The Foreignist

I love this story that Beau Berman forwarded to me.  Splicani (residents of Split) are WAY to nosy to ever let this happen.  Zagrepcani (residents of Zagreb) must not get into each others business so much.

Governments have changed. War erupted and ended. Neighbors had children, and then grandchildren. But Hedviga Golik never left her tiny apartment in Croatia’s capital — until her mummified body was carried out this week, 35 years after she died.

The entire story is here:  http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/16/croatia.body.ap/index.html 

It’s hard to sleep when the civil defense sirens keep going off.  Last night they went off on two different occasions here in North Little Rock.   Here’s why:   http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346293,00.html

The National Weather Service for central Arkansas actually had to stop issuing bulletins for a while, because the tornado passed directly over their offices.  The tornado actually disappeared from radar because it was passing directly over the radar.   Several people were injured in the LR/NLR area;  but, so far, no reported deaths.

The pictures on the Fox news website are really good (my excuse for looking at the Fox news website).  As you can tell, it wasn’t a huge tornado like the one that hit Atkins, Clinton, Gassville, etc.  But it still provides plenty of opportunity for local weathermen to scare everyone to death.

This is what happens when you don’t tie your house down.

A couple of weeks ago, Shaq put a fan in the hospital by diving into the stand to save a loose ball. Here’s what happened the next time it looked like he might try to be Superman again.

Here an excerpt from Gordon Keith’s article about Hillary’s victory in Texas:

Who do you want answering the phone?

I know my answer. NOT HILLARY. Hillary is accustomed to calls at 3 a.m., but it’s usually related to Bill getting locked out of some chick’s apartment wearing only a dress shirt, one navy sock, and a ball gag. So Hillary will be pissed from the moment the phone rings.

“Where are you, you bastard?”

“Madam President, it’s your Chief of Staff. Pakistan is marshaling forces on the Indian border. We must prepare a response.”

“Stop covering for him! Is he with that tramp from the tobacco lobbyists again? I bet he’s got a ball gag in his mouth,” she says.

“Madam President! We must scramble to the Situation Room.”

“I tell you what I am going to do. I am going to scramble to throw all his [expletive] out onto the west lawn. See how he likes that.”

Maybe that is unfair to Hillary, but not to Bill.

Read the entire article HERE.

Here’s part of the problem I have with the way the rapture is taught (to be accurate, let’s call it the “rapture theory”).

This is not one of those church signs you can make up online. I obfuscated the name of this house of worship because I don’t know the people there, and they might be great people. BUT state employees and politicians better watch out. You’re gonna get yours!

I just don’t like how focusing on the rapture brings out the tendency towards an us versus them mentality. It’s definitely not something we want to advertise to passersby. Even “A dusty Bible makes for a dirty life” would communicate something a little less belligerent.

It’s a different way of expressing us versus them-style Christianity, but this was WEHTJS Part 1.

I was talking with somebody the other day about how excited the kids on my Upward Basketball team get when we start scoring. I called it “the thrill of victory.” Then in my head I immediately hear “and the agony of defeat.” I’m guessing I’m not the only person 30-or-older who would make that association. When I was a kid, I thought ABC’s Wide World of Sports was just about the coolest thing on TV (we didn’t have 1/100th the programming we have now). I don’t remember anything about what they showed on ABC’s Wide World of Sport intro for the “thrill of victory”, but as soon as I thought “the agony of defeat” I immediately pictured that poor idiot crashing at the end of the ski jump ramp. That image is forever burned into my mind as “the agony of defeat.”

Turns out that poor idiot was from the part of the world where I just spent the last 4 years. It all makes sense now.

I love the last 10 seconds of this interview with the incomparable Bill Walton. The man is a walking hyperbole.