Month: July 2009

An Update For My Loyal Readers

Greetings readers, however many of you there actually are.

 

I wanted to post a small update about happenings here at The Manofesto. I haven’t written anything in a few weeks and thought it best to make my presence known.

 

I’m still here. However, occasionally I run into something that’s not quite writer’s block, not quite apathy, not quite laziness…..it’s kind of a hybrid cousin of those elements. I need to come up with a unique label for it (suggestions??). Whatever it is, I suffer from it occasionally. There’s really no logical explanation. My job isn’t all that energy consuming, and to be honest on slow days there I have time to write a little. Life outside the realm of work hasn’t suddenly gotten exciting, just the usual church activities and such. Sometimes the mood to write just doesn’t hit me for a few weeks.

 

There are some things in the pipeline, stuff that I’ve been working on but have not felt inspired to dive into head first. The 100 Favorite Movies series will continue. The Bookshelf is going to get some much deserved love soon, that’s a promise. Speaking of love, it will be the first of the Fruits of the Spirit that we examine more closely. I’ve also got in the back of my mind a thorough assessment of The Sermon On the Mount. Football season, both college and pro, will be upon us soon (never soon enough), so we’ll do a little something with that. So I’m not out of ideas by any stretch of the imagination, my brain just seems to be on hiatus. Maybe our brains become conditioned through 12 years of public school to kind of lay low during the summer?? I don’t know, but it’s an interesting thought.

 

At any rate, keep those comments coming, and if by chance you are new to The Manofesto take advantage of my malaise by getting caught up on what you’ve missed. As The Governator so famously said all those years ago…”I’ll be back”.

Random Thoughts 10

I seriously doubt if I will ever get into Twitter…..but never say never.

 

A study has found that individuals “with unpopular names are more likely to engage in criminal activity”. Oddball names are “connected to factors that increase the tendency to commit crime, such as a disadvantaged home environment, residence in a county with low socioeconomic status, and households run by one parent.” The study goes on to say that “adolescents with unpopular names may be more prone to crime because they are treated differently by their peers, making it more difficult for them to form relationships.” Allow me to translate: if you think you’re being cool by naming your illegitimate baby Loquanda, FayNeNe, Donquavious, Shataniana, or adding Da/De to common names like Shawn, John, etc……well, you’re not. You are starting that child’s life already behind the curve and reinforcing stereotypes rather than proving them wrong. Maybe we should call this The Orenthal Theorem.

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he would jump at the chance to drive in the Indianapolis 500 if there were not a conflicting NASCAR race on the same day. – Atleast he couldn’t finish 38th…..there are only 33 cars in the Indy 500.

 

An update on The Stimulus: it’s still not working.

 

The U.S. Agriculture Department would be given the power to regulate all food sold in schools, including vending machine snacks, when Congress renews child nutrition programs. Agriculture Committee work on child nutrition will begin with a draft that gives the USDA the authority to oversee all food in schools, so nutrition programs are not “undermined” by junk food in vending machines. There has been “pushback” from schools that count on revenue from vending machines to pay for student activities. – I’m a solutions oriented guy..…so I suggest the government just ban vending machines from schools and pay for all student activities by raising taxes. Why waste time when that’s where Hussein Obama is headed anyway.

 

ESPN’s newest on air talent, Michelle Beadle, makes a favorable first impression. She’s reminiscent of a perkier, younger, somewhat less sultry Ellen Barkin.

 

The past several weeks have seen the deaths of actors David Carradine, Karl Malden, and Farrah Fawcett, singer Michael Jackson, Japanese wrestling legend Mitsuharu Misawa, sidekick Ed McMahon, infomercial guru Billy Mays, retired boxer Alexis Arguello, impressionist Fred Travalena, and former NFL QB Steve “Air” McNair. I’m not one to put celebrities up on a pedestal, but what a brutal month. May they all rest in peace.

 

Speaking of McNair…..as much as everyone wants to put him up on a pedestal because he was a star athlete (misguided hero worship that usually begins in junior high), the simple fact seems to be that he was just another guy cheating on his wife with a much younger woman. It’s likely that she had the attitude shared by young women everywhere, an overly romantic and idealized view of love. She probably thought he was going to leave his wife and they’d live happily ever after. She found out she was wrong, flipped out, and now they are both dead. Very sad story, and all too common.

 

An employee at a New Jersey chocolate processing plant died after falling into a vat of hot chocolate. He was dumping raw chocolate into the vat for melting when he fell in from a nine-foot high platform. – Wow…what a tragically awesome way to go.

 

I’m not so sure that Sarah Palin resigning as Governor of Alaska was such a wise move. Time will tell.

 

ESPN’s Mike and Mike were recently contemplating ways to make baseball’s all star game matter, lamenting the fact that it currently doesn’t, and trying to figure out why. It’s quite simple really. Baseball itself has become increasingly irrelevant. The game is populated with cheaters, junkies, and thugs. Babe Ruth was a beer guzzling, woman chasing, hard partying character…..Barry Bonds and his ilk are just a steaming pile of garbage. Clean up the game and it will regain its significance.

 

Michelle Obama showed off her more expensive taste in fashion by carrying a $6k black alligator manila clutch while strolling the wooded landscape outside of Moscow, Russia. – I’m not a woman and admittedly know nothing about purses…but how ostentatious is that??