Five rants and six flowers.

BEIJING (AP)—One little girl had the looks. The other had the voice. So in a last-minute move demanded by one of China’s highest officials, the two were put together for the Olympic opening ceremony, with one lip-synching “Ode to the Motherland” over the other’s singing.
The real singer, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, with her chubby face and crooked baby teeth, wasn’t good looking enough for the ceremony, its chief music director told state-owned Beijing Radio.
So the pigtailed Lin Miaoke, a veteran of television ads, mouthed the words with a pixie smile for a stadium of 91,000 and a worldwide TV audience.

That, combined with the phony fireworks display makes the opening ceremony kind of a sham, don't-cha-think? In a world where technology is King, it's a shame that we feel as though we have to use it. Meanwhile, we're deciding that certain people with talent aren't attractive enough to be shown on television. Is this a world we want?

I may have said this before, but New Jersey's cell phone driving ban is a toothless law that is unenforcable. When I have a spare moment I'm planning to sit at the nearest intersection with my camera and snap photos of all the drivers I see talking on the phone while driving. They have no fear of being caught because no one is around to catch them. Perhaps a few nicely framed photos of talkers and their license plates will wake up local law enforcement?John Edwards lost a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention. He likely blew a chance at a possible Cabinet post in a Barack Obama administration. I'm constantly reminded of the line from "Fargo," where police chief Marge Gunderson goes over the events leading up to the arrest of the lone perpetrator still alive, and says, "And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'tcha know that? And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well. I just don't understand it." Edwards gave up the rest of his career for what? A little bit of pussy. I just don't understand it.

I have at least two readers from Ohio who may find this interesting...
XENIA, Ohio - Burger King Corp. said Tuesday it has parted ways with an employee who was recorded taking a soapy bath in the restaurant's utility sink. The nearly four-minute video, which was posted Thursday on MySpace.com, shows the unidentified employee taking the bath to celebrate his birthday. The sink is used to clean large pieces of equipment, said Greene Health Commissioner Mark McDonnell. Bacteria or viruses on the skin could have potentially contaminated equipment, but there have been no reports of any customers becoming ill.
Not yet.
McDonnell said he dispatched an inspector to the restaurant, but at that point the restaurant had sterilized the sink.
In order for me to eat there, they would have to replace the sink. I'm just sayin'.

I happened along a Little League softball game on ESPN between a girls team from Illinois and a team from New Jersey. Ten members of the Illinois team were wearing faceguards in the field. The announcers said it was because they attended a game where a kid was hit in the face with a line drive and had some fractures. It spooked the team to the point that the coach requested that infielders wear faceguards.
I'm thinking that we're being a little over protective with kids these days. Is it necessary to put faceguards on kids? Why not put them in rubber suits and pad the ball and use a soft bat while we're at it. I had a hard time watching the game with fielders in armour. I don't think it prepares someone for adulthood when they are over-protected as a child. They're going to grow up thinking that they'll never get hurt doing anything, or worse, that they'll never take a chance because they're afraid. Are these the kind of children we want to raise?
My downstairs neighbor grows these beautiful flowers. I don't know what they are, but I know they're beautiful.