First track from THE GREATEST MIRACLE score

Good friend of this blog Mike Casteel sent this to me. It's from a movie called The Greatest Miracle, that I had not heard of until a short while ago and I had to do more than the usual amount of Google-ing to find its official website. From its synopsis...

The Great Miracle is an inspiring story which illustrates hope and faith. The story revolves around the lives of three characters which are in crisis:

Monica, a widow and the mother of a nine year old child, doing everything she can to keep her house.

Don Chema, a public transport driver who receives the news of a disease which can eventually lead to the death of his son.

Doña Cata, an adult woman who feels her mission in life has already concluded.

The stories intertwine as they feel a great feeling of being in the Church.

And what they cannot imagine is that something is about to change their lives forever.

It's a 3-D animated movie: the first one that I know about to be produced from a spiritual perspective. And I'm curious enough about it that I'd like to check it out sometime.

Until that happens, here's the first track from its score, composed by Mark McKenzie. And it's a rather beautiful piece! Here it is for your listening enjoyment :-)

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iOS 5.0.1 has been released

If you've an Apple iOS device that's been plagued by battery problems from iOS 5, be of good cheer: iOS 5.0.1 is now available, and it's said to put those high-drain issues to bed!

This is also the first time that iOS can be updated "over the air" via a Wi-Fi connection, which is what I just did with my iPad 2. It's by far the most straightforward process I've ever experienced in upgrading any operating system. Just go into Settings and tell your iOS gadget to check for an updated version. From there it was just a simple matter of about 40 MB of download and the iPad running from there. Total update time: less than 10 minutes. I bet my Dad could even do it... and he hates computers! :-P

Anyhoo, iOS 5.0.1 is out there now. You know you want it...

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Darren Aronofsky's four horrifying anti-meth PSAs

Anti-drug ads have sure come a long way from an egg dropped into a frying pan...

Darren Aronofsky, the filmmaker behind Pi and Requiem for a Dream, has produced four public service announcements for the Meth Project, warning against meth abuse.

Here's one of them...

And that's not even the most disturbing example of Aronofsky's latest work.

GeekTyrant has collected all four of them for your convenience. But be mindful: these are all pretty harsh. One of them is intensely disgusting. Consider yourself duly warned.

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Bil Keane, creator of FAMILY CIRCUS, has passed away

The very sad news today is that Bil Keane, creator of the long-running comic strip Family Circus that has entertained readers for more than half a century, has died at the age of 89.

Family Circus was one of the best examples of what comic strips could be in their finest form: entertainment for people of all ages. As Keane once said in an interview...

"We are, in the comics, the last frontier of good, wholesome family humor and entertainment... On radio and television, magazines and the movies, you can't tell what you're going to get. When you look at the comic page, you can usually depend on something acceptable by the entire family."

His friend Charles M. Schulz, the late creator of "Peanuts," once said the most important thing about "Family Circus" is that it's funny.

"I think we share a care for the same type of humor," Schulz told The Associated Press in 1995. "We're both family men with children and look with great fondness at our families."

A lot of people today are no doubt going to share their favorite Family Circus cartoon in remembrance of Bil Keane. This blogger however is choosing not to do that. Because my most very favorite cartoon that Bil Keane did wasn't for Family Circus at all!

It's from April 1st 1997, the day of the now-legendary "Great April Fools' Day Comics Switcheroonie". Forty-six comic strip artists "swapped places" with each other for a massive April Fools gag that played out across the funny pages. To many people, myself included, the very first sign that something was amiss that day was when we turned to read Scott Adams' Dilbert and found this instead...

And in case you're wondering what Scott Adams did to Family Circus, click here.

Thoughts and prayers going out to Bil Keane's family today.

Thank you for sharing Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, P.J, Mommy, Daddy, Barfy, Sam, Kittycat, Not Me, Ida Know, and Grandma with us Mr. Keane. Through them, you brought us many years of great laughs and good memories.

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Grinch Obama's heart grows three sizes in a hurry as "Christmas Tree Tax" is called off

Late last night this blog joined numerous other outlets in reporting that the Obama Administration was set to impose a 15-cent tax on all freshly cut Christmas trees. You can read that initial post for more information, including some stuff I came across during a bit o' investigatin' (I'm still curious as to who the heck the people behind "Christmas Tree Promotion Now" are...)

Looks like Obama and gang got the message: the tax is being put on hold. But not without some snide commentary from the White House...

White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told ABC News that despite some media coverage, “I can tell you unequivocally that the Obama Administration is not taxing Christmas trees. What’s being talked about here is an industry group deciding to impose fees on itself to fund a promotional campaign, similar to how the dairy producers have created the ‘Got Milk?’ campaign.”

Nonetheless, the criticisms have apparently had an impact as the program is now being delayed.

I did not know until a comment left on my post last night that the "Got Milk?" campaign is funded with money taken from farmers without their consent by the Department of Agriculture. This "Christmas Tree Tax" would have done much the same. And in the case of the dairy farmers we're talking thousands of dollars extracted from their budgets each year. No doubt that the larger commercial milk producers can easily pay that. But as someone who grew up on a small family-run dairy farm and knows people who still operate small farms well... let's just say that five or six thousand dollars a year ain't chicken feed.

More and more I'm inclined to believe that this scheme to tax Christmas trees came in part - however large or small - from larger tree growers. Can't outright prove that mind ya, but even so: it would be good to know who the people are behind the Christmas Tree Promotion Now outfit.

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You're a mean one Mister Obama! President to impose "Christmas Tree Tax"

This is not satire and it's not from The Onion. I already checked and it's true...

President Barack Obama's administration is trying to impose a 15-cent "Christmas Tree tax" on all freshly-cut trees intended for Yuletide celebration. Fifteen cents on the sale of every tree to... get this now... "enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States."

Okay, two things that already stick out in this blogger's mind: that this is a tax without any representation or due process, regardless of what the administration is arguing. Indeed, within the text of the "order" issued by the Department of Agriculture it is found that "...the assessment provided for in this type of program is not a tax nor does it yield revenue for the Federal government. These producer and importers funds raised by producers and importers are for the benefit of producers and importers."

What. The. Hell?!? Ummmm this is an attempt to use the force of the federal government to extract from us money against our consent, and they have the audacity to say that this is not a "tax" because it's doesn't "yield revenue for the Federal government"?!

If it's not for the Federal government then what is this money being taken from us for?!?

And then I have to make note of how I'm hard-pressed to see how this isn't acting in respect toward an establishment of religion. True, there are many Christians who do not celebrate the holiday of Christmas, and that is fine. However, I can't find in the text of the order or anywhere else in the Federal Register that there's going to be a parallel tax imposed on Kwanzaa Trees.

Here's the official text of the legislation from the Federal Register. Feel free to peruse it for yourself. Feel even more free to be honked-off at what must be the most ridiculous act of big government in recent memory...

...but I've no doubt that even worse is being thought of as I write this.

EDIT 11:33 p.m. EST: Someone left a comment earlier about how this tax was coming at the urging of the Christmas tree industry. So that led me to performing some research and investigation...

The Department of Agriculture is saying that this request came from something calling itself the "Christmas Tree Checkoff Study". Until tonight this cryptic group barely appeared anywhere, except for the proposal and order in the Federal Register and this website at checkoffstudy.blogspot.com. I went to that errr, "industry site". All I found was that there are ten people said to be from the Christmas tree industry who met with Department of Agriculture to push for this tax. However I can't find out anything about who exactly they are.

Well, further along at checkoffstudy.blogspot.com it is found that Christmas Tree Checkoff Study is allegedly acting at the behest of an outfit called Christmas Tree Promotion Now. Christmas Tree Promotion Now has a slightly more proper website at christmastreepromotion.com... but there again, there can be found NO information at all about who exactly constitutes this "industry-wide group of producers and importers".

In the past hour or so I've contacted two friends who each grow Christmas trees for commercial sale, and they didn't know anything about this tax either until I told them about it. Nor had either of them ever heard of Christmas Tree Checkoff Study or Christmas Tree Promotion Now.

I don't think it's an invalid question at all: WHO is asking for this tax? Let's see some names!

And I'm especially curious about knowing that, in light of this statement on Christmas Tree Promotion Now's Frequently Asked Questions...

Why not a voluntary program?

Voluntary marketing efforts have had success in the Christmas tree industry; however the challenge has always been the ability to sustain funding. A program that provides fair, consistent funding for promoting farm grown Christmas trees is needed so that all producers and importers can benefit.

There will always be a small minority attempting to side step the system. Because this would be a Federal program, then those who are assessed are legally required to comply.

Ummmm... WHO EXACTLY GETS TO DECIDE WHAT IS "FAIR"?!?

And that "there will always be a small minority attempting to side step the system" so there needs to be "a Federal program" to make those dissidents "legally required to comply"?!

That is government-enforced thuggery at its worst!

Again, I would like to know who exactly is pushing for this tax. As things stand at this moment, there are only two possibilities that come to mind: either it is the Obama Administration itself, or it is... well, let's just call it "crony capitalism".

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85-year old grandma reels in 849 pounds of marlin!

Very cool story from Down Under today...

An 85-year-old Australian woman said she "didn't feel 85" when she reeled in a 849-pound marlin off the north coast of Queensland.

Connie Laurie, a grandmother who said she has been fishing all her life, said she was on a fishing charter trip during the weekend off the coast of Cooktown when she caught, and then released, the hefty marlin, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday.

"I certainly didn't feel 85 when I was bringing it in, I was too busy concentrating on keeping it on and getting it into the boat," she said.

You go Grandma!! Gotta love reading about stuff like this :-)

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"Smokin' Joe" Frazier has passed away

Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, better known to his many fans as "Smokin' Joe" Frazier, has passed away at the age of 67. His death comes just days after publicly disclosing that he was fighting liver cancer.

Frazier will always be remembered as one of the greatest - some say the greatest - boxers in the sport. His 1971 bout with Mohammed Ali that saw Frazier keeping his belt would still be considered one of the most legendary matches of all time. But even that was eclipsed by the "Thrilla in Manilla" a few years later: the third and final fight between the two and the end of Frazier's attempt to win back the heavyweight title.

But y'know, it doesn't matter that he didn't, not really. Joe Frazier was one of the greatest in the ring and he was a true gentleman out of it. A guy with as much heart and love for God and others as he had for his sport. He will always be a man remembered for those qualities.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family tonight.

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THE WALKING DEAD tonight made Chris go freaking bonkers!!!

For the record, that was the MOST intense scene that I have personally witnessed from any television drama. If you saw it then you know what I'm talking about even if I don't say it: the walker down the well at Hershel's farm and how the gang uses Glenn as, ummm... bait.

No kidding: I was screaming HARD and grabbing the sides of my head during that part. Kristen was hollerin' loud too! That was definitely one of the best filmed and edited sequences that I've seen in a very long time.

The Walking Dead has been consistently raising the bar with each passing week and tonight's episode, "Cherokee Rose", upped the ante across the board. Especially watching Shane wrestle with the internalized anguish of the choice he made at the high school in the previous episode. That and the interaction between Rick and Hershel: a character who I am enjoying more and more every time he gets screen time. Sorta reminds me of the "man of science versus man of faith" dynamic that Jack and Locke had on Lost.

And speaking of The Walking Dead, longtime friend and fellow blogger/geek Geoff Gentry directed my attention to the website of Bear McCreary, the composer of The Walking Dead's music. Prior to that he scored Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica series. McCreary maintains a blog on his site in which he discusses his musical work and the process of composing for television, and it's quite a fascinating read! The latest thing he's shared via his site is this very cool video of himself doing an "accordion orchestra" of one of the pieces from Battlestar Galactica. Check it out!

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THE DARK KNIGHT RISES orchestral score needs YOUR voice!

In what has to be one of the coolest efforts at crowdsourcing ever, composer Hans Zimmer has put the word out that he needs our vocal talents for next summer's The Dark Knight Rises: Christopher Nolan's third and final Batman film.

Want to contribute? All you gotta do is record yourself repeating the same crazy chant that's been heard in the teaser that came out a few months ago. As Zimmer puts it...

"I'm shining the bat-signal up into the sky to call you all! We need to hear your voices! Now and Loud! We are creating the sound of a worldwide chant. Everyone come and be part of it. It's easy: There is no such thing as out-of-tune, no timing we can't fix later. If you mumble, growl, scream or whisper, it's all good. Make it yours. If you only get halfway through, no problem! Do it alone, bring your friends, but do it with energy and commitment. Let your voice be heard and be a part of our adventure!"

The chant itself is apparently "Deh-shay, deh-shay bah-sah-rah, bah-sah-rah", which means in Moroccan "He rises, he rises!" Go to the project's main site, read and agree to the rules, then start chanting away! Who knows: that could be your voice booming across those IMAX speakers come July!

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Andy Rooney has passed away

Only a month after his final appearance on 60 Minutes, the sad news is coming out this morning that commentator/curmudgeon Andy Rooney has passed away at the age of 92.

Whether you enjoyed his segments or not (and there were more than a few which were downright infuriating) it can't be denied that Rooney was one of the most accomplished performers of the very fine art of satire. The man had a way with taking the routine and miniscule elements of daily life, and turning them into fodder for good laughter... and even serious contemplation. Even if one didn't appreciate his cantankerous style, Rooney was still to be respected for his many years as a broadcast journalist, especially his time as a war correspondent on the front lines of the European theater in World War II.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family today.

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German public TV airing "Patterns of Force" - AKA the Nazi episode of STAR TREK - for first time tonight

Forty-three years after it first aired on American television in 1968 as part of Star Trek's second season, "Patterns of Force", the episode that had Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise looking for a Starfleet historian and finding an alien civilization modeled after Nazi Germany instead, will be broadcast for the first time tonight on public television in Germany.

Why hasn't "Patterns of Force" been widely aired (it was made available as a pay-per-view episode previously) until now? The official reason is that later in the episode, the Nazi era is described as "the most efficient society” in Earth's history. But widespread consensus is that the extreme hesitancy regarding "Patterns of Force" mostly has to do with what remains the shocking and startling image of James T. Kirk in an S.S. officer's uniform (along with Spock's similar attire, before being captured and tortured in the only scene in Star Trek history that has Leonard Nimoy without a shirt).

Maybe not as fun a watch as is "A Piece of the Action", the other classic Star Trek episode about cultural contamination. And I remember one of the episode's own creators calling it "pretty hokey" in retrospect. But even so, that "Patterns of Force" (read more about the episode at Memory Alpha) is finally getting serious airtime in Germany is a pretty fascinating thing.

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Airline "security" costs: $85 billion and 900,000 lost jobs

It can safely be said ten years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration that the federal government's efforts to make air travel "safer" constitute one ginormous cluster%#@&.

Now we have an idea of the economic impact: $85 billion wasted and 900,000 jobs destroyed. From e-Travel Blackboard...

After a decade of enhanced aviation security post 9/11, US Travel Association president Roger Dow is set to testify in a Senate Committee Hearing on 2 November, claiming current security procedures are hampering travel and US economy growth.

According to the US Travel Association, the US economy is missing out on $85 billion in consumer spending and 900,000 jobs because American travelers are avoiding flying due to the “hassles of air travel”.

“A 2010 study…found that American travelers would take an additional two to three flights per year if the hassles in security screening were eliminated,” the US Travel Association said.

“The price of security has come at the cost of efficiency and billions of dollars are being lost every day.”

I'm telling y'all here and now: whoever running for President right now will come out and tell us that the Department of Homeland Security was one of the biggest blunders in the history of anything and that it should be scrapped completely, will go a long LONG ways toward earning my vote a year from now.

(Tip o' the hat to Lee Shelton for directing my attention to this article.)

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Fifteen years ago today, I found God

I'd wondered throughout today if I should make a note of it on the blog. Finally I remembered what The Knight Shift is here for: to chronicle my thoughts and reflections, to document the occasional odd adventure (or misadventure), and more or less journal my growth through life's journey... including (more often than not) the mis-steps.

Well, today is a big deal to me. Especially looking back on those first few years, and then this past year which saw me fall into the darkest valley that I've yet known... before God brought me through and closer to Him than ever before.

I have failed and fallen more times than I would have liked. But all the same: it was fifteen years ago today that I first became a follower of Christ.

Not a "Christian". I've never preferred being "only a Christian". It always had to be about relationship with God for me, instead of mere religion. And thankfully, God put some amazing people into my life at that time, when I was studying at Elon, who demonstrated beautifully that to follow Christ is a relationship not to be entered into lightly... but it is also the most rewarding relationship that I have ever known.

Fifteen years later and I really can see how far He has brought me. Just as I can see that God has been there every step of the way with me.

Chris, Dalerie, Brent, if you happen to read this site: fifteen years later, I haven't forgotten our time together that day. I hope you are all well, and I'm sorry that we all seem to have lost touch. But I am still following Christ, as best I can. I am thankful that He put the three of you there at the start of this journey. I'm still seeking after Him, so very grateful for where He has taken me already and... just excited about where He might yet be taking me!

Fifteen years later and I really can see how far He has brought me... and how much more growing I still have ahead of me.

And that's a good thing :-)

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Meeting Addy Miller AKA the little girl zombie from THE WALKING DEAD

Just over a year ago AMC's hit series The Walking Dead premiered. And in its very first minutes it introduced us to what has since become one of television's most iconic images of horror ever...

The "little girl zombie" that Rick Grimes comes across during his early traipsing across a post-apocalyptic Georgia. A few months ago when the Blu-ray set came out I wrote about how disturbing it was to see that this sweet innocent cherub-turned-flesheater had a mouthful of braces.

Well, this past weekend at Woods of Terror north of Greensboro, we got to meet this young actress! Her name is Addy Miller and in addition to The Walking Dead she's already notched up quite an acting resume already. She'll soon be appearing in Plan 9 (a remake of Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space) and will also be in next year's The Three Stooges biopic.

And here she is with Kristen and me!

Addy autographed a photo for us, writing on it "You're next!"

But I couldn't resist asking her something that had been bugging me since getting the Blu-ray set of Season 1: were those her real braces? Turns out: nope! Addy told us that it was all prosthetics and makeup, that they made molds of her jaws and that was a rotting decaying appliance that we saw instead of her actual teeth. VERY cool!

Addy is a delightful actress and it was very much a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet her. Here's wishing her all the best with her career :-)

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Classic SESAME STREET: It's not HDTV, it's H-TV!

The bloggin' might be sparse the next few days as I am going out of town on a mission of considerable import. So in the meantime...

It occurred to me this afternoon that I haven't posted a vintage Sesame Street clip in a good long while. The ones with Bert and Ernie seem to be especially popular. So here's one from the 1970s (way before the advent of 1080P) which finds Bert plagued with "H" all over his television screen...

I remember this sketch cracking me up bad when I first saw it as a pre-schooler! Thirty years later, it's lost none of its hilarity :-)

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J.R. Hafer delves into aviation history with new blog

Good friend of this blog J.R. Hafer has a keen mind for a vast array of topics: everything from real estate to our mutual admiration of the late Popcorn Sutton! And now J.R. has turned our attention toward another one of his interests: the history of manned aircraft. J.R. Hafer Aviation Blog went live a short time ago and it promises to educate, illuminate and entertain with matters of aviation. Like, I didn't know until today that the world's first scheduled commercial flight was on January 1st 1914, made with a Benoist XIV (right) soaring across Tampa Bay in Florida.

Here's wishing you all the best with your new blog J.R.! Looking forward to seeing what else you're gonna post :-)

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