How big is the Deepwater Horizon oil spil?

Go to this Web site to have a look.  http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/

It's pretty big . . .  If you really want to appreciate the size, be sure to enter your home city on the left of the page.

Yeah, I think this will have people SCREAMING for an end to oil/gas much sooner than the market would have taken it.  And rightfully so (?).

I Called It

In case you hadn't noticed:

Barack Obama picks himself for the Supreme Court

:)  Okay, so he didn't pick himself, but I was right about whom he would pick.

Note:  I didn't actually read the article above, I just liked the title.

SCOTUS Watch Poll

In case you're feeling utterly bamboozled by all those buttons and knobs, SCOTUS stands for Supreme Court of the United States.

Whisper passes through manor-hall and market place:  The Pope, er, President Obama, is considering backing . . . for the throne!  (Okay, in case your head is spinning, this is basically a quote from an old family computer game favorite - Castles)

I've included the following article as I think it gives some interesting commentary for you to mull over before casting your own guess, unless, of course, you've already done so.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyYMkZtDcZy_r_8-CnaGwUPFOdZAD9FIM3F80

Whom will the audacious one choose?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Good Little Soldier (Revisited)

So you remember this guy?

At the end of the school year (exams are over, for everyone not taking one on a deferred basis -- that's good enough for me), our little trooper is hanging strong.

(Note, this is a stock photo, or at least from the same post as before.)

Sadly, SOMEBODY HAULED AWAY MY FLIPPIN STUDY TABLE!!!!!


WHO ARE THESE SICK PEOPLE???

I seriously consider this vandalism up there in disrepute with when some thugs literally stole F-Word's car, and took the time to scamper off with his Nuggets license plate cover, after leaving the car behind.  http://fletchword.blogspot.com/2008/12/stolen-memories.html  (My apologies, F-Word.)

Along with finding out my final grades, may there be swift justice in this most horrendous of crimes.

Dark Alley Poll Results

For posterity.

In the poll, "Whom would you be most nervous to encounter in a dark alley?" the results were as follows:

4 Mike Tyson
0 Sylvester Stallone
0 Arnold Schwarzenegger
0 Al Pacino (Just now recognized the spelling error)
4 An Attorney

In the spirit of law school final exams (which, by the way are the only exams), we will now undergo a highly polished, intellectual, and detailed analysis of the results (did I mention it will have a 150 word limit which no one will read one word past?).

*This is all assuming none of you cheated and voted more than once, which, knowing some of you, I admit, is a rather rash assumption*

What this tells me is that you are all very wise and practical.  Sure, Sly, the Governator, and Scarface are all scary on the silver screen, but in real life, they either wear 10-inch platforms, have shrunk into politics, or are 70 (which isn't to say senior citizens can't necessarily pack a punch - remember the athletic dad from Seinfeld?).

What it also tells me is that half of you are realists:  you're afraid of physical pain (getting your ear bit off in a dark alley).

The rest of you are cynics:  you're afraid of reality (attorneys).

But don't worry, in the Millennium/afterlife you won't have to worry about either of these.  If I'm wrong, I owe you a Coke.

Trials Ahead: Too Touching Not to Post

My wife often reads/refers to this woman's blog.  What an amazing story and example.  I'll get out of the way now.

It Takes a ConLaw Exam to Raze a GPA

*Remember, its pronounced raise, not razz (like jazz)*

Quick update:  With a very intriguing CrimLaw exam in the books (a four hour CrimLaw exam), I've just got ConLaw left . . .  Which was far and away (no, not like the Enya tune) my worst class last semester.  But I take solace in the knowledge that Justice Blackmun did worse in ConLaw when he was in school than I did last semester.

Yep, so I've just got to study a few lovely, back-and-forth areas of Constitutional Law, and the final (final) exam will be in about 24 hours.

Wish me luck, karma, pray for me, or send me positive energy.  Oh, cash, checks, and paypal are also not turned away.

Insomniac(s)

To be frank, the eye-ball image more accurately depicts the Wife than Yours Truly, as I can sleep through just about anything, including the Beast's screaming.  However, Maria seriously had us up (at least Christy) for over 7 hours last night . . .  For full details see the Wife's published works.  (Like the HP reference, there?)

Are Countless PUBLIC Universities Flaunting the Establishment Clause?

Sabbatical:

• a leave usually taken every seventh year 
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

• A sabbatical (from the Latin sabbaticus, from the Greek sabbatikos, from Hebrew shabbat, i.e., Sabbath, literally a "ceasing") is a rest from work, a hiatus, typically lasting two or more months. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatical

Whoa, wait a minute.  You mean to tell me that thing where a professor takes a long break is based on BIBLICAL TEACHINGS?!  I knew the seeds of religion were secretly sprouting up in our public education system.

Just you watch, with Justice Stevens leaving the Court, soon those nutty right-wing conservatives will flood the country with this new thing they call "religion."

At the very least, they should change this offensive term to something more neutral like, "7th Year Time Off"  or "7th YTO." Why would I want special religious concepts invading the public sphere?

To Toddle

When a child toddles, it walks unsteadily with short quick steps. VERB

• 
  
  ...once your baby starts toddling. V
• 
  
  She fell while toddling around. V adv/prep

http://www.google.com/dictionary?langpair=en|en&q=toddle&hl=en&aq=f

I seriously don't think I ever knew this.

It very well could be because people don't generally say, "Oh, hey, did you know that my daughter is already toddling!?"

Then again, I don't often frequent the proverbial mothers' playgrounds to hang out every other day, so maybe I'm just not in the right place at the right time.

Regardless, we can all thank my wife's email subscription to Baby Center, which feeds us with awesome tips and fun tidbits on a regular basis.

So keep toddling and don't forget to go to bed early . . .

How Would You Like to be Married?

While basking in the excitement of studying for my (final and only) Property exam , I had a line from an Aquabats tune resonate with me, "Martian girl from Planet B, will you marry me?  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."

Why did the line resonate with me?

Why because my own, late father asked my mother to marry him by asking, "How would you like to be married?"  Mom's response?  "To WHOM!?"

Awesome, simply awesome.

Sorry, dad, I couldn't resist.

By the way, one out of four exams down!!

Today's Spiritual Message: Elder Holland's Testimony of the Book of Mormon Revisted

I know I just did this one, but I really liked how the Church put music and background video with it, makes it much more palpable.



As always, if you'd like to see more videos, please visit the church's YouTube page at http://youtube.com/mormonmessages or on the Church's official Web site redirect at http://mormonmessages.org/

Sunday's Easter Message: He is Risen

This Easter Sunday we celebrated the most important event in human history:  the resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ.

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15: 16-22).

Here are the witnesses of modern-day Apostles:

To these testimonies, I add my own witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  I testify that because of Him, all mankind will be resurrected -- we will all have our bodies reunited with our spirits -- in perfect form.  That is to say, any bodily imperfections we know experience (such as a lost arm or leg) will be made whole (Alma 11: 43-44).

Here are some additional witnesses I think you'll enjoy:

The Purifying Power of Gethsemane (Elder Bruce R. McConkie - deceased Apostle)

None Were with Him (Elder Jeffery R. Holland - Apostle) Video of the same (WMV)

President Thomas S. Monson - (Audio, text not yet available)

Today's Spiritual Message: Generation Me

http://www.generationme.org/aboutbook.html

Do you ever get the feeling we're becoming more and more self centered?

Do you ever hear the phrase, "Just do what's right for you"? or "right is whatever you think it is"?

It seems like more and more our world is becoming more and more about ME! and what I think.

Take children, for example.  Why would I want them?  They'll just get in the way of my career.  The unsolicited marketing on the right is a "prime time" example of this self-interest.  "Ask how Start Over from Time Warner Cable makes [your children's] bedtime your [me:time]."  Yes, why would I want to do something so cavemanishly prehistoric as pay attention to my children at bed time!? Heck, why not just put them in front of the TV for the rest of their life so I can enjoy perpetual "me time" bliss?  Or, better yet, why even have children when they just get in the way?

Lest you think I've latched on to one skewed example from Time Warner Cable, I provide two more:  McDonald's and Star Bucks.

Just recently, I noticed two separate coffee cups of my friend and classmate.  Each cup, from the respective organization, had in capital letters the word "YOU" - where it couldn't be missed.

Small coincidence?

You guessed it, today's marketing is all about "you," which from our, or the consumer's perspective, would be . . . ME.

Well did President Ezra Taft Benson declare 21 years ago (in a talk I highly recommend), "Pride is the universal sin, the great vice."  He reminded us that pride caused the fall of two great American civilizations, the Jaredites and the Nephites, and will be the cause of many more.  He continued,

The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C. S. Lewis: “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. … It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone.” (Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109–10.)

How fitting then, that I or ME be at the center of all I do, of everything.

As President Benson testifies, so do I:  Humility is the antidote to pride.  And what better example of humility than the Savior Jesus Christ?  His sole mission was to do the will of someone else, His Father (3 Ne. 27: 13), which was to offer His sinless Son up as a sacrifice for all mankind (John 3: 16).  Yes, Christ is the perfect example of selflessness.  He did not devalue His own life; He cherishes the lives of others.

I testify that He is the Son of God and that as we follow His example, we can cleanse ourselves from the onslaught of worldly pride and from the expanding "Generation Me."

She's a Maniac (Almost)

Okay, so The Beast isn't a slam dancer just yet, but check out these sweet moves:

It's like HP all over again

First of all, let me just say that the British cover art for HP novels is simply daft (e.g., to your right).  I know the Brits pride themselves on being an eccentric lot, but this is just mental.

Anyway, I digress before I even start.

So the other day, The Wife and I finished HP&tDH again.  Mind, this is like the fourth or fifth time we've gone through the entire series!


Yes, grown women have Bella; I have Hairless.

Seriously though, we (or at least I) just can't get sick of listening to Hairless as performed by Jim Dale, especially when The Beast is barking or taking down a bottle.

The British cover art may make me want to throw myself off our apartment building (which is four stories, BTW), toss my cookies (you like the Grandmooge reference, F-Word?), and bury my head in the sand, but the audio experience is still as golden as fat bag of galleons.

Quiz me on anything not minutely ridiculous (e.g., what is the name of the author who wrote some random transfiguration book?) and I can virtually guarantee you:  the CA will conquer all.

Hey, the F-Word doesn't call me Daniel Radcliffe para nada.

Oh, I almost forgot:  as of this writing, we're already on side 3B of the first book (again).

Don't Tase Me, Bro! What do Andrew Meyer and the CA have in common?

That's right, faithful CA readers, the famed YouTube actor, err, victim of police brutality and I are very close.  Or at least we're only two years apart.  You guessed it (or maybe you're scratching your heading wondering what I'm on about), don't tase me, bro! and I share the same birthday!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_tase_me_bro#Student

And I thought the only "cool" person alive born on my birthday was Prince Harry (besides yours truly, of course).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_harry

Out of curiosity, what "cool" people share your birthday?

Yes, Pam, I'll give you sane property that you and HJP were both born as the seventh month dies; I'm quite jealous!

Cinci Conservatory: "Green" and "Cultured" in the Queen City

Down near the bending river that separates Ohio from our blue grass friend, Kentucky, rests a fantastic botanical garden:  The Cincinnati Conservatory.

I'm sure Grandma #2 will do a somersault when she sees this one (although, it's not exactly the Amazon - but I guess Mrs. Claus's not in the Amazon . . .).

Don't worry, I didn't actually force our daughter to touch the cacti.  Promise.

Ault Park: Good Times in the Neighborhood

Our daughter makes any park (and playing the piano) a whole lot cooler.

Today's Spiritual Message: Living within Our Means

Well, the prophets and apostles have been teaching this principle for decades, but how true it is.

I think we could all agree that the current financial mess we're in would have been avoided had there not been so much unethical conduct and a desire to have more than people could actually afford.

I'm often faced with this reality:  Strutting around with an iPhone or a Nexus One would be pretty cool, but my mom probably isn't going to buy one for me (I'm 25) and "we can't afford it."

Yes, sometimes there are a lot of things I wish we could buy.  However, I'll never forget walking over dirt floors and under thatched roofs in the middle of the Amazon in Peru.  These good people often had raw sewage seeping out of their homes (and I use the term here out of kindness and because it represents much more than just bricks and mortar).  Yet, notwithstanding their indigent circumstances, they were some of the kindest and happiest people I've ever met.

Here's a snippet from another modern Apostle of Jesus Christ inviting us to live with in our means.  I hope you enjoy it (and the 40's or 50's throwback dramatization in it).