My Sick Mind

Being a shut-in allows me to monitor the TV and check in on what is going on while the rest of you are going out. Over on TNT, they're showing a NASCAR race in Florida. The people in charge have figured a creative way to run commercials while the race is going on. Meanwhile, the ad and the junk at the bottom of the screen take up one-fifth of the screen space. I have no idea what this must look like to someone without a hi-def TV, but it can't be pretty. They call it "Wide-open coverage." I call it a shameless method for working commercials into content while not showing enough of either. Am I supposed to be watching the race or the ad? Neither one is emphasised. JUNEAU, Alaska – Outgoing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Saturday laid the groundwork to take on a larger, national role after leaving state government, citing a "higher calling" with the aim of uniting the country along conservative lines. In a statement posted on Palin's Facebook account, ...

We're faced with a lot of conflicts as humans. Today, for example. NASCAR held its annual Coca-Cola 600 auto race in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to the race was where the conflict occurred. A religious figure (a pastor or clergy of some sort) came out to offer the invocation, thanking his God for providing the world and whatever else is involved in making the country great. Then, a group of bagpipers played "Amazing Grace." After that, a half dozen Marines fired 5 shots in the air (blanks, I'm hoping) and a bugler played "Taps." Back and forth it went, from warfare to God. Maybe they're the same thing? Then, someone sang "The Star Spangled Banner," another song glorifying war (one that we lost) and paying homage to a flag. As the song went on, some warplanes flew over the track at a dangerously low level. I guess that's designed to make us (a) be thankful for warplanes and (b) be glad that they weren't dropping anything on us. Th...

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The commuter plane that crashed near Buffalo was on autopilot until just before it went down in icy weather, indicating that the pilot may have violated federal safety recommendations and the airline's own policy for flying in such conditions, an investigator said Sunday. Federal guidelines and the airline's own instructions suggest a pilot should not engage the autopilot when flying through ice. If the ice is severe, the company that operated Continental Flight 3407 requires pilots to shut off the autopilot. So, I guess that balances out the whole Chesley Sullenburger deal? They aren't all superheroes. I've gotten into a minor debate over on a friend's Facebook page over my dislike for LPGA golfer Michelle Wie. Since there are about seven people who care enough to fire back over an "I don't like Michelle Wie" comment, I found it odd that I stumbled on one on Facebook. Anyway, most of the reason I don't like her very much is becau...

Part of being a weirdo is that I can get excited about things that few other people get excited about. Three of them are happening now. 1 – There’s a cool new sidebar item on my blog. Scroll down a bit (or check the bottom right corner of your screen) and you’ll see a Yahoo Finance heading with a bunch of junk under it. There’s a 6-month chart of the NASDAQ Index, some news headlines and stock quotes for some notable companies. If you want to get it for your site, go to Yahoo Finance (or click here ) and select the “get quotes for your web site” option (under the Dow Jones quote box), follow the directions and add it to your HTML/Java Script page element. Viola! You might have to be a registered Yahoo user to make it work - or not - I don't know. 2 – Yesterday was the start of the 2008 LPGA season. I know what you’re thinking, just like the groundhog; this means six more months of Paula Creamer posts. Well … yeah. This week, the girls are in Hawaii (not bad being a golfer, eh?)...

"It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." - Neil Armstrong The blog is green for Earth Day , which is either today, tomorrow or yesterday depending on when you are reading. That's about all I'm doing, since I don't have any lamps in the place where I can put in those squiggly bulbs. I'm already running low-flow shower heads and my car is a PZEV (Partial Zero-Emissions Vehicle), so I think I'm maxed out. There's a meteor shower on Sunday night. The Lyrid one. 18 per hour, they say. I'm not all that worked-up, unless one of them slips through and hits my car. I know I shouldn't torture myself, but I was tuned into Fox News today, and they had some sort of round-table discussion of the media's coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings, and whether or not the TV news got a li...

They're running one of those Army ads during the NCAA basketball game tonight. Lots of cool looking action shots, then the voice over: You made them strong. We'll make them Army strong. As though joining up was a good thing. They run those ads during the basketball game because they figure they have a heavy demographic of young, impressionable, desperate young men in search of something to do now that their hoop dreams are ending. Those ads probably never run during the financial shows or some high-brow deal over on MSNBC. Know your audience. The ad, however, could have just as easily said: You made them strong. We'll get them blown up in a tank. Truth in advertising. So, then I start wondering. The Army must be up against it on the popularity front right now. War is a hard sell, especially when the images come home every night. By now, the advertising is probably a huge part of their [our] budget. So much so, that they have taken to appealing to the largest segment of pot...