think she's supposed to be one of the townspeople from Northern Exposure. I kind of like that character: she's funny in a ditzy sort of way & cute, but they keep talking about the moose and yet I never get to see it. The moose was my favorite part of that show.
Well I keep hoping this spin-off will get better, but personally I'm looking forward to when it goes back to its normal plot... it really left me at a cliffhanger with that one really big guy trying to teach the little guy how to fight, except the big guy was angry that the little guy wasn't any good at it -- so he beat up the little guy to try and teach him faster. The show kind of ended right after that... is that little guy OK??
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
POLITICS - This is why I don't talk with this half of my family much...
I got this email forward from my Uncle on my Mom's side... alas, this is the typical type of email I get from that side of the family. Usually I just delete them or let my spam filter pick them up, but sometimes I'll decide to type out a long-winded response (some of which could fill several pages). First the email; then my response.
--------------------------
--------------------------
INCOMING EMAIL
--------------------------
This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?
Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.
All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!'
According to The Book of Revelations The anti-Christ will
be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with
persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says
that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace,
and when he is in power, will destroy everything..
Do we recognize this description??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times as
you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it!
I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.
From: Dr. John Tisdale
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama
made the statement with pride. . .'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a
nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . .' As with so many other statements
I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something
like that from a presidential candidate in this nation. To think our forefathers fought and died
for the right for our nation to be a Christian nation--and to have this man say with pride
that we are no longe r that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers
intended it to be.
I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now--send your concerns, written simply
and sincerely, to the Christians on your email list. With God's help, and He is still in
control of this nation and all else, we can show this man and the world in November
that we are, indeed, still a Christian nation!
Please pray for our nation!
--------------------------
MY RESPONSE
--------------------------
It has been a long time since I bothered to respond back to one of these forwards (or indeed, to even read one), but here we go. I'm not sure who else got this email (I actually typed it thinking I clicked on "Reply to All", only to find it doesn't exist!), so feel free to forward it on.
Let's start at the beginning... well, that is to say the beginning of the email, but the end of the Book.
Revelations 13:5 does indeed say 42 months. However, the Presidency is 4 years -- using the rough training in mathematics that us engineers tend to get, that comes out to about 48 months. Factor in lame duck periods, and maybe one could argue 50 or 52 months. As best I can tell, of the three numbers 48, 50, and 52... none of those are equal to 42.
Humans are naturals at perceiving patterns in things: one can draw connections between any set of numbers (or indeed any set of data). For example, John McCain is 72 years old. 6 years ago he was 66. So... 666? That number appears quite clearly in Revelations 13:18.
Personally, if we were to peg 42 as an evil number, then I would set my sights on another man who has Christ-like appeal, used deceptive language, and proclaimed that number to be "the answer to life, the universe, and everything." Clearly such a declaration creates an icon of this number 42 and is nothing but blasphemy! I've always said that we should have burned Douglas Adams at the stake back when we had the chance.
Next line, which pegs "Lord, have mercy on us!" with the American Presidency. All I can think of is how often we've all thought that every election year, for every President, and we still think it the following year... and the following year... and again right up until the next election. People are never happy with the status quo, but we're always afraid of change.
And now we get into the fun part. "According to the book of Revelations..." ... if you're going to reference a source, it is common academic practice to cite where, specifically, the information is coming from. Where in the Book of Revelations, exactly? Give the world a trail to follow your facts. Such a trail would be particularly relevant when one considers that the Book of Revelations was written in the 1st century, A.D. Muhammad didn't come about until about 600 years later. So... Muslims didn't even exist yet. How can the book define someone descended from Muslims when they didn't even exist yet? The terminology simply wasn't there.
Furthermore, the clear target of this email is to deride Mr. Barack Obama. So be it, political and religious debate is welcome in our free society. However, to help clarify some facts: Mr. Obama is of white American as well as Kenyan descent. Sure he is Muslim, but you don't inherit religion (unless you're Jewish, perhaps). Kenyans are also vastly different from Arabs, Moors, Turks, or whatever else these racist propagandists would want to target.
If you want to be racist, that's your right: but at least know who you're racist against. When someone called me a "WOP" and I responded back if he knew what that meant, all I could do was laugh when he had no idea. So if you're going to deride Mr. Obama based on his ethnicity, then make it clear that you don't like black people. Be sure to yell that loud and clear. Oh, and by the way: according to the State of Maryland, I am Latino. So if anyone has something against my Latin brethren, do be sure to let me know (but in English please, my Spanish isn't very good).
I'll keep this email rather short and wrap it up with a thought. If you ask me, to believe in God may not necessarily mean you believe in Satan; but to believe in Satan certainly means you believe in God. And in that same vein: all good Christians whom pine for our Messiah to bestow upon us the Kingdom of Heaven should actually support the Anti-Christ. That would support the Book of Revelations and help further its prophecy. Face it: you can't have Heaven if you don't first go through Hell.
And now to set aside the religious end of things and focus on politics... there's only one pair of candidates in this election who is willing to keep our transportation infrastructure alive and functioning, which is the only way to guarantee a sustainable economy that can compete on an international level. One even happens to ride Amtrak every day to work. So for you folks that ride those trains up to Boston everyday... maybe give that a thought. They've got my vote.
Cheers from DC, where the politics comes from.
--------------------------
MY FOLLOW-UP RESPONSE (sent soon after the previous response)
--------------------------
I take that back, my research missed one critical point: Mr. Obama is Christian, not Muslim.
--------------------------
This will make you re-think: A Trivia question in Sunday School:
How long is the beast allowed to have authority in Revelations?
Revelations Chapter 13 tells us it is 42 months, and you know what that is.
Almost a four-year term of a Presidency.
All I can say is 'Lord, Have mercy on us!'
According to The Book of Revelations The anti-Christ will
be a man, in his 40's, of MUSLIM descent, who will deceive the nations with
persuasive language, and have a MASSIVE Christ-like appeal....the prophecy says
that people will flock to him and he will promise false hope and world peace,
and when he is in power, will destroy everything..
Do we recognize this description??
I STRONGLY URGE each one of you to post this as many times as
you can! Each opportunity that you have to send it to a friend or media outlet..do it!
I refuse to take a chance on this unknown candidate who came out of nowhere.
From: Dr. John Tisdale
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friends,
As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama
made the statement with pride. . .'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a
nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . .' As with so many other statements
I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something
like that from a presidential candidate in this nation. To think our forefathers fought and died
for the right for our nation to be a Christian nation--and to have this man say with pride
that we are no longe r that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers
intended it to be.
I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now--send your concerns, written simply
and sincerely, to the Christians on your email list. With God's help, and He is still in
control of this nation and all else, we can show this man and the world in November
that we are, indeed, still a Christian nation!
Please pray for our nation!
--------------------------
MY RESPONSE
--------------------------
It has been a long time since I bothered to respond back to one of these forwards (or indeed, to even read one), but here we go. I'm not sure who else got this email (I actually typed it thinking I clicked on "Reply to All", only to find it doesn't exist!), so feel free to forward it on.
Let's start at the beginning... well, that is to say the beginning of the email, but the end of the Book.
Revelations 13:5 does indeed say 42 months. However, the Presidency is 4 years -- using the rough training in mathematics that us engineers tend to get, that comes out to about 48 months. Factor in lame duck periods, and maybe one could argue 50 or 52 months. As best I can tell, of the three numbers 48, 50, and 52... none of those are equal to 42.
Humans are naturals at perceiving patterns in things: one can draw connections between any set of numbers (or indeed any set of data). For example, John McCain is 72 years old. 6 years ago he was 66. So... 666? That number appears quite clearly in Revelations 13:18.
Personally, if we were to peg 42 as an evil number, then I would set my sights on another man who has Christ-like appeal, used deceptive language, and proclaimed that number to be "the answer to life, the universe, and everything." Clearly such a declaration creates an icon of this number 42 and is nothing but blasphemy! I've always said that we should have burned Douglas Adams at the stake back when we had the chance.
Next line, which pegs "Lord, have mercy on us!" with the American Presidency. All I can think of is how often we've all thought that every election year, for every President, and we still think it the following year... and the following year... and again right up until the next election. People are never happy with the status quo, but we're always afraid of change.
And now we get into the fun part. "According to the book of Revelations..." ... if you're going to reference a source, it is common academic practice to cite where, specifically, the information is coming from. Where in the Book of Revelations, exactly? Give the world a trail to follow your facts. Such a trail would be particularly relevant when one considers that the Book of Revelations was written in the 1st century, A.D. Muhammad didn't come about until about 600 years later. So... Muslims didn't even exist yet. How can the book define someone descended from Muslims when they didn't even exist yet? The terminology simply wasn't there.
Furthermore, the clear target of this email is to deride Mr. Barack Obama. So be it, political and religious debate is welcome in our free society. However, to help clarify some facts: Mr. Obama is of white American as well as Kenyan descent. Sure he is Muslim, but you don't inherit religion (unless you're Jewish, perhaps). Kenyans are also vastly different from Arabs, Moors, Turks, or whatever else these racist propagandists would want to target.
If you want to be racist, that's your right: but at least know who you're racist against. When someone called me a "WOP" and I responded back if he knew what that meant, all I could do was laugh when he had no idea. So if you're going to deride Mr. Obama based on his ethnicity, then make it clear that you don't like black people. Be sure to yell that loud and clear. Oh, and by the way: according to the State of Maryland, I am Latino. So if anyone has something against my Latin brethren, do be sure to let me know (but in English please, my Spanish isn't very good).
I'll keep this email rather short and wrap it up with a thought. If you ask me, to believe in God may not necessarily mean you believe in Satan; but to believe in Satan certainly means you believe in God. And in that same vein: all good Christians whom pine for our Messiah to bestow upon us the Kingdom of Heaven should actually support the Anti-Christ. That would support the Book of Revelations and help further its prophecy. Face it: you can't have Heaven if you don't first go through Hell.
And now to set aside the religious end of things and focus on politics... there's only one pair of candidates in this election who is willing to keep our transportation infrastructure alive and functioning, which is the only way to guarantee a sustainable economy that can compete on an international level. One even happens to ride Amtrak every day to work. So for you folks that ride those trains up to Boston everyday... maybe give that a thought. They've got my vote.
Cheers from DC, where the politics comes from.
--------------------------
MY FOLLOW-UP RESPONSE (sent soon after the previous response)
--------------------------
I take that back, my research missed one critical point: Mr. Obama is Christian, not Muslim.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
UA - Kyiv
We're riding back to Kyiv from Crimea, and all I can say is: what a cold night! I suppose this could be a welcome change from the hot nights we’d had on the previous train rides, but my sheet and blanket just weren’t cutting it. After waking several times and reforming myself into the fetal position for warmth, I finally gave in at about 7 am or so and got my towel out of my backpack. The extra blanket power of my towel was all I needed: now my body was keeping near the warmth it was working so hard to create.
I’d also put my shorts back on, and then gone on to add the pantlegs onto my shorts, put my shirt on, and put on socks. That should give you an idea of how cold I was. I think anyone who knows me is well aware that I produce heat in abundance, and if you’ve ever shared a bed with me: you know that it’s like having a space heater laying beside you. So when I’m cold: it’s cold. And furthermore, I can sleep with shorts and maybe pajama pants on, but that’s solely as a social courtesy and I’m certainly not comfortable doing so. It’s boxers and that’s it. So when I put on shorts and my pantlegs, that means I’m cold. I never wear a shirt to sleep, so when I put on my shirt, it’s really cold. And lastly, I don’t even wear socks during the daytime when I’m cold because my feet just simply don’t get cold… so when I put on socks, it's really really cold. That’s how cold it was, but now, fully dressed and with a towel as an extra blanket, I was warm. Always bring a towel.
This all made it particularly difficult when, at about 11 am, I was faced with the dilemma of having to go to the bathroom. As it so often does, the Simpsons once again serves up a perfect example of this dilemma. Basically, here I am wrapped up in this cocoon of warm happiness, but there’s this need to go to the bathroom. So unless you want to wet the bed or pee on the floor – both of which are not exactly socially accepted – you have no choice but to get up and go. However, in those first couple minutes you’re awake, one always feels like maybe… just maybe… this time you’ll stumble upon the perfect solution where you can go to the bathroom and not have to get up and stay perfectly warm. So I eventually relented and got myself up. At least by this time, the sun had warmed things up to a more bearable level.
Svitlana awoke right about the same time and we both ordered tea (I proudly took the lead and ordered it for the both of us, in Russian). As the tea arrived, Anastasia also woke up and got some coffee for herself. We gorged on our groceries and then sat about for the remainder of the trip. Along the way, the train traveled through sun, clouds, rain, lots of rain, sun again, and so on. I half expected to pass through a snowstorm at some point.
After having left at nearly 11pm the previous night, we arrived in Kyiv at nearly 7pm. We immediately returned to Svitlana’s new apartment so Anastasia could get her things and so we could sit down and have a farewell snack. The three of us then returned to the train station to see Anastasia off – another night and day awaited her on her train ride from Kyiv to Moscow.
Svitlana and I returned back to her apartment, where I tried not to bother her too much because by that point it was about 11pm and we had to catch a taxi for Bosipol Airport at 4am. Whereas I can sleep in a plane tomorrow, she starts classes tomorrow and actually needs any sleep she can muster. Therefore, I am pulling an all-nighter – partly so I can pack without rush, partly so I can stitch photos, partly so I can write in this journal (notice I just changed from past tense to present tense… I’m finally caught up!), and partly due to a lack of beds. Granted, a bed has since become available, but I figure I’ll end the trip the way I began it: wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule before jetlag gets a chance.
I’d also put my shorts back on, and then gone on to add the pantlegs onto my shorts, put my shirt on, and put on socks. That should give you an idea of how cold I was. I think anyone who knows me is well aware that I produce heat in abundance, and if you’ve ever shared a bed with me: you know that it’s like having a space heater laying beside you. So when I’m cold: it’s cold. And furthermore, I can sleep with shorts and maybe pajama pants on, but that’s solely as a social courtesy and I’m certainly not comfortable doing so. It’s boxers and that’s it. So when I put on shorts and my pantlegs, that means I’m cold. I never wear a shirt to sleep, so when I put on my shirt, it’s really cold. And lastly, I don’t even wear socks during the daytime when I’m cold because my feet just simply don’t get cold… so when I put on socks, it's really really cold. That’s how cold it was, but now, fully dressed and with a towel as an extra blanket, I was warm. Always bring a towel.
This all made it particularly difficult when, at about 11 am, I was faced with the dilemma of having to go to the bathroom. As it so often does, the Simpsons once again serves up a perfect example of this dilemma. Basically, here I am wrapped up in this cocoon of warm happiness, but there’s this need to go to the bathroom. So unless you want to wet the bed or pee on the floor – both of which are not exactly socially accepted – you have no choice but to get up and go. However, in those first couple minutes you’re awake, one always feels like maybe… just maybe… this time you’ll stumble upon the perfect solution where you can go to the bathroom and not have to get up and stay perfectly warm. So I eventually relented and got myself up. At least by this time, the sun had warmed things up to a more bearable level.
Svitlana awoke right about the same time and we both ordered tea (I proudly took the lead and ordered it for the both of us, in Russian). As the tea arrived, Anastasia also woke up and got some coffee for herself. We gorged on our groceries and then sat about for the remainder of the trip. Along the way, the train traveled through sun, clouds, rain, lots of rain, sun again, and so on. I half expected to pass through a snowstorm at some point.
After having left at nearly 11pm the previous night, we arrived in Kyiv at nearly 7pm. We immediately returned to Svitlana’s new apartment so Anastasia could get her things and so we could sit down and have a farewell snack. The three of us then returned to the train station to see Anastasia off – another night and day awaited her on her train ride from Kyiv to Moscow.
Svitlana and I returned back to her apartment, where I tried not to bother her too much because by that point it was about 11pm and we had to catch a taxi for Bosipol Airport at 4am. Whereas I can sleep in a plane tomorrow, she starts classes tomorrow and actually needs any sleep she can muster. Therefore, I am pulling an all-nighter – partly so I can pack without rush, partly so I can stitch photos, partly so I can write in this journal (notice I just changed from past tense to present tense… I’m finally caught up!), and partly due to a lack of beds. Granted, a bed has since become available, but I figure I’ll end the trip the way I began it: wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule before jetlag gets a chance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)