Time for a fresh look

It was about a year ago that I re-did the design of this blog. And it's one that I've grown rather fond of. But all the same, I'm feeling like changing some things with it.

So I'm going to be "tweaking" the look of it some during the next few days and weeks. The changes might be negligible. And then again this whole place might get a complete overhaul. Anyhoo, as always whenever this happens, if something seems out-of-whack or off-kilter around here, it's probably just me playing around behind the scenes :-)

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LOST, for what it's worth

A two-minute long recap of Lost seasons 1 through 3, using only one word...

Thanks to Phillip Arthur for finding this hilarious video!

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Taxpayer-funded segregation? Indianapolis airport to give Muslims their own sinks

Indianapolis International Airport is going to install floor sinks by this fall - at the cost of $750 each - for Muslims to wash their feet before praying.

There is certainly a question here about the constitutionality of such a thing. I mean, these are public funds that are being used to support an establishment of religion: a notion that some people in this country have spent their entire lives toward stamping out, sometimes with dedication bordering on paranoia.

So yeah that's a concern. But what I want to know is: What's going to happen if a Christian or a Jew uses these same sinks, too?

I suppose it's possible that someone other than a Muslim could receive an injury to the foot that requires immediate flushing. Would an "infidel" be "desecrating" the Muslims' floor sink by using it? Are we going to see airport security personnel - i.e. taxpayer-funded "religious police" much like those of Saudi Arabia - patrolling around the floor sinks, making sure that nobody apart from the Islamic creed is using them?

Isn't this the very definition of "segregation"?

I grew up listening to stories about how black people were once not allowed to use the same facilities as whites... such as water fountains. In some places it was even punishable by law for a black to drink from the same fountain that had been designated for whites. So how is installing a floor sink that purportedly is only meant to be used by Muslims different from installing a water fountain that is only supposed to be used by whites?

Jim Crow was supposed to be dead and buried. But this move to accommodate Muslims at Indianapolis International Airport by giving them bathroom fixtures verboten to others threatens to not only dig Jim Crow back up, but to also dust him off and put him to work.

I don't care that this isn't a "white and black" thing. It's still a return to segregation, if not in active practice yet. And if violence ever occurs because someone other than a Muslim uses the floor sinks, there will be demands for even more concessions in the name of being "tolerant toward religion".

On a related note, what would happen if someone dumped strips of uncooked bacon into these floor sinks. Would they become so spiritually unclean that they would have to be ripped-out and replaced with new ones?

Just wonderin'...

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Fred Reed exposes hypocrisy regarding illegals

In his latest column, Fred Reed mocks the American government's schizo policy toward illegal immigration, in his own perverse style...

To grasp American immigration policy, to the extent that it can be grasped, one need only remember that the United States forbids smoking while subsidizing tobacco growers.

We say to impoverished Mexicans, "See this river? Don't cross it. If you do, we'll give you good jobs, a drivers license, citizenship for your kids born here and eventually for you, school for said kids, public assistance, governmental documents in Spanish for your convenience, and a much better future. There is no penalty for getting caught. Now, don't cross this river, hear?"

How smart is that? We're baiting them. It's like putting out a salt lick and then complaining when deer come. As parents, the immigrants would be irresponsible not to cross.

There's way more at the above link for you to read and enjoy.

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The one blogger who'll defend Uwe Boll

Are people really this hostile toward their fellow man, without caring about how cruel they are?

Please don't answer that, 'kay?

So earlier this evening I read about filmmaker Uwe Boll, director of House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Dungeon Siege and other movies that have endured lackluster performance at the box office. Boll has said that in light of how ill-received his work is, that he will retire from filmmaking if a petition calling for him to quit garners 1 million signatures.

So this being the Internet there is now a massive drive to do exactly that, in order to compel Uwe Boll to make good on his word.

I took a look in the past little while at the animosity toward Boll in this petition drive. And even though I've never really cared much for Boll's work, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy after seeing all the scorn and loathing directed at him.

This "one million signatures to stop Uwe Boll" petition is a petty and shallow thing. If you don't like his movies, then just don't go watch them! You still have enough freedom to choose not to pay to see movies that you don't want to see. Nobody is being strapped into a chair in a theater with their eyes pried open like Alex in A Clockwork Orange and forced to watch Postal.

But what bothers me most is how little regard so many people in this world seem to have for others. It almost borders on passing a judgment on another's entire life, without regard for anything or anyone beyond our own narcissism. Even if you don't like Uwe Boll's movies, that should not deduct all all from appreciation of the fact that this is still an individual we are talking about, who apparently does love his work and wants to find satisfaction in it.

Well, who are you or me or anyone else to try to deny him that?

Think about it: Would you appreciate it at all if a million people told you to stop doing something that you enjoyed, if it wasn't seriously hurting you or anyone else to do it? Would you want a mob of people telling you that you don't deserve to pursue your own happiness?

That's what Uwe Boll is doing, folks: following his dream. Whether his movies make a handsome profit or not, at least he's taking more initiative than most people do in this day and age. I like to think that's what he's doing, anyway: just trying to do the best he can with a craft that he loves. And if it's not "commercially successful" in our eyes... so what? Does it impinge on your own happiness? 'Cuz if it does, you've got far bigger problems than any online petition will remedy.

I'm of the school that believes that each person has the right to make the most of his or her time on this Earth, which includes the right to do everything in their power, if they so wish, to leave behind something - be it art or invention or whatever - that will endure after they have left this life.Everyone deserves that chance, including those that we don't necessarily agree with. So long as that other person is not trying to stifle others from their own happiness, we should let them be. Hell, we should encourage them, even. Just as we would want to be encouraged.

This is why I believe that all legitimate films (and as I've said before, I don't include porno flicks in that reckoning) deserve to be preserved for posterity, because each film does represent the vision and passion of our fellow man (and woman). At Butt-Numb-A-Thon 9 this past December, we saw movies that were real stinkers. But the very last thing I would want is either for those movies to be taken away forever, or for their creators to stop making movies at all.

Because when we do that, we are imposing a judgment on that filmmaker that he or she cannot grow and improve in their trade. And again, who are any of us to make that kind of call against anyone?

So Uwe Boll, if you ever read this: Maybe your movies so far have been bombs. And that's okay! If you believe in yourself enough to keep making your movies, and if this is a source of happiness for you... then dude, seriously, stick with it! Don't let a million people tell you to quit. Don't let ten million people tell you to quit! You shouldn't feel obligated to have to answer to them, anyway.

You deserve to answer to your own happiness, Mr. Boll. And that goes for everyone else who might read this, too.

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Congrats to Kansas: 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Champs!

Mario Chalmers (now and forever a Kansas folk hero after his 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime) and Darrell Arthur of the Jayhawks have their one shining moment...

Kansas 75, Memphis 68 in overtime. That was the most thrilling and pure crazy NCAA Men's Basketball Championship I've seen in a way long time! Kudos to Bill Self and his team on a spectacular win.

Congrats also to the Tigers of Memphis for coming this far and driving to deliver what will go down in history as one of the all-time greatest NCAA finals ever played.

And after that game I think we all need a good drink...

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Christian radio attacks harmless student dress-up day

Wasn't there an episode of King of the Hill about this?

An elementary school in Wisconsin is under fire by a Christian radio network - the head of which seems to have nothing better to do with his time - because it hosted an event that encouraged students to dress as members of the opposite gender.

As part of Wacky Week at Pineview Elementary in Reedsburg, students were encouraged to dress as either senior citizens or members of the opposite sex. Which was all good and fine... until some busybody told the Voice of Christian Youth America about it. The radio network's director and host of nationally-syndicated show "Crosstalk" Jim Schneider promptly took to grandstanding. He said that "Our station is one that promotes traditional family values. It concerns us when a school district strikes at the heart and core of the Biblical values. To promote this to elementary-school students is a great error."

This move by Schneider was a cheap stunt that (a) demonstrates his ignorance and (b) makes Christians out to be a bunch of loons. What does it show the world when followers of Christ get this kind of honked-off angry about elementary students having some innocent fun?

Because in spite of what Schneider is claiming, this kind of thing has been going on since time immemorial. And with no ill effects, I might add. There has never been any "deviant agenda" in mind behind it. It's just a way for students to have fun and share in some camaraderie. I even remember it happening at my high school back in the day...

Johnny Yow, in drag for "Turn About Day" as part of Spirit Week at Rockingham County Senior High, circa 1991

(By the way, Johnny is one of the strongest and most sincere Christians that I've ever known.)

Between this, and the un-Christlike hatred one program on a "conservative Christian" radio station I found last week had for Barack Obama, I cannot but be convinced even more that too much of the Christianity around us is too obsessed with earthly matters. It is just as C.S. Lewis noted that some people go warning against "hobgoblins" that aren't really there, just to scare others into doing what they're told.

Well, if Christianity and western civilization is going to topple, I can assure you it won't be because some second-graders played "powder puff". And if some Christians are seriously afraid of that, then there was something very wrong with their faith to begin with.

(And there's something wrong with believing that unless we elect the "right politician" that Christianity is going to be destroyed, too. Yeah I'm looking at y'all over at WPIP, now that I know y'all are reading this blog...).

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College student builds working half-sized Panzer tank

As clever as Erwin Rommel was, I can't remember him ever pulling off what Will Foster of Flint, Michigan has done: build a working Panzer tank (albeit one-half sized) from scratch...

The Kettering University engineering student's mini-Panzer can go up to 20 miles per hour with its three-cylinder diesel engine, is quite maneuverable and the turret can rotate 360 degrees to fire empty Red Bull cans from its air-compressed cannon powered by a SCUBA tank. Foster said that he built the tank to use in paintball competitions, after seeing some people drive "tanks" that were really golf carts.

Aim your targeting reticle here to read more about Foster's creation. And here's a YouTube video of the tank in action...

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More Star Wars in education: English teacher uses Original Trilogy to instruct about epic literature

A high school English teacher and football coach in Alabama is using the first three Star Wars movies in his classroom to teach students about the aspects of epic literature.

Luke Skywalker is not just a character in a series of films to David Golden, an English teacher and football coach at Hazel Green High School. The Jedi knight is an epic hero, whose rise, fall and redemption are part of a story rife with classic archetypes we all know through our collective unconscious as described by the psychologist Carl Jung.

Seriously.

Each semester, Golden's ninth-grade students watch the original trilogy of the Star Wars movies, with Golden pointing out the situational, character and symbolic archetypes as well as literary elements.

n the cave scene in "Return of the Jedi," Luke faces off against Darth Vader (which means dark knight in German, Golden told his students).

"It's foggy, dense," Golden said, pausing the scene. "What's the main color?" Gray, his students said. That's symbolic for confusion, which is what Luke feels at this point as he tries to learn to control "the Force."

The cave itself is also symbolic - "think back to 'Tom Sawyer,' Golden said - a place where the character undergoes change, emerging a different person than the one who went in.

It's also where Luke first sees that his connection to Darth Vader is more than just as an enemy.

"What literary element is that," Golden said before resuming the DVD. "Foreshadowing."

Ninth-graders study the epic, which usually means reading Homer's "The Odyssey." Golden, however, "fell asleep when I studied 'The Odyssey.' I don't remember much about it."

Golden, a self-professed "Star Wars nut," first got the idea of teaching the epic through Star Wars at a seminar at Western Kentucky University. He was teaching in Tennessee at the time, and attended a program to certify him as advanced placement English teacher...

There's plenty more at the above link.

Stuff like this, I gotta love! Years ago when we were co-workers at TheForce.net, head editor Josh Griffin and I would talk a lot about the educational opportunities represented by the Star Wars movies. And how we should be "playing these to the hilt" (as Josh put it) so far as relating lessons go. I know Josh does stuff like that with his ministry and last week while filling-in as a teacher for a middle school English class studying Greek mythology, I got to "tie in" how George Lucas was inspired to use the divine parentage of Perseus and Hercules when it came time to delving into Anakin's origins.

The kids automatically lit up when I started talking about the Star Wars movies. This is something that they understand and when you relate the classic in those terms, the students can't get enough of it.

There seems to be an awful lot of stories about Star Wars and education happening lately. Maybe this is a sign that the saga, at last, is growing into its own and becoming not just recognized as classic literature but utilized as such, as well.

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Who else is watching JOHN ADAMS on HBO???

DAMN if this ain't one of the best things done for television in a long time!

I've been watching it since the first part a few weeks ago and have become absolutely hooked! John Adams is based on David McCullough's biography of the second President of the United States, played in the series by Paul Giamatti. Part 1 began the story on the night of the Boston Massacre in 1763, and followed Adams as he successfully defended the British soldiers involved in the incident. During the ensuing weeks we have watched Adams' involvement with the Continental Congress, the increasing tensions between the colonists and Britain, the trip that Adams and Benjamin Franklin made to Europe, and tonight's chapter found Adams coming to terms with being the first Vice-President in the new country's history.

It's beautifully played and all exquisitely portrayed. HBO did an amazing job with Rome during the past two seasons and in some ways John Adams is even better. I don't know if there's been a series this epic since Lonesome Dove, or perhaps even The Winds of War. This is the unvarnished birth of America, warts and all (be warned though: the scene in "Part 1: Join or Die" where the British agent gets tarred and feathered literally had me screaming in agonized disbelief). All from the perspective of a man who has perhaps gone unappreciated for the role he played in the creation of this country... until now.

I'm loving every minute of John Adams. But at the same time I'm extremely frustrated while watching this mini-series. Just listening to the way these people talked and more important, their thoughts: these were such an enlightened citizenry. They had drive and passion and they weren't afraid to stand their ground and fight for what they believed in.

And then I think about people of my own era and I have to wonder: what the hell happened to us?

Where is that old, bold blood that flowed through the veins of our forefathers? What happened to that noble race, in spite of whatever flaws that they possessed (something that I'm glad John Adams is not glossing over for sake of a "glorified" American history)?

I think about the America that the Founders strove and sacrificed for, and when I look around me today... well, where is it?

Could we ever have that America again? Not without sacrifice from our own part. And to be honest, I don't know if we have that wondrous balance of will and humility within us any more.

But my landlady in Asheville used to tell me that yes, the "old blood" is still there, waiting for the right time to rise again. I pray she was right. Watching John Adams just makes me yearn for it that much more.

If you've missed it so far, don't get yer powdered wig all in a twist 'cuz John Adams will be coming to DVD on June 10th. It's already on my "must-get" list :-)

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Pregnant man story: "Meh..."

"Hey Chris, did you hear about the pregnant..."

"Yes I have!"

So it's gone for the past several days, ever since the story came out about Thomas Beatie, the Oregon man who is now pregnant and showed his ultrasound images on Oprah Winfrey's show to prove that it's no hoax.

Yeah well, I don't see what the big deal about this is.

The thing is, Beatie may be pregnant but I'm not convinced that he's a "man" in any sense at all. Born Tracy Lagondino, "Thomas Beatie" had trans-gender surgery and hormonal treatment beginning in her twenties to gain more masculine traits. And legally, Beatie is classified as a male.

But none of that changes the fact that at the basic cellular level, Thomas Beatie is still a woman. That her own body recognizes her feminine qualities enough to carry a child should be ample evidence of this.

Yeah, I'll acknowledge that Beatie now allegedly possesses male anatomy. But if it only takes a surgical procedure to fundamentally alter naturally-endowed biology, then sew on a trunk and ears and call me an elephant!

To me at least, there's nothing sensational about this story. In fact it only demonstrates that there are still things beyond man's ability to alter, and that gender is one of them.

The only thing I'm really concerned about with this story is whether what Beatie has done to her body might have some detrimental affect on the child she is carrying. Hormones are a very tricky thing: even a small excess could trigger severe developmental changes in her baby.

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Kansas/UNC: The Aftermath

A longtime friend was banned for life from a sports restaurant last night after breaking-bad on UNC-Chapel Hill, which lost bigtime against Kansas in the semifinal of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The Jayhawks won 84 to 66. Not once did Carolina take the lead, and at one time they were down by 28 points. Apparently my friend could not contain his relish at the Tarheels going down so hard.

Another friend is reportedly going to burn his "lucky underwear", which he had worn during every UNC game for the past few seasons.

I've already warned Lisa to expect some long, sad faces tomorrow at school. Whether there will be more depression among the students or her colleagues, remains an open question.

And after reviewing both semifinals last night, I've my own guess as to who'll win between Kansas and Memphis tomorrow night. But at this point, it doesn't really matter. I'll just be tuning in, knowing that I can expect a great basketball game.

(But what the hey... GO JAYHAWKS!! :-)

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MEETING DAVID WILSON: Local man figures big in documentary about slavery's legacy

This coming Friday night, on April 11th, MSNBC will be premiering the new documentary Meeting David Wilson. It was written and directed by David A. Wilson, a black journalist from New Jersey who took time off from his career to research his family's history. His quest eventually led him to the plantation in Caswell County, North Carolina where his great-great grandfather was once a slave before the Civil War.

And then David A. Wilson of Newark, New Jersey wound up meeting David B. Wilson of nearby Reidsville, whose great-great grandfather had owned David A. Wilson's ancestor.

The film is already getting rave reviews. I'll certainly be tuning in because I've known Reidsville's David Wilson for a long time. He owns Short Sugars Drive-In in Reidsville, a place famous across the country for its barbecue (and where we shot the final scene of Forcery a few years ago).

Click here to read the News & Record's story about Meeting David Wilson.

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Charlton Heston has passed away

When they were filming The Ten Commandments, it came time to shoot the scene where God speaks to Moses through the burning bush. Remember how God told Moses to remove his sandals, because the ground he was standing on was holy? When they were about to film Moses returning back from the encounter, Charlton Heston told director Cecil B. De Mille "You know, if someone was told by God Himself to go set His people free, do you really suppose that person would take the time to put his sandals back on?" That's why we see Moses barefoot when he's walking back down from the mountain.

I've always thought that anecdote said a lot about the kind of person that Charlton Heston was. Even though he was an actor playing a part, his mind was considering details like that.

One of my very favorite movie soundtracks is the score for The Omega Man. I can't tell you how many times I've had that playing in my car, pretending that I was Charlton Heston while driving around in daylight, looking for "the Family".

The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, El Cid, Soylent Green... and of course Planet of the Apes ("It's a madhouse, a madhouse!!"), so many other films that this man did.

And now, he's gone at the age of 84.

It might interest my fellow North Carolinians to know that Heston had quite a lot of connections to our state. He was stationed in Greensboro when he joined the Army, and Greensboro was also where he and his wife Lydia were married in 1944. A few years later they moved to Asheville and managed a playhouse there.

Think I'll watch Ben Hur later today in his honor.

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Live reaction to UNC versus Kansas

9:31 p.m. EST: One of the announcers has just said that this game "is over" already, with 7 and a half minutes left in just the first half! Kansas 38 and UNC 12.

Someone who shall remain anonymous has told me that Davidson did better against Kansas than the Tarheels are doing tonight.

9:44 p.m. EST: 40-19, Jayhawks still in the lead with just over 3 and a half minutes in the first half. Carolina is starting to show some pepper here.

9:51 p.m. EST: Kansas 44, UNC 27 at the half. Kansas might have burned much of their juice too early in this game and Carolina is still gaining some traction. All the same, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the Tarheels locker room right now.

10:20 p.m. EST: 15:54 in the second half, Kansas with 54 and 40 for Carolina. If both teams stay consistent, this could turn out to be one of the better second halves of a basketball game that I've seen in awhile.

10:30 p.m. EST: Tarheels on a roll, although Kansas still leads 54 to 46 with 12:16 left. I think the Jayhawks might have become more than a little over-confident after having led by 28 points earlier. With that much time left and the lead trimmed to single digits, Carolina can still pull this one off.

If they do, although I'm not much of a Tarheel fan, they will have earned my respect bigtime for this one.

10:42 p.m. EST: Under 8 minutes to play and UNC has whittled the Jayhawks's lead down to just five points.

I haven't seen an NCAA Tournament semifinal game this hard-fought since the Duke/UNLV "rematch" in '91.

10:53 p.m. EST: Kansas coming back, now with a 12 point lead.

FINAL UPDATE 11:06 p.m. EST: Kansas wins!! Jayhawks 84, Tarheels 66!

Gotta give UNC credit: they did a remarkable job in coming back from such a wide deficit. In the end, Kansas really did recover from their bought of cockiness and regained solid ground in a matter of minutes.

So it'll be Memphis versus Kansas on Monday night. Hmmm... that's gonna be a tough one to call. Guess I'm just gonna have to watch and see what happens. But my heart is leaning more toward Kansas right now.

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Death by blogging in the digital sweatshop

The New York Times has published an interesting piece about blog-related stress. The drive to constantly publish new material for lucrative gain has been enough to already cause serious medical problems and even death among some bloggers.

That just ain't healthy, by any measure.

Many years ago (like when I was a teenager) I had a friend who told me something that's become so prophetic, it's absolutely frightening in its accuracy: the "information era", he told me, would soon become something dominated more by information than by people. To the point that information would become like a god that people would be sacrificing every precious moment of their lives toward satiating. And I think I understood enough of what he was saying back then to be legitimately scared about it.

That's why The Knight Shift isn't my bread and butter, and I don't particularly care for it to become that either. It's just a hobby. I only post about subjects that I find interesting or "cool", and my own personal ruminations. I'm not expecting those to fetch top dollar anyway because, hey, I already know that I can't spin a party line like the pros. This is just my lil' corner of the web: my personal "message in a bottle" for whoever might find it. And given how many neat people I've met because of it, so far I think it's been a great success.

Anyhoo, there ya go: absent an official warning from the Surgeon General (do Surgeons General even make warnings like that anymore?), don't let yer blog dispatch you to "the choir invisible" :-)

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Internet running out of IP addresses

Abby Prince of WebProNews has filed a fascinating story, albeit one with significant ramifications, about the fast-evaporating pool of available Internet Protocol (IP) numbers. Ever since the Internet's inception the computers connected to it have been given addresses under the original IP4 scheme. But with the increase of devices that use the Internet combined with the number of developing countries that are beginning to build up their information infrastructure, there is a dwindling number of IP addresses still free for use. A new scheme, the IP6 protocol, has already been developed but it's far from being fully implemented... meaning we could possibly and likely will see an IP numbers "crunch" in the near future.

Hit here for some excellent reporting about the issue.

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