1

I wish Radio DJs would learn to shut the hell up and just play the fucking songs. I do not want to hear your voice other then to announce the songs and tell me how long the commercial break is. Any half-baked commentary you might have come up with is undoubtedly less interesting then the music. Even worse is when the DJ is some twit who not only insults his listeners but the music being played (I've heard too many of these to count). Seriously, if I were looking for abuse, I'm sure I could hire a woman in leather to show up at my house, I don't need it to come out of my car speakers.

2

Evolution is fact. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I think it's time for some people to move on to disputing something that isn't so overwhelming supported by empirical evidence.

To make it clear, the words "Theory of Evolution" does not use the word "theory" the same way you do in your regular life.

Here, I grabbed this off the internet: "A scientific theory is an established and experimentally verified fact or collection of facts about the world. Unlike the everyday use of the word theory, it is not an unproved idea, or just some theoretical speculation. The latter meaning of a 'theory' in science is called a hypothesis."

Thusly, the "Theory of Evolution" is not a hypothesis, it is an "established and experimentally verified fact" which is the best explanation there is for the origin of complex life on our planet.

I'm not telling you to throw away your holy books in the face of this (wouldn't break my heart), rather to understand as many people do that the various origin myths are not little written documentaries, but rather analogies and fables. There is plenty of room for you to retain your faith and recognize the truth and move on to fighting battles you have a hope at winning.

Oh, and "intelligent design" is not credible in any way at all. It's a ridiculous attempt to introduce flawed "science" into classrooms. Irreducible complexity is not a valid argument, simply because it ignores plenty of science, not to mention the spirit of science in general. Science is about facts, and the answering of questions about the natural world. Just because there is not an explanation this very moment, just means we'll have to keep searching for it in the future. Science does not stop and tell you that it has found and told you all you need to know from here on out, no matter what occurs in 2000 years time.

3

My dad will buy all kinds of crap on a whim, items large and small, with the pricetags to match. My mom will wait forever to buy just about anything to be sure she needs or really wants it.

I will research the hell out of any item over 20 bucks, for better deals, and for the best of that product. For instance, I spent a few hours one day looking online for the perfect camera that fit my price range, and the features I felt I must have. On the other hand, I will buy books and such on a whim, all the time.

Damn, I guess they really are my parents.

4

I think I have some sort of condition that makes it so I hate long sleeves, because damn do I hate long sleeves. The only time I've ever had a long sleeve shirt is when I was given one for donating blood. Even then, any time I wore it I would always push the sleeves up. You know why? I hate having anything over my wrists, and I have no clue why that is. Even as a kid, I'd be okay with small spaces, but if you confined my wrists I would go crazy.

When I wear jackets I'll constantly find that I pushed the sleeves up enough so they aren't over my wrists. Just a weird quirk of mine I guess. I think the word 'quirk' was invented just so we would have a way to describe our fucked up tendencies that aren't enough to get us committed.

5

Last season's American Idol was the first time I'd ever followed the show, mostly because I didn't have access to a FOX station on our Dish Network at home for a long time. A pretty talented girl named Jordin Sparks won the competition. Her first single is called "Tattoo" and it is actually okay to listen to.

The only reason I bring it up is that I have no clue why the song itself is called "Tattoo". Sure, there is the chorus with a line about the guy being with her like a tattoo on her heart, but the line seems completely out of place with the rest of the song. It's like they decided that the song that was originally written needed some kind of catchy hook to it and pulled the word tattoo out of a hat. The song is good, but the whole tattoo on her heart part is a bit cheesy and in my opinion brings the song down a notch.

6

It is incredibly stupid for America to keep the 21 drinking age limit. The three years from legal adulthood and legal drinking is just asking for people to break the law and over do it just because they aren't supposed to be doing it at all.

Being allowed to drink should coincide with being able to go to jail, being able to join the military, and being able to vote. If you don't trust someone enough to allow them to drink, then I sure as hell don't think they should be voting. I once brought up the argument about enlisting in the military and dying for your country before you're of legal drinking age. He countered that anyone in the military probably wouldn't have a problem getting a drink, which is true enough. It is also beside the point, since it's still illegal by the letter of the law.   

Even better then having the drinking age at 18 would be to adopt Europe's policy of adults being allowed to order beer for their kids to have with dinner when they are 14(not sure if that age is correct) or older. It's a good way to teach kids how to handle drinking, with some supervision, instead of letting them discover it by getting smashed at some party.

It's the same concept as the sex-education programs in this country, if we were teaching the right habits to kids at a young enough age we would be preparing our kids far more responsibly then simply telling them not to have sex before they are married, or else. Just because that is how your chosen belief system teaches you to behave does not mean you should dictate that to every kid in the nation, and expect them to listen. In Levy county it would get a teacher fired if they taught kids about condom use, a rule with only one exception. The classes for teenage mothers can be taught proper birth control. Who the fuck thought that up? The health class that everyone is required to take should teach about contraceptives as well as abstinence, and then proceed to throw handfuls of condoms to every kid in the room. The statistics show that abstinence-only programs are not being effective and have actually been shown to increase the numbers of underage pregnancies in the school systems they are in.

So, I guess I'm saying that we should let the kids drink and fuck, just as long as we teach them how to control themselves and not end up getting hurt in the process. Oh, and marijuana should be legalized.

7

When making Kool-Aid, do not lick the powder that gets on your hands while mixing. I promise you that after tasting the concentrated flavor of the powder, you will add far too much to the mix to compensate for what seems to be a lack of flavor. Then, a few hours later you'll take a swig of uber Kool-Aid and it'll taste like the Kool-Aid Man body-slammed all of your taste buds at once. Trust me, this is not kool, at all.

8

So, this is the point where I lost the first notebook I was using, which caused me to stop keeping notes and as such stopped working on the blogs.

Needless to say I have restarted. All the things from this point on are much more recent then those you have read.

9

Barack Obama should be our next president. Hands down he is the best candidate. It isn't even a competition any more. No Republican should be trusted with the job, (especially no whack-jobs like Romney or Huckabee) and Hillary Clinton (I don't dislike her like so many people) can conceivably be beaten by a Republican nominee (if it's Mccain).

10

I don't understand why people make blog posts with nothing but song lyrics. No context, story, or amusing anecdote. Just lyrics, with some bolded lines for emphasis. I really do understand being able to connect with a good song but I still find it strange.

11

I am currently sitting on my couch while some seriously bad-ass weather of the tornado variety gets closer and closer. I've been through a few hurricanes in my life, but Chiefland really never gets hit too hard. The wind and rain outside plus the very frequent flashes of lightning is pretty awesome, in a really scary kind of way. I'm in a metal building, and that is not a great place to be with lightning shooting down all over the place. I know where in the lodge I'll head to wait out the storm if it gets much worse, but honestly if a tornado hits a part of this place I'm sure flying pieces of shrapnel will do me in quick enough.

This is one of those moments where you lean back and surprise yourself by thinking very clearly "I'd really rather not die". Of course you live day to day knowing that dying would be bad, but it's not something the sane or emotionally stable person thinks too hard or too often about. It's times like this, waiting to see if a swirling tornado of death is going to come along a ruin your day that you really are forced to face the idea of dying and look it in the eye. I surprised myself in a good way in how vehemently against the idea of dying I am. It reminds me of how good I've got it, no matter how bad things might seem at the moment. It reminds me of the few people I really count as friends and how much I would hate not being able to see them again. I don't believe in an afterlife, no matter how much I'd like to. That means I know that I have to make the most out of the time I have, and not waste it on petty quarrels or anything else that is going to diminish my or anyone else's joy. It would be nice to be certain of an afterlife and to believe that I'll be seeing my family and friends again on the other side, but I just can't reconcile within myself the obvious (to me) evidence and the comfort of the lie. But, after I think that over I realize that with that knowledge firmly in hand I have a much better outlook at life, that I need only worry about not squandering the time I have with those I love, instead of seeing this life as nothing more then a glorified proving ground full of constricting rules just to make it to the next "final" level. I'm satisfied with just this one life, full of love and friendship. I do not need, nor do I desire, anything else.

I'd really rather not die.